From Ancient Times to the Modern: 7 Indian Inventions You Use In Daily Life!, History & Classics : Today Indya

From Ancient Times to the Modern: 7 Indian Inventions You Use In Daily Life!

History & Classics

thebetterindia

In this article, we shall see old inventions that we use to this date and newer ones that have just come about. Nevertheless, these are inventions from India that changed the world!

From Ancient Times to the Modern: 7 Indian Inventions You Use In Daily Life!

Discoveries and innovations are almost always created out of necessity. A necessity to either fulfil our needs or even to improve upon existing systems.

In this article, we shall see old inventions that we use to this date and newer ones that have just come about. Nevertheless, these are inventions from India that changed the world!

THE USB PORT

For the seamless transfer of files from a pen drive to the computer, and the ease of connecting various devices, you would have to thank Ajay V Bhatt.

The Indian-American computer architect helped define and develop not only the USB but also various other technologies like AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), PCI Express, Platform Power Management Architecture and other numerous chipset improvements.

The USB or the Universal Serial Bus was invented in 1995 out of a necessity to have a common port that can be adapted by systems across different platforms. This adaptation led manufacturers of peripheral devices like keyboards and speakers to maintain a constant design, which would lead to lower cost production and an overall increase in compatibility.

BUTTONS AND COTTONS

Yep, from the button that holds your shirt to the shirt itself, these two useful inventions were developed during ancient India.

Way before buttons came onto fabric, Indians used cotton to make pieces of cloth. This was achieved by cotton cultivation which dates back to the 5th century BCE. The cultivation was seen in the Indus Valley Civilisation and contributed to the boom of cotton usage.

The earliest use of buttons was seen during the Mohenjodaro period where they were used for ornamental purposes. Smaller seashells were adorned on fabric for this purpose. It was only later that buttons were attached to cloth pieces and used in the form of fasteners.

And not just buttons, equipment used to weave clothes such as spinning wheels and cotton gins also originated from India!

RADIO WAVES

Although video killed the radio star, radio waves went on to take different forms from being used in telecommunications to broadcasting signals. Radio waves or microwave communications were heavily studied during the later part of the 19th century.

But it was an experiment demonstrated by Jagadish Chandra Bose in 1895 that encapsulated the potential uses of microwaves in communication.

Bose transmitted microwaves using his apparatus, showcasing that they are a form of “invisible light” that pass through solid objects with ease.

Bose’s revolutionary demonstration formed the foundation of the technology used in mobile telephony, radars, satellite communications, radio, television broadcasts, WiFi, remote controls and countless other applications that are used widely today.

RULER

That simple apparatus which has been a part of our geometric boxes was a crucial invention of the ancient period that let engineers build structures and other instruments with precision.

The ruler came out of the need to measure things in a standardised manner instead of using the hand or the foot which invariably have differing measurements. Excavations at Lothal near Gujarat have yielded one ruler calibrated to about 1⁄16 inch (1.6 mm) dating back to 2400 BCE.

Surely, the ruler was a benchmark and ruled all forthcoming inventions.

THE PENTIUM CHIP

The invention of the Pentium microprocessor chips took computers to the next level of processing. A microprocessor, like the one powering your computer or your smartphone, consists of millions of transistors that process numerous functions in a split second.

For the chip, we must thank Vinod Dham. Known as the Father of the Pentium Chip, Vinod developed the chip for Intel in the year 1993. When it came out, it put to shame its competitors like Motorola, SPARC and Alpha microprocessors.

The superscalar architecture and the 64-bit computing is still the base technology for many computer chips today.

IRON

Metal was found in sites of Uttar Pradesh, dating back to 1800-1200 BCE. It is estimated that iron and metal works emerged in Europe and the Middle East around the same time.

In India, ironworks was not only used to make weapons but also cutlery and ornaments. The technology of iron smelting was so honed that blacksmiths created corrosion-resistant iron, like the one used in the Iron Pillar of Delhi which has withstood corrosion for over 1,600 years!

Not only iron but a lot of metallurgy emerged from India, from the crucible steel to the renowned wootz steel and even seamless celestial globes which were thought to be impossible to make even with modern technology. These inventions contributed to the industrial revolution in India so much so that today, India is among the world’s largest exporters of iron and steel.

SHAMPOO

That bottle of shampoo that sits in your bathroom originated out of a need to clean one’s hair. The word shampoo is derived from the Hindi word Champo or Champna meaning “to stamp or knead”.

The invention dates back to 1762 where a variety of herbs and their extracts were used along with aamla to procure a solution which was used to “knead” onto the hair.

During colonial times, when the European traders were made to indulge in champu, they took back the learnings to their homeland where shampoo was popularised.

This is but a glance at the inventions and discoveries that emerged from India. And the possibilities of new inventions is brimming with potential. (as long as the young generation doesn’t spend all its time on Netflix).

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28 INDIAN INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.

History & Classics

southreport

1. THE HINDU NUMBER SYSTEM.

With decimal place-value and a symbol for zero, this system was the ancestor of the widely used Arabic numeral system. It was developed in the Indian subcontinent between the 1st and 6th centuries.

Aryabhatta invented zero, without which there is no binary code and computers.

2. WORLD’S FIRST UNIVERSITY.

The Takshasila University was established in 700BC and Nalanda University was established in 4th century BC.

3. THE CONCEPTS OF ALGEBRA, TRIGONOMETRY, GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS ORIGINATED FROM INDIA. THE EVIDENCE TRACES BACK TO 1200 BCE.

4. AYURVEDIC MEDICINE.

Ayurveda and Siddha are ancient and traditional systems of medicine. Ayurveda dates back to Iron Age India (1st millennium BC) and is still practiced today as a form of complementary and alternative medicine. Siddha medicine is mostly prevalent in South India. Herbs and minerals are basic raw materials of the Siddha system which dates back to the period of siddha saints around the 5th century BC.

5. BINARY NUMBER SYSTEM.

The Indian scholar Pingala developed a binary system for describing music in around 5th–2nd centuries BC. He used binary numbers in the form of short and long syllables making it similar to Morse code.

6. COTTON CULTIVATION AND WEAVING.

Cotton was cultivated by the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization by the 5th millennium BCE – 4th millennium BCE.[91] The Indus cotton industry was well developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be practiced till the modern Industrialization of India.[92] Well before the Common Era, the use of cotton textiles had spread from India to the Mediterranean and beyond.

“Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, and their use spread to the Mediterranean countries.”

–The Columbia Encyclopaedia

7. CHANDRASEKHAR LIMIT AND CHANDRASEKHAR NUMBER.

These parameters were discovered by and named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his work on stellar structure and stellar evolution.

8. VALUE OF PI.

The concept of Pi and an approximate value of it were first discovered by Budhayana in 800 BC they were later improved by Aryabhatta. Budhayana also devised the concept of Pythagorean theorem.

9. BHASKARACHARYA CALCULATED THE TIME TIME TAKEN BY THE EARTH TO ORBIT THE SUN IN 5TH CENTURY BC.

10. SIR JAGADEESH CHANDRA BOSE INVENTED WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS IN 1819.

11. THE EARLIEST MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

Susrutha and his team performing a surgery

Sustura Regarded as the father of surgery wrote the Sushruta Samhita the earliest medical encyclopedia known to world during 1200BC containing 184 chapters contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources.

He along with his team conducted cataract, cesarean, factures and urinary stone surgeries. His team has conducted more than 3000 surgeries with help of more than 120 tools.

12. 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. The eye would later be soaked with warm butter and then bandaged. Though this method was successful, Susruta cautioned that cataract surgery should only be performed when absolutely necessary. Greek philosophers and scientists traveled to India where these surgeries were performed by physicians. The removal of cataract by surgery was also introduced into China from India

13. 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

14. CHESS WAS INVENTED IN INDIA IN 6TH CENTURY.

15. DIAMOND MINING AND DIAMOND TOOLS.

Diamonds were first recognized and mined in central India 5,000 years ago, where significant alluvial deposits of the stone could then be found along the rivers Penner, Krishna and Godavari.

India remained the world’s only source of diamonds until the discovery of diamonds in Brazil in the 18th century. Golconda served as an important centre for diamonds in central India. Diamonds then were exported to other parts of the world, including Europe.

16. THE GAME OF SNAKES AND LADDERS WAS INVENTED IN 13TH CENTURY BY SAINT GYAN DEV.

17. BUDDHISM AND JAINISM ORIGINATED IN INDIA.

18. INDIANS ESTABLISHED ONE OF THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS IN THE WORLD CALLED INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION.

19. CRUCIBLE STEEL.

Crucible steel is the form of steel that is popular for its wide range of applications in variety of fields from industries to home appliances. Scientific research showed promising evidence of crucible steel extraction processes in Kodumanal, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu during the period as early as 3rd century BC.

20. BUTTONS WERE DISCOVERED IN INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION 5000 YEARS AGO.

21. SIR JAGADEESH CHANDRA BOSE INVENTED CRESCOGRAPH, A DEVICE WHICH MEASURES THE GROWTH IN PLANTS.

22. THE BOARD GAME LUDO IS A MODIFIED VERSION OF INDIAN INVENTED GAME CALLED PASICHI.

23. EARLIEST TRACES OF RULER/SCALE WAS OBSERVED DURING INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION.

24. THE RAMAN EFFECT.

The Encyclopedia Britannica (2008) reports: “change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules. The phenomenon is named for Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, who discovered it in 1928. When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than that of the incident (incoming) beam. Most of this scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman effect.”

25. MARTIAL ARTS.

4th century BCE Indian epic poetry and the Vedas give the earliest written mention of South Asian martial arts. Boxing, wrestling, swordsmanship, archery, and the use of numerous weapons are all described in detail.

26. STEP WELLS.

The purpose of Stepwells is mainly to cope with seasonal fluctuations in water availability Research states that they were first made in India and then propagated to other parts of Aisa.

27. YOGA ORIGINATED IN INDIA.

Yoga is now the most adopted fitness and health practice around the world.

28. MILITARY ROCKETS.

In the year 1780 the Mysorean dynasty under the rule of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan made the first successful use of iron-cased military rockets in the history of the world to fight against the British East India Company in the battle of Guntur.

The British were exposed to this technology after defeating the Mysore Dynasty. Their research in the Mysorean rockets lead to the development of the famous Congreve rocket and the rest is history.

Article Original Source : http://www.southreport.com/indian-inventions-that-changed-the-world/