This paper will explore how scientific insight and discovery were communicated in premodern South Asia, focusing in particular on the uses of graphics and text in the production of technical knowledge.
Dagmar Wujastyk will query what necessitated the introduction of visual materials to the scientific textual corpus and examine what functions the integration and application of charts, diagrams, technical drawings, etc. fulfilled over time in different scientific disciplines. Her hypothesis is that the integration of visual elements in the textual transmission of scientific disciplines is indicative of both interdisciplinary and intercultural scientific communication, but may also reflect ruptures in knowledge transmission, especially as boundaries between different knowledge systems were crossed. The use of technical illustrations seems to be closely linked to the transmission of alchemical knowledge and technologies to other disciplines, with particularly strong links to medicine. She will explore in what ways technical drawings may have been used for both interdisciplinary and intercultural scientific communication.
Dagmar Wujastyk is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, Classics, and Religious Studies, University of Alberta. She is an indologist specializing in the history and literature of classical South Asia, including Indian medicine (Ayurveda), iatrochemistry (rasaśāstra), and yoga. Her publications include "Modern and Global Ayurveda – Pluralism and Paradigms" and "Well-mannered medicine. Medical Ethics and Etiquette in the Sanskrit Medical Classics". She is the editor of a special volume of Asiatische Studien/ Études Asiatiques, entitled “Histories of Mercury in Medicine across Asia and beyond” (vol. 69.4, 2015), a special volume of History of Science in South Asia, (vol. 5.2, 2017) entitled “Transmutations: Rejuvenation, Longevity, and Immortality Practices in South and Inner Asia,” and Associate Editor of the journals Asian Medicine and History of Science in South Asia. In 2015, Prof. Wujastyk received a European Research Council “Horizon 2020” award to head a research team working on the entangled histories of yoga, medicine and alchemy in medieval India. The project website is ayuryog.org
