Amazing Facts about India

Amazing Facts about India – Truth alone triumphs

The Encyclopaedia Britannica says: “If there is a country on earth which can justly claim the honour of having been the cradle of the Human race or at least the scene of primitive civilization, the successive developments of which carried into all parts of the ancient world and even beyond, the blessings of knowledge which is the second life of man, that country is assuredly India.“

Civilized Past:

• It is the only society in the world which has never known slavery.
• India never invaded any country in her last 10,000 years of history.
• India was the richest country on Earth until the time of the British in the early 17th Century.
• It has been estimated that the total amount of treasure that the British looted from India had already reached £1,000,000,000 (£1Billion) by 1901.  Taking into consideration interest rates and inflation this would be worth close to $1,000,000,000,000 ($1Trillion) in real-terms today.

Educational Facts:

India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
Aryabhatta was the first to explain spherical shape, size ,diameter, rotation and correct speed of Earth in 499 AD. The World’s first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. Students from all over the World studied more than 60 subjects.

Sanskrit was the classical language of India, older than Hebrew and Latin.It is the oldest, most scientific, systematic language in the world.

• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
• The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The word ‘Navigation’ is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit ‘Nou’.
• In Siddhanta Siromani (Bhuvanakosam 6) Bhaskaracharya II described about gravity of earth about  400 years before Sir Isaac                     Newton.  He also had some clear notions on differential calculus and the Theory of Continued Fraction.

Vedic Philosophy : 

The Vedas are the oldest written text on our planet today. They date back to the beginning of Indian civilization and are the earliest literary records of the human mind. They have been passed through oral tradition for over 10,000 years, and first appeared in written form between 2500 – 5,000 years ago.

Veda means “Knowledge” in Sanskrit.

Maths and Science : 

• Theory of Continued Fraction was discovered by Bhaskaracharya II.
• Indians discovered Arithmetic and Geometric progression. Arithmetic progression is explained in Yajurveda.
• Govindaswamin discovered Newton Gauss Interpolation formula about 1800 years before Newton.
• Vateswaracharya discovered Newton Gauss Backward Interpolation formula about 1000 years before Newton.
• Parameswaracharya discovered Lhuiler’s formula about 400 years before Lhuiler.
• Nilakanta discovered Newton’s Infinite Geometric Progression convergent series.
• Positive and Negative numbers and their calculations were explained first by Brahmagupta in his book Brahmasputa Siddhanta.
• Aryabhatta  also propounded the Heliocentric theory of gravitation, thus predating Copernicus by almost one thousand years.

More astonishing facts!!

• The value of “pi” was first calculated by Boudhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. This was ‘validated’ by British scholars in 1999.
• Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were propounded by Sridharacharya in the 11th century.
• The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 10^6 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10^53 with specific names as early as 5000 BC during the Vedic period. Even today,the largest  used number is Tera: 10^12.
• Maharshi Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like caesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery.
• Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used.
• Detailed knowledge of anatomy, physiology, aetiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in the Sindhu Valley Civilization.

   The world famous and priceless “Kohinoor” diamond, which is set in the Crown of the British monarch                                       (Queen Victoria, and Elizabeth II),  was acquired from India.

   According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.

  Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was reportedly invented in India.

   The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called  ‘Mokshapat.’ The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices.

RigVedas (1.50), a hymn addressed to the Sun, refers quite clearly that the Sun traverses 2,202 yojanas in half a nimesha.  This is in fact refers to the speed of light.

The World’s First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ’80-tonne’ piece of granite.

Kalarippayat  – Origin of Martial arts – 200 BC

Brahmagupta, 630 A.D., said, the following about Gravity,

“Bodies fall towards the earth as it is in the nature of the earth to attract bodies, just as it is in the nature of water to flow”.

Science of Yoga : The science of yoga meditation had been taught by the ancient, sages, gurus, yogis, through oral tradition for thousands of years, they were finally put to Sanskrit by Patanjali in 500 b.c.

These are the few facts about civilized past of India and more would be added in the related articles following this.