Even after falling in the category of developing nations, India has played a vital role in contributing to the world in terms of discoveries and inventions. Some of the best scientists of all times have been from India. Not only from this era but from a time long back, Indian scientists have never failed to amaze people with their discoveries and inventions. They made incredible things and made discoveries that nobody could even think of. There were discoveries that got due credit but many were not recognized. But in recent times there have been proofs of various such discoveries. ‘Historians have found a number of important things to prove that the people during that time had the ability to think beyond imagination. So here is a list of top ten ancient discoveries from India that you might not know.
- Plastic surgery
India has given the world so many important things, one of which is plastic surgery. The man who is known as the father of plastic surgery is Sushruta .He lived in India during 1000 and 800 BC, and because of him India has become advanced in the field of medicine. He discovered a method for nasal reconstruction. He was great with anatomy and pathophysiology. Even in a time when people hardly knew anything about surgery or medicines, he developed extraordinary ways to help the human body. His old teachings are still being referred even today, when we have become so advanced.
- Ancient dentistry
Indus valley civilization is the oldest civilization in the world and historians have found tons of discovery which include ancient dentistry too. Its so mind blowing to think about dentistry being followed in such an old civilizations almost as far back as 7000 BCE. At the site in mehrgarh, historians have found evidence of healers that were used for treating tooth problems.
- Sewage system
Today, still many of small undeveloped areas in India don’t have proper sewage but long time back in the first oldest Indus valley civilization in harappa and mohenjo daro proper sewage system were made. Almost every house there had a toilet which were connected to the city drain to flush out waste. It was well planned and constructed which gives an idea that people were so advance and genius at that time in India.
- Cataract surgery
Ancient people of India even had solutions to cure Cataract which is a condition where lens of the eye becomes blurred. Greeks were inspired by the Indian physicians and travelled all the way to see these surgeries. A curved needle known as jabamukhi salaka was used to perform the cataract surgery which helped in removing the cataract which was in the way of vision of the eye. The Chinese who are at the top in the race of technology and medicine, even they were inspired by this technique and welcomed it in their country.
- Surya siddhanta
Surya siddhanta also known as sun treatise is a text on astronomy and time keeping by the clever Indian astronomers. The piece of writing consist of some rules to calculate the movement of the planets and our moon relational to the numerous constellations that we know about. The information was on a palm leaf manuscript and is from the 15th century. Hindu cosmologists were well known to the world outside earth and the knowledge they gained were passed down to us.
- Steel
Steel which is one of the most important material in the manufacturing industries was produced in India that was of very fine quality. The Historians have discovered that long time back, almost during 200 BCE, people living around south India were producing high quality steel in a way that was called crucible technique by the European people. In that process of making steel iron was moulded and was mixed together with glass and charcoal. After mixing these three elements it was heated at a high flame so that the iron could melt and absorb the carbon. With this process fine quality of steel was produced which was traded to a number of parts of the world.
- Pythagoras theorem
You must have studied the Pythagoras theorem during your school days that states “if a triangle is right angled, then the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides”. You will not believe if we tell you that pythagoras theorem was found by Indians and not the people of other countries that claimed its discovery. Before it was written in any other book it was already written in the Baudhayana Sulba Sutra in India in around 800 BCE to 500 BCE. There are many other discoveries like this for which India did not get any credit but are famous by the names of scientists from other countries.
- Weighing scale
According to the finds in the unexplored regions of Indus valley civilization, the historians have found old weighing scales which proves that weighing scales were already made in India before anyone out of India could even think of. The existence of weighing scales date back between 2400 BCE-1800 BCE and was probably used for measuring and comparing goods for trade.
- Ruler
In many regions of the Indus Valley Civilization, in the not exposed destructed areas the historians have found rulers that were made of ivory during the research. One such example was even graduated to 1/16 of an inch that is fewer than 2 millimeters. These kinds of rulers were distinctly very striking, because even the bricks of the buildings in the valley had the same measurement when found. Precision to millimetres!
- Ayurveda
Ayurveda is one of the oldest and finest traditional system of medicine that was developed in the long time back and is still being followed by half of the world. This great way of making excellent medicines has been given to the world by India. According to ayurveda there are five elements that are water, space,air, earth and fire that together are called pancha mahabhoota in the language of ayurveda. Ayurveda uses herbs and traditional practices to cure a disease. Many modern scientist have stolen ideas from ayurveda and introduced them as their own to the world. People are becoming aware of the importance of ayurveda making it not only limited to india but the whole world.
