Uniting India
Education
Where did the Aryans Come From?
Mar 25th
Max Mueller has identified Central Asia as the original home of the Aryans. He has based his view on the study of the world’s languages. The significant evidence is that there are fundamental similarities among some ancient languages such as Latin, Greek and Sanskrit and the resemblances continue in the languages derived from them.
For instance, ‘Pitri, Sanskrit for Father, and ‘Pater’, Latin for Father sound similar, and so does ‘Matri’ and ‘Mater’ for Mother.
Max Mueller therefore concluded that the ancestors of the Indians, the Greeks, the Romans, the English and some other peoples must have originally resided at a common place.
The Austro-Hungarian theory, propounded by Di Giles and Prof. Macdonell, considers the banks of the Danube River (south-east Europe) to have been the original home of the Aryans.
Putting forward the Sapta-Sindhu theory, many Indian historians, including Dr Sampurnanand and Avinash Chandra Dass, point out that the modern Punjab and Sindh region (or Sapta-Sindhu) was where the Aryans originated. The view is based on a study of geographical features mentioned in the hymns of the Rigveda.
From the description of certain natural phenomena, such as long evenings, days and nights of six months’ duration, etc., in the Rigveda, Lokmanya Tilak came to More >
Important Facts of Indian History
Mar 23rd
The Harappan Fort in the shape of a parallel square is 460 yards in length (north-south) 215 yards in breadth (east-west) and 15-17 yards in height.
● The script of Indus civilization was pictorial in which there were more than 600 picture-letters and 60 original letters.
● The excavations of Chanhudaro were carried out in 1925 under the leadership of Earnest M’ckay. This town had no fort.
● Naal, Daburkot, Rakhi Garhi, Banawali, Rangpur, Lothal, Des Morasi, Kulli, Rana Ghundai, Anjira, Gumla, Amri, Ghundai, Mundigak, Diplabaga, Sahar-i-Sokhta, Bampur and Queta etc. are famous historical sites where the remains of Indus civilization and pre Indus civilization have been excavated.
● Daburkot, Periano, Ghundai, Kulli, Mehi, Chanhudaro, Amri, Lohumjodaro, Alimurad, Ropar, Rangpur, Sutkegender are the prominent (spots) places of Indus Valley civilization.
● The excavations of Kalibangan, a historical place in Rajasthan began in 1961 under the direction of B. K. Thapar and B. B. Lal. From the lower layer of the excavation, the remains of pre Indus civilization and from the upper layer of the Indus civilization are discernible. The fortress and the city both were surrounded with walls.
● The excavations at Rangpur—an Indus site in Gujarat were carried out in 1953-54 under the leadership of More >
History of Indian Science & Technolgy
Mar 23rd
Knowledge of science and technology, however, got linked with religion and social relations. Relying primarily on pragmatism some intellectuals in India acquired intuitive awareness of scientific temper. In view of absence of experiment, some insights became ridiculous.
Knowledge of science was known from very ancient times, although science, as we know today, was not known in India till modern times. The archaeological remains of the Indus Valley reveal knowledge of applied sciences. Scientific techniques were used in irrigation, Metallurgy, making of fired bricks and pottery, and simple reckoning and measurement of areas and volumes.
It contrast more is known about Aryan achievements in the field of astronomy, mathematics and medicine. Chinese records indicate knowledge of a dozen books of Indian origin. Brahmagupta’s Sidhanta as well as Charaka’s and Susrata’s Samhitas were translated into Arabic in the 9th or 10th centuries A.D.
In ancient Indian mathematics was known by the general name of Ganita, which included arithmetic’s, geometry, algebra, astronomy and astrology. It was Aryabhatta, who gave a new direction to trigonometry. The decimal system too was an innovation of India.
By the third century B.C. mathematics, astronomy and medicine began to develop separately. In the field of mathematics ancient Indians made three distinct contributions, More >
History of Indian Learning and Education
Mar 23rd
The highly esteemed Vedas have come to down to us. They existed for nearly over 2000 years before they were known in India. It was the knowledge of acoustics that enabled ancient Indians to orally transmit the Vedas from generation to generation. Institutional form of imparting learning came into existence in the early centuries of the Christian era. The approach to learning was to study logic and epistemology.
The study of logic was followed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, one of the most important topics of Indian thoughts was pramana or means of reliable knowledge. The nyaya schools upheld four pramanas – perceptions of are liable by analogy or comparison, word (Sabda), and pronunciation of a reliable authority such as the Vedas. The Vedanta school added one more to it i.e. intuition.
It is probably while studying the process of inference that the schools of true logic arose. Ancient Indian postulated syllogism though not as accurate as that of Aristotle. Yet, they recognize some of the major fallacies of logic like reduction and absurdum, circular argument, infinite regression, dilemma, and ignoratio elenchus.
In the field epistemology, Jains contributed the most for the Jains there was not only two possibilities of existence and non-existence More >
Vedic Age ( Ancient India)
Mar 20th
The institution of Varna appeared in the (a) Later Vedic period (b) Period of the consolidation of the text of the Mahabharat. (c) Period of the Manava Dharma Shastra (d) Rig Vedic period Answer: Rig Vedic period
Which is the oldest Veda? (a) Rig Veda (b) Atharva Veda (c) Sama Veda (d) Yajur Veda
Answer: Rig Veda
Which of the following Vedas is a collection of spellsand incantations? (a) Sama Veda (b) Yajur Veda (c) Atharva Veda (d) Rig Veda
Answer: Atharva Veda
Which among the following, was the chief feature of Rig Vedic religion ? (a) Performance of sacrifices (b) Predominance of female goddesses (c) Belief in existence of life after death (d) Worship of images
Answer: Worship of images
800 B.C.-600 B.C. is designated as the (a) Period of Mahabharat (b) Period of Brahmanas (c) Period of the Sutras (d) Period of Ramayana
Answer: Period of Brahmanas
Which one of the following was the main characteristic of the later Vedic age ? (a) Caste system (b) Food gathering practice (c) Varna system (d) Tribal polity
Answer: Caste system
Which of the following is an Upanishad ? (a) Krishna Karnamruta (b) Aitreya (c) Vijasena (d) Chandogya Answer: Aitreya
The Vedic deity Indra was the goddess of (a) Rain and thunder (b) Fire (c) Wind (d) Eternity
Answer: Rain and thunder
Which one of the following contains the Gayatri Mantra ? (a) Yajur Veda (b) Sama Veda (c) Upanishad (d) Rig Veda
Answer: Rig Veda
Which among the following is the source of information More >
Achievements Of Ancient India
Mar 19th
Ancient India can be accredited with many achievements. Some of them are listed here:
Earliest known precise celestial calculations: Aryabhata, an Indian Mathematician (c. 500AD) accurately calculated celestial constants like earth’s rotation per solar orbit, days per solar orbit, days per lunar orbit.
Astronomical time spans: Apart from the peoples of the Mayan civilization, the ancient Hindus appear to be the only people who even thought beyond a few thousand years. Hindu scriptures refer to time scales that vary from ordinary earth day and night to the day and night of the Brahma that are a few billion earth years long.
Theory of creation of the universe: A 9th century Hindu scripture, The Mahapurana by Jinasena claims that the world is uncreated, as time itself is, without beginning and end. And it is based on principles.
Earth goes round the sun: Aryabhata, it so happens, was apparently quite sceptical of the widely held doctrines about eclipses and also about the belief that the Sun goes round the Earth. As early as the sixth century, he talked of the diurnal motion of the earth and the appearance of the Sun going round it.
Binary System of number representation: A Mathematician named Pingala (c. 100BC) developed a system of binary enumeration convertible More >
Economical system of the post-Mauryan India
Mar 19th
Apart from flourishing trade, other significant features of this period are: monetization of economy, development of crafts, growth of urban centers and weakening of state control over the farming operations.
The post-Mauryan India saw the monetization of economy on an unprecedented scale. The Indo- Greek rulers were the first to issue gold coins. Menander was perhaps the last of the Indo-Greek rulers to issue gold coins. After them the Kushanas issued them in considerable numbers. In the opinion of some scholars, all Kushana gold coins were minted out of Roman gold.
However, gold mines existed in Sind in the time of Alexander and the gold mines of Dhalbhum lay under the sway of the Kushanas. Apart from this, the imported gold coins were mostly used as bullion or at times they may have been circulated only in large transactions. The Satavahanas issued coins in metals of low value i.e. lead, and copper. The Kushanas perhaps issued the largest number of copper coins.
Not only the imperial dynasties but also the smaller republican dynasties issued silver and copper coins. The Nagas, Yaudheyas, Kunindas, Mitra rulers of Kaushambi, Mathura, Avanti and Ahichhatra etc. all issued their own coins.
Many nigamas also issued coins of copper and More >
Science in Vedas
Mar 19th
The core foundation of Hindu belief is that Vedas contain source of all knowledge – physical or metaphysical. However in last 100 odd years, this belief has come under scrutiny due to the advances that modern science claims to make.
An entire group of Vedic ‘experts’ have stood up to prove that Vedas contain early man theories and are not compatible with modern discoveries. These include communist historians propelled by commentaries on Vedas by western ideologists like Max Muller, Griffith et al and a new breed of intellectuals who initiate all research with assumption that ‘old means defective’.
However in modern era of religious marketing, another group has come up which would go to any length to discover scientific errors in Vedas. This is the group which would want 800 million Hindus to lose faith in Vedas and their religion and embrace what they believe is the final message of God.
Yes I am referring to Islamic and Christian evangelists.
While both these groups of evangelists are propelled by vision of making everyone in world a follower of their respective Holy Books, the situation is even more desperate for Quran zealots. This is because a bulk of Islamic evangelists believes that Jesus will come More >
Your child in wrong school?
Mar 12th
Well, in spite of all the homework you would have done, there is a possibility that the school you selected is not working out for your child. Either he is not happy or you are not or both. What can you do in this case?
- Understand the core issue – Be absolutely clear about what the problem is. Engage with your child to dig as much deep as possible. Be sure if there is any action on the part of yourself or the child that needs to be addressed to solve the concern. Try that out first till you are really sure that it is on the school’s side that the action is required.
- Talk to parents of fellow students – See if this is generic problem faced by other students as well or is it more specific to something not working out for your child at this particular school. This can be important input into your further steps and communication with the school.
- Engage with the school – Once you have figured out the problem, meet the class teacher and share your thoughts/concerns with her. If the problem is specific to the class teacher, you might want to engage with one level up More >
Poverty in India-a striking truth
Mar 2nd
Since I have reached India for my vacations I have been noticing a lot of thing in my environment, different from the surroundings in Kuwait. But one thing that had constantly come under my observation was the large number of poor people on the streets.Poverty is a disease that has been holding on to India for a long time. Poverty is the root problem to many other problems in India such as corruption, crime rate and many other problems that are often referred to with India. The main reason for this poverty is nothing other than the rising population in our country. Even though the Government is trying its best to curb poverty, but still poverty continues to remain a main problem in our country. I am sad to see the number of poor, disabled people on the streets, the children begging for enough money to have a meal and mothers begging to give her children enough food. It is really sad to see such a sight, especially in country which is heading towards being a superpower in 2020. What can we do in such a situation to ensure that our country reaches the top?
There are many ways in More >
