SWAGATHAM
We have been ruled by the British for a long time and we believe in whatever they say. Whatever is written in our history books is what they wrote and anyone who dares to question this is riduculed as conservative and even communal!. Consider some facts.
• Indians invented the wheel which is the base for almost all inventions.
• Contrary to what we are taught Indians know of gravity long before Issac Newton. Our Vedas talk of gravity (Agarshana Sakthi).
• India has invented the number system. Zero has been invented by Aryabhatta.
• India established the worlds first university at Takshasila in 700 B.C. Infact, the Arabic, the Chinese and people from foreign countries came and studied there
• The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century CE was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• 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.
• Sushruta is known as the father of surgery, performing complex surgeries as many as 2600 years ago. Usage of anesthesia was well 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.
• Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British in the early 17th Century. Cristopher Columbus was attracted by her wealth.
• The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
• 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. The ubiquitous Almanac (Panchangam) is ample proof of the precise knowledge of our ancestors in astronomy.
• 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 athematicians.
• Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were propounded 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).
• According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds 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 aptly called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
• Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, ours was a developed system.
• There are so many lessons that we can learn from the famous epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha.
• Swami Vivekananda has taught us so many lessons on personality development
Take the case of Samudragutpa, the ruler of Gupta Empire (335 AD) who is considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses in Indian history. We call him as the “Napoleon of India” and think we have done him proud!. While Napoleon lived during 1769 and Samudragupta during 335 AD we don’t even think “shouldn’t it be apt if we called Napolean the Samudragupta of the French and not the other way around”
May be it is because, as our Mahakavi Bharathiar said, of our penchant for slavery?
Most of us are aware of Nostradamus, the famous publisher of prophecies who lived in the 16 Century AD. Even though most of his prophecies cannot be claimed as precise and there is much difference of opinion on this, everyone talks of his prophecies with wonder.
How many of you are aware that in our Srimad Bhagavatham, which can be stated as the continuation of the Mahabaratha, written in 5000 B.C. there is a precise list of what is going to happen in future in Kaliyuga Srimad Bhagavatham talks, among other things, of the Nanda Dynasty, Chanakya, Mauryas and Chandragupta Maurya followed by Kanvas and then rule by foreigners. It also gives a detailed list of how the rulers and people will behave which exactly matches today’s scenario. Even if we don’t appreciate all this, atleast we should be aware that we belong to a great Nation with a glorious past and future.
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