Ancient Indian Achievements in Mathematics and Religions Medical: Games/Sports – Chess (Shataranj or Ashtapada) was invented in India.
Civilization
Many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago. At that time, Indians established a Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization). The four religions which had their inception in India were Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Till date, almost 25% of the world’s population follows these religions.
Sanskrit and Panini
Sanskrit is considered the mother of all higher languages. Sanskrit is the most precise. Hence, it was considered a suitable language for computer software according to a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987. Earliest and only known Modern Language: Panini somewhere around 400BC, in his Astadhyayi, gave formal production rules and definitions to describe Sanskrit grammar.
Starting with about 1700 fundamental elements, like nouns, verbs, vowels, and consonants, and also put them into classes. The construction of sentences, compound nouns etc. was explained as ordered rules operating on underlying fundamental structures.
Precious stones
According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.
Mathematics
India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana. He also explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
Although ancient Babylonians were known to have used what is often called “placeholders” to distinguish between numbers like 809 and 89, they were nothing more than blank spaces or at times two wedge shapes like. The first notions of zero as a number and its uses have been found in ancient Mathematical treatise from India.
The oldest known text to use zero is an Indian (Jaina) text entitled the Lokavibhaaga (“The Parts of the Universe”), which definitely dated back to 25 August 458 BC. Also, an inscription, created in 876AD, found in Gwalior, became the first inscription for the use of zero as a number.
Ancient Indian Achievements in Mathematics
The word “Algorithm”: Al-Khwarizmi’s work, De numero Indorum which dealt with the Hindu Art of Reckoning, was based presumably on an Arabic translation of Brahmagupta. In this, he gave a full account of the Hindu numerals which was the first to expound the system with its digits 0,1,2,3,…,9.
Also, the decimal place value was a fairly recent arrival from India. The new notation came to be known as that of al-Khwarizmi, or more carelessly, algorithms. Ultimately, the scheme of numeration made use of the Hindu numerals. This scheme came to be called simply algorism or algorithm, a word that originally derived from the name al-Khwarizmi.
Additionally, Mathematicians in India invented the base tens system in ancient times. But the research did not stop there. The practice of representing large numbers also evolved in ancient India. The notion of representing large numbers as powers of 10, one that was invented in India, turned out to be extremely handy.
Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus came from India. Further, quadratic equations were found by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. While the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 (10 to the power 6), the Indians used numbers as big as 1053 (10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BC during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 1012 (10 to the power of 12).
Binary System of number representation: A Mathematician named Pingala (c. 100BC) developed a system of binary enumeration convertible to decimal numerals. He described the system in his book called Chandahshaastra. The system he described was quite similar to that of Leibnitz, who was born in the 17th century.
Ancient Indian Achievements in Mathematics Medical
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to man. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in society. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones, and even plastic surgery and brain surgery.
Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical implements were used. A deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
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. It is the only system which takes the holistic view of the person being treated.
India can boast of a glorious past and the study of the history of Ancient India is a complete subject in itself. India has a civilization which is as ancient as most ancient civilizations across the world and is full of amazing discoveries and inventions.
