The Land of Forgotten Knowledge

The land had everything from the greatest of Rulers, the most eminent Persons and personalities to a vast cultural heritage. It was a land that was so rich that rubies and emeralds were sold on the streets like groundnuts in today’s kadalekai parishe. And most important of all, it had the largest resource of knowledge in its time.

The land I am referring to is India. Well here’s why. Scholars have estimated that out of approximately 1 crore manuscripts, over 90 lakh of them are either lost or unpublished. Initially the Vedas had 1131 sections (shakas), but now we have only 11 of them remaining.

Well even from these small numbers of manuscripts
, we have the most detailed and most vast source of information of its time and even for years to follow. Here is a small glimpse of this vast resource of knowledge:

·         In the 10^th century A.D, Bhaskaracharya discovered the phenomenon of Gravitation.

·         In the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, there is a detailed description of the processes of photosynthesis and osmosis which the western world was unaware of until the 18^th century.

·         The so called ‘Fibonacci Series’, discovered in the 12^th century was discussed by the Indian mathematician Pingala in the 4^th century B.C.

·         The ‘Sushruta Samhita’ describes the process of circulation of blood.

·         In the 18^th century,electricity was discovered by make a battery using chemicals placed between copper plates. Well actually, the very same method is described in the ‘Agastya Samhita’ (written in the 13^th century) for the production of electricity.

This was just a small glimpse of a vast resource. This knowledge was unfortunately lost for many years until recently being discovered. Our ancestors were extremely intelligent (no doubt) over a thousand years ago. Why can’t we today be as intelligent, since we have the same blood and genes and with technology at our fingertips? We should be proud of our cultural heritage and work to revive our culture and restore India’s former glory for India truly is one of the greatest countries that ever was, that ever is and that ever shall be.

Prajwal Bharadwaj  << Read Less