Incredible India !

Incredible India !
-- By Maxwell Pereira

My niece sent me on e-mail some incredible facts on India, what a friend had sent her, who in turn had done the good Samaritan act of disseminating what someone else many hands down the line had taken pains to collect and circulate. It couldn’t have arrived in a better lap. For I have this passion for e-mail and its colossal and speedy information dissemination power – of which I make ample use. And not satisfied with the hundreds I have already shared this information with though the electronic media, it is apt now to share it with yet as many more as possible through this column.

Some, if not all of these facts known to most Indians, were picked up it appears, not from a compilation in India, but from what’s written on India that appeared in writings and readings outside India. Some may dispute them as facts. Something like “India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of her history”. But when many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established the Harappan culture in the Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization) – which today, has been recognised by researchers actually to be the Saraswati culture.

The World's first university established in Takshila in 700BC had 10,500 students from all over the world studying more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda in 4th century BC is acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. And Sanskrit, through Latin, is accepted as the mother of all European languages. A 1987 report in Forbes magazine said Sanskrit was the most suitable language for computer software.

India contributed to the Number System the numerical ‘O’ given by Aryabhatta. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus originated here. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106, while Hindus (the then inhabitants of the land of Sapta-Sindu) used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as in 5000 BC during the Vedic period. While today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).

The time taken by the earth to orbit the sun was calculated in 5th century as 365.258756484 days by Bhaskaracharya, -- hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, who explained the concept of the Pythagorean Theorem discovered by him in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. The place value system, the decimal system, was developed in India in 100 BC.

Then, Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans, which Charaka the father of medicine consolidated 2500 years ago. Sushruta the father of surgery with other health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgery 2600 years ago. Use of anesthesia was known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

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. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi. As if to substantiate this, was the report in the Feb’99 issue of ‘Nature’ on how a Danish physicist and his team of scientists in the US have managed to slow down the speed of light – reducing its speed from 300.000 km per sec to approximately 17 meters per second or 71 km per hour – using the Bose-Einstein condensate to stall light in its path.

The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word naugatih. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit ‘nou’. 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. The Gemological Institute of America says, up until 1896 India was the only source for diamonds known to the world. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. 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.

Well I suppose there is no doubt about Chess being an Indian invention, as in Shatranj or Ashta Pada. And the game of ‘Polo’ also had it’s origins in the North Eastern parts of India(Manipur). The first man on Mt.Everest was Tenzing Norgay, an Indian nepali sherpa, contrary to the popular belief that it was Sir Edmund Hilary. And the science of ‘fingerprints’ was discovered and developed in India (Calcutta).

With all this potential, what is it that inhibits the Indian to excel today? Isn’t it time we arrested the downward slide? Or are we beyond caring?

...published in the editorial page of Indian Express on 22 February 1999 with the title "The Wonder That Was India"
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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