posted March 05, 2007 01:31 PM         

According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world

India has the world's largest stock of privately hoarded gold

India tested its first nuclear bomb in 1974.

Playing cards in India are round.

On the stone temples of Madurai in southern India, there are more than 30 million carved images of gods and goddesses

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people.

Between 1902 and 1907 the same tiger killed 436 people in India

Original 'Indian Yellow' was obtained at Monghyr, a town in Bengal, from the urine of cows which had been fed on mango leaves. It was found in the bazaars of Punjab in the form of large balls, having an offensive urinous odor. True Indian yellow has been absent from the market for some time; its production is said to have been prohibited in 1908. Present day Indian yellow colors are made of synthetic pigments, alternatives that are less fugitive and less offensive to the nose!

Southern Indian drug addicts get high by having venomous snakes bite their tongues. This can give addicts a 16 hour high, but can be very deadly

In 1968, a convention of beggars in Dacca, India, passed a resolution demanding that the minimum amount of alms be fixed at 15 paisa (three cents).

Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century.

Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest who was the surveyor-general of India from 1830 to 184 He was the first person to accurately survey the peak's height

The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia

The official language of India is Hindi

The official Sanskrit name for India is Bharat.

INDIA has been called Bharat even in Satya yuga ( Golden Age )

More INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT India

The name `India’ is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.

The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan’ combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.

Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software. ( a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987 ).

Chess was invented in India.

Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.

The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.

The first six Mogul Emperor's of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.

The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola

India is.......the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).

The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh.
Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.

India has the most post offices in the world !

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people !.

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

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.

Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries till the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered America by mistake.

The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word 'Navigation' is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.

Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.

The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India. Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).

Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. ( Source . Gemological Institute of America )

The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.

Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries.

Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

Did you know ?

India also celebrates the birthday of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President and Vice-President and great statesman, as "Teachers' Day".

Born on September 5, 1888, at Tiruttani, 40 miles to the north-east of Madras, Radhakrishnan grew to become the most famous Indian teacher and philosopher of all times. In his honour, this day is celebrated as Teacher's Day.

He was also the Vice-President of India from 1952-1962. He held the office of the Chancellor, University of Delhi, before taking over as the President of India in May 1962.

"What makes a nation, is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past", says the noted historian Eric Hobsbawm.

Hence, when talking of a nation, it becomes very imperative that the past should also be talked about. And the past of India is as fascinating and interesting as it is momentous.

posted March 07, 2007 03:53 AM         

Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?

Vinod Khosla

Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)?

Vinod Dahm

Who is the third richest man on the world?

A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is AZIM PREMJI, who is the CEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th position now.

Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?

Sabeer Bhatia

Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?

Arun Netravalli

Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?

Rajiv Gupta

Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?

Sanjay Tejwrika

Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?

Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives. There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,

38% of doctors in USA are Indians.

12% scientists in USA are Indians.

36% of NASA scientists are Indians.

34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.

28% of IBM employees are Indians.

17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.

13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

You may know some of the following facts. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.

01. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.

02. India invented the Number system. Aryabhatta invented 'zero.'

03. The world's first University was established in Takshila 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.

04. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.

05. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.

06. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth.

07. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.

08. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6th Century, which is long before the European mathematicians.

09. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.

10. According to the Gemmological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.

11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.

12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

13. Chess was invented in India.

14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India.

15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilisation).

16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

Quotes about India.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

Albert Einstein.

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.

Mark Twain.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.

French scholar Romain Rolland.

India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

Hu Shih.

(Former Chinese ambassador to USA)

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG,

THE LIST COULD BE ENDLESS. BUT,

posted March 10, 2007 12:24 PM         

If you didn't like the thread you could've skipped over it.

posted March 12, 2007 01:18 PM         

"there are many nationalities on this forum that are proud of their countries achivements but we dont see anyone blowing trumpets here"

sigh! ur not taking this in the right spirit. if u like..read, dont like.. 'LEAVE'! this is 'free-for-all'.

and by the way, everyone should write something interesting about their country. i would love to know the contribution of each civilization.

posted March 13, 2007 01:38 AM         

lol. no. cultural influence.

posted March 13, 2007 12:50 PM         

:::I appreciate you posting this Evo. I'm infatuated with India...the culture and the beauty. I'd love to visit there someday. I enjoyed reading your facts::::