Swagatam

New Sections Added

by Sudheer Birodkar

Dear Visitor,

Here goes a Sloka (couplet) from the Atharva Veda 
(one of the 4 Vedas - treatises on knowledge from ancient India) 
which embodies the true spirit of humanness expressed, not today, 
but four thousand years ago.

We are the birds of the same nest,

We may wear different skins,

We may speak different languages,

We may believe in different religions,

We may belong to different cultures,

Yet we share the same home - OUR EARTH.

 Born on the same planet

Covered by the same skies

Gazing at the same stars

Breathing the same air

We must learn to happily progress together

Or miserably perish together,

For man can live individually,

But can survive only collectively


It is this spirit of humanness that has been the undercurrent 
of existence in a part of the world known by many names like 
Aryavarta, Jambudwipa, Bharatvarsha, Hindustan or India. 
This spirit has also prevailed  in many other parts of the world 
where the right thinking of humankind has prevailed.



 Shiva-Nataraja - the Indian God of Dance.

 Shiva, along with Brahma and Vishnu

 forms the Hindu Trinity or Trimurti
 


 In India, this spirit has found expression in the philosophy 
of non-violence, religious tolerance, renunciation - in non-temporal 
matters. In temporal matters, which is the subject of this book, 
it has found expression in achievements in all areas of science 
and technology. Achievements which did not remain limited to 
India alone, but were transmitted to many corners of our globe.

These achievements are not just a matter of pride for Indians 
alone. They represent the triumph of the human mind and hence 
are a matter of pride for the human species irrespective 
of nationality. 

But over a period of one thousand years of a dark age, 
this spirit of humanness was dormant in India; eclipsed 
as it was under influences which came from the deep recesses 
of the malevolence in the human mind. That these influences 
were embodied in invaders from other parts of the globe is 
only incidental. 



 Buddhism preached non-violence 

towards all living beings

 It exercised a sobering influence

over a large part of South-east Asia 
and Central Asia.
 


This setback could have as well been caused by internal 
upheavals that could have brought about malevolent influences 
to the fore as in imaginary cases if the Kauravas had triumphed 
over the Pandavas in the Mahabharat war or if Kansa had slayed 
Krishna at Mathura. These possibilities are hypothetical but 
what happened when the spirit of humanness was trampled under 
the feet of invaders who brought in intolerance, persecution, 
forced conversions of people, destruction of places of worship, 
penal taxes, and a general political tyranny; could have as 
well taken place in some altered pattern under domestic 
malevolent factors embodied in say Duryodhana or Kansa. 

So rather than grieving in the fact that these malevolent 
influences came from beyond Indias geographic boundaries, 
we need to rejoice in the fact that even in these 
compelling circumstances, the spirit of humanness was 
only dormant but did not become extinct. As Arthur Basham, 
the famous Australian Historian says, "The ancient civilisation of 
India differs from those of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, in that 
its traditions have been preserved without breakdown to 
the present day".  



 It is in temple panels
 such as this one

that the splendour of 
Indian temple architecture

has been immortalised 
into granite.
 


Today after a gap of one thousand years, the spirit of 
humanness can again breathe freely and it is about time 
that we recollect it and the successes it propelled the 
human mind to achieve. The human mind embodied in the ancient sages, 
rishis, munis and sanyasis - scientists in modern parlance.

 We need to remember our past clearly and vividly, lest we 
forget, our capability to contribute to the repository of 
human knowledge, lest we forget our capability to activate 
the indomitable human mind residing within us, lest we forget 
our humane instincts that gave us a sagacious and charitable 
view of life along with progress - economic, technological and 
material. All that which goes under the term CIVILIZATION.

The human spirit in Ancient India has given to the world, 
the values of non-violence, religious tolerance, renunciation 
alongwith many elements of knowledge in fields like production 
technology, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, navigation, 
architecture, civil engineering, medical science, physics, 
chemistry, logic, astronomy, mathematics and so on.



 This panel is from Borobodur

in Indonesia.

Borobudur means "Big Buddha"

Buddhism preached the values of charity, 

piety and renunciation

in addition to Jivadaya i.e. 

non-violence towards all living forms.
 


The following paragraphs and pages of this book 
will take you into the various fields where this indomitable spirit 
had exercised itself, in what is geographically today India, 
to leave behind a legacy which belongs not to Indians alone 
but to all humans. A legacy that can help human beings 
in all corners of our globe to rejuvenate our spirit not 
to conquer one another, but to conquer oneself; not to destroy, 
but to build; not to hate, but to love; not to isolate oneself, 
but to integrate everyone into one global society and to achieve 
much more in the future to enrich human civilisation to result in:

 "The maximum welfare of the maximum number" 
or as in Sanskrit it is called:

 "Loko Samasto Sukhino Bhavantu" 
and "Samasta Janaanaam Sukhino Bhavantu."

This book will tell you how and why words 
(and the products behind those words) like Cash, Sugar,
 Camphor etc., originated from ancient India.

It is corroborated in the Oxford Dictionary that the English 
Word "Cash" originated from the Sanskrit  term "Karsha". 
Sanskrit was the classical language of ancient India.
Coinage dating from the 8th Century B.C. 

to the17th Century A.D. 

Numismatic evidence of the advances 

made by Smelting technology in ancient India
 

Such words in the English language are for products like 
Sugar, Cotton (cloth), Camphor, Lac, Glass, Alloys of Metals
(e.g. Brass). Now these products are not gifts of nature. 
Their manufacturerequires machinery (apparatus), some 
knowledge of chemical engineering.

The fact that these products were manufactured in ancient 
India, presumes that in those times Indians had some 
apparatus in place, and some knowledge of chemical 
engineering.


This is a graphic depiction 
of the calculation of

 eclipses in a text called,

Pancha-Siddhantika dated around 
the 5th Century A.D. 
 


Other examples of elements of material culture and 
civilization that originated in ancient India and which the world
owes to the genius of ancient Indian scientists and 
inventors include:

- the technique of algorithm used in computer science today.

- the science of algebra.

- the concept of zero  - on which ultimately rests the binary code 
which has given us all software including the WWW through which 
you are accessing this site!

- the technique of manufacturing crystal (sugar)cane sugar 
(the word sugar is derived from the Sanskrit term "Sharkara").

- the making of camphor (this word is derived from 
the Sanskrit root word "Karpuram" according to the 
Oxford Dictionary).

- the making of tin (the technical English word for tin 
is Cassiterite which is said to have been derived from the Sanskrit term 
"Kasthira").

- The making of dyes like Anline and Indigo 
(the word Indigo comes from the term India and 
the word Anline is derived from the Arabic term 
An Nil which is derived from the Sanskrit term Neelam, 
according to the Oxford dictionary).

- the Gumbaz that we see on mosques all over the world 
originated as the interlocking dome  in the "Stupa" of 
the Buddhist architectural tradition of India.



An artist's rendering 

of an operation being performed
 in ancient times
 


There are many such instances in the virtually all fields.
Be it civil engineering, architecture, mechanical
engineering, production technology, chemical engineering,
physics, medical science, mathematics, logic, astronomy,
or be it shipbuilding, navigation, the fine arts, etc.
There are evidences that many elements in all these
varied aspects of today's global civilization owe 
their origin to ancient India!!

Yes read more about this in the book 
"India's Contribution to World Culture" 
by
Sudheer Birodkar

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Table of Contents
_________________

Foreword

Introduction
Production Technology and Mechanical Engineering
Shipbuilding and Navigation
Architecture and Civil Engineering
Mathematics
Astronomy
Physics and Chemistry
Medical Science
The Fine Arts
Sports and Games
Philosophy

Summing Up

Glossary of Sanskrit Terms

Bibliography
Index
____________________________________________________
About the Author

The Author has been researching
on this subject since 1980. He has written articles on 
this topic in many Indian periodicals like 
The Illustrated Weekly, The Sunday Observer, 
The Free Press Journal, etc. He had earlier authored a book
on economics.


 

 
This temple at Khajuraho 
in Central India was 
built by the 

Chandella Dynasty. But out of 

the original 90 temples built,

 only 22 survive today

-the rest having been vandalized 

by marauding iconoclastic saracens 

who despoiled India in the 11th 
Century
 


This book would satisfy the urge of students of the 
History of Science and Technology, Indologists, and 
NRIs (Non-resident Indians) who have distanced themselves 
from their roots and others who would like to know about 
the advances made in ancient India in the fields of 
science and technology and their transmission the 
world over.

 This painting at Ajanta 

in Western India was completed 

1500 years ago and used 
vegetable colours.
 

The arguments marshalled in this book draw from irrefutable
 sources like current western dictionaries, Encyclopedia 
Britannica, observations of ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, 
Arab and Chinese travellers. The advances made by Indians 
in ancient times have been noted and praised by these 
foreign travellers.


A lady from Thailand 
giving the traditional Thai 

salutation which is evidently 
derived from the Indian Namaste 
 


The present book "India's Contribution to the World's 
Culture" is richly illustrated with over  100 photographs
 which give you a visual feast of the various  aspects of 
Indian culture. The book began as a quest for knowing the 
foundations on which was built the edifice of India's 
glorious past. The book answers questions like:

-  what attracted thousands of students from across 
the globe to ancient Indian universities like Nalanda 
and Takshashila? 

- to what extent was science all over the world 
influenced by the masterly treatises produced by 
ancient Indian scholars like  Aryabhatta, Bramhagupta,
 Varahamihira, Bhaskaracharya, etc. 

- why was ancient India romanticized as a land where rivers 
flowed with milk and honey?

The book talks of advances made in ancient India in 
Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, 
Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medical Science, 
Shipbuilding and Navigation, Fine Arts, etc.

This book gives enough convincing material for a 
student of Indian culture to believe that India has 
not always been a nation dependent on other nations,
has not always been ruled by aliens, and has not always
borrowed everything from foreign sources. 

No, we had universities like Nalanda   and Takshashila,  
metropolises like Pataliputra  and Ujjaini,  emperors like
Chandragupta Maurya  and Vikramaditya,  scholars like 
Pannini  and Kautilya.

Today, though India has lagged behind in the race of 
progress, held back by the dead weight of a millennium of 
hostile alien rule, we have proved to the world that great 
Indians need not only be Kalidas, Shushruta  or  
Adi Shankaracharya,  but we still have a Bankim Chandra, 
a C.V. Raman and a Swami Vivekananda to be proud of.

Next book on "A Search for - Our Present in History"

Shri Sudheer Birodkar is currently working on a book 
entitled "A Search for - Our Present in History". 
The curious title of this book describes the approach 
which the author has taken to study Indian Culture. 
He has begun from our customs, traditions, rituals, 
beliefs of today and has traced their evolution over 
the ages. Most of our customs and traditions have 
originated from some necessity of day-to-day life. 
Over the ages it has got social  sanction and in 
most cases we have forgotten why the custom originated 
in the first place. But we continue to follow that custom.

The author has examined various symbols like Omkar and 
Swastika, etiquettes like our salutation Namaskara or 
Namaste, cultural traits like applying the caste-mark 
Tilaka, religious practices like Vegetarianism, 
Non-violence, Worship of the Cow and Bull; 
social practices like Untouchability, Sati, 
Child Marriage, the exchange of customs and 
traditions between the various religious communities 
in India, the origin of our various festivals, 
and many other related topics.

Center for further Studies in Indian Culture

Our aim is to set up  a study centre for 
further studies into the subject of Indian Culture, 
The objective is to motivate other students and 
researchers to come forward and continue 
this study of the rich intellectual heritage of ancient 
India.
  
The site for this Study Center is near 
Mumbai (Bombay) at Village Dongaran Hawa in 
Murbad Taluka, in Thane District at the foothills
of the Western Ghats.



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Text of the Book "India's Contribution to World Culture"

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B.G. Mahesh's Home Page: Comprehensive information on India
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