For All those who don't know what INDIA really is.

• India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.

• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)

• Chess was invented in India.

• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.

• The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 BC

• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.

• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.

• The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'.$$\text{Moksh means salvation and pat means Path}$$. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.

• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.

• The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.

• The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.

• $$\text{India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake}$$.
• The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago.

• The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.

• Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.

• The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician 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.

• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as $$10^{53}$$ with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: $$10^{12}$$

• Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world (Source: Gemological Institute of America).

• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.

• Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.

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

• India exports software to 90 countries.

• The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.

• Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.

• There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.

• The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.

• Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively

• The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.

• The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate \$6 million (US) to the temple everyday.

• Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.

• Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

• India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.

• His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.

• Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.

• Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

And my Favourite :The speed of light.

The great Indian talents in the Vedic age had the knowledge of the speed of the light. G.V. RAGHAVRAO in his book quotes a verse from RigVeda (1,50-4) Yojanam Sahastra Dwe Dwe Shate Dwe Cha Yojane Aken Nimishardhena Krammana Namostute. In this verse, the author pays respect to the one (the reference is to sunlight) who moves 2202 $$yojans$$ in half $$nimish$$.Yojan is quite a common unit in India, it means 4 kose,each kose measuring 8000 British Yards and each yard measuring 0.9144 m. The definition of the time unit $$nimish$$ can be found in Shrimadbhagwat (III,11-3 to 10) where it is mentioned that 15 nimishas make 1 $$kashta$$,15 kashtas make 1 laghu , 30 laghus make 1 $$muhurta$$ and 30 muhurtas make 1 $$Diva-Ratri$$.A diva-ratri is of course a day-night which is 24 hrs in modern language. When you convert 2202 yojans per half nimish into SI units, it turns out to be $$3.0\times 10^8 \frac{m}{s}$$ up to two significant digits, a value quite accurate as we know it today.

May be this note helps but note this is just starting the list never ends. Post amazing facts about india except those which i mentioned.

Note by Gautam Sharma
3 years, 4 months ago

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Oh ! come on!!

Lets not take any step to disturb the harmony of the community. This is a wonderful place. Let it be so.

What's wrong with you all? Why are you taking such a defensive stand. As per the individual who commented, no one can find out why he/she did so. Everyone has a broad and deep background, has a basis according to which one behave. We can't find that.

Something like that (an offensive comment) happens, you notify staffs, staffs take action, full stop. End of the story.

India did this and that. Indians did this and that. Britain...Russia...Japan... . No doubt that this site, this community comprises of human beings having different culture, tradition, life style, perspective, etc., But we share so much common among us - Recall brilliant discussions - Recall having fun on something...

You feel offended. Many others also feel offended. And it's okay to be so. But in what ways do you see your this action to be different from the one that caused all this (to you to create this note)?

I don't think this kind of things happen here too often. We are stretching it. People around here are amazing. People around here are interesting. People around here are helpful.

"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." - Mahatma Gandhi

"Nobody can hurt me without my permission."

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

"Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up."

"Intolerance is itself a form of violence ..."

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." - Buddha

You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.

"Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home." - Mother Teresa.

We are not focusing on what the community did for us. We forgetting the action the staff took for us. We are forgetting how Calvin responded -the comment was removed, the account shut down. We are only looking at the dark side. Because we too are on the dark side.

I hope you would try to understand what I wanted to mean.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I agree with you. Here are people from so many countries. There's no reason to post pros of our country as each and every country has something to be proud of. It would be better to post a 400 points question to show your reaction rather than a note.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Haha :D

Such a nice idea. Next time if I loose my temper. I will try posting a super hard 400 points question ... thanks for the idea

:D

- 3 years, 4 months ago

No math philic now this note itself has become place to exchange historic knowledge .You see how michael sir came with russia incident .Its so much informative.I had forgot about that boy.we are just exchanging our thoughts and that makes brilliant interesting.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Yeah. That is something really positive. Told ya this place is wonderful

;)

- 3 years, 4 months ago

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

This quote isn't actually true

We are not focusing on what the community did for us. We forgetting the action the staff took for us. We are forgetting how Calvin responded. We are only looking at the dark side. Because we too are on the dark side.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

A quote needs not to be "true". It's a quote. It isn't a Theorem. We need develop a positive believe system. Believe systems are never true. I don't want to get into details. Search about applied psychology on believe system.

Why is there a need to create a note concerning about achievement of Indians and India with a tone "For All those who don't know what INDIA really is." The staffs have already deleted the comment. Shut the profile down. Why stretch the matter?

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I meant "not true" in the sense that Mahatma Gandhi never said that. See the link I gave.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Anyways, detaching the authority from a quote doesn't reduce its strength if you have understood the meaning and can reflect and act upon it positively.

;)

- 3 years, 4 months ago

The mention of RigVeda 1.50-4 and "2202 yojans in half nimish", being so similar to the speed of light really sparked my interest, and I'm sure to bring this up with some other people of certain other faiths. But is it supposed to be the speed of light itself, or the speed of the sun as it moves across the sky or universe? It doesn't say. The early Greeks and Islamics wondered if the speed of light was finite and made effort to determine it. I wish we could uncover more about Hindu thought on the matter--was the figure worked out through observation, or was it simply "divinely revealed"?

As for "India never invaded any other country", that's kind of like dismissing the fact America invaded Mexico in 1847. The borders of India, overlapping with those of successive empires that have invaded India, have been pretty fluid through most all of its history, and so maybe it can't be blamed for that. A more accurate statement would be that India had never exercised global force, as a number of superpowers such as America, Great Britain, Russia, China, etc., have, in history. Remember, Great Britain was in India simply because they had beaten the Russians to it--Russia was very much interested in control of it too. Just think, you guys could have been speaking Russian and playing gorodki instead of speaking English and playing cricket.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Remember, Great Britain was in India simply because they had beaten the Russians to it

Do you have a source for this? I was aware of French, Dutch and Portuguese colonialists, but not Russians. AFAIK, Russians weren't a major player in India around that time period.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I'm referring to the 19th century, where by that time Great Britain had a solid presence in India, but Russia was serious about dislodging Great Britain and taking it for itself. I think many people have this impression that Great Britain was the sole superpower in the 19th century, but that's not true. The other superpower was Russia, that was working hard with its geopolitical aims.

Look up The Great Game as a place to start.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Oh. Ok. I don't why I read that as the British had beaten the Russians in India. Though that reason is fallacious. Russia had no presence in India. If the British Empire had fallen to the Russians, India wouldn't have just gone over to the Russians. There existed quite a few (500+) autonomous kingdoms within India of which some were quite powerful (Hyderabad, Travancore) but were vassals of the British. If the British empire had fallen, they would've revolted and claimed much of the land back.

Honestly, the main reason India never globally invaded any country was because it was self sufficient in resources and had natural barriers, with seas on three sides and the Himalayas in the North East. Though you could call technically call the 1971 war an "invasion".

- 3 years, 4 months ago

To protect British India from Russian invasion, the Britishers captured Afghanistan and subdued Afghan tribal rulers, using them as a barrier against Russia. :-)

- 3 years, 4 months ago

For pretty much of Russia's entire history, it has been borderlands hegemonic, and even right now, it's STILL active in borderlands hegemony. If Russia had the chance, it would have taken over India too. They certainly expressed a strong interest in doing just that, and actually made plans to do it in the 19th century. Would they have been successful? Well, let their experiences in Afghanistan speak for itself. Remember, they weren't just going to stop there.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I agree Russia had expressed a strong interest in taking over India, but I'm still skeptical that the Russians would've have been able to take over India from the British that easily. It had taken over 50 years for the British to control most of India, more if you count the years they spent trading and building up influence and this was after India was largely fragmented and the only major rulers in the North, the Mughals, were very weak. I honestly doubt the Russians would've been able to take over a united India. The British had beaten the Russians by 50 years.

The other colonialists ruling India is plausible, but Russia ruling India seems a bit too much

- 3 years, 4 months ago

It is speed of light as who has written it is paying his tribute to the "sunlight".or because they considered the sun as a god like the Aten. And the source of these facts are various websites, my knowledge etc.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Since this is news to me, I'll be looking more into this. Thanks for bringing this up!

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I would suggest you don't. Here is a link on how the calculations were made. A lot of it is approximations,(eg, size of barley, distance till which a cow's voice can be heard). Its honestly ex post facto reasoning.

As a general piece of advice, if someone says a scientific fact is in the Vedas, disregard it. The Vedas were hymns to God and TBH did not contain any scientific fact. In fact, this isn't even from the Rig Veda. Its from a commentary on the Rig Veda. Generally, if it is true, it'll be attributed to a mathematicians name.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I am usually skeptical about people who "overglorify" Indian history. Yes, we are people who are extremely proud of our culture and heritage. By skeptical, I mean to say that just being proud and living in the past is not going to get us anywhere. But yes, I do agree that almost everything mentioned above is right. Here's something I'd like to add to this discussion:

Leibniz formula for π

Now, think why it's still named after Leibniz.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

It's the same thing why the is the heliocentric theory is called the "Copernican model", when Aristarchus of Samos in ancient Greece first proposed it in writing around 270 BC.

And, anyway, that does bring up my point about the speed of light. Ancient greeks were able to estimate 1) the size of the moon, 2) the distance to the moon, 3) the size of the sun, and 4) the distance to the sun. How they were even able to do that is a fascinating subject itself. That's why I was kind of hoping maybe something like this happened with some early "Hindu estimate of the speed of light". But probably I won't find anything beyond what's already brought up here in this note.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

A quick google search returned this paper. Do not know how much of it is true, don't have the time to go through it fully either. Hope you get something from this.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I've checked that link. Check the concluding remarks.

It is a lucky chance that the final number turned out to be exactly equal to the true speed. S¯ayan. a’s value as speed of light must be considered the most astonishing “blind hit” in the history of science!

The biggest problem IMO is the unreliability of both the text itself and the units used. I've seen at least two different values for "nimesha" and multiple values for "yojana". Also, the text refers to the speed of the Sun, not to the speed of light, which is being used interchangeably Infact, wikipedia gives the the value of one "yojana" as 8 miles or 5 miles, whereas that link uses 9 miles. I'm checking more links though. Lemme see if I find anything. Also, quora link

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Siddhartha why are you just opposite everyone's comments maybe you can be wrong. Maybe sayana actually calculated one can't say.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

False facts destroy the credibility of the true facts. People see the false claims made and then infer that all claims made are false.

I'm not disputing the facts which have proper sources. Most of those facts are true and amazing. But to see false "facts" mixed in with the true ones is disheartening. At least on a forum for Science, we can agree that false claims should be discouraged.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Okay how do you know that sayana calculated speed of light is a false fact?

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I'm not saying its a false fact. It may be true. But there is a very slim chance that it was actually done. Some points why:-

• The actual quote isn't about "light". It is about the "Sun". He never specifies he means light, and in fact the original quote refers to the Sun, not light. Also, it is not like Sanskrit had no words for light. Also, there is no context to his quote.

• I think I've quoted the calculations done. There are a few problems with the units. There exist (at least) 2 values of "nimesha". Also, there exist multiple values of "yojana", since if you see how one "yojana" was calculated, you'll see that it uses references like size of a grain of barley and height of a man. It is impossible to know what value Sayana used in his calculations.

• There is an absence of any record mentioning the speed of light anywhere else or the methods used to determine this. Remember Science depends not only on the answer but how you got the answer. I agree that there is in general an absence of written records in India, since knowledge was transmitted orally, but still having no records whatsoever is a problem. In fact, the only thing close to this is a hymn which vaguely implies that light has a finite speed.

• There is an absence of proper scientific tools. There is evidence of Aryabhatta using water clocks, but clearly they didn't have anything which could measure anything to the accuracy of more than say a few seconds. Considering that this slok references a time of milliseconds, they clearly couldn't have measured it. Maybe they measured it some other way, but we have no record of it at all.

• Lastly, this was in Sayana's commentary on the Veda's, not a separate scientific treatise. This is not exactly a very reliable source. This would be akin to future historians claiming time travel existed in 2000AD solely on the basis of Isaac Asimov's novels.

I have some other work to do abhi. But I'll try putting sources for each of my claims by tomorrow.

Edit:- I just realized I never got to this. Anyone who wants the sources can reply to this comment.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Best line here: "Science depends not only on the answer but how you got the answer"

- 3 years, 3 months ago

- 3 years, 4 months ago

It is named after him because first of all i think all the work done by indians retained to india only .It never got a chance to flourish while in the european states this was not the case and after that the colonial rule kinda like paused this .

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I dont know if every one is aware of it but it awesome thing.

- 3 years, 3 months ago

So what was your inspiration for putting up this note ?

Btw it's nicely done :)

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Azhaghu, some guy "Asencion Garcia" in North Carolina flamed Indians in the solutions section in Just Start Solving... I have no idea whatever prompted Ascension to do that. His comments have been removed.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Oh !

Btw sir , I am not able to even view his profile . Has his account been deleted ?

- 3 years, 4 months ago

It looks like it now, his account has been deleted.

- 3 years, 3 months ago

Wow! So much happened on B'ant and I didn't even come to know of it ! I feel embarrassed now .

- 3 years, 3 months ago

Comment deleted Mar 23, 2015

Nope. Wrong on both accounts. Hotmail wasn't the first email. In fact it came after HTML in 1993, since Hotmail's original logo was HoTMaiL, which drew reference to Hotmail. It was created by an Indian. Sameer Bhatia, I think.

The person who you're looking for is Shiva Ayyadurai, who claimed to have created email first. But it was later proven wrong.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Sabeer Bhatia

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Comment deleted Mar 23, 2015

Did you check the Links? The first email systems came around 1965. Hotmail was established in 1995. I never said HTML is email. I said the original logo for Hotmail was HoTMaiL. This was a reference to HTML, which itself cam in 1993.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

OK. I am deleting my comment. Thanks.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

A lot of these "facts" are wrong. For example, the 36% percent of NASA scientists are Indian

Also, The Varanasi one

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Parts of SrimadBhagwat is taught in top B schools,Chanakya neeti and his political works too are taught in IIMs and in top B schools.Isn't that cool?

- 3 years, 4 months ago

See this for facts more amazing than above (not the speed of light.)

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Oh, about that, Gautam. I've noticed that a lot of Christians believe that among the 12 Stones of the Breastplate of the High Priest of the Israelites, as described in the Book of Exodus, there was a diamond a ruby. Well, no, in those days, diamonds and rubies were unknown to the ancient Egyptians and Canaanites, but were first discovered and mined in India. It doesn't really say in the Book of Exodus that there is a diamond and a ruby among the 12 stones, but many people today want to believe that because, well, those two are pretty special.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

So you believe that they were mined in india first? And here is formulator of speed of light

- 3 years, 4 months ago

I happened to get to know a certain lady whose specialty was sources of gemstones in ancient times, primarily in the Mediterranean and Mideast region. She cataloged mining sites that were active in those days, and the types of minerals extracted, and thus, by comparing them with the engraved gemstones that were in use by ancient upper echelon societies, trade routes and interchange of culture could be worked out. There weren't any diamond or ruby mines in this area back then, so the fact such stones eventually made it to the Mediterranean indicated the extent of the trade routes by that time. The Romans knew about the Chinese and the Indians, but the ancient Egyptians and Canaanites up to the time of the New Kingdom (Egypt) did not. The Book of Exodus depicts events that are said to have happened during the New Kingdom or shortly afterwards.

So, yes, they were first commercially mined in India.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

is it rue that there are more no. of mosques in india greater than any other muslim country ?

- 3 years, 4 months ago

This is pretty likely due to the India's size and population. No Muslim country really compares to India on population

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Well said @Gautam Sharma and I am a prouder Indian now!!:)

- 3 years, 4 months ago

And yes India is the second largest english speaking nation in the world.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

True Gautum, and yeah this list about india is too small. It would take a page of infinite capacity to print all the glorious things about India. It just can't be explained through words.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Yes Agreed!!

- 3 years, 4 months ago

It is the second largest English speaking country.

- 3 years, 4 months ago

Yes it was typo.

- 3 years, 4 months ago