Facts About India

*The name India is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.

*The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name Hindustan? combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

*The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.

*Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software. ( a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987 ).

*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 100 BC in India.

*The first six Mogul Emperor's of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.

*The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient 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 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).

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

*Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion?

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

*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, with an average of 30,000 visitors every day giving donations to the temple of $6 million (U.S.) daily?

*The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

*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.
Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries till the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered America by mistake.

*The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over 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. His calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 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, which was long before the European mathematicians.

*Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from 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 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).

*Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. ( Source . Gemological Institute of America )

*Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries.

*Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine.

*Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

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

*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.

*India has the most post offices in the world !

*The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people !.

*India exports software to 90 countries.

*According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.

*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.

*The Co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Vinod Khosla, is Indian.

*The head of the team that developed the Pentium co-processor, Vinod Dham, is Indian.

*The founder and creator of Hotmail, the world's best-known web-based email program, Sabeer Bhatia, is Indian.

*The testing Director of Windows 2000, Sanjay Tejwrika, is Indian

Be Proud To be Indian!

38% of Doctors in America are Indians.
12% of Scientists in America are Indians.
36% of NASA employees are Indians.
34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL employees are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

These facts were recently published in a German Magazine which deals with WORLD HISTORY

Mera Bharath Mahan