Technology of Bricks & Science of Geometry in Ancient India

The Sanskrita equivalent for brick is ‘Istaka’ or ‘Istika’, which was  primarily constructed for the use  in  an  altar. ‘Medhatithi’  was  the  maker of  bricks. He also contributed  to the science of numerals by giving the concept of powers of ten in enumeration. Here is the English translation of the verse related to bricks and numerals as given in Yajurveda (XVII, 2) -

“O Agni, may these bricks be mine, own milch, kine, Eka (one) and Dasa (ten); ten tens, a Sata (hundred); ten hundreds,a Sahasra (thousand); ten thousand, an Ayuta (a myriad); a ten Ayutas, a Niyuta (a hundred thousand); a  ten Niyutas, a  Prayuta (one million); ten Prayutas, an Arbuda (ten millions); ten Arbudas, a Nyarbuda (one hundred millions); ten Nyarbudas, a Samudra (one thousand millions); ten Samudras, a Madhya (a ten thousand millions); ten Madhyas, an Anta (a hundred thousand millions); ten Antas, a Parardha (a million million or a billion).

May these bricks be mine own milch-kine in yonder world and in this world.”

Later in ‘Sulba Sutras’, these bricks have been described in relation to the geometrical figures of square, round, oblong and diagonal.

The mechanical devices connected with the grinding, pounding, macerating with water, allowing to   ferment,  squeezing  out   its  juice  or  extract,  filtering  through  various  types  of  strainers, collecting it in receptacles, preserving  it in suitable containers under favourable conditions and similar  other  processes laid  the foundation of the pharmaceutical practices in connection with medicinal   herbs. The ‘Yajnasala’ was  thus a  primitive laboratory and  the utensil described in this  connection  became  the basis of a chemical laboratory in the Alchemic and Iatrochemical period.