India is a country of talented, intellect and creative people comes from highly diverse background. Indus Valley is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. There are many precious things that India has introduced to the world. India has contributed to the world so much that it become base to the several modern innovations. Starting from education via world’s first university – Takshashila University to games, India has contributed much more than we know. From so many contributions, we will discuss the Top 15 India`s contribution to the world.
Here are top 15 India`s contribution to the world.
Digit Zero
India gave the world the mathematics numeral “Zero”. Mathematician Aryabhata was the first person to create the symbol for zero. Indians were the first who used the zero as a symbol.
Theory of Atom
One of the notable scholar Rishi Kanada gave the concept of atom long before the John Delton was born. Rishi Kanada proposed that parmanu (atom) is an indestructible particle of matter. He also stated that anu can have two states – absolute rest and a state of motion.
Aryabhatta gave Heliocentric Theory to the World
Ancient India`s famous scholar and mathematician Aryabhatta correctly mentioned that the Earth is round, rotates on its own axis and revolves around the Sun which is also known as Heliocentric Theory long before Nicolaus Copernicus. He also made many other predictions about the Solar and Lunar Eclipses, the duration of the days and also predicted the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Cataract Surgery and Plastic Surgery
Ancient Indian Physician Sushruta performed the first Cataract Surgery of the world in 600 BC. Sushruta used cheek skin to perform surgery (also known as Plastic Surgery in Modern World) to restore and reshape human nose, ears and lips with great results. He described the details of more than 300 operations and worked with 125 kinds of surgical instruments.
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine originated from the ancient India. This practice is thousands of years old and is still practiced today in the modern world.
Bhaskaracharya gave the Law of Gravity before Newton
The famous Hindu Astronomer, Bhaskaracharya mentioned in his writing in Surya Siddhanta: “Objects fall on the earth due to a force of attraction by the earth. Therefore, the Earth, Planets, Constellations, Moon and Sun are held in orbit due to this attraction.” Approximately 1200 years later, Sir Isaac Newton discovered this phenomenon and called it the Law of Gravity.
Bhaskaracharya calculated time taken by The Earth to orbit the Sun
Astronomer Bhaskaracharya, in his writing Surya Siddhanta, rightly calculated the orbit time of the Earth around the Sun. He calculated the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun to nine decimal places (365.258756484 Days). Today`s accepted measurement is 365.2564 days, which is accurate to 99.9998%.
Fibbonacci Numbers
Indians were the first ones to describe the Fibbonacci Numbers and their sequence by Virahanka, Gopala and Pingala in connection with the Sanskrit tradition of prosody.
Takshashila University (also known as Taxila University)
Ancient India gave the world its first university named as Takshashila University. Takshashila University became the epicenter of learning for several centuries and attracted students from corners of the world. As per a Chinese traveler, Hien Tsang, Taxila had around 10,000 students and 200 teachers. It had over 300 halls, laboratories, library and towering observatory for astronomical research.
Smelting of Zinc
Indians were the first one to smelt zinc by the distillation process. The ancient Persians had also attempted to reduce zinc oxide but had failed. Zawar in Rajasthan, India is the world`s first known ancient zinc smelting site.
The Game of Chess
The game of chess was invented in India and was originally called Ashtapada (sixty four squares). Later this game came to be known as chaturanga.
Buttons
Indians were the first ones to use buttons. People from the Indus Valley Civilization, used ornamental buttons made from seashell.
Shampoo
The word shampoo is derived from Hindi word champo. Shampoo was first introduced in Britain by a Bengali entrepreneur from India.
Snakes and Ladders Game
Ancient Indian game Mokshapat inspired the modern Snakes and Ladders Game. From India, the game made its way to England and later to United States in 1943.
India gave crystallized sugar to the world
The process of producing crystallized sugar from sugarcane was discovered in India. The process soon transmitted to China with travelling Buddhist monks.
There are many more inventions that Ancient India gave to the world like Yoga, Ruler measurement by Harappa Civilization, Quadratic Equation by Aryabhatta, Numerical Notions, Decimal Systems and much. The oldest civilization gave the maximum to the world.
Source: Wikipedia , The Better India , Scoopwhoop , Speaking Tree