Ancient Indian wisdom-THE SUN IS A STAR

Ancient Indian wisdom-THE SUN IS A STAR

THE SUN IS A STAR

There is an old Sanskrit Sloka (couplet) which is as follows:

"Sarva Dishanaam, Suryaha, Suryaha, Suryaha."

This couplet means that there are suns in all directions. This couplet which describes the night sky as full of suns, indicates that in ancient times Indian astronomers had arrived at the important discovery that the stars visible at night are similar to the Sun visible during day time. In other words, it was recognised that the sun is also a star, though the nearest one. This understanding is demonstrated in another sloka which says that when one sun sinks below the horizon, a thousand suns take its place.

Ancient Indian wisdom-DRAINAGE SYSTEM IN MOHENJODARO

Ancient Indian wisdom-DRAINAGE SYSTEM IN MOHENJODARO

DRAINAGE SYSTEM IN MOHENJODARO

The city of Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley was serviced with sewers made of brick with a bitumen finish, and these drained not only the main streets but the side streets as well. They were big enough for a man to walk through them standing upright.

From each house, ceramic drains ran to the sewers. The city had large public baths, with changing rooms, fountains and steam baths. A huge swimming pool was served with pipes and drains for changing the water. The swimming pool is still watertight, after 4,500 years!

Ancient Indian wisdom-PANINI'S GRAMMAR

Ancient Indian wisdom-PANINI'S GRAMMAR

The Ashtadhyayi is a grammar of the Sanskrit language by Dakshiputra Panini (450 BC) that describes the entire language in 4,000 algebraic rules. The structure of this grammar contains a meta-language, meta-rules, and other technical devices that make this system effectively equivalent to the most powerful computing machine. No grammar of similar power has yet been constructed for any other language since. The famous American scholar Leonard Bloomfield called Panini's achievement as "one of the greatest monuments of human intelligence."

INVENTION OF FARMING IN INDIA

INVENTION OF FARMING IN INDIA

India is the country where the invention of agriculture with all its means and methods was made first in the world. Prithu, the son of Vena, after whose name the earth is known as Prithivi, was the first king in the world who took the initiative to enter into agricultural economy by allowing the invention of farming. He also prepared the earth for Farming. The earth was made cultivable by way of cleaning and leveling, etc. This process was known as Gomedha Yajna. Go in physical sense, means planet earth and medha means purification or preparedness for farming. The first word appeared in the Veda for the tilted land is ëajraي which later corrupted into European languages as agro. 

The term ëKrishiي was first used in the Veda in the sense of Agriculture. The system of ancient Indian Farming consists in :

The selection of Farming Land

Fertility test of Farming land

Fertility treatment of Farming land

Treatment of seeds before growing in the farm

Use of herbal fertilizers to enhance the growth of crops

Proper use of herbal insecticides and pesticides to treat the crops of their pests and other diseases

Lastly the invention of Farming Astronomy to predict the prospects of summer and autumnal crops on the basis of Sunيs entry into Scorpio and Taurus respectively.

LEGEND OF MAHAKAL-Ujjain

LEGEND OF MAHAKAL-Ujjain

Ujjain is a city in the state of Madhya Pradhesh. City of Ujjain (one who conquers with pride) was once ruled by the legendary king Vikramaditya. King Vikramaditya was known for his valor and impeccable justice. His court was adorned by nine famous courtiers called Navaratna (nine gems), who were great scholars in different fields of knowledge. (Kalidasa became the most brilliant of the `nine gems' at the court of Vikramaditya of Ujjain.) Despite extensive effort, Vikramaditya can not be identified with any known historical king. Ujjain is famous for the temple of Mahakala. There is no temple in India, where Mahakala is worshipped.

Is there a meaning behind the legend of Vikramaditya and the worship of Mahakala? The real meaning is revealed by considering the meaning of these words. Vikramaditya is made by joining prefix "Vi" to words "Krama" and "Aditya". "Krama" means order, "Aditya" means sun and prefix "Vi" means deviation. Therefore, etymologically Vikramaditya means the change in the course of the sun. What is significant is Ujjain is located on the tropic of cancer. Thus, sun comes to Ujjain during its northward journey, changes its course, and starts its southward journey. Vikramaditya is sun itself changing its journey at Ujjain. Nine gems in the court of Vikramaditya are nine planets of Solar system.

Mahakala is made by joining words, Maha, great, and Kala, time. Thus, Mahakala means Time the great. Ujjain was known as Ujjayini in ancient times and was the capital of ancient empire Avanti. Ujjayini was the center of Indian civilization for several centuries and famous for its astronomical observatory. Ujjayini was equivalent of Greenwich, from where time was synchronized all over India and even abroad. New day commenced when it was six a.m. in Ujjayini. When it is six in the morning in Ujjain, it is midnight in Britain. It is from this ancient system of changing date in the morning in Ujjain that changing date at midnight has been arrived at.

As time was synchronized in a large part of the world according to Ujjayini standard time, it was only natural to designate the god of Ujjain as god time himself, and therefore the name Mahakala, Time the great.

(source: www.atributetohinduism.com)

Ancient Indian wisdom-SEX DETERMINATION

Ancient Indian wisdom- SEX DETERMINATION

SEX DETERMINATION

In the volume 75:152--154-1984 of The Journal of Heredity published by American Genetic Association, Alain F. Corcos of the Michigan State University has written an essay titled "Reproduction and heredity beliefs of the Hindus based on their sacred books".

In his essay Corcos has dealt with excerpts from Manusmriti, Varahmihir's Brihatsamhita and specially chapter from Brihadaranyak Upanishad related to reproduction. In this different diets have been prescribed for couples budding parenthood to get a son or daughter with specific qualities. For example, Brihadaranyak Upanishad says that to get a fair son with long life and knowledge of one Ved, a man and his wife should eat milk, rice with ghee. A man who desires to have a knowledgeable daughter with long life should make khichadi of til and rice and give it to his wife.

After describing the more details from other Hindu scriptures, the author questions as to whether there is any truth in these. And to this question he himself answers in the affirmative stating that the studies of physicians in France and Canada prove these to be correct. Magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium play an important role in determining the sex of the child. More of potassium and sodium and less of calcium and magnesium results in a boy child and vice versa results in a girl child. Stalwoski experimented this on 36 couples out of which 31, that is 86%, were successful. Lorrain experimented on 224 couples out of which 181, that is 81%, were successful.

Ancient Indian wisdom-WATER STORED IN BRASS VESSEL GOOD FOR HEALTH

Ancient Indian wisdom-WATER STORED IN BRASS VESSEL GOOD FOR HEALTH

Ancient Indian wisdom that drinking water should be stored in brass vessels for good health has now been proved scientifically by researchers.

Microbiologists say that water stored in brass containers can help combat many water-borne diseases and should be used in developing countries rather than their cheaper alternatives, plastic containers.

Rob Reed, a microbiologist at Northumbria University in Newcastle, who led the brass study had on a visit to India witnessed villagers storing water in brass vessels. He also heard an interesting piece of local wisdom: people believe that traditional brass water containers offer protection against sickness. The idea intrigued Reed, who was in Asia investigating the anti-bacterial effects of sunlight on water.

Reed has now found that bacteria are indeed less likely to thrive in brass water pots than in earthenware or plastic ones. "It's one of the traditional ideas of water treatment and we were able to find a microbiological basis for it," he was quoted by Nature as saying.

Reed, with his colleagues Puja Tnadon and Sanjay Chhibber, carried out two series of experiments. In Britain, the researchers filled brass and earthenware vessels with a diluted culture of escherichia coli bacteria, which can cause illnesses such as dysentry. They then counted the surviving bacteria after 6, 24 and 48 hours. A similar test was carried out in India using naturally contaminated water.

"The amount of live e-coli in the brass vessels dropped dramatically over time, and after 48 hours they fell to undetectable levels," Reed told the Society for General Microbiology's meeting. Reed said pots made of brass shed copper particles into the water they contained. The amounts that circulated in the brass water vessels could not harm humans, he explained.