jonambed Reward Points : 400 Member Since : Monday, March 23, 2009
Towards Linguistics The spread of Indian culture to Central Asia and South-east Asia left a permanent mark in the languages of these countries. It is not well known that for a time Sanskrit had become the lingua franca of many South-east Asian countries. Even the Indian Brahmi script was used in Malaysia and some other parts of South-east Asia. This Brahmi was that which was used in southern India around 800 to 1000 A.D. The Javanese Kawi script has been developed from the Pallava script from which Tamil, Malayalam, Telgu and Kannada scripts have also evolved. Even a cursory glance would show the resemblance between the scripts used in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, etc., with the scripts of today s South Indian Languages. There are also a considerable number of Indian words in use in the languages of Southeast Asia. For instance in the Malaysian Malayan language there are the following words have been derived from Sanskrit Bhoomiputra i.e. son of the soil, Shurga i.e. heaven which in Sanskrit is Swarga bangsi i.e. flute, dhobi i.e. washerman, geni i.e. fire agni in Sanskrit , etc. Another view of the Pagoda at Bangkok In Burma also there are many Indian words. For instance the river Irawaddy Iravati in Sanskrit is derived from the original Sanskrit term Iravati, the word Burma is itself a corruption of the Sanskrit term Brahmadesh land of Brahma , In Thailand we have place names like Aranyaprathet which sounds quite Indian and is a corruption of the term Aranyapradesh meaning a forested area in Sanskrit. The names of the cities viz. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur end with the term pur which means city in Sanskrit. Even first names of individuals in these countries are derived form Sanskrit roots. Instances of such names are Sukarno derived form Sanskrit Sukarna, Suharto derived form the Sanskrit Suharta, Bhumibol from Sanskrit Bhumibala, Thanom Kittikachoron from Krittikacharan, and so on. In fact in Malaysia the official title of honour given to persons of national importance is Tan Sri Tan means big, and Sri is derived from the Sanskrit word Shri which roughly means Sir . In Indonesia the official language is called Bahasha Indonesia , the word Bahasha is derived from the Sanskrit word Bhasha which means language. The Indonesian Airways is named Garuda which means an eagle both in the Indonesian Language and in Sanskrit. There can be innumerable such instances. This goes to establish beyond doubt the contribution of India to the languages of these countries. This apart, through the medium of trade India has contributed to the lexicon of Greek, Arabic, Persian and even the English language.
Indeed True and a wonderful view. thank you very much for sharing the information. However i want to add here that even the study of meterology also happened in ancient India. The history of meteorology points towards three major periods in Indian meteorology. The first one points out to 600 B.C. to 1600 A.D which was indeed the period of speculation. The second period is 1600 A.D. to 1800 A.D marked as the dawn of scientific meteorology, and the most important is the third major period which began 1800 A.D and was marked by the expansion and enhancement of modern theory. In India, Meteorology has its trace in Vedic age. In Rig Veda meteorological descriptions were subtly demonstrated however, the mythology was then the predominant attribute and was certainly the main essence of knowledge. The five principal elements of meteorology like the Earth, Water, Radiation, Wind and Sky were described in the Vedas as the Panchatattwas and were named as Prithvi ,Aap, Tej, Vaju, Aakash. Indian philosophy also mentions these elements as the five deities. These five principal elements of meteorology since ages in India were thus treated as deities under the names of Varuna, Marut, Parjanya and Indra. Signs of moderate, excess and scanty rainfall based on observations of clouds in different periods of time are explained in the Rig Veda. Indian culture shows that the meteorology was developed in ancient India by sages like Garga, Parasara, Kasyapa, Risiputra and Siddhasana. These sages had explained formation, properties and prediction of rainfall, in detail.
Posted On : 3/23/2009 9:31:15 PM
Chanda Munda Patnaik Reward Points : 19100 Member Since : Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Ancient India the colorful and vibrant land was as diverse as its people. India offered to the rest of the world the elemental sound aum, the concept of zero and the richness of yoga. India has had a long tradition of spiritual development and since ancient times, foreigners especially the Greeks have been enamoured of it. Many foreigners who came to India as invaders and traders embraced Indian religions like Buddhism and Hinduism and were absorbed into Indian society. Apart from the Greeks Yavanas , they included Persians Para-shakas or Para-shikas - forerunners of present day Parsis , Huns Hunas and Mongols Kushanas . ndia also has a fair share in enriching the world s material culture. It is not well know that among other things the distillation of perfumes, the making of dyes, the extraction of sugar, the weaving of cotton muslin cloth, and even the techniques of algebra and algorithm, the concept of zero, the technique of surgery, the concepts of atom and relativity, the principle of magnetism actually utilised in making a Mariner s Compass, the herbal system of medicine, the technique of alchemy, the smelting of metals, the game of Chess, the martial art of Karate, etc., are to be found in ancient India and there are evidences which indicate that they might have originated here.
Posted On : 3/24/2009 10:52:53 PM
Jamal Aslam Reward Points : 34700 Member Since : Tuesday, July 08, 2008
i wish to quote here what Albert Einstein said: - We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. Mark Twain said- India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history,the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. French scholar Romain Rolland said- If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India. British Historian said: - India was the motherland of our race and Sanskrit the mother of Europe s languages. India was the mother of our philosophy, of much of our mathematics, of the ideals embodied in christianity... of self-government and democracy. In many ways, Mother India is the mother of us all.
The major contribution of India, in the world to day, would be in the sphere of spirituality. One hundred years back, Swami Vivekananda had said: We have yet something to teach to the world. This the very reason, the raison d tre, that this nation has lived on, in spite of hundreds of years of persecution, in spite of nearly a thousand years of foreign rule and foreign oppression. This nation still lives the raison d tre is, it still holds to God, to the treasure house of religion and spirituality. The contributions of ancient India to science and technology, much akin to most other spheres, had and still have far-reaching effects. The levels of sophistication attained in ancient India rivalled any other civilisation at any point of time. In fact, the origin and development of the Indian civilisation is still shrouded by mystery and recent discoveries are pushing its age further and further into the past. Recent findings off the coast of Gujarat have revealed man-made structures that are nearly 9,000 years old, below the sea.
Posted On : 3/27/2009 3:12:49 AM
Babulal Tiwari [Guru] Reward Points : 51700 Member Since : Tuesday, September 30, 2008
how can we foger ancient India s contribution in the world of MUSIC Since Vedic times, Indians had been required to correctly recite, the Vedas. The correctness in recitation was very important as the Vedas were, in those days, transmitted through memory Smriti and were learnt through hearing Shruti . This kind of an emphasis on recitation the correct pronounciation lead to studies in phonetics and sound manupulation. This was the birthplace of Indian Musical Raga. nstruments like Sarangi, Sitar, Tabla, Tambora, Tanpura, etc., Two schools of vocal music also have evolved in India viz. the Hindustani School and Carnatic School which later to a great extent also influenced thewestern musical instruments. In modern times the western musical instruments like the Tambourin and the Tambour are adaptations of the Indian Tambora and Tanpura. The names Tambourin and Tambour are also derived from the word Tambora. The Saralngi, another Indian musical instrument has also found its place in western music. The acceptance of these musical instruments in the west is also evident from the fact that the words Tambora, Sarangi and Tabla are mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary.
Ancient India S Contribution To World Culture
