Ancient Indian scientific Heritage

[pradheep]

Click this link to read great contributions of Ancient scientists Rishis)

http://sakthifoundation.org/ind-her-final.pdf

This is a pdf format. what is good is that it actually gives the sanskrit sloka with it as a proof.

This collection was done by Dr.Gopalkrishnan, a great Indian scientist at IISH.org


Enjoy.

[aravindhan]

This article (which I read) brings up something that has puzzled me for quite some time. Why are we becoming so obsessed with trying to prove that everything that is good or laudable originated from India? They may or may not have - I'm not going to open that can of worms - but does it really matter? It's pretty clear that India is very far from being the world's centre of sciences today, and that it isn't going to magically become so just because it may have been at some point in the past. Isn't it more important to focus on our problems today (lack of a scientific temper, galloping overpopulation, superstition, casteism, communalism, illiteracy, child labour, people dying of starvation, and so on)? How is proclaiming our ancient greatness going to change any problems that plague modern Indian culture and society?

I get the feeling sometimes that we are just running to our ancient past because we are ashamed of our present. I wish we wouldn't be - if we should take pride in our country, it makes a lot more sense to me to take pride in our country for what it is today, not for what it may have been in 8000 BC.

[pradheep]

Dear aravindhan
very good question and insight about the present Indians.
Why do we sing about past glory?. It is history. why do we learn history?. Because it tells us who we were and what was ourglory and also our mistkes.

Look into your own personla life, dont you tell your kids the greatness of your family or do you only open only your family's rotten can of worms?. Of course we should caution our kids the mistakes but should give more importance to impart our family tradition so that they also know their heritage. But just advising would notbe enough , we have to live and be an example.

India had been the cradle of civilzation and knowledge. In every culture people with wisdom had been killed, crucified or posioned. But India had nurtured great men and women.

Here I know Indian kids do not even know to speak their mothertongue. It is shame to the kids mother and dad. if a kid does not know "Mother Tongue" , then the kid's mother has failed in her first step of motherhood. How can culture come without mother tongue. Just wearign Indian clothes and eating Indian food is not Indian culture.

I have seen wherever Indians get together we talk only bad about indian culture. How can their kidsthen like to go to india even for a visit?. we give a bad impression of our own mother-land that has nurtured us.

India is a mother though poor and has starving kids and different cultural background is still great compared to all other cultures. There is civil war in countries with one single language, life style. Indian with more than 300 dialtects and multi cultural is about to home "peace".


Taking bad of India is not the solution to overcome social problems. Social problems can be abolished if each one of us strive to remove it. Talking about our glorious past is a postive attitude giving us hope that we can make ourlives betterand abolish social evils.


So ultimate message...is it wrong to be positive and have a positive attitude?

[Badri]

It is because we have forgotten the glory of our past during the last few centuries that we are where we are, perhaps. As long as Indians were proud of their heritage, they had a motive to better themselves. It is human nature. If your father earned a four figure salary, you would want to better it and earn a six figure one. Even as children, we do this, and continue it as adults.

It is only when we forgot the glorious past, and pandered to the British rulers that we lost our self-confidence. Today, the greatest drawback most Indians face is a lack of confidence. I have been in "foreign" countries, and this is so evident there. Some of course, have been able to break that inferior feeling and have consequently emerged successful, but the vast majority is still reeling under the feeling of an apologetic embarassment of being Indian.

In times like this, it would help to recount the days of yore and step up our confidence levels as Indians.

Aravindhan said:

It's pretty clear that India is very far from being the world's centre of sciences today

Not true at all...we are today emerging as a major hub of development in Asia, and if the current trend is kept up, we would soon make a major impact in the world scenario as well.

There is no call to turn a blind eye towards the problems that India is facing, at the same time, there is a real need to be aware and make other Indians aware of the glory that was once India - if nothing else, it might atleast make us feel ashamed of the state we are in today in comparison, and might prompt at least some Indians to work towards bringing that lost state back again.

[NM]

Aravindhan said:

It's pretty clear that India is very far from being the world's centre of sciences today

Not true at all...we are today emerging as a major hub of development in Asia, and if the current trend is kept up, we would soon make a major impact in the world scenario as well.

There is no call to turn a blind eye towards the problems that India is facing, at the same time, there is a real need to be aware and make other Indians aware of the glory that was once India - if nothing else, it might atleast make us feel ashamed of the state we are in today in comparison, and might prompt at least some Indians to work towards bringing that lost state back again.

Badri,

That was very well said! Being a Malaysian Indian myself, I am always amazed at what our ancestors had achieved. A chinese friend of mine told me he that he was captivated by the beauty and the uniquness of Angkor Wat, built by Indians. He said "how can the first ever civilized people end up like this today? I can't believe it! I am sure you guys have something hidden in you and you just need some tweaking!! " .....I think what he said is true... and I don't think we are far from achieving it. I don't know what the media in India says but in Malaysia, the news mentioned, in a few years, India will be among the top 3 nations in the world - China, America and India - will rule the world economy!!
My Thai friends respect the Indians and are amazed when they find out Indians are tops in the cyberworld! A lot of "non-indians" are thinking that India/ Indians are heading in the right directions.... If Indians in the US or UK or elsewhere can do it, why can't the Indians in India?? I am sure we can do it!

[Badri]

Yes NM. Thanks for sharing what your non-Indian friends really think about us. It is a matter of pride that they respect us, if not for what we are today, then at least for our past.

And we are not that far behind even today. Information Technology has played a major role in India's prominence in the today's map. It is not just cheap labour as some people understand. It is quality, it is dedication and a willingness to work hard.

Earlier, the trend was that only Indians who went abroad (US for example) would work beyond 5 PM. And invariably, our own folk would say, "Trust us Indians to carry our slogging nature even when we go to US."

Today, the trend is so different. When I was in the US on a project assignment, even the Americans stayed on with us, late into the evening. I am seeing the same trend here in Australia now. People worldover are recognizing that the willingness to work hard that the Indians have is certainly appreciable, and if they (non-Indians) do not work as hard, they would most certainly lose out to the Indians!! And they respect our capacity to work hard, our dedication, our integrity. I have heard nothing but praise from our American, European or Australian customers!

Yes, maybe we are not as "cultured" as the Europeans or Americans are. But culture is what you define it to be, and that way, we are just as cultured as everyone else is.

Maybe we have poverty.Yes, but think about our population! With the kind of human resources that we have, poverty is inevitable. But why feel ashamed? Let us rather accept and see what we can do to alleviate the condition.

Maybe we have communal riots! Yes, but think about our diversity! Think of the richness of culture that different communities have brought us.

To badmouth about our own country is as good as badmouthing about one's own parents. Yes, our parents are not superdad and supermom, but does that mean we keep pointing out their faults to everyone? do we say to others that our mother is ugly, or fat or things like that??

Well, if some do, then I don't know what to say of them, but just as we do not speak ill of our parents, we should not speak ill of our country either. It is high time we put our cynicism behind us. Cynicism never helped. Instead of cribbing ad naueseum about how bad things are in India, it is infinitely better to see how good it was, it is and work towards how good we can make it in the future.

[pavalamani pragasam]

badri, "peRRa thaayum piRantha ponnaadum naRRava vaaninum nani siRanthanavE"

[HindustaniLadka]

Cheers Badri!

---deleted----provocative----

[a.ratchasi]

To badmouth about our own country is as good as badmouthing about one's own parents. Yes, our parents are not superdad and supermom, but does that mean we keep pointing out their faults to everyone? do we say to others that our mother is ugly, or fat or things like that??

[Badri]

badri, "peRRa thaayum piRantha ponnaadum naRRava vaaninum nani siRanthanavE"

Yes, Mrs PP. I did not know this Tamizh equivalent, but had in mind this same thing that Rama says to Lakshmana after defeating Ravana when I wrote that part. Vibheeshana offers the throne of Lanka to Rama. Lakshmana who sees the beauty of Lanka says,

"Anyway Bharatha is on the throne in Ayodhya. And Lanka is quite beautiful and properous. Why not accept this offer?"

Rama replies "Janani Janma bhoomischa swargaadapi gareeyasi"
meaning, "Mother and motherland are better than heaven itself. Just because another woman is prettier than your mother, would you abandon your own mother and call the other one your mother? Lanka may be more beautiful than Ayodhya, still, that is our motherland, and that is where we belong."

Thanks, Mrs PP for enlightening me on the Tamizh quote. Is it perhaps from Kamba Ramayanam then?