From pre-historic to modern times, engineering has played an essential role in the development of India.
History
Engineering in the country dates back to pre-historic times.
Solar drying of agricultural commodities has been dated to a period of 6,000 BCE. Researchers have also found the evidences of engineering in
Indus Valley civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...
, dating back to 4th millennium BCE. Types of engineering such as
Irrigation engineering,
Transportation engineering
Transportation engineering or transport engineering is the application of technology and scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode of transportation in order to provide for th ...
were also established during this period. Throughout the period 3000 BCE – 1500 BCE, urban cities developed and included advanced developments for that time, such as brick houses, drainage systems, water harvesting,
sanitation systems, etc.
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
contains the information on about wells, irrigation, dams, canals, and other factors of engineering.
[
By the period of 1,800 BCE, India had started to produce iron. In 500 BCE, ]Damascus steel
Damascus steel was the forged steel of the blades of swords smithed in the Near East from ingots of Wootz steel either imported from Southern India or made in production centres in Sri Lanka, or Khorasan, Iran. These swords are characterize ...
was being produced in the country.
Kallanai Dam
Kallanai (also known as the Grand Anicut) is an ancient dam. It is built (in running water) across the Kaveri river flowing from Tiruchirapalli District to Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India. The dam located in Thanjavur
district. Locate ...
, also known as Grand Anicut of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
was originally built around 2nd century CE. Many of the estimated 39,400 reservoirs of Tamil Nadu were built during the period of 500 CE – 1500 CE.
Education
Foundation of the Cooper's Hill College in 1875 aimed to train engineers for British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. Madras University
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...
is considered to be the first college of the country, to provide individual courses in mechanical engineering.
According to an estimate in 2010, there were over 3,800 engineering colleges in the country, compared to less than 100 engineering colleges in 1996.
In culture
*3 Idiots
''3 Idiots'' (stylized as ''3 idiots'') is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, co-written by Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Adapted loosely from Cheta ...
- A movie based on a story of three friends studying in an engineering college.
See also
* List of Indian engineers
References
{{Reflist
History of engineering
Engineering education in India