Independence Day Special: Facts About Ancient Indian Discoveries

By Staff

Ancient India, the country known for its rich heritage and culture has also made a phenomenal contribution to the field of Science thousands of years ago.

 

The concept of Science though not emphasised and documented during those days has left a legacy of it.

Of-course, the offlate discoveries, which came into limelight in the name of Science by well known Scientists has bagged the credits for their achievements and it is also notifying that the facts putforth by them have encompassed our minds and taken a dominating step in our lives after going through the documentation with logical facts.

However, it is also impossible to deny the fact that the Science was deeply rooted in our Ancient history and way ahead of Scientists, which is clearly evident with instances.

Here are some important and astonishing facts about ancient India and its discoveries that make you feel proud of our country.

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Facts About Ancient Indian Discoveries

About Earth:

Earth: Indian historians had discovered the shape of the earth ten thousand years ago and it depicted through Varaha Avatara. Varaha Avatar is the avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu in the form of a boar.

In the picture of Varaha Avatra we can see the boar (Varaha) holding the earth on its tusks.The shape of the earth in the picture clearly depicts that our ancient history conceptualised the shape of the earth as round.

Boogol (Geography) : Ancient historians named Geography as Boogol. Boo (Earth) and Gol (Round) which means earth is round. Thus, the shape of the earth is not a new discovery.

Jagat (Globe ): Ancient Indians discovered Globe as Jagat (Jis Ki Gati Ho), meaning which moves. According to them the earth is not stationery but moves.Thus, it is named as Jagat.

About Space:

Antares: 'Antares' traditional name of Mars. 'Anta' means Mars and 'Res' is red in colour. It is the 15th and 16th biggest and brightest star in the space and our ancients called it as 'Jesta.' Because it is 40,000 times bigger than the sun, it is one of the biggest object known to man.

'Jesta' means the biggest and eldest, according to Hindu tradition and they have named a star 5-7,000 years ago, while it is just a small star from earth

The biggest star was viewed way back by the historians.

Aarundati Vasista ( The Great Bare Constellation): The concept of twin star was in existence before Science brings it into lime light and its presence is very much evident in the Hindu Ritual.

Arundathi & Vashishtha are 2 stars (twins stars) rotates around the other. But these stars go around together. it is not easy or obvious to tell about twin stars which rotate together without telescope many thousands of years ago.

(In one of the rituals of a Hindu marriage, the groom shows the bride the double stars of Vasista and Arundhati as an ideal couple, symbolic of marital fulfillment and loyalty)

Metallurgy: Rust proof pillar in India are available to see in Delhi (in front of Qutub Minar) which was restored 1,000 years ago and the other pillar at Kollur, near Bangalore was restored 2,400 years ago is of 750 cms and the continuous rain for 6-8 months a year has kept it rust proof.

The pillar was not built by expert but by the aboriginals /tribals of that area. The pillars signify that the Metallurgy was known to ancient Indians.

Zinc: Mystery of Zinc is explored by Indian historians. India held sole knowledge to extract Zinc from ore before 4,000 years ago.

While extracting from the ore Zinc becomes liquid at 997 degree celsius but becomes gas at 1,000. degree celsius there is only a 3 degree window to extract Zinc, which is a very difficult process.

In distillation, furnace is usually used where a liquid extract comes out of the bottom and is collected. While in case of Zinc, the heated ore would evaporate and escape.

To overcome this backdraw the ancient Indians turned the distillery upside down, where the heat was at the top and the bottom was attached to a ice bath below it and it would come down and solidify the Zinc.

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Shloka

gopi bhagya madhuvrata
srngiso dadhi sandhiga
khala jivita khatava
gala hala rasandara

This shloka in the praise of Lord Krishna is similar to other shlokas. Only thing here is a string called the Katapayadi Sankhya (katapayadi system), where particular alphabets are given particular numbers.
For eg: ka, ta, pa, ya = 1

If the numbers are substituted in the shloka, the value of pi to the 30 decimal places can be deduced. This shows the knowledge of encryption during the vedic era.

Vasco da Gama :

Vasco da Gama from Portugal who supposedly discovered India. He came down from Europe towards Africa and reached the Cape of Good Hope. He had the biggest and the most well built ship in Europe.

He had to travel across the sea to reach India and there he met a business man from India, a trader, who had a ship which was 12 times bigger than Vasco Da Gama.

The point here is Vasco Da Gama's ship the biggest in Europe but the ship of an Indian trader was about 2 times bigger than Vasco da Gama. This ship symbolises the advanced technology Indians knew even before Vasco Da Gama set foot in India.

This is taken from Vasco De Gama's own Journal.

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