India: The Land Of Discoveries

The land of spices, vegetarians and of course diversity, India gives us numerous reasons to be thankful for. From the button on your shirt to the shampoo in your shower, India has proved to be the land of discoveries. Indians have been the first one to do use some mind hacking stuff, that now seems an integral part of our lives. Things made your life a whole lot easier, were discovered by these smart brains. 

If you are Indian or not even Indian warpaint is definite that while reading this article you’ll urge to discover this land more and more. 

So starting with the nothingness;

The Zero ‘0’

People in ancient times had always thought that there should be some sort of sign to indicate nothing. Well, their worries were put to rest in the 5th century A.D. When Aryabhatta an Indian genius invented the Zero as a symbol to represent nothingness. It made addition, subtraction and many other mathematical operations quite easier. Even today, you can see all the zeros in existence carved on a wall of a temple in Gwalior, India. If you have not been a mathematics fan, this invention will surely be nothing to you. 

But hey there, think of the computers without binary system. Wouldn’t be possible right!

Coming to the next; 

Gravity

I know you must be thinking if India discovered it then it means Newton was probably an Indian. Well, of course, Newton wasn’t Indian. It was an Indian Astrologer and Mathematician, Bhaskaracharya who gifted this life-changing concept to the whole World. He stated the laws of gravity in the book Surya Sidhanta in the 11th century. So we can say that Isaac Newton was not even born gravity became known to humans.

One of his theories says;

“If you draw a big circle and look at one-fourth of its circumference, you see it as a straight line. But in the true sense, it is a circle. Similarly, Earth is spherical in shape”.

Shampoo

The word Shampoo is actually derived from the Hindi word ‘Chāmpo’, which means to massage or knead. It has been originally used first time in 1762 in India. As per its name shampoo had its official use only for head massage. And the first shampoo was made of natural oils and herbs. 

British colonial traders fall in love with the idea and brought it back with them to the United Kingdom. Thus it took years to original head massage oil to evolve into shampoo as we know it today.

Buttons

The first buttons were found during excavations in Mohenj-o-daro, one of the largest settlements in the Indus Valley civilization till now. 

Over 5,000 years ago buttons have used only in ornaments, and not for the fastening clothes. But they had two holes in the middle, right from the start. 

So simple yet revolutionary.

Rulers

The Indus Valley civilization was using Rulers in 1500 B.C. and earlier. Made from ivory there rulers were found during excavations in the present day Pakistan and Northwestern India. Apparently, they were widely used in Architecture with pretty amazing accuracy. They had units corresponding to 1.32 inches, they were marked with extremely precise subdivisions within 5000th for one inch.

Next, we have, Guess what!

Chess

Yes, you heard it right. This all-time top game for intellectual is also an Indian invention. Its ancestor was called ‘Chaturanga‘, also it’s a strategic board game popular during the Gupta Empire around 6th century A.D. Like the chess we know today the game had various pieces with different value and capabilities. It also had an important king figure and winning the game depending on the fate of the king.

Snakes and Ladders

In addition to chess, there was one more sit and play game played first in India. Presently known as Snakes and Ladders, the original version was called Mokshapat or Moksha Patamu. It belongs to the film of dice game which includes Gyan Chauper and Pachisi (present-day Ludo and Parcheesi). Which also originated in India. 

The game played in the early 2nd century. In which the snakes stood for vices while the ladders were virtues. During that time under British rule, the game made its way to England and later to the U.S. 

How subtle the Western World at that time!

Despite all that, the land of discoveries kept its curiosity alive. Because next, we have something really commendable.

Surgery

In the 6th century B.C. an Indian physician named ‘Sushruta’ created a huge reference book on medicine and surgery. It was one of the World’s earliest works of its kind. Sushruta often called the ‘father of the surgery‘ in his home country. Described the use of hundreds of medicinal plants and instructions for performing surgical procedures including nose reconstruction and skin transplantation from one body to another. Also back then nose jobs were done to help people who had been deprived of their nose as a punishment for theft or adultery.

 

Sushruta not only invented plastic surgery but also performed the first cataract surgery. He used a curved needle to remove the lens from the affected eye. This revolutionary procedure soon became popular outside of India. Patients and doctors from around the World visited the surgeon to get operations done and learn from his experience. 

Well, how times have changed!

Wireless Communication

I have no wonder if you give all the credits of this most awaited invention to Mr. Marconi. And that’s for a good reason of course. After all, the Nobel prize he received in 1909 was not for nothing.

But we have to agree with the fact that Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose presented his discovery of radio communication wave to the public in 1895. He sent an electromagnetic wave across 75 feet at the town hall in Calcutta. The Wave passed through walls rang a bell and ignited some gunpowder. Marconi used bose’s invention, the Mercury Coherer as a pattern to build his operational two-way radio. Bose never took potent of his work so he was only credited for his discovery a century later. And in this way he gave one more discovery to the land of discoveries. 

The USB

The USB or Universal Serial Bus is a way more recent invention than wireless communication. It was brought to us by an Indian American computer genius that was working as an engineer for Intel back in the 1990s. He came up with the idea of a universal port for devices as he was putting an SD card into his computer.

Remember those things 😉

However, Ajay Bhatt the genius always insisted that it was the result of teamwork. In this way, it didn’t get him money or official recognition for the invention of the most used computer gadget back then.

Flush Toilets

You can probably see by now that Indus Valley civilization( the land of discoveries) came up with so many genius inventions. And the flush toilet was one of them. Believe it or not, home toilets connected to a complicated sewage system with canals irrigation and smart water management existed in the land of spices over 5,000 years ago. 

Pure genius, isn’t it? 

In this list further, you can’t forget to add trigonometric functions, Fibonacci number, jute cultivation, natural fibers, the cure for Leprosy, yoga, Ayurveda, decimal system and widely used graph system.

Hence, India is indeed the land of discoveries.