28 INDIAN INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.

THE HINDU NUMBER SYSTEM.

 

With decimal place-value and a symbol for zero, this system was the ancestor of the widely used Arabic numeral system. It was developed in the Indian subcontinent between the 1st and 6th centuries.

Aryabhatta invented zero, without which there is no binary code and computers.  

WORLD’S FIRST UNIVERSITY.

 

The Takshasila University was established in 700BC and Nalanda University was established in 4th century BC.

THE CONCEPTS OF ALGEBRA, TRIGONOMETRY,  GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS ORIGINATED FROM INDIA. THE EVIDENCE TRACES BACK TO 1200 BCE.

 

AYURVEDIC MEDICINE.

 

Ayurveda and Siddha are ancient and traditional systems of medicine. Ayurveda dates back to Iron Age India (1st millennium BC) and is still practiced today as a form of complementary and alternative medicine. Siddha medicine is mostly prevalent in South India. Herbs and minerals are basic raw materials of the Siddha system which dates back to the period of siddha saints around the 5th century BC.

BINARY NUMBER SYSTEM.

The Indian scholar Pingala developed a binary system for describing music in around 5th–2nd centuries BC. He used binary numbers in the form of short and long syllables making it similar to Morse code.

COTTON CULTIVATION AND WEAVING.

Cotton was cultivated by the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization by the 5th millennium BCE – 4th millennium BCE.[91] The Indus cotton industry was well developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be practiced till the modern Industrialization of India.[92] Well before the Common Era, the use of cotton textiles had spread from India to the Mediterranean and beyond.

“Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, and their use spread to the Mediterranean countries.”

                                                  –The Columbia Encyclopaedia

CHANDRASEKHAR LIMIT AND CHANDRASEKHAR NUMBER.

These parameters were discovered by and named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his work on stellar structure and stellar evolution.

VALUE OF PI.

The concept of Pi and an approximate value of it were first discovered by Budhayana in 800 BC they were later improved by Aryabhatta. Budhayana also devised the concept of Pythagorean theorem.

BHASKARACHARYA CALCULATED THE TIME TIME TAKEN BY THE EARTH TO ORBIT THE SUN IN 5TH CENTURY  BC.

SIR JAGADEESH CHANDRA BOSE INVENTED WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS IN 1819.

 

THE EARLIEST MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

Susrutha and his team performing a surgery

Sustura Regarded as the father of surgery wrote the Sushruta Samhita the earliest medical encyclopedia known to world during 1200BC containing 184 chapters contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources.
He along with his team conducted cataract, cesarean, factures and urinary stone surgeries. His team has conducted more than 3000 surgeries with help of more than 120 tools.

CATARACT SURGERY.

Cataract surgery was known to the Indian physician Sushruta (6th century BCE). In India, cataract surgery was performed with a special tool called the Jabamukhi Salaka, a curved needle used to loosen the lens and push the cataract out of the field of vision. The eye would later be soaked with warm butter and then bandaged. Though this method was successful, Susruta cautioned that cataract surgery should only be performed when absolutely necessary. Greek philosophers and scientists traveled to India where these surgeries were performed by physicians. The removal of cataract by surgery was also introduced into China from India.

CURE FOR LEPROSY.

Kearns & Nash (2008) state that the first mention of leprosy is described in the Indian medical treatise Sushruta Samhita (6th century BCE). However, The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine holds that the mention of leprosy, as well as ritualistic cures for it, were described in the Atharva-veda (1500–1200 BCE), written before the Sushruta Samhita

CHESS WAS INVENTED IN INDIA IN 6TH CENTURY.

DIAMOND MINING AND DIAMOND TOOLS.

Diamonds were first recognized and mined in central India 5,000 years ago, where significant alluvial deposits of the stone could then be found along the rivers Penner, Krishna and Godavari.

India remained the world’s only source of diamonds until the discovery of diamonds in Brazil in the 18th century. Golconda served as an important centre for diamonds in central India. Diamonds then were exported to other parts of the world, including Europe.

THE GAME OF SNAKES AND LADDERS WAS INVENTED IN 13TH CENTURY BY SAINT GYAN DEV.

BUDDHISM AND JAINISM ORIGINATED IN INDIA.

Sinheungsa Bronze Buddha in Seoraksan National Park near Sokcho South Korea

INDIANS ESTABLISHED ONE OF THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS IN THE WORLD CALLED INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION.

CRUCIBLE STEEL.

Crucible steel is the form of steel that is popular for its wide range of applications in variety of fields from industries to home appliances. Scientific research showed promising evidence of crucible steel extraction processes in Kodumanal, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu during the period as early as 3rd century BC.

BUTTONS WERE DISCOVERED IN INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION 5000 YEARS AGO.

SIR  JAGADEESH CHANDRA BOSE INVENTED CRESCOGRAPH, A DEVICE WHICH MEASURES THE GROWTH IN PLANTS.

THE BOARD GAME LUDO IS A MODIFIED VERSION OF INDIAN INVENTED GAME CALLED PASICHI.

EARLIEST TRACES OF RULER/SCALE WAS OBSERVED DURING INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION.

 

THE RAMAN EFFECT.

The Encyclopedia Britannica (2008) reports: “change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules”. The phenomenon is named for Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, who discovered it in 1928. When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than that of the incident (incoming) beam. Most of this scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman effect.”

MARTIAL ARTS.

4th century BCE  Indian epic poetry and the Vedas give the earliest written mention of South Asian martial arts. Boxing, wrestling, swordsmanship, archery, and the use of numerous weapons are all described in detail.

STEP WELLS.

The purpose of Stepwells is mainly to cope with seasonal fluctuations in water availability Research states that they were first made in India and then propagated to other parts of Aisa.

YOGA ORIGINATED IN INDIA.

Yoga is now the most adopted fitness and health practice around the world.

Young woman silhouette practicing yoga on the sea beach at sunset

MILITARY ROCKETS.

In the year 1780 the Mysorean dynasty under the rule of  Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan made the first successful use of  iron-cased military rockets in the history of the world to fight against the British East India Company in the battle of Guntur.

The British were exposed to this technology after defeating the Mysore Dynasty. Their research in the Mysorean rockets lead to the  development  of the famous Congreve rocket and the rest is history.