21 BRILLIANT INVENTIONS BY ANCIENT INDIAN CIVILIZATION THAT YOU NEVER KNOW!!

1. CARBON PIGMENT / INK
The source of the carbon pigment used in India ink was India. Ink itself has been used in India since at least the 4th century BCE. Masi, an early ink in India was an admixture of several chemical components.

2. Calico
Calico had originated in the subcontinent by the 11th century and found mention in Indian literature, by the 12th-century writer Hemachandra. The Indian textile merchants traded in calico with the Africans by the 15th century and calico fabrics from Gujarat appeared in Egypt.

3. BUTTON
Made from seashell were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BCE. Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pierced into them so that they could be attached to clothing by using a thread.

4.INCENSE CLOCK
Though Incense is majorly associated with Chinese, it was actually originated in India at least in its fundamental form if not function. Early incense clocks found in China all seem to have Devanāgarī carvings on them instead of Chinese seal characters.

5. RULER
Rulers made from Ivory were in use by the Indus Valley Civilization prior to 1500 BCE. Excavations at Lothal (2400 BCE) have yielded one such ruler calibrated to about 1/16 of an inch—less than 2 millimeters.


6. SUGAR REFINEMENT
Sugarcane was originally from tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. The process of producing crystallized sugar from sugarcane was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas, and the earliest reference of candied sugar comes from India.

7. ZERO SYMBOL
Indians were the first to use the zero as a symbol and in arithmetic operations, although Babylonians used zero to signify the ‘absent’. In those earlier times a blank space was used to denote zero, later a dot was used to denote zero. In 500 AD circa Aryabhata again gave a new symbol for zero (0).

8. CATARACT SURGERY
Cataract surgery was known to the Indian physician Sushruta (6th century BCE). In India, cataract surgery was performed with a special tool called the Jabamukhi Salaka, a curved needle used to loosen the lens and push the cataract out of the field of vision.


9. CURE FOR LEPROSY
Kearns & Nash (2008) state that the first mention of leprosy is described in the Indian medical treatise Sushruta Samhita (6th century BCE). However, The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine holds that the mention of leprosy, as well as ritualistic cures for it, were described in the Atharva-veda (1500–1200 BCE), written before the Sushruta Samhita.


10. PLASTIC SURGERY
Plastic surgery was being carried out in India by 2000 BCE. The system of punishment by deforming a miscreant’s body may have led to an increase in demand for this practice. The surgeon Sushruta contributed mainly to the field of plastic and cataract surgery.


11. DIAMOND MINING AND DIAMOND TOOLS
Diamonds were first recognized and mined in central India. It is unclear when diamonds were first mined in India, although estimated to be at least 5,000 years ago. India remained the world’s only source of diamonds until the discovery of diamonds in Brazil in 18th century.

13. IRON WORKING
Iron works were developed in the Vedic period of India. Early iron objects found in India can be dated to 1400 BCE by employing the method of radiocarbon dating. Spikes, knives, daggers, arrow-heads, bowls, spoons, saucepans, axes, chisels, tongs, door fittings etc. ranging from 600 BCE to 200 BCE have been discovered from several archaeological sites of India.

14. PASCAL’S TRIANGLE
Described in the 6th century CE by Varahamihira and in the 10th century by Halayudha, commenting on an obscure reference by Pingala to the “Meru-prastaara”, or the “Staircase of Mount Meru”, in relation to binomial coefficients.

15.SUITS GAME
Kridapatram is an early suits game, made of painted rags, invented in Ancient India. The term kridapatram literally means “painted rags for playing”. Paper playing cards first appeared in East Asia during the 9th century.

16. DOCK (MARITIME)
A structure at Lothal (2400 BCE) is considered the earliest Indian dock by some archaeologists, apparently located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt.

17. CHATURANGA / CHESS
The precursor of chess originated in India during the Gupta dynasty (c. 280-550 CE). Both the Persians and Arabs ascribe the origins of the game of Chess to the Indians.

18. CHINTZ
The origin of Chintz is from the printed all cotton fabric of calico in India. The origin of the word chintz itself is from the Hindi language word चित्र् (chitr), which means a spot.

19. JUTE CULTIVATION
Jute has been cultivated in India since ancient times. Raw jute was exported to the western world, where it was used to make ropes and cordage.

20. FIBONACCI NUMBERS
This sequence was first described by Virahanka (c. 700 AD), Gopāla (c. 1135), and Hemachandra (c. 1150), as an outgrowth of the earlier writings on Sanskrit prosody by Pingala (c. 200 BC).

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

And there are lot more
 
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