India at a Glance
Heritage Pillars of Bharat
From mathematics and medicine to philosophy and arts — India's gifts to humanity span every field of human knowledge.
Mathematics & Science
The Foundations of Modern Numbers
- ✦Invented zero (Brahmagupta, 628 CE) & the decimal system used worldwide today
- ✦Pi computed to 4 decimal places by Aryabhatta (499 CE) — 1,000 yrs before Europe
- ✦Proto-calculus developed by Madhava (c. 1370 CE) — 200 yrs before Newton
- ✦Ramanujan (1887–1920): 3,900 results, many still being proved today
Medicine & Wellness
Healing Humanity for 5,000 Years
- ✦Ayurveda: oldest holistic medical system (c. 3000 BCE), still practiced worldwide
- ✦Sushruta performed rhinoplasty c. 600 BCE — 2,500 yrs before European surgery
- ✦Sushruta Samhita describes 300+ surgical procedures & 120 surgical instruments
- ✦Yoga: 5,000-year-old science; UN declared June 21 International Yoga Day
Philosophy & Wisdom
Light from the Oldest Living Thought
- ✦Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE): world's oldest extant religious text, still in liturgical use
- ✦Upanishads influenced Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Emerson, Thoreau & Schrödinger
- ✦Buddhism & Jainism both founded in India — now followed by 600M+ people globally
- ✦Nalanda University (5th-12th c.) — 10,000 students, the world's first campus university
Language, Arts & Culture
The World's Most Expressive Civilisation
- ✦Sanskrit grammar (Panini, c. 400 BCE): 3,959 rules — compared to a programming language
- ✦Chess invented in India c. 600 CE as "Chaturanga"; spread to Persia, Arabia then Europe
- ✦India has 3,400+ registered craft traditions — more than any nation on Earth
- ✦World's most prolific film industry: 1,800+ films annually in 20+ languages
Voices of the World on India
We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great-grandmother of tradition.
Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.
Did You Know?
ISRO launched 104 satellites in a single mission on Feb 15, 2017 — a world record at the time (PSLV-C37).
India is the world's largest producer of milk, spices, and the second-largest producer of fruits & vegetables.
India has the world's largest postal network — 155,000+ post offices, including remote Himalayan villages.
India produces 2.6 million engineering graduates annually and is the world's second-largest English-speaking nation.
Indian classical music has 72 parent scales and thousands of ragas — more musical forms than all Western traditions combined.
India has 7 distinct climatic zones, from Arctic alpine (Ladakh) to tropical rainforest (Meghalaya), all within one nation.