India is a land of ancient civilization. Ancient India was a hub of culture, architecture, science & technology and the world capital of Spirituality. Most of the people know about western culture and that the Middle Kingdom but how many of us know about “Bharat, Ancient India”. We know China was famous for its Tea and ceramics, we also know about the ‘Great Wall of China’ but how many know about great temples of southern India. How many know about the achievements of our ancestors during that era.?
Let’s have a look on some facts and figures about Ancient Indian Civilization
Earth is Spherical, the discovery credited to the Greek philosopher Aristotle (born in 384 BCE). However, we all don’t know that there was a man in ancient India who gave the idea of “spherical earth” during the 8th-9th century BCE. He was named as “Yajnavalkya”. He was the first to ‘illustrate the heliocentric system of the planets’. In his book Shatapatha Brahmana, he put forward the fact that all the planets including earth move around the sun. He also calculated the time period of one year and it was only 6 minutes longer than the current calculated time of 365.24220 days.
Now let’s talk about Martial Arts. We all know about Martial arts also called Kung Fu. “Bodhidharma” The Prince of Pallava dynasty from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, visited China during the 5th century CE. He became the 28th patriarch of Buddhism and established the Shaolin temple and founded the martial arts. Now Martial arts is world famous. But how many of us know that Shaolin and Martial arts was founded by an Indian?
Our ancestors had invented many ways to develop the standards of basic life of a common man. These inventions were revolutionary achievements during their era.
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The Indus Valley civilization known for the Sanitized drainage system which was an extraordinary invention during those ancient times. But how many of us know that the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) were the first to invent a flush toilet?
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Indus Valley Civilization was the first to invent the rulers. During archeological surveys, a ruler has been found which was expected 4400 years old. Now people around the world use rulers to measure everything. The people of IVC also invented buttons. Do you know, Indus Valley Civilization people were the first to weave clothes made of cottons?
- Our ancestors were the first who invented weighing scales. These scales were broadly used in trading during that era. Archaeologist studies discovered weighing scales from the sites of Harappa, Lothal, Mohenjodaro.
- Ancient India has given techniques of Yoga. Nowadays Yoga is practiced all over the world.
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Three great mathematicians of our Ancient India, Aryabhatt, Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya proposed the concept of Zero. Brahmagupta was the first to discover a symbol for the value “Zero” (shunya). The value “Zero” was first used as algebra by Bhaskaracharya.
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In the field of Chemistry, The Atomic theory was first introduced by Acharya Kanad, in terms of “Anu”(atom) and “Paramanu”(nucleus).
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In the field of Medical Science; The great physician “Sage Shusrut” was the first to perform cataract surgery and plastic surgery. We can read about his achievements in his book named ‘Shusrut Samhita’ (The works of Shusrut). Also, the great medicine specialist “Charak” we hardly even heard the name, was the first to propose the medicinal treaties in the fields of physiology, digestion, embryology, immunity and sexual disease. You can read his book named ‘Charak Samhita’ (The works of Charak).
India is the land of grandest temples and architectures. Our gigantic monuments and breathtaking architectures bear the testimony of the greatness of ancient India. These monuments, temples and architectures are probably, the only way in which the whole world recognize the importance of ancient Indian civilization.
Kailash Temple:
It was constructed by cutting out a single rock- a mountain. The whole mountain was cut from the top to shape out the temple campus.
Dwarka:
The mysterious city submerged in the Arabian sea on the extreme west of India. Its a treasure bearing the pride of Ancient Indian heritage.
Khajuraho:
The marvel rocks. The best of our monuments are not built on soft rocks like marble. Our ancestors carved out even the hardest of the rocks to give it a best example of architecture and beauty.
