Wow...hopefully one day we can get to discuss, why Indian Civilization did make the discoveries that the Europeans, Americans or Chinese did. I have scratched my brains hard, and probably it comes down to the outlook of life influenced by our philosophy, religion and culture.
In South, we are almost rice eating humans. And rice used to be cooked in pots, and people must have seen steam from the pot for ages, why did they not think about using the steam as a source of power?
If South India was from where the steel for the Damascus Sword was sourced, why did these 'technicians' create steam engines and other mechanical devices.
I have see Jared Diamond's famous Gun, Steel, Germs.....documentary. I do not think we have to agree exactly to what he proposes :-)) We should be able to come up with our own reasons that looks sound.
There is a book with the same title "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond that deals with exactly these kinds of questions in more depth. I suppose that the documentary came later as a companion to the book.
If you liked the documentary, I recommend this book very strongly.