The ancient innovations in India: beyond philosophy, theology and logical thinking of millenniums...

Dear all,

Following from some of the articles shared with my university alumni during 2002-04 I read in books and internet websites those days..

What they say…

"Many of the advances in the sciences that we consider today to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries ago."

- GRANT DUFF, British Historian of India.

 " If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point out to India."

- MAX MULLER(German Scholar. 1823 - 1900).

 "There can no longer be any real doubt that both Islam and Christianity owe the foundations of both their mystical and scientific achievements to Indian initiatives"

- PHILIP RAWSON (British Orieantalist)

Australian Historian ARTHUR BASHAM writes,...

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"The ancient civilization of India existed long before the sun rose on the kingdoms of Egypt or set on the Roman Empire; even before it sparkled upon the Chinese civilization. When much of Europe was still sunk in sleep, Hindu astronomers were mapping the skies, doctors were performing surgery and seers were composing scriptures".

 "The truth of the culture aims to sustain the whole of creation, not just one particular species or group. It promotes a civilization founded on the spiritual principles and not just reason and inquiry. Hence, this Culture has survived for millennia, uninterrupted even by the innumerable intrusions and invasions. And despite these continual provocations,

history shows that the Indians have remained silent, never aggravated into war or enemity".

 "The ancient civilization of India differs from those of Egypt, Mesopotamia & Greece, in that its traditions have been preserved without break to the present day."

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 "If there is one place on the face of this Earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when Man began the dream of existence, it is India."

- ROMAIN ROLLAND - French Philosopher 1886-1944

 The examples of elements of material culture and civilization that originated in ancient India and which the world owes to the genius of ancient Indian scientists and inventors...

 - the technique of manufacturing crystal (sugar)cane sugar (the word sugar is derived from the Sanskrit term "Sharkara").

- the making of camphor (this word is derived from the Sanskrit root word "Karpuram" according to Oxford Dictionary).

- the making of tin (the technical English word for tin is Cassiterite which is said to have been derived from the Sanskrit term "Kasthira").

- the distillation of perfumes.

- the weaving of cotton (muslin) cloth.

- the techniques of algebra and algorithm, the concept of zero.

- the technique of surgery.

- the concepts of atom and relativity.

- the principle of magnetism actually utilised in making a Mariner's Compass.

- the herbal system of medicine.

- the technique of alchemy.

- the smelting of metals:

 - According to information culled out from various Roman and Greek texts, metals like iron, gold, tin, copper and brass were imported from India.

- Other items like glass, ceramics, ivory, betel nuts and betel leaves, areca nuts and even rice were exported from ancient India.

By or before 100 BC, The decimal system flourished in India:

"It was India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by the means of ten symbols (Decimal system)... a profound and important idea which escaped the genius of Archimedes and Apollonius, two greatest men produced by antiquity"

- LA PLACE.

 The highest prefix used for raising 10 to a power in today's maths, is 'D' for 10^30 (from Greek Deca). While, as early as 100BC Indian Mathematicians had exact names for figures upto 10^53.

ekam = 1, dashakam = 10

... dashalakshaha = 10^6, kotihi = 10^7, ...

vishamagnagatihi = 10^47 , sarvagnaha = 10^49, vibhutangama = 10^51, tallakshanam = 10^53

 Sanskrit - The Mother of Languages:

- The Sanskrit language is the oldest, most systematic language that has survived the longest period through history.

 - It has the power of expressing all types of thoughts in their appropriate terminology - from mythology to literature, science to philosophy, poetry to prosody, astronomy to anatomy, as well as, genetics, mathematics, and cosmology.

 - An amazing wealth of words and synonyms gives a great versatility to expression power. With 65 words for Earth and 70 for Water (Each word being originally Sanskrit, not derived from any other language).

 Astronomy:

Indian Astronomers have been mapping the skies for 3,500 to 4000 years.

1,000 years before Copernicus:

Copernicus published his theory of revolution of the Earth in 1543. A thousand years before him, Aryadhatta in the 5th Century (400-500 AD) stated that the Earth revolves around the Sun. In his treatise Aryabhatteeam, he clearly states that Earth is round, rotates on its axis, orbits the sun and is suspended in space. And explains that lunar and solar eclipses occur by the interplay of the sun, the moon and the Earth.

 500 years before Newton:

The Law of Gravity was known to the ancient Indian astronomer Bhaskaracharya. In his Surya Siddhanta, he notes : "Objects fall on the Earth, Planets, Constellations, Moon and Sun are held in orbit due to attraction." It was not until the late 17th Century in 1687, 1,200 years later, that Sir Issac Newton re-discovered the Law of Gravity.

Measurement of Time:

34,000th of a Second TO 4.32 Billion Years India has given the idea of the smallest and largest measure of time.

Krati = 34,000th of a second, 1 Truti = 300th of a second, 2 Truti = 1 Luv, 2 Luv = 1 Kshana

30 Kshana = 1 Vipal, ... 432 Sahasrabda = 1 Yug (Kaliyug), 2 Yug = 1 Dwaparyug, 3 Yug = 1 Tretayug

4 Yug = 1 Krutayug, 10 Yug = 1 Mahayug(4,320,000Yrs), 1000 Mahayug = 1 Kalpa, 1 Kalpa = 4.32 Billion Years

World's First University - Takshashila:

about University at Takshashila:

- Not only Indians but students from as far as Babylonia, Greece, Syria, Arabia and China came to study.

- 68 different streams of knowledge were on the syllabus.

- A wide range of subjects were taught by experienced masters: Vedas, Language, Grammar, Philosophy, Medicine, Surgery, Archery, Politics, Warfare, Astronomy,  Accounts, Commerce, Documentation, Music, Dance, etc.

- The minimum entrance age was 16 and there were 10,500 students.

 Have a look on the Sloka (couplet) from the Atharva Veda which embodies the true spirit of humanness expressed, Not Today, but Four Thousand years ago.

"We are the birds of the same nest, We may wear different skins,

We may speak different languages, We may believe in different religions,

We may belong to different cultures, Yet we share the same home - OUR EARTH".

"Born on the same planet, Covered by the same skies, Gazing at the same stars

Breathing the same air, We must learn to happily progress together,

Or miserably perish together, For man can live individually, But can survive only collectively".

India’s legacy is that can help human beings in all corners of our globe to rejuvenate our spirit:

not to conquer one another, but to conquer oneself;

not to destroy, but to build;

not to hate, but to love;

not to isolate oneself, but to integrate everyone

into one global society and to achieve much more in

the future to enrich human civilization to result in:

 "The maximum welfare of the maximum number" or as in Sanskrit it is called: "Loko Samasto Sukhino Bhavantu" and "Samasta Janaanaam Sukhino Bhavantu."

In my personal views, a fun and intuitive way, a "law of reflection of thoughts"...

The length of period of thought source at history equals the length of period of visualized object of future! I mean, history should be used as the preventive medicine for the present and future errors of human beings.

 That is, the more length of period we can look back and learn from history (which includes all -isms, -ions, -logies, -tals, and -ics of past time of universe), the more focused and long distanced vision and visualizing power each of us can get.

regards,

Rajesh Sulabha.