Mind-blowing ancient Hindu discoveries that will shock everybody

Scientific verification of Vedic knowledge

From the invention of the decimal system in mathematics to the noble philosophy of ahimsa, Hindus have contributed their share in all fields of knowledge and learning. Over five thousand years ago, when Europeans were only nomadic forest dwellers, ancient Hindus had established a civilization, known as the Harappan culture. A vast number of statements and materials presented in the ancient Vedic literatures can be shown to agree with modern scientific findings. Let's explore the great cultural wealth of this knowledge...

Invention of Decimal System

Did you know that Hindus gave us the method of expressing numbers by means of a decimal system? The so called Arabic numerals are actually Hindu numerals and even many Arab mathematicians admit that. During the 700's, the Arabs learned Hindu arithmetic from scientific writings of the Hindus and the Greeks. Then, in the 800's, a Persian mathematician wrote a book that was translated into Latin about 300 years later. This translation brought the Hindu-Arabic numerals into Europe.

Hindu mathematicians used a system based on 10. The Hindus had symbols for each number from one to nine. They had a name for each power of 10, and used these names when writing numerals. For example, Hindus wrote "1 sata, 3 dasan, 5" to represent the number we write as 135. Hindus found a way of eliminating place names. They invented the symbol shunya (meaning empty), which we call zero. With this symbol, they could write "105" instead of "1 sata, 5."

Atomic Theory

Sage Kanad, 600 BC, is recognized as the founder of atomic theory, and classified all the objects of creation into nine elements (earth, water, light or fire, wind, ether, time, space, mind and soul). He stated that every object in creation is made of atoms that in turn connect with each other to form molecules nearly 2,500 years before John Dalton. Further, Kanad described the dimension and motion of atoms, and the chemical reaction with one another.

First and Longest Poetry of the World

The Ramayana is the first poetry of the world. It is a glorious Sanskrit epic written by the Divine Sage Valmiki. It has 24,000 Samkskrit verses. It was later translated by Kamban and Tulsi Das. The Mahabarata is the longest poetry ever written. Its 100,000 verses encompass all facets of Dharma or human way of life. It narrates the story about the great Mahabarata war between the noble Pandavas and their evil cousins the Kauravas.

Ancient root of Navigation

The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Navgatih'. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'

300 types of Operations & 125 Surgical Instruments

The ancient Indians were also the first to perform amputation, cesarean surgery and cranial surgery. Sushruta as early as 600 BC used cheek skin to perform plastic surgery to restore and reshape human nose, ears, and lips with incredible results. Shushruta describes the details of more than 300 operations. He worked with 125 kinds of surgical instruments including scalpels, lancets, needles, catheters, etc. Sushruta even devised non-invasive surgical treatments with the aid of light rays and heat.

Chanakya's Arthashãstra describes post-mortems, and Bhoja Prabandha describes brain surgery, successfully performed in 927 AD by two surgeons on King Bhoja to remove a growth from his brain. 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.

Bhaskaracharya's Law of Gravity

Did you know that the famous Hindu astronomer, Bhaskaracharya in his Surya Siddhanta wrote: "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." It was not until 1687, 1200 years later did Issac Newton "rediscover" the Law of Gravity. Approximately 1200 years later (1687 AD), Sir Isaac Newton rediscovered this phenomenon and called it the Law of Gravity.

Time taken for Earth to orbit Sun

The famous Hindu mathematician, Bhaskaracharya, in his treatise Surya Siddhanta, calculated the time taken for the earth to orbit the sun to nine decimal places (365.258756484 days). Today's accepted measurement is 365.2564 days. Therefore, assuming that today's figures are correct, it means that Bhaskaracharya was off by only 0.0002%.

Mother of Martial Arts

Do you know that Kalari is considered to be the most complete and scientific martial art and is the mother of all martial arts? Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk from India, introduced Kalari into China and Japan in the 5th century. He taught this art in a temple. This temple is today known as the Shaolin temple. The Chinese called him Po-ti-tama. What he taught has evolved into Karate and Kung Fu. One can find a lot of similarities among the three.

The Game of Chess

The game of chess was invented in India and was originally called Ashtapada (sixty-four squares). "Ashtapada" Sanskrit for spider -"a legendary being with eight legs" was played with dice on an 8x8 checkered board. There were no light and dark squares like we see in today's chess board for 1,000 years. Other Indian boards included the 10×10 Dasapada and the 9×9 Saturankam. Later this game came to be known as chaturanga. The Sanskrit name Chaturanga means 'quadripartite' — the four angas (divided into four parts).

In 600 AD this game was learned by Persians who named it Shatranj. Shatranj is a foreign word among the Persians and the Arabians, whereas its natural derivation from the term Chaturanga is obvious. Again affix the Arabic name for the bishop, means the elephant, derived from alephhind, the Indian elephant. Even the word 'checkmate' is derived from the Persian term Shah Mat which means 'the king is dead!'

Invention of Dice

Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of oblong dice have been found in Harrapan sites such as Kalibangan, Ropar, Alamgirpur, Desalpur and surrounding territories, some dating back to the third millennium BCE. The oblong or cubical dice is the precursor of the more primitive vibhīṣaka—small, hard nuts drawn randomly to obtain factors of a certain integer. Dicing is believed to have later spread to Persia. Early references to dicing can be found in the Ṛig Veda as well as the Atharvaveda.

Mokshapat or Snake and Ladder?

The game had its origin in India and was called Moksha Patam or Parama Padam or Mokshapat. It was used to teach Hindu Dharma and Hindu values to children. The British renamed it as Snakes and Ladders. The game was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices - good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births. There are certain references which take the game back to 2nd century BC.

In the original game square 12 was faith, 51 was Reliability, 57 was Generosity, 76 was Knowledge, and 78 was Asceticism. These were the squares were the ladder was found. Square 41 was for Disobedience, 44 for Arrogance, 49 for Vulgarity, 52 for Theft, 58 for Lying, 62 for Drunkenness, 69 for Debt, 84 for Anger, 92 for Greed, 95 for Pride, 73 for Murder and 99 for Lust. These were the squares were the snake was found. The Square 100 represented Nirvana or Moksha.

Also known as 'paramapadam', there are a hundred squares on a board; the ladders take you up, the snakes bring you down. The top of the ladder depicts a God, or one of the various heavens (kailasa, vaikuntha, brahmaloka) and so on, while the bottom describes a good quality. Conversely, each snake's head is a negative quality or an asura (demon). As the game progresses, the various karma and samskara, good deeds and bad, take you up and down the board.

Charaka Samhita: World's first physician

In 500 BC Maharishi Charaka wrote the famous Charaka Samhita or Physicians' Handbook. The Charaka Samhita went into great detail to describe human anatomy, pathology, diagnostic procedures, and treatment for various diseases. Charaka also described the functions of the heart and the circulatory system in great detail. The Charaka Samhita was widely translated in various languages and Charaka was a respected medical authority in both the Arab and Roman empires.

Vedic roots of Mathematics

Did you know that Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus and Algebra are studies which originated in India? The word Geometry seems to have emerged from the Sanskrit word gyaa-miti which means "measuring the Earth". And the word Trigonometry is similar to tri-kona-miti meaning "measuring triangular forms". The treatise of Surya Siddhanta describes details of Trigonometry, which were introduced to Europe 1200 years later in the 16th century by Briggs. All Hindu as well as Buddhist mandalas and yantras are complex forms of Geometrical shapes.

Bhaskaracharya otherwise known as Bhaskara is probably the most well known mathematician of ancient Indian today. Bhaskara wrote his famous Siddhanta Siroman in the year 1150 A.D. It is divided into four parts; Lilavati (arithmetic), Bijaganita (a treatise on algebra), Goladhyaya (celestial globe), and Grahaganita (mathematics of the planets). An Arabic Scholar Al Zabar translated a Bhaskara's work Bijaganita from Sanskrit. It was later known as Algebra in European languages.

Oldest Systematic Language

Did you know that Sanskrit is the world's oldest systematic language? The word sanskrita, meaning "refined" or "purified," is the antonym of prakrita, meaning "natural," or "vulgar." It is made up of the primordial sounds, and is developed systematically to include the natural progressions of sounds as created in the human mouth. Sanskrit was considered as "Dev Bhasha", "Devavani" or the language of the Gods by ancient Indians.

Mother of all Languages

The Sanskrit language has helped shape many European languages including French, German, Russian, and English. It shows many ancient forms of words such as father, through, shampoo, trigonometry, and mouse, while guru, pundit, dharma, bandh, and yoga are among hundreds of Sanskrit words that can now be found in the Oxford dictionary.

Metallurgy

ndia was the world-leader in Metallurgy. Gold jewelry is available from 3,000 BCE. Brass and bronze pieces are dated back to 1,300 BCE. Extraction of zinc from ore by distillation was used in India as early as 400 BCE while William Campion patented the process some 2,000 years later. There is an iron pillar in Delhi dating back to 400 CE that shows no sign of rust or decay. The earliest known book on metallurgy was written by sage Nagarjuna in 10th century.

The oldest book: Rigveda

The existence of the Vedas goes beyond recorded history and are said to be passed down from the Gods to the great seers of Bharat. For many human generations the Vedas were passed on through word of mouth, until finally documented by the great Rishis and Swamis. And if the Vedas speak of the Sarasvati River, then it would seem clear that they were written before about 2000 BC, and not later than 1500 BC, as scholars originally believed.

About the Solar System

Ancient Hindus were first to suggest a heliocentric solar system. Speed of light was calculated as 1, 85,016 miles/sec. They had even calculated the distance between Earth and Moon as 108 diameters of Moon and Earth and Sun as 108 diameters of Sun. These figures are very close to the modern day values. All these were stated several thousand years before the famous scientist Galileo postulated in the west that sun was the center of the planetary system and Earth was not flat.

The Game of Cards

The popular game of cards originated in ancient India and was known as Krida-patram. It was one of the favorite pastimes of Indians in ancient times. This game was patronized especially by the royalty and nobility. In medieval India, playing cards was known as Ganjifa cards which were played in practically all royal courts. This game is recorded to have been played in Rajputana, Kashyapa Meru (Kashmir), Utkala (Orissa) the Deccan and even in Nepal.

Life Cycles of the Universe

The Hindus view that the Universe has no beginning or end, but follows a cosmic creation and dissolution. Hindus are the only one who propounds the idea of life-cycles of the universe. It suggests that the universe undergoes an infinite number of deaths and rebirths. Hindus views the universe as without a beginning (anadi = beginning-less) or an end (ananta = end-less). Rather the universe is projected in cycles.

Ayurveda - the Science of Longevity

Ayurveda is the indigenous system of medicine in India. Ayurveda literally means 'the science of living' (longevity). Ayu means "Life" and Veda means "Knowledge". Unique quality of Ayurveda is that it uncovers and cures the root cause of illness, it is safe, gentle and inexpensive, it sees 6 stages of disease development (where modern medicine only sees the last two stages), it treats people in a personalized manner according to their dosha or constitution and not in any generic manne

Pythagorean Theorem or Baudhayana Theorem?

Did you know that the so-called Pythagoras Theorem that the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle equals to the sum of the square of the other two sides was documented by the famed Hindu mathematician Baudhayana in his 6th century BC treatise called Baudhayana Sulba Sutra? Baudhayana states: "The area produced by the diagonal of a rectangle is equal to the sum of area produced by it on two sides."

An immense world of knowledge!

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. Readers, who are surprised that they haven't been told of these ideas before, the fault is of the books we have used.