Achievements, inventions and discoveries of ancient india

EnlightenedMonk

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This is a thread with a specific agenda of debunking the audacious claims made by our neighbours recently about Indian Culture and Inventions...

A lot of misinformation has been propagated by them claiming Indian inventions to be their own and unnecessarily maligning Indian Culture and Values... not to mention taking away credit from our much deserved inventors and giving it to their own who have achieved nothing really...

This is a thread where the esteemed members can post articles dissecting such claims and debunking them with evidence pointing to the contrary... but, please remember not to write rants and backup all claims with evidence to maintain the high quality standards we have for our forum...
 

shiv

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now the chinese claim that chess was invented by them,i for one think otherwise--->

The earliest precursor of modern chess is a game called Chaturanga, which flourished in India by the 6th century, and is the earliest known game to have two essential features found in all later chess variations — different pieces having different powers (which was not the case with Checkers and Go), and victory depending on the fate of one piece, the king of modern chess.[11] Other game pieces (speculatively called "chess pieces") uncovered in archaeological findings are considered as coming from other, distantly related, board games, which may have had boards of 100 squares or more.[11]

Chess was designed for an ashtāpada (Sanskrit for "having eight feet", i.e. an 8x8 squared board), which may have been used earlier for a backgammon-type race game.[18] Ashtāpada, the uncheckered 8×8 board served as the main board for playing Chaturanga.[19] Other Indian boards included the 10×10 Dasapada and the 9×9 Saturankam.[19] Traditional Indian chessboards often have X markings on some or all of squares a1 a4 a5 a8 d1 d4 d5 d8 e1 e4 e5 e8 h1 h4 h5 h8: these may have been "safe squares" where capturing was not allowed in a dice-driven backgammon-type race game played on the ashtāpada before chess was invented.[18]

A theory started in the late 19th century, mainly from the works of Captain Hiram Cox and Duncan Forbes, that the four-handed game chaturaji was the original form of chaturanga.[20]. Other scholars dispute this and say that the two-handed form was the first.[21]

In Sanskrit, "Chaturanga" literally means "having four limbs (or parts)" and in epic poetry often means "army" (the four parts are elephants, chariots, horsemen, foot soldiers[12]). The name came from a battle formation mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata.[11] The game Chaturanga was a battle simulation game[12] which rendered Indian military strategy of the time.[22].

Some people formerly played chess using a dice to decide which piece to move. There was an unproven theory that chess started as this dice-chess and that the gambling and dice aspects of the game were removed because of Hindu and Muslim religious objections.[23]. Such theories arose later among some Christian religious bodies in Europe, resulting in some priests trying to forbid chess as a game of chance, including forbidding the diceless version by classing it as an "evasion".[24]

The Arab scholar Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī detailed the use of chess as a tool for military strategy, mathematics, gambling and even its vague association with astronomy in India and elsewhere.[7] Mas'ūdī notes that ivory in India was chiefly used for the production of chess and backgammon pieces, and asserts that the game was introduced to Persia from India, along with the book Kelileh va Demneh, during the reign of emperor Nushirwan.[7]

In some variants, including in its Arabic form shatranj, a win was by checkmate, or by stalemate, or by "bare king" (taking all of an opponent's pieces except the king).

In some parts of India the pieces in the places of the Rook and Knight and Bishop were renamed by words meaning (in this order) Boat, Horse, Elephant, or Elephant, Horse, Camel, but keeping the same moves.[18]

In early chess the moves of the pieces was:

* King: as now.
* Queen: one square diagonally, only.
* Bishop:
o In the version that went into Persia: two squares diagonally (no more or less), but could jump over a piece between
o In a version sometimes found in India in former times: two squares sideways or front-and-back (no more or less), but could jump over a piece between.
o In versions found in Southeast Asia: one square diagonally, or one square forwards.
* Knight: as now.
* Rook: as now.
* Pawn: one square forwards (not two); captured as now. Promoted to queen only.

History of chess - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

shiv

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here is one indian story my grandmother used to tell me that has been claimed by the chinese-->

A legend I know has it invented in China. The emperor was sad and he had no drive for life when a man came along with the chessboard and taught him the game.

The emperor was enthusiast about it and promised the man to fulfill whatever rewards he wanted.

The man said to take the chessboard and put a grain of rice in the first square, two grains in the second, four in the third and so on until the sixtyfourth.

The emperor was surprised for this humble request, but when he realised that the whole rice of China whouldn't have been enough to fulfill it ... ehm ... he had the man beheaded.

My post above however debunks the myth that chess was invented in china.
chess when invented in india traveled all over the world and grew to be the modern chess we see today
 

shiv

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Autocannon and multi-barrel gun: Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), a Persian-Indian polymath and mechanical engineer who worked for Akbar in the Mughal Empire, invented the autocannon, the earliest multi-shot gun. Shirazi's rapid-firing gun had multiple gun barrels that fired hand cannons loaded with gunpowder.

Autocannon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

Sailor

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I'm a chess player and have been since early high school.
I actually always thought as we were told here, that it started in China.
But that aside, China or India, it started long ago in Asia. What I have often wondered is why it has connotations of Western Christianity and culture? ie Knights and Bishops?
How did this occur in Asia so long ago in a place where knights or bishops were unheard of?
 

shiv

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* Badminton: The modern form of Badminton can be traced to India.[2][3][4][5] In the late 19th century CE British military officers stationed in India became interested in a similar local game which was known to them as Poona, derived from where it was recorded—Pune, and took it back to England where the rules of badminton were set out.[2][3][6] Another version of the game was recorded in the 1850s in the southern Indian city of Tanjore, where balls made of wool and cardboard were used in the place of the modern-day shuttlecock.[3] This game was locally known as pooppanthu vilayattam (Tamil: பூப்பநது விளையாடும்), literally meaning "flower-ball game".[3]

Badminton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

shiv

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* Bhatnagar-Mathur Magnetic Interference Balance: Invented jointly by Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and K.N. Mathur in 1928, the so-called 'Bhatnagar-Mathur Magnetic Interference Balance' was a modern instrument used for measuring various magnetic properties.[9] The first appearance of this instrument in Europe was at a Royal Society exhibition in London, where it was later marketed by British firm Messers Adam Hilger and Co, London.
 

shiv

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Bow drill: The bow drill appeared in Mehrgarh between 4th-5th millennium BCE.[10] It was used to drill holes into lapis lazuli and cornelian and was made of green jasper.[10] Similar drills were found in other parts of the Indus Valley Civilization and Iran one millennium later.

Bow drill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

shiv

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Button: Buttons—made from seashell—were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BCE.[11] Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pieced into them so that they could attached to clothing by using a thread.[11] Ian McNeil (1990) holds that: "The button, in fact, was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of a curved shell and about 5000 years old."

Button - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

shiv

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I'm a chess player and have been since early high school.
I actually always thought as we were told here, that it started in China.
But that aside, China or India, it started long ago in Asia. What I have often wondered is why it has connotations of Western Christianity and culture? ie Knights and Bishops?
How did this occur in Asia so long ago in a place where knights or bishops were unheard of?
you see sailor chess was introduced in persia by indians.when the muslims captured persia,the chess was introduced to the southern europe,where it added the concepts of bishops and queens and what we see as the modern chess today.


some more facts--->

The precursors 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.The words for "chess" in Old Persian and Arabic are chatrang and shatranj respectively — terms derived from caturaṅga in Sanskrit,which literally means an army of four divisions or four corps.Chess spread throughout the world and many variants of the game soon began taking shape.This game was introduced to the Near East from India and became a part of the princely or courtly education of Persian nobility.Buddhist pilgrims, Silk Road traders and others carried it to the Far East where it was transformed and assimilated into a game often played on the intersection of the lines of the board rather than within the squares.Chaturanga reached Europe through Persia, the Byzantine empire and the expanding Arabian empire.Muslims carried chess to North Africa, Sicily, and Spain by the 10th century.
 

shiv

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Calico: Calico had originated in India by the 11th century and found mention in Indian literature by the 12th when writer Hemacandra mentioned calico fabric prints done in a lotus design.The Indian textile merchants traded in calico with the Africans by the 15th century and calico fabrics from Gujarat appeared in Egypt.Trade with Europe followed from the 17th century onwards.Within India, calico originated in Calicut.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_(textile)
 

Sailor

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Yes I knew it had to be radically changed somewhere, probably Spain. But to me it means that the original game is so altered that it is no longer the original invention, but a European game.
 

shiv

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hang on guys i have many pages to contribute,visit this thread regularly for updates,thanks EM to start this thread.
 

Sailor

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Have mercy mate. We've had enough of what India did. Now Australia, that's another thing.
Let's see. Can't think of anything we have invented.
 

johnee

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I'm a chess player and have been since early high school.
I actually always thought as we were told here, that it started in China.
But that aside, China or India, it started long ago in Asia. What I have often wondered is why it has connotations of Western Christianity and culture? ie Knights and Bishops?
How did this occur in Asia so long ago in a place where knights or bishops were unheard of?
when I played chess at an early age the following names for the peices were told to me in my native lang. telugu:

king=king
minister=minister.
rook=elephant.
knights= horse.
bishop=camel.


this concept is very close to the chaturanga balam. also, elephant and camel are not popular in the west or christianity. instances of chess are found in india much before than christianity.
 

Sailor

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Good ulterior view Johnee. Well said. I guess this proves that the whole concept changes from country to country.
 

shiv

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devices for carding: Historian of science Joseph Needham ascribes the invention of bow-instruments used in textile technology to India.The earliest evidence for using bow-instruments for carding comes from India (2nd century CE).These carding devices, called kaman and dhunaki would loosen the texture of the fiber by the means of a vibrating string.

Carding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

shiv

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Coherer, iron and mercury: In 1899, the Bengali physicist Jagdish Chandra Bose announced the development of an "iron-mercury-iron coherer with telephone detector" in a paper presented at the Royal Society, London.He also later received a U.S. patent, "Detector for electrical disturbances" (1904), for a specific electromagnetic receiver.

guys this is something i read in history that jagdish chandra bose was about to invent radio but switched to botany,he thought he would pursue radio later but it was too late,the credit went to tesla and marconi....he did receive a NOBEL though...

here is something to read about this inventor-->Jagadish Chandra Bose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

shiv

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here is something funny--->it seems we invented cockfighting,check it-->

Cockfighting: Cockfighting was a pastime in the Indus Valley Civilization by 2000 BC.The Encyclopedia Britannica (2008)—on the origins of cockfighting—holds: "The game fowl is probably the nearest to the Indian red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), from which all domestic chickens are believed to be descended...The sport was popular in ancient times in India, China, Persia, and other Eastern countries and was introduced into Greece in the time of Themistocles (c. 524–460 BCE). The sport spread throughout Asia Minor and Sicily. For a long time the Romans affected to despise this "Greek diversion," but they ended up adopting it so enthusiastically that the agricultural writer Columella (1st century AD) complained that its devotees often spent their whole patrimony in betting at the side of the pit."
 

shiv

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