--- Gabe Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >http://www.nri-worldwide.com/cgi-local/ts.pl?action=fetch&area=proudtobeindian > Historically... >
The list of exaggerations and falsehoods mixed with a few facts makes the rounds on internet mailing lists every few months. It was also published in a souvenir handed out at an Indian Republic Day function here in Houston some years ago. It appeared on Goanet for the first time some time in 1996 and then later at least once in 1998. At each of those times I sent in a response to Goanet pointing out all the inaccuracies, exaggerations and fabrications in it. The following is one such response which was first posted on October 23, 1998: We have seen this list of Indian achievements once before on this mailing list. This list constitutes a gross misrepresentation of many facts. Here is a slightly modified form of the response that I gave to this post the last time I saw it on GoaNet: The email that you have just forwarded, enumerating the purported achievements of India - achievements that attest to its greatness - contain many statements that are factually inaccurate. I have read and heard similar statements being disseminated by folks who have never bothered to check them against the facts. Consequently, I think such bogus pronouncements do more harm than good to our sense of national pride. With the objective of preventing further spread of such misinformation, I would like to correct some of these statements in the rest of this email. > >"India never invaded any country in her last 10000 >years of history". > Ashoka's empire stretched to Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia. Cholas conquered quite a few portions of the Malayan Pennisula. Furthermore, we do not know what went on in India before 5000 years ago (i. e. before the time of the Indus valley civilization). The Indus valley civilization, by the way, stretched as far as Iran. > >"India invented the Number System". > The Chinese had a place-value number system similar to ours, contemporaneously (if not earlier). > >"Sanskrit is the mother of all the European >languages". > This statement is plain wrong. Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Slavic, Celtic and Germanic languages are all thought to have descended from a common ancestral Proto-Indo-European language. Infact, Sanskrit, having descended directly from an intermediate language called Indo-Iranian, is only a distant cousin, or in the case of modern languages, aunt, of the main European languages. The only languages that have descended from Sanskrit are the ones that are now spoken in South Asia, plus some old Indian languages that have now become extinct. > >"Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to >humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated >Ayurveda 2500 years ago". > Egyptian medicine dates from at least as far back as 3000 B.C. There are several medical papyri dating from the Dynastic period, which describe hundreds of disorders and their treatments. In addition, the Chinese emperor, Huang Ti is known to have written one of the first known extensive medical texts, "Nei Ching" in 2600 B. C. So the ancient Egyptian and Chinese systems of medicine would have to have co-emerged with Ayurveda which dates back to 3500-5000 years ago. Charaka (500 B. C.), in particular, is more than 2000 years late, and so it is rather too bold to pronounce him "the Father of Medicine". > >"Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place >in our civilization". > What is its rightful place? Should it supplement, complement or replace modern medicine? Shouldn't we question the authenticity and effectiveness of ayurvedic treatments with the same amount of scientific skepticism as we do modern therapies? > >"The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh >6000 years ago". > Early humans crossed the ocean to Australia, New Guinea and the Polynesian and Melanesian islands 50,000 years ago. They did not wade or swim through that water. More directly, a 9000 year-old Neolithic boat has been recently discovered in the river Seine near Paris. Neolithic humans dating upto 10,000 years ago in the Middle East and Europe most certainly knew how to build boats and canoes large enough to haul large boulders and rocks. 8000-10,000 year old tools made from a volcanic rock called obsidian found only in the islands of the Aegean sea have been found in archeological sites throughout Europe. It is impossible to hurl these rocks across the Aegean sea even if one could swim to these islands. > >The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit >word NAV Gatih. The word navy is also derived from >Sanskrit 'Nou'. > What sheer nonsense! A Latin word for ship is "Navis", which could more aptly be the root for navy and navigation. And mind you, Latin and Sanskrit are distant cousins. > >"The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, >and he explained the concept of what is known as the >Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th >century long before the European mathematicians." > The concept behind Pythagorean theorem was first laid out in a Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet found in Iraq dating before 1000 B. C. Baudhayana and Pythagoras lived within 100 years of each other between 600 and 500 B. C. I think the value of Pi was calculated by Aryabhatta around 400 A. D. But the first estimate of Pi is given in the Egyptian Rhind papyrus of 1650 B. C. The first accurate theoretical calculation was performed by Archimedes around 300 B.C. > >"Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. >Quadratic equations were propounded by Sridharacharya >in the 11th century." > India can legitimately lay claim to the invention of algebra. But the Greek astronomer, Hipparchus used trigonometry in his astronomical calculations. Calculus is by all accounts a Newtonian and Liebnizian invention. Quadratic equations are laid out in Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets of 2000-1000 B.C. > >"Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient >India". > This statement is not grounded in fact. > >"When Europeans were only nomadic forest dwellers over >5000 years ago,Indians established Harappan culture in >Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)" > This is plain wrong. One of the earliest (Neolithic) cities is in Europe (Turkey). It is called Catal Huyuk, and it is 8000 years old. The megalithic monuments such as the Nuraghi, Specchie and the Stonehenge were built in Europe during epochs that overlap with the Indus valley civilization. Also note that the Indus valley civilization itself followed the Tigris-Euphrates civilization by at least a 1000 years. > >"The place value system, the decimal system was >developed in India in 100 BC". > The decimal system was definitely fully developed by Indians. But it makes its first appearance in China during the Shang dynasty around 1800 B. C. I think the greatness of India lies in its long unbroken and rich tradition, and its collective contributions towards the development of human thought and civilization. One does not need to peddle a laundry list of Indian achievements to substantiate its claim for greatness. I am always proud to be an Indian, but so also to be an inhabitant of planet Earth. Cheers, Santosh
