5 Invaluable Things India Gave to Rest of the World

Oct 19
15:43

2019

Ashish Gaurav

Ashish Gaurav

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A lot has been given by India to the world, in the form of wealth and riches. We now would take a look at five significant things India gave the world.

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"We owe a lot to the Indians,5 Invaluable Things India Gave to Rest of the World Articles who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made!" - Albert Einstein (Theoretical Physicist, Germany)

Surgery in Ancient India

In ancient India, surgical tools were being rapidly developed, and there were systems in place to conduct operations too, much before the Europeans did. It is mentioned in the Sushruta Samhita, written by Sushruta during the sixth century BC, which is one of the foundation texts of Ayurveda. The text has one hundred and eighty four chapters, which contains meticulous descriptions of around a thousand and more illnesses, more than seven hundred medicinal plants, around sixty mineral preparations and fifty or more animal source preparations. The famous text goes on to discuss the various surgical techniques of how to make incisions in the body, how to probe and extract foreign bodies too. There are discussions on alkali and thermal cauterization as well. You would also find talks on how to extract teeth, trocars and excisions too. Apart from that, there are chapters dedicated to draining ascitic fluid and hydrocele from the body, and how to remove the prostrate gland as well. You would also find the urethral structure dilation discussed in the text, hernia surgery, haemorrhoids discussion, and other issues such as intestinal diseases, internal obstruction management, and a talk on fracture management as well. There are dislocations of six types discussed in the chapters with varied types of fractures involved. Even the classification of bones has been spoken of, and how they react to various types of injuries too. Finally, even the eye diseases have been spoken about, and cataract surgery has been given a mentioning. In eight hundred BC, reconstructive surgery was being carried out in India. Ayurveda Retreat India teaches you more about the ancient ways of healing the body and bringing harmony to oneself as well.

Textiles were Introduced by Indians

It was more than five thousand years ago in the Indus Valley that cotton was first grown and used. This was because its seeds were highly nutritious for the cattle to feed on. Ancient Indians then realized that the cotton ball could be converted into threads, and ultimately into fabric for use. The main issue here and a challenge that too was to remove the seeds from the ball, hence a device was invented to speed up the process. Ultimately, cotton was spun by hand into fine threads, and this brought about the softness and high quality of the Indian fabric, which could not be replicated by any other country. The spinning wheel was then invented one thousand years later to increase efficiency and productivity of cotton fabrics. It helped double the mass production of the thread produced by the skilled worksmen and the quality of the fabric was retained. When the eighteenth century dawned, the Europeans tried to emulate and mass produce cotton at cheap costs, by the use of machines. This led to the rise of the industrial revolution. While the fabric made of cotton was being mass produced by the machines, the quality and softness was not being attained. In comparison to the handspun cotton, the machine spun cotton was quite inferior. Today cotton is invaluable to us, and our favorite garments are made from it. Thanks to the ancient Indians, the world got textiles and cotton rose to fame and hence, this is one of the things India gave to rest of the world.

India introduced Metal Craft 

To build swords and tools, Indians were known long back to forge metal. It is a three thousand year old history for the same. The age old traditions of forging metal, used by the blacksmiths back then, are still in use in some parts of the country even today. When the eleventh century dawned upon India, the European invaders felt the high effectiveness of the swords used by the Islamic rulers in battles and wars. This gave rise to the famous DAMASCUS BLADE. It is said that one blow was more than enough to slice through a silk scarf or a European helmet, without any damage coming to the blade. Although the forging of the Damascus steel was being done in Syria, the technology and the blades came from our country. This steel was believed to have been developed in the first century BC in India, and was known as ‘WOOTZ’ steel. It is to be noted that even Alexander the great was known to source swords from our country. The Europeans were very impressed and took many of the blades back home with them to uncover the exact technique and composition that was involved in the manufacturing of them. Long after that, many tried to emulate the Damascus sword. The appearance thus came out to be same, but the properties did not match up to the quality. Infact it wasn’t until 1975 that the real secret of the steel was discovered.

The Concept of Zero

India has given the world the valuable zero. Zero has a long history, and it was first found in the Bakshali manuscript. These were simple placeholders that were used as tools to distinguish between ten and one hundred. On the same lines, we see historical records of zeroes being used in the Mayan and the Babylonian cultures too and even in the Sumerian mathematics as well.  However, it was only in India that it was used as a placeholder to progress nothing and become a number in its own accord. The introduction of the zero allowed for writing of numbers on a much efficient and a reliable way. In turn, it allowed for efficient record keeping and to help with retroactive financial calculations as well. The number zero was thus an important route to the mathematic democratisations.

Yoga and Ayurveda was Brought to the World

In ancient India, it was believed that ones eating habits determined ones state of health. Science now shows us that there are medicinal powers in some plants, for example, willow bark is the basic ingredient in aspirin. Also, garlic is known to help deal with minor ailments and boost the immune system. However, the use of herbal medicine is only a small step towards achieving good wellness and health. Ayurveda is a comprehensive philosophy, and in Sanskrit it means the ‘science of life’. It not only defines overall health, but looks at the immediate symptoms of the patient as well. It also takes into consideration the food habits of the patient, the mental state of the patient, and relationships too. Ayurveda was the first of its kind to appear in this planet. In this day and age, after almost five thousand years of a holistic approach to health, the west too has embraced Ayurveda. One of the prime aspects of Ayurveda is yoga, which too has gained popularity across the globe. While Ayurveda has rapidly gained momentum and fame across the world, yoga too has not been left behind. Ayurveda Retreat India has many classes that one can choose from to seek first call treatment.

 

In a Nutshell

While the world makes progress on a rapid base and we adopt new technologies and discoveries, let’s not forget the contributions that India has made to the world. The next time you think about what India gave to the world, remember these five invaluable contributions or things India gave to rest of the world.