Indian Facts

The official Sanskrit name for India is Bharat.

INDIA has been called Bharat even in Satya yuga ( Golden Age )

More INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT India

The name `India? is derived from the River Indus,
the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The
Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.

The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan?
combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist
who invented the digit zero.

Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is
because it is the most precise,
and therefore suitable language for computer software. ( a report in
Forbes magazine, July 1987 ).

Chess was invented in India.

Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in
India.

The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in
100 BC in India.

The first six Mogul Emperor's of India ruled in an unbroken succession
from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.

The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at
Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu.

The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite.
Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years,
(between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola

India is.......the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest
country in the world AND
one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000
years old).

The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet
saint Gyandev.

It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game
represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices.

The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time,
the game underwent several modifications but
the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a
cycle of re-births.

The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh.

Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444
meters above sea level

India has the most post offices in the world !

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system,
employing over a million people !.

The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC.
More than 10,500 students from all
over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of
Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the
greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The
father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.

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.

The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000
over years ago. The very word 'Navigation' is derived from the
Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from the
Sanskrit word 'Nou'.

Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit
the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His
calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century
) 365.258756484 days.

The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician
Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the
Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was
long before the European mathematicians.

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India.
Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century.
The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas
Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with
specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even
today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12
).

Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. (
Source . Gemological Institute of America )

The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in
the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan
mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.

Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago
Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract,
artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also
plastic surgery and brain surgeries.

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.