What have been the impediments of growth of Science in India?

Population was small, the land was fertile and even from small land holdings Indian peasants were able to meet the requirements of subsistence. They could feed and clothe themselves. Although there  were poor people, poverty and hunger of the kind we see today did not exist. The deprivation that we see today is largely a result of British policies imposed on us. The hold of religion, particularly in the rural areas, and the existence of the caste system, contributed both to a certain reconciliation with fate, and an acceptance of the social hierarchy.

There was a fascination with the idea of an infinitely old universe condemned to an endless cycle of deaths and rebirths, in which nothing fundamentally new could ever happen. What can be called a peculiar kind of satisfaction prevailed, which did not allow pressures to build up for either enhancing production through technological innovation, or to change the society.

Impediments of growth of Science in India