Present day India was 'Indian Continent' few hundred years ago. It included countries currently recognize as Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka. Looking at current situation, all these countries, including India, are way down in all sort of world indies (giving an example, global transparency index, global peace index, human development index etc). But once it was the most prosperous nation of the world. And it was India's reputation which attracted many ethnic groups from across the globe to travel to India. It is still said that 'Aryans' and 'Dravidian' were a amongst first to migrate to India. 'Aryans' are believed to be from Europe, and near East.
India is a country which never invaded any other country in its thousands of years of history, but did witnessed many attacks, many empires, many cultures. But still, even today, it is most welcoming country when it comes to guests. Many researches connects cast system directly with migration of 'Aryans' and 'Dravidian' to India. It's still a debate. Right from Aryans, Dravidian to Mughals, from British to Portuguese, everyone left permanent mark on heart and soul of India. Some emperors loved India and tried to do best for the country, some rulers just looted India. Whatever the case, ancient Indian subcontinent managed to maintain it's rich heritage. It was home for Arts, education, science and technology, earliest industrialization, which is lost somewhere today. To give some facts,
• India invented number system. Aryabhatta invented Zero
• The world's first university was established in Takshila, 700BC. More than 10500 students across the world studied more than 60 subjects
• Sanskrit was one of highly developed language with the script.
• Ayurveda was first school of medicine known to humans
• The art of navigation system was born some 5000years ago. The very world navigation is derived from sanskrit world 'Navgatih'
• Budhayana first calculated value of Pi and he explain the concept which is now known as Phythagorean Theorem.
• Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century
• Up until 1896, India was the only source of diamond in the world
• The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was build in Saurashtra
• Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientist of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures, and urinary stones
• Usage on Anesthesia was well known in ancient India
• The decimal system was developed in India in 100BC
• Birthplace to many religions
• Kalari Payat martial art was invented in India in 500BC. Bought to China through Indian Monk, Bodhidharma. Shaolin temple consider this as parent of Kung fu and Karate
• Yoga and Meditation was invented in India
• Kamasutra, worlds oldest treaties on Sex was written in India
There are many many achievements from Ancient India. It was country of great heritage and culture. But something terribly went wrong. We will explore it in subsequent posts.
British rule in India is one of the most talked subject amongst the youth in India. Many people in India have different views about British rule in India. Some views are positive, some views are negative. When India got Independence from Britain, country was in total mess. There were mainly social issues specifically related to cast and religion, extreme religious people, lack of education and of course poverty. After the Independence, Indian government's main focus was on social issues than the economical issues. It was need of time, else today India would have been divided into many countries. They managed to stabilized social issues to a great extent, but since because of countries extreme diversity it cannot be eliminated forever. Somewhere in 90's we realized that we are focusing too much on social issues but economical issues are completely neglected. Major reforms were implemented and the result is India became second fasted growing economy today.
I visited India recently and I was looking at impact of 7.9% of annual growth rate. It is not visible if looked from outside,but you will have to look inside. Yes, country is changing.
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