Friday, March 1, 2013

Some Interesting Facts on Origins of Indian Education


  • Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.
  • The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.
  • The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.
  • The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
  • Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was - Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.
  • The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.
  • Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India. Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).
  • India has the second largest pool of scientists & engineers in the world.!!
  • Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Poem - This my Peace Song

This is my song, O ! God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover-leaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.

Land where my forefathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside,
A song of peace.