Indian Inventions and Discoveries

India is a country of diversity, from religion and culture to economics and education. Besides its diversity, India is wrapped in a rich past culture that continues to define today’s way of life. Religion is the soul of India, while philosophy is the backbone defining most of the modern activities. India is the center of Hindu civilization. Several monuments and cultural sites describe the history and origin of India’s culture. The modern Indian names and social activities have their origin in the past. Some of the prominent Indians who shaped the history of India and the world, in general, include Magadha, Aryabhata, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, among others. Both ancient and modern India has contributed to various fields of medicine, agriculture, games, and mathematics.

Amazing Indian Discoveries And Inventions That Helped Shape The Modern World

• Ayurvedic and Shiddha Medicine: Ayurvedic and Siddha medicine were the first two contributions to medicine. Ayurvedic has since evolved into the modern complementary and alternative medicine while Siddha medicine which is popular in South India consist of herbs and minerals that offer a therapeutic healing to the body.
• Cataract surgery: attributed to Sushruta in the 3rd century who performed it with a unique tool called Jabamukhi Salak, a curved needle to push the cataract out. The eye is then cleaned and bandaged for complete healing.
• Plastic surgery: Plastic surgery was first attempted as treatment mainly for a broken nose. Its use in India dates all the way back to 800 BCE.
• Hindu-arabic numbers: the Hindu-Arabic number system commonly referred to as Arabic numbers is an invention originating from India and the Arab traders brought these concepts to Europe between the 1st and 6th centuries.
• Chakravala: An algorithmic method to solve quadratic equation called Chakravala method is attributed to Jayadeva in India.
• Shrikhande graph: invented by S. S. Shrikhande in 1959 while sign convention was recommended to be used where symbols represented unknown values when solving complex equations.
• Indigo: natural indigo dye is an ancient Indian invention.
• Bose-Einstein statistics: this was introduced in 1924 by Satyendra Rose (1894-1974) an Indian national from Bengali with the help of Albert Einstein, the statistic is currently known as Bose Statistics which was earlier used by Einstein to predict Bose-Einstein Condensate.
• Ammonium nitrite: Ammonium nitrite was first synthesized in its pure form by Prafulla Chandra Roy. He was a Bengali chemist born in 1861, and his discoveries were among the major outside of Europe.
• Saha ionization: Meghnad Saha, born in 1893, derived the Saha Ionization equation in 1920. He developed equations that are commonly used to interpret stellar spectra that relate to the chemical composition of the light source.
• Yoga: this ancient Indian invention has been called India's "gift to the world", and may be the most famous of all of India's contributions to the world.

Beyond the Realm of Science

Indian history is not complete without mentioning the contribution of great men such as Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi led a non-violent path to achieve freedom for India. He looked and served Indian without considering the religion, race color, or ethnic variances enforcing India’s nationalism. Gandhi also mobilized all people to fight for the freedom of India under the banner India National Congress. Gandhi also fought against social sins such as wealth without work, knowledge without character, and politics without principle are other vices. Yoga was a common practice among the Hindu community also traced back to the history of India. Yoga was a form of meditation that took away one’s conscience, worries, and strains while renewing the mind, soul, and body. Yoga sessions were and still are part of connecting with the deity.