Contribution of India towards the World

CONTRIBUTIONS OF INDIA TO THE WORLD

Zero

Indians were the first to use Zero as a numeral. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The concept of zero is referred to as shunya in the early Sanskrit texts and it is also explained in the Pingala’s Chandah Sutra (200 AD). The Hindu genius Bhaskaracharya proved that x divided by 0 = ∞ (infinity) and that infinity however divided remains infinity. This concept was recognized in Hindu theology millennia earlier. The earliest recorded date for an inscription of zero (inscribed on a copper plate) was found in Gujarat (585 – 586 AD). Later, zero appeared in Arabic books in 770 AD and from there it was carried to Europe in 800 AD.

Decimal Number System

The decimal number system of place value 10 was invented by Indians in 100 BC.

Place Value System

The present place value system was invented by Indians.

Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry and Calculus

Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry and Calculus originated in India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The word Geometry seems to have emerged from the Sanskrit word gyaa-miti which means "measuring the Earth". And the word Trigonometry is similar to tri-kona-miti meaning "measuring triangular forms". Euclid is credited with the invention of Geometry in 300 BCE while the concept of Geometry in India emerged in 1000 BCE, from the practice of making fire altars in square and rectangular shapes. The treatise of Surya Siddhanta describes amazing details of Trigonometry, which were introduced to Europe 1200 years later in the 16th century by Briggs. All Hindu as well as Buddhist mandalas and yantras are complex forms of Geometrical shapes.

Bhaskaracharya otherwise known as Bhaskara is probably the most well known mathematician of ancient Indian today. Bhaskara wrote his famous Siddhanta Siroman in the year 1150 A.D. It is divided into four parts; Lilavati (arithmetic), Bijaganita (a treatise on algebra), Goladhyaya (celestial globe), and Grahaganita (mathematics of the planets). An Arabic Scholar Al Zabar translated a Bhaskara's work Bijaganita from Sanskrit. It was later known as Algebra in European languages.

Binary Number System

The Binary number system which is used in modern computers and digital devices was invented in India. Binary numbers were first described by Pingala (c. 200 BC). Pingala is the traditional name of the author of the Chandaḥśāstra, the earliest known Sanskrit treatise on prosody.

The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 10⁵³ (i.e 10 raise to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. During the Vedic period.

Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10¹² (10 to the power of 12).

The value of “pi” correct to 5 decimal places was manipulated by Aryabhatta and he was the first scientist to declare pi as an irrational number. However the value of “pi” correct to 31 decimals has been encrypted in ancient Indian Vedas long before the invention of Aryabhatta or the Greek.

Pythagorean Theorem

Budhayana explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem today. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematician, Pythagoras was born.

Law of Gravity

Newton’s theory of gravity was known to Indians 1200 years before Newton was born.

In Surya Siddhanta, dated 400-500 AD, the ancient Hindu astronomer Bhaskaracharya states,

"Objects fall on the earth due to a force of attraction by the earth. Therefore, the earth, planets, constellations, moon, and sun are held in orbit due to this force."

Approximately 1200 years later (1687 AD), Sir Isaac Newton rediscovered this phenomenon and called it the Law of Gravity.

Astronomy and Cosmology studies originated in India.

Chess

Chess was invented in India.

The game of chess was invented in India and was originally called Ashtapada (sixty-four squares).

"Ashtapada" Sanskrit for spider -"a legendary being with eight legs" was played with dice on an 8x8 checkered board. There were no light and dark squares like we see in today's chess board for 1,000 years. Other Indian boards included the 10×10 Dasapada and the 9×9 Saturankam.

Later this game came to be known as chaturanga. The Sanskrit name Chaturanga means 'quadripartite' — the four angas (divided into four parts). The earliest known form of chess is two-handed chaturanga, Sanskrit for "the 4 branches of the army." Like real Indian armies at that time, the pieces were called elephants, chariots, horses and foot soldiers. Unlike modern chess, chaturanga was mainly a game of chance; results depended on how well you rolled the dice.

In fact, Yudhishthira and Duryodhana, in the Mahabharata, played a version of chaturanga using a dice. The game Chaturanga was a battle simulation game which rendered Indian military strategy of the time.

In 600 AD this game was learned by Persians who named it Shatranj. Shatranj is a foreign word among the Persians and the Arabians, whereas its natural derivation from the term Chaturanga is obvious. Again affix the Arabic name for the bishop, means the elephant, derived from alephhind, the Indian elephant.

Snakes & Ladders Game

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. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

Takshila University

The world’s first university was the Takshila University which existed during 700 BC, located in the northwest region of India. It had 300 lecture halls, laboratories, a library and a towering observatory for astronomical research. 68 subjects were taught at this university and the minimum entry age, ancient texts show, was 16. At one stage, it had 200 professors and 10,500 students including those from Babylon, Greece, Syria, and China. Experienced masters taught the Vedas, languages, grammar, philosophy, medicine, surgery, archery, politics, warfare, astronomy, accounts, commerce, documentation, music, dance and other performing arts, futurology, the occult and mystical sciences,complex mathematical calculations. The panel of masters at the university included legendary scholars like Kautilya, Panini, Jivak and Vishnu Sharma.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago in India.

Ayurveda is a Sanskrit term, made up of the words "ayus" and "veda." "Ayus" means life and "Veda" means knowledge or science. The term "ayurveda" thus means 'the knowledge of life' or 'the science of life'. According to the ancient Ayurvedic scholar Charaka, "ayu" comprises the mind, body, senses and the soul. Ayurveda can be defined as a system, which uses the inherent principles of nature, to help maintain health in a person by keeping the individual's body, mind and spirit in perfect equilibrium with nature.

Surgery

Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries. More than 3000 different surgeries were performed and nearly 120 surgical instruments have been used before 2600 years itself.

Medicine

Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

Navigation

The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word ‘Navigation’ is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nou’.

Time of Earth’s Revolution

The famous Hindu mathematician, Bhaskaracharya, in his treatise Surya Siddhanta, calculated the time taken for the earth to orbit the sun to nine decimal places (365.258756484 days).

Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.

Today’s accepted measurement is 365.2564 days. Therefore, assuming that today’s figures are correct, it means that Bhaskaracharya was off by only 0.0002%.

Metallurgy

India was the world-leader in Metallurgy for more than 5,000 years. Gold jewelery is available from 3,000 BCE. Brass and bronze pieces are dated back to 1,300 BCE. Extraction of zinc from ore by distillation was used in India as early as 400 BCE while European William Campion patented the process some 2,000 years later. Copper statues can be dated back to 500 CE. There is an iron pillar in Delhi dating back to 400 CE that shows no sign of rust or decay.

The earliest know book on metallurgy was known to be written by Nagarjuna in 10th century. The book Rasaratnanakara addresses various metallurgical topics such as:

Preparation of liquids (rasas) such as Mercury

Extraction of metals like Gold, Silver, Tin, and Copper from their ores and their purification

The processes of liquefaction, distillation, sublimation, and roasting

India was invaded by Mohammedans during the time of Nagarjuna. It is possible that Nagarjuna's texts fell into the hands of the invaders, who could have transmitted these Indian Metallurgical sciences to the outside world.

Buddhism and Jainism originated in India.

Unit of Time

The ancient Indians had given the world the idea of the smallest and largest measuring units of Time. The smallest is the 34,000th of a second (krati) and the largest is the 4.32 Billion years (mahayuga).

Yoga

Yoga was invented in India.

Radio/Wireless communication

We all know that Marconi received a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 for contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy. But the first public demonstration of radio waves for communication was made by Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose in 1895, two years prior to Marconi’s similar demonstration in England.

USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.

Sir Bose was posthumously credited (more than a century later) for his achievement. The fact remains that this discovery truly shaped the face of modern wireless communication.

Fiber Optics

Named as one of the 7 ‘Unsung Heroes’ by Fortune Magazine, Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany, is widely recognized as the ‘Father of Fiber Optics’ for his pioneering work in Fiber Optics technology

Jaipur Foot

The idea of the Jaipur Foot was conceived by Ram Chander Sharma under the guidance of Dr. P.K. Sethi, who was then the head of the Department of Orthopedics at Sawai ManSingh Medical College in Jaipur, India.They developed it in 1968. Designed in and named after Jaipur, India, the prosthetic leg was designed to be inexpensive, water-resistant, and quick to fit and manufacture. The Jaipur Foot is superior to its SACH (Solid Ankle Cushion Heel) counterpart in certain ways, mainly in the range of movements it offers. The articulation at the 'ankle' allows not only inversion-eversion movements but also dorsiflexion (essential for squatting, standing up from prone position, etc.) and a shorter keel helps achieve this. Also, the materials used at the foot-end are waterproof and moderately mimic a real foot.

These features help a physically-challenged person assimilate more easily in a semi-urban or rural setup in the Indian subcontinent and other developing countries.

Shampoo

The word shampoo is derived from Hindi word chāmpo and dates to 1762. The shampoo itself originated in the eastern regions of the Mughal Empire where it was introduced as a head massage, usually consisting of alkali , natural oils and fragrances. Shampoo was first introduced in Britain by a Bengali entrepreneur from Bihar named Sake Dean Mahomed.

Fibonacci Series

This sequence was first described by Virahanka (c. 700 AD), Gopāla (c. 1135), and Hemachandra as an outgrowth of the earlier writings on Sanskrit prosody by Pingala.

Flush Toilets

Flush toilets were first used in the Indus Valley Civilization. These existed in most homes and were connected to a sophisticated sewage mechanism. The civilization was prominent in hydraulic engineering.

Buttons

Buttons were first used in Mohenjo-daro for ornamental purpose rather than for fastening. They were first used in the Indus Valley Civilization by 2000 BCE.

Cotton

The ancient Greeks used to wear animal skins and were not even aware of cotton. But Indians had started cultivating cotton during the 5th – 4th millennium BCE in the Indus Valley Civilization.

Jute

Jute has been cultivated in India since ancient times. India also exported raw jute to the western world , where it was used to make ropes and cordage. The Indian jute industry was later modernized during the British Raj in India.

The Pentium Chip

The Pentium Chip was invented by an Indian. Vinod Dham is also known as the Father of the Pentium chip, for his contribution to the development of highly successful Pentium processors from Intel.

USB

USB was developed and defined by Ajay V. Bhatt, who is an Indian-American computer architect

You can also credit him for AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) , PCI Express , Platform Power management architecture and various chipset improvements.

What famous personalities all over the world have to say about India –

"It is India that gave us the ingenuous method of expressing all numbers by the means of ten symbols, each symbol receiving a value of position, as well as an absolute value; a profound and important idea which appears so simple to us now that we ignore its true merit, but its very simplicity, the great ease which it has lent to all computations, puts our arithmetic in the first rank of useful inventions, and we shall appreciate the grandeur of this achievement when we remember that it escaped the genius of Archimedes and Apollonius, two of the greatest minds produced by antiquity."
— French mathematician Pierre Simon Laplace (1749 - 1827)

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. - Albert Einstein

Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.

French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of 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.

Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

Jayesh Patel said: However great was our past and great was our treasure, a citizen of India who is alive today needs a job for himself and food for family. Great wealth and treasures that your forefathers had centuries ago don't buy you anything today..Like an ostrich, we have become a community who is living in the past and avoiding a hard look at the realities

Sources-

• http://veda.wikidot.com
• https://www.scoopwhoop.com
• https://en.wikipedia.org/
• https://www.google.com/