  The fist documented speculations on light were found in oriental and Greek
schools of philosophy. The investigations on the light in India were rooted way
back to the ancient era. The Indian Samkhya, Nyaya, and Vaisheshika identified
light or fie (Tejas) as one of the key elements among the fie elementary things
of the universe. The pioneering results of optics and spectroscopy were
witnessed in the era of stellar people like Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and Sir C
V Raman. The research has then taken a new directive into the development of
nonlinear optics and photonics after the invention of the laser. The present
article reviews the past few decades pioneering works of Prof. D Narayana Rao,
an experimental physicist, in the context of optics and photonics in India. The
most notable contributions of Prof Rao, introduced in India for the fist time,
are white-light interferometry, degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM), electric
field induced second harmonic generation (EFISHG), incoherent laser
spectroscopy (using dye laser), and femtosecond lasers for creating
nano/microstructures.
