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What ancient India really discovered and invented!

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What ancient India really discovered and invented!
folomojo23 hours ago

The debate on the achievements of ancient India in science and technology continues unabated. There have been assertions, some seemingly outlandish, and counter-assertions. For instance, Union minister of science and technology, Dr Harsh Vardhan’s statement that the Pythagoras theorem and algebra were ancient India’s contribution was pooh-poohed as stretching the facts. Is it really so? Or, is their something in the contentions? We bring you the contribution of the ancient Indians – the ones acknowledged and beyond reproach. Take a peek!

1. The age of the earth

An early metrical work of Hinduism, Manusmriti, calculates the age of the earth as described in two verses where the age of earth is made in reference to the life span of Brahma. (Brahma is revered as the god of creation in Hinduism).

Professor Arthur Holmes, a geologist and a professor at the University of Durham writes in his book, The Age of Earth (1913), “Long before it became a scientific aspiration to estimate the age of the earth, many elaborate systems of the world chronology had been devised by the sages of antiquity. The most remarkable of these occult time-scales is that of the ancient Hindus, whose astonishing concept of the earth’s duration has been traced back to Manusmriti, a sacred book.“

In the 5th century, the ancients Indians had stated that the earth was 4.3 billion years as compared to the Europeans who believed that our planet was about 100 million years old. But modern science has calculated the age of the earth to be about 4.6 billion years, incredibly close to the 4.3 predicted by the ancients almost 15 centuries earlier.

Today, scientists across the world believe that the solar system and the earth is about 4.54 billion years, deciphered by the radiometric reading.

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Image source:t-leafd.com

2. Concept of relativity

Alan Watts, a professor, graduate school dean and research fellow of Harvard University, drew heavily on the insights of Vedanta. He said, "To the philosophers of India, however, Relativity is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to people used to thinking of time in millions of kalpas - A kalpa is about 4,320,000 years.”

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Image source:Lifehack.org

3. Trigonometry and optics

Varāhamihira, an astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer, of the 5th century defined the concepts of refraction and reflection. He also defined the algebraic properties of zero as well as of negative numbers. A L Basham, an Australian Indologist, writes in his book, The Wonder That was India, "The world owes most to India in the realm of mathematics, which was developed in the Gupta period to a stage more advanced than that reached by any other nation of antiquity.”

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Image Source:Photobucket (Book)|Creationmyths.org (Photo)

4. Discovery of gravity

More than 5,000 year-old, Rig Veda stated through verses that the gravitational force held the universe together and the sun was at the center of the universe; thousands of years before Newton and Copernicus discovered it. This finding is supported by an American writer, Dick Teresi, in his book – Lost Discoveries. The book is a comprehensive study of the ancient non-western foundations of modern science.

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Image source:Journeywithladymaya.wordpress.com

5. Pythagoras theorem

It was ancient Indian mathematician Baudhāyana who wrote about a theorem similar to the modern Pythagoras theorem in the book Baudhāyana Śulbasûtra in 800 BC. The book is also said to be the oldest books on advanced mathematics. It is also speculated that Pythagoras travelled extensively and even visited India, after which he is said have revealed the Pythagoras theorem. In a six-page essay on the book written by Kim Plofker, Mathematics in India, ( a western historian of mathematics), Brown University Mathematician, David Mumford, writes, “There is the use of Pythagoras’ famous theorem in the construction of pillars in India, some centuries before the Greek philosopher is said to have postulated it.”

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Image source:oldthoughts.wordpress.com

6. The zero

The so called Arabic numerals and positional decimal numeral system, originated in India. However, it was popularized by the Arabs, who later took it to the west. The superiority of this number system stems from the fact that the roman numerals did not have a zero, making it difficult to carry out mathematical calculations. It was Aryabhata, who is said to have discovered zero and clearly defined the usage of decimal system. He names the first 10 decimal places and gives algorithms for obtaining square and cubic roots, utilizing the decimal number system. Marquis Pierre Simon de Laplace, an 18th century French mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer, stated, “It is India which gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by 10 symbols.”

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Image source:greatmindsoftheworld.com

7. Cotton fabric

The fibre that clothes the modern world, finds its mention in a Rig Veda hymn as “threads in the loom.” Historians also believe that when Alexander invaded India, his soldiers found the new fabric, cotton, much more comfortable that the traditional leather and wool that they were used to. They then popularized the fabric in ancient Europe. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, describes Indian cotton as "a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep.”

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Image source:Jaypore.com
 
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8. High-quality steel

Ancient India’s expertise is metallurgy is reiterated in the form of its architecture marvels. It was said that as early as 200 BC, high quality steel was being produced in India, through what the Europeans would call as the crucible technique.

William James Durant, an American writer, historian, and philosopher writes in his famous book, The Story of Civilization, “Something has been said about the chemical excellence of cast iron in ancient India, and about the high industrial development of the Gupta times, when India was looked to, even by Imperial Rome, as the most skilled of the nations. By the sixth century the Hindus were far ahead of Europe in industrial chemistry; they were masters of calcinations, distillation, sublimation, steaming, fixation, the production of light without heat, the mixing of anesthetic and soporific powders, and the preparation of metallic salts, compounds and alloys. The tempering of steel was brought in ancient India to a perfection unknown in Europe till our own times.”

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Image source:Topindiatravel.com

9. Takshashila University

Around 800 BC, a giant University at Takshashila (often called Taxila) existed in the north-western region of India. At that time even the concept of University was unknown to the world.

Joseph Needham, a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing, wrote in his book, Within the Four Seas: The Dialogue of East and West, "When the men of Alexander the Great came to Taxila in India in the fourth century BC they found a university there the like of which had not been seen in Greece, a university which taught the three Vedas and the eighteen accomplishments and was still existing when the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien went there about AD 400.”

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Image source:Wikipedia

10. Chess (Chaturanga)

Chaturanga is a Sanskrit word which was used to refer to an ancient Indian strategy game, the ancestor to Makruk, Xiangqi, Janggi and finally the modern game of chess. It was said to have been developed during the Gupta period between 6th and 7th century AD in India. The game, primarily based on a battle plan, comprised of four parts of the army – elephants, chariots, horses and foot soldier; apart from the king and the minister.

Harold James Ruthven Murray, an English educationalist and a prominent chess historian was among the first few modern historians who proposed the theory that chess originated in India. Published in 1913, A History of Chess, is a comprehensive book on the subject.

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Image source: Wikipedia


https://www.yahoo.com/news/ancient-india-really-discovered-invented-110605019.html
 
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You might enjoy watching this my friend:


I did not even know the famous Bose brand is from a Indian guy :eek:


Story of India is a 6 part series by Michael wood and worth a watch



Ignite (Latin word) - comes from the root word (Agni) in Sanskrit
 
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The 64 squares in the Chess board come from the ancient Hindu concept of the 8 dimensions of reality.

The Atom was supposed to consist of 64 squares made up of 8x8 dimentions. And hence all of creation is defined in terms of these 64 blocks.

These were Space, Time, Rhythm (frequency) , structure, Air, Fire, Water & Earth.

The centre of the chess board was called the Brahma Sthana.

This can be better understood by the concept of Vastu called Manduka Mandala.

vastu-purusa-mandala.jpg


Creation itself was the 9th dimension.
 
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I believe Ancient Sub-Continent would be a more accurate term.
Around 800 BC, a giant University at Takshashila (often called Taxila) existed in the north-western region of India. At that time even the concept of University was unknown to the world.

Joseph Needham, a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing, wrote in his book, Within the Four Seas: The Dialogue of East and West, "When the men of Alexander the Great came to Taxila in India in the fourth century BC they found a university there the like of which had not been seen in Greece, a university which taught the three Vedas and the eighteen accomplishments and was still existing when the Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien went there about AD 400.”

48b348976b05f69bc2f2c0dba6ceffab
I've been here, I had to climb so many steps to get up here:
Panorama_at_Jaulian_-_Ancient_Buddhist_Monastery_-_Taxila%2C_Pakistan_-_566-31.JPG

This is what I'm talking about, there were various statues of the Buddha in there, one included the Healing Statue.
The guide told us, the people of the time believed it had healing powers, the statue's belly was hollow, where you placed your hand and it was healed (or something like that, my mind was elsewhere during the tour.)
 
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On all accounts it was called Ancient India. Why be afraid to use this term just because it does not seem to be politically correct term in Pakistan. Pakistan can also lay as much claim as India to the term Ancient India.

Whole world for centuries called us India. Nobody knew or thought of the term South Asia or subcontinent.

I believe Ancient Sub-Continent would be a more accurate term.

I've been here, I had to climb so many steps to get up here:
Panorama_at_Jaulian_-_Ancient_Buddhist_Monastery_-_Taxila%2C_Pakistan_-_566-31.JPG

This is what I'm talking about, there were various statues of the Buddha in there, one included the Healing Statue.
The guide told us, the people of the time believed it had healing powers, the statue's belly was hollow, where you placed your hand and it was healed (or something like that, my mind was elsewhere during the tour.)
 
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Vedas and Puranas

World will recognize the Importance of Yoga and Ayurveda very soon courtesy Baba Ramdev. But it will take time to understand the real value of our ancient scriptures even to us, Indians :(
 
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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/abhaey-singh/15-indian-inventions-part-two_b_3626483.html

6. Water on the Moon: One of Independent India's most notable contributions to modern space exploration occurred between 2008 and 2009, with Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first dedicated lunar mission.

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carried both ISRO and NASA instruments, of which the Indian 'Moon Impact Probe' first detected the presence of lunar water. This was achieved three months before NASA's 'Moon Mineralogy Mapper' (also part of Chandrayaan-1) made the same breakthrough, to which the discovery of lunar water is often attributed.

"India - the land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all were known to the seers who founded the Vedas." Wheeler Wilcox.

8. Radio/Wireless Communication: Guglielmo Marconi has for long been credited as the inventor of wireless radio communication. He subsequently received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics for contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy.

The first public demonstration of the use of radio waves for communication, however, was made by an Indian scientist, Jagadish Chandra Bose. Bose first demonstrated the use of radio in Calcutta, in 1895, two years before a similar demonstration by Marconi in England. More than a century after the feat, Bose has been belatedly credited for his achievement.

Bose's revolutionary demonstration forms the foundation of the technology used in mobile telephony, radars, satellite communication, radios, television broadcast, WiFi, remote controls and countless other applications that play a central role in our daily lives.

The world famous Bose Brand
 
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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/abhaey-singh/15-indian-inventions-part-two_b_3626483.html

6. Water on the Moon: One of Independent India's most notable contributions to modern space exploration occurred between 2008 and 2009, with Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first dedicated lunar mission.

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carried both ISRO and NASA instruments, of which the Indian 'Moon Impact Probe' first detected the presence of lunar water. This was achieved three months before NASA's 'Moon Mineralogy Mapper' (also part of Chandrayaan-1) made the same breakthrough, to which the discovery of lunar water is often attributed.

"India - the land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all were known to the seers who founded the Vedas." Wheeler Wilcox.

8. Radio/Wireless Communication: Guglielmo Marconi has for long been credited as the inventor of wireless radio communication. He subsequently received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics for contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy.

The first public demonstration of the use of radio waves for communication, however, was made by an Indian scientist, Jagadish Chandra Bose. Bose first demonstrated the use of radio in Calcutta, in 1895, two years before a similar demonstration by Marconi in England. More than a century after the feat, Bose has been belatedly credited for his achievement.

Bose's revolutionary demonstration forms the foundation of the technology used in mobile telephony, radars, satellite communication, radios, television broadcast, WiFi, remote controls and countless other applications that play a central role in our daily lives.

The world famous Bose Brand
Isn't thread was about ancient discoveries?
 
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