Greatest Indian contribution(s) to the world ?

What is/are the greatest Indian contribution(s) to the world?

  • Religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Philosophy, gurus & ashrams

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Mathematics & modern numerals (including "0")

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Chess

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Kama Sutra

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Indian music, dances and cinema (e.g. Bollywood)

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Indian sculptures and paintings

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ayurveda & yoga

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Indian cuisine

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1
Out of interest. A lot of those inventions were made in the Indus Valley i.e. today's Pakistan, not in today's India.
 
Out of interest. A lot of those inventions were made in the Indus Valley i.e. today's Pakistan, not in today's India.

That's true, but India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all part of what is called the "Indian civilisation". If you find a better term than "Indian" that encompasses the cultures of these countries please let me know.
 
When I saw the title of this thread the first thing that popped into my head was 'zero', so I was happy to see it at the top of your poll! I also voted for religions, yoga and food. Indian food is my favourite food of all - and I think the UK is about the best place (after India!) to eat it!

Yeah I like the food like all the other exotic spicey foods out there, but what exactly is so great about Yoga?...it's 'greatness has failed to grab my imagination. PS and what exactly constitutes a 'great religion'...ritualised burning to death of one's wife?
 
Chess, as it's a great game, and Indian (classical) music. Indian music is perhaps one of the most advanced rhythmically.


What the hell is 'Indian classical music' ment to be? I thought there are hundred of different tribes and languages in India and probably hundreds of different music styles - so who prolaimed what as 'classical' and why. I bet you couldn't even name one supposed so-called 'classical' Indian musician or song. Stop thinking in soundbites.
 
Great, Maciamo-sama.

Kama Sutra has been an excellent help to any couples on human sexuality and erogenuous zones of a human body. Numerous versions of Kama Sutra were published across over the world. If you want to sexually please your partner, you should read Kama Sutra.


Lol, mankind was sexually pleasing itself long before the Kama Sutra appeared and proclaimed people were not F**cking properly. The Kama Sutra is for sexual failures and degenerates the natural instinct for sexual exploration and good old healthy lust within humans. PS Indians are not exactly renowned for their love making skills.
 
Probably Hindu philosophy mathematics, and wootz steel. All others are important too.

Like a number of other things incorrectly labeled has 'Indian' wootz steel actually originated from China not India. PS what is 'Indian philosophy' and why is it so great?
 
I wonder if it's the oldest language that is still in use? The other obvious contenders (that I can think of with my very limited knowledge!) are Hebrew and Chinese.

Think about it Tsuyoiko - how earth can it be the oldest language still in use. I asure you there hundreds of ancient languages still in use around the earth and also in India itself. Anyway deffinately ain't sanskrit and the word 'India' is actually an English term that only goes back hundred years or so.
 
That's true, but India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all part of what is called the "Indian civilisation". If you find a better term than "Indian" that encompasses the cultures of these countries please let me know.

'India' is an artificial state invented by the English - India didn't exist for most of the contributions you have listed. Even to this day, there are millions of people in India who have no idea that they live in somewhere called India. Also today's artificial India, just about has the most amount of successionist movements for any country in the world. Why should India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka be mumbojumbo-ed up together as some weird grandiose sounding curio called the 'Indian civilisation' why not the 'Assam civilisation' or the Pakistan civilisation' 'the China minor civilisation' The Indus civilisation was definately pre-Indian/pre-Hindoo etc, totally different from todays ruling cliches about what constitutes ancient Indianess. Thats why aspects of the Indus's civiliation like the dancing girl of Mohenjo Daro are never concidered as 'classical Indian dancing' -whatever that is. PS Maciamo why did you delibrately try to distort the term 'the Indus valley civilisation' (Harrappa) into the alien curio you like to call 'the Indian civilisation' The Indus valley civilisation is one of the most non-Indian things going in the sub-continent.
 
What the hell is 'Indian classical music' ment to be? I thought there are hundred of different tribes and languages in India and probably hundreds of different music styles - so who prolaimed what as 'classical' and why. I bet you couldn't even name one supposed so-called 'classical' Indian musician or song. Stop thinking in soundbites.

You obviously don't know the difference between folk music and classical music. India and Europe both have hundreds of styles of folk music over the ages and region by region. Classical music is normally associated with court music, or a genre with well-defined rules usually sponsored by the upper classes.

Anyway deffinately ain't sanskrit and the word 'India' is actually an English term that only goes back hundred years or so.

Keep your xenophobic ignorance to yourself. The word India was already used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Its first recorded use was by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE.

'India' is an artificial state invented by the English - India didn't exist for most of the contributions you have listed. Even to this day, there are millions of people in India who have no idea that they live in somewhere called India.

What do you make of the numerous Indian empires in history. Don't tell me that they were always smaller than the modern country because it's not the case. The ancient Maurya Empire is probably what gave India (+ Pakistan and Bangladesh) its sense of cultural and historical unity.

It's time for you to revise your history of India and maybe go there and try to find your millions of people who use Indian banknotes and the Indian Railway but are not aware that they live in a country called India. Even the European word "India" is widely used in India because English is the main official language with Hindi, and the only one used in the whole country (Hindi is hardly spoken in the South).

PS Maciamo why did you delibrately try to distort the term 'the Indus valley civilisation' (Harrappa) into the alien curio you like to call 'the Indian civilisation' The Indus valley civilisation is one of the most non-Indian things going in the sub-continent.

The Harappa culture is just the cradle of what would become the Indian civilisation, just like ancient Greece, Anatolia and Italy were the cradle of modern European civilisation. The Indian subcontinent was politically united well before half of Europe had become Roman.
 
Hi Maciamo,
I am an Indian and I think that I must take lessons from you about Indian heritage. I represent the youth of India, who is confused between the glittering western culture and sober Indian culture.

Most of the things about Indian heritage were told to us in the childhood looks like stories because I cannot provide any sort of proof. For example, few Indian kings have been believed to be using airplanes more than 5000 years ago when all other world was in stone age. There are beliefs that many stolen 'pandulipis' become the source of great inventions in the west.

There is no way to prove all the historical things we hear. Does the same phenomenon exist in other civilizations too, where native people believe something but can't provide conclusive proof?
 
Hi Maciamo,
I am an Indian and I think that I must take lessons from you about Indian heritage. I represent the youth of India, who is confused between the glittering western culture and sober Indian culture.

Most of the things about Indian heritage were told to us in the childhood looks like stories because I cannot provide any sort of proof. For example, few Indian kings have been believed to be using airplanes more than 5000 years ago when all other world was in stone age. There are beliefs that many stolen 'pandulipis' become the source of great inventions in the west.

There is no way to prove all the historical things we hear. Does the same phenomenon exist in other civilizations too, where native people believe something but can't provide conclusive proof?

Hi Wecaz and welcome to the forum !

I am sure people in every country have mistaken ideas about what was invented where. That is partly why I made a list of major inventions by country, so that people can check them up easily. I have heard people claim that this or that invention was from their country when in fact it was not. But I have never heard anything close to "airplanes were invented in India 5000 years ago". ;)

Funny that you should say 5000 years ago, because Indians and Europeans share a common ancestry about 5000 years ago, the Indo-Europeans from the Pontic-Caspian steppes. That's more true for northern and upper-caste Indians and for eastern and northern Europeans. It is explained on this page section about haplogroup R1a.
 
My first thought was "Prince Siddharta" .. even if he is maybe from today Nepal
 
I voted for:
Mathematics & modern numerals (including "0")
Religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism)
Philosophy, gurus & ashrams
 
I always thought chess was invented by the Arabs. Now I know better! Well, thanks India. As for the food, I'll have pan fried chicken with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy any day!!! :)
 
india shows the world that different cultures, races and religions can live together in peace. when i think about india, the first thing in my mind is peace.
 
I always thought chess was invented by the Arabs. Now I know better! Well, thanks India. As for the food, I'll have pan fried chicken with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy any day!!! :)

Chess in India was played with dice. In the epic Mahabharat the Kauravas used loaded dice to cheat the Pandavas. Maybe this was a game of chess with loaded dice.
 
The name India is derived from Indus, which is derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, from Sanskrit सिन्धु Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus River.The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi , the people of the Indus.The Constitution of India and usage in many Indian languages also recognises Bharat as an official name of equal status. The name Bharat is derived from the name of the legendary king Bharata in Hindu scriptures.Hindustan , originally a Persian word for “Land of the Hindus” referring to northern India and Pakistan before 1947, is also occasionally used as a synonym for all of India.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Indian-sindhi/222493321096983?v=info

Sindh, as a western frontier of the South Asia, has always been exposed to the entry of migrants from Central Asia[citation needed] and the Middle East[citation needed]. The region received its name, Sindh, from the River Sindhu (Indus), and the people living in the region are referred to as Sindhi. The terms Hindi and Hindu are derived from word Sindh, as the ancient Persians pronunciate "s" as "h" (e.g. sarasvati as harasvati), the same way they called the people of this region as Hindhi people their language as Hindhi language and the region as Hindh, the name which is used for this region since ancient times and later for whole northern part of Indian sub-continent even today India is also known as Hindustan the name which has nothing to do with Hinduism, but related more to a people and their language named after the main river flowing through this region Sindhu (Indus).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhi_people
 
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The Kushan Empire 30-375 A.D.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_Empire

250px-Kushanmap.jpg

Their empire extended from northwest India to the Taklamakan Desert in Sinkiang, China. The Silk trade connected Middle east and South Asia to China. So Kashgar in China had a huge mix of people.
 

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