Facts you must know about India....
TheMythBuster..
2012/01/15 18:03:32
Amazing Facts about India and Indians......
1. India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
2. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
3. India is the world's largest democracy.
4.Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha
visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
5. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
6. The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
7. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
9. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.
10. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
11. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
12. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, 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.
13. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
14. IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
15. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
16. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
17. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
18. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
19. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
20. The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
21. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
22. India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
23. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
24. India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
25. India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously. 38% of Doctors in America are Indians. 12% of Scientists in America are Indians. 36% of NASA employees are Indians. 34% of Microsoft employees are Indians. 28% of IBM employees are Indians. 17% of Intel employees are Indians. 13% of Xerox employees are Indians. Famous Quotes on India (by non-Indians)....... Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. 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.
1. India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
2. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
3. India is the world's largest democracy.
4.Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha
visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
5. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
6. The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
7. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
9. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.
10. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
11. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
12. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, 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.
13. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
14. IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
15. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
16. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
17. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
18. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
19. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
20. The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
21. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
22. India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
23. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
24. India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
25. India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously. 38% of Doctors in America are Indians. 12% of Scientists in America are Indians. 36% of NASA employees are Indians. 34% of Microsoft employees are Indians. 28% of IBM employees are Indians. 17% of Intel employees are Indians. 13% of Xerox employees are Indians. Famous Quotes on India (by non-Indians)....... Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. 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.
2. Wrong. The Indians fought against the Persians and invaded Indo-China, and were always fighting each other. "India" is merely a geographic expression, Dravidian speakers in the South would be surprised to have been told that they were part of the same country as Indo-Aryans in the North at any time before the 19th century. The Dravidians and Indo-Aryans were frequently at war with one another, and at war with their own kin. Not to mention that the Raj was technically a...
2. Wrong. The Indians fought against the Persians and invaded Indo-China, and were always fighting each other. "India" is merely a geographic expression, Dravidian speakers in the South would be surprised to have been told that they were part of the same country as Indo-Aryans in the North at any time before the 19th century. The Dravidians and Indo-Aryans were frequently at war with one another, and at war with their own kin. Not to mention that the Raj was technically a distinct entity from Britain and that the Raj participated in several wars on its own behalf and on Britain's before. Mesopotamia was largely conquered from the Turks in WWI by Indian troops. The Indians fought against Japan in WWII, and were even on the Western Front in WWI. The Raj was described by one Viceroy as "an English barrack in an Oriental Sea" and Indian troops were used in Malaya, North Borneo, in China, and in Persia throughout its existence.
7. Wrong. Sanskrit is possibly the oldest documented Indo-European Language, maybe older than Greek, maybe not. But in any case it is definitely not the mother of all European Languages, as Sanskrit branched off from Proto-Indo-European at around the same time Old Persian and Greek did. All of them stem from an earlier language or languages.
9. Oh so wrong. The Mughals taxed the hell out of India, taxed it into poverty and the class system was crushing on the Indians. Furthermore, by the time the British arrived India had collapsed into a myriad of polities that were perpetually at war with each other and with the Europeans. The British were only able to conquer India by exploiting India's disunity, and indeed they conquered India primarily with the Indians themselves, Sepoys and Gurkhas who conquered their own Princes for the King's coin.
10. Wrong. Navigation comes from navigatus, a Latin cognate. Since Sanskrit and Latin are related it would seem that one came from the other. As a matter of fact both came from an earlier language. Navigation is merely the act of directing a waterborn vessel and was "invented" long before anybody wrote anything down. Not to mention the Indians weren't very good sailors. The Phoenicians were the first to really project themselves over the seas. The Phoenicians were Semitic like the Arabs and the Jews, but leaving their home lands in what is now Lebanon they charted the coasts of Spain and the British Isles, and virtually the entire Northern and Western coasts of Africa. If they rounded the Cape I don't know, but it's possible. The Indians didn't even chart the coasts of their own country.
17. It is conjectured to have originated in India. But the earliest actual attestation of the game was in the 7th century in Persia. Plausibly the Persians could have got it from India, but the problem is that Persian and Sanskrit are related and it's difficult to tell who had a term first.
22. The Indians certainly did have violence. The Indian National Congress and Gandhi especially preached non-violence, but violence was unavoidable. Millions also died in conflicts and population exchanges between Pakistan and India. Furthermore the British and French withdrew from a number of colonies that could be described as "non-violent (relatively)." Egypt is one, Iraq is one. Morocco and Tunisia, Madagascar, not to mention all of the British dominions that were virtually granted full autonomy and de facto independence with the Statute of Westminster. By that statute, Ireland, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and New Zealand were granted equality with the United Kingdom itself in the British Empire. None of them had to fight the British for it. So not only was there violence in India, but also certainly NOT the "only" nation that achieved independence (relatively) non-violently.
24. Though English has a quasi-official status in India it can hardly be said to be an English speaking country. The vast majority of Indians do not speak English and those that do do not speak it natively. The largest English speaking country is the United States. Ironically even though English isn't the official language, as the US doesn't have an official language.