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long ago
when giant lizards roamed the earth and
netflix wasn't around
the asian continent got crashed into by
an unexpected visitor
that ended up being a lifelong neighbor
um
come again well i'm talking about india
and its fascinating history since it
stays as a massive piece of land
floating in the ocean counting down from
number nine
advanced surgery from ancient times
if you think plastic surgery is a modern
convenience
you're in for a big surprise india had
it covered more than 2500 years ago
way back in the 6th century bce
somewhere around that time
there lived an outstanding doctor by the
name of sushruta
he's called one of the founding fathers
of surgery and for good reason
his sushruta samhita is a real gem of a
book
it covers over one thousand one hundred
diseases
all kinds of medicinal plants and dozens
of surgical procedures
but what's probably the most
jaw-dropping thing about the book
is that it also described surgical
reconstruction
of the nose so basically if you lived in
ancient india
you could get yourself a nose job okay
maybe it wasn't the rhinoplasty we know
today with anesthesia and all
but that's still impressive
number eight the first diamond dealer
up until the 18th century india was the
only source of diamonds in the world
according to the gemological institute
of america
these precious stones were first
discovered and traded
in the 4th century bce of course
industrial mining and diamond processing
was out of the question back then
so india only had a limited supply of
them that was ok though
because the demand was equally limited
only the wealthiest could afford such a
luxury
since then countries like russia
botswana and the democratic republic of
congo
have taken the lead in diamond
production but the fact is
a country known for its love of gold
also had bragging rights for maintaining
a diamond monopoly for almost
a thousand years ooh fancy
number seven one of the earliest
civilizations
civilized urban life as we know it dates
back about five thousand years in india
well fine they didn't have central
heating or anything
not that they needed it but the indus
valley civilization was still
among the most advanced out there in the
ancient world
the ancient history encyclopedia says
that by 2600 bce
dozens of towns and cities belong to
that civilization
and i must say they had quite a comfy
life for their time
houses had bathrooms and wells and every
city had a drainage system
social conditions were also way better
than in other civilizations at that time
on top of that the ancient indians had a
seriously mysterious writing system
that scientists still can't decipher to
this day who knows what wonders these
ancient texts hide
number six a civilization ahead of its
time
speaking of better social conditions
during the vedic period
which lasted from about 1500 to 500 bce
the indian society was probably the most
equal in the known world at that time
although it was still patriarchal women
got a lot of respect
could become sages and sears received an
equal education with men
and enjoyed all kinds of rights there
was no such thing as arranged marriage
back then
that only appeared much later and
political debates were rarely held
without women giving speeches
and men were wise to listen to their
words hear that fellas
i guess you could call the vedic period
the golden age of
india's history
5. the most important number
and what do you think that might be we'd
be in big trouble without this most
important number
okay enough riddles i'm talking about
zero
the concept of zero and the rules of its
use were
first invented in india at around the
7th century ce
before that the idea of nothing hadn't
even been treated as a number
it was no more than an empty space
between real numbers
i suppose people just didn't see the
convenience of it yet
like every time i look in my bank
account after i pay my bills
yeah convenience
number four clean hair has the word
shampoo ever struck you as odd say it
out loud a few times and you'll see what
i mean
well it might sound foreign to you
because it probably is
not unless you're from india and in that
case thanks for the word
yes shampoo is derived from the hindi
word
shampoo which means to massage or need
and the first mission of this head
kneading was by greek historian strabo
back in the 4th century bce at the time
shampooing was only common to indians
they massaged their heads with various
herbs and extracts
and then washed them off with water to
keep their hair clean
the practice of using shampoo didn't
come to europe until a thousand years
later
in the early 19th century looks like it
took long enough to catch up
number three math and astronomy genius
in ancient india mathematics and
astronomy had been two major disciplines
since 1500 bce
or even earlier but arguably one of
india's greatest minds lived in the 5th
century ce
his name was arya bhatta and he wrote a
treatise on astronomy that became a
foundation for many later studies
despite using a geocentric model of the
solar system
which showed the sun and moon revolving
around the earth
aryabhata presented many ideas that are
still used today
for example he calculated the length of
the year almost to the minute
found the value of pi and explained that
the moon and planets shine
because of sunlight reflecting off of
them not bad for the fifth century
number two the guru of games
do you play chess even if you don't you
know what it is
but did you know that its ancestor was
born in india too
the ancient game was called chaturanga
and it appeared at around the 6th
century ce
nobody knows the exact rules of the game
but judging by its appearance
it's safe to assume it had a lot in
common with chess and similar games
like the japanese shogi for instance
another classic board game is snakes and
ladders
it's not really known when and where it
first appeared
but most say it comes from the 13th
century indian game
called mokshapot the idea was to teach
kids about
vice in the form of snakes and virtue
the latters
hey you up for a game oh never mind i've
got one more tidbit to share with you
number one humble island beginnings
india wasn't always a subcontinent in
the era of dinosaurs
over 100 million years ago it was
actually
an island it had broken off from a super
continent
and slowly but steadily traveled north
arriving to its present day location in
just about
50 million years the dinosaurs had
already gone extinct by then
though they didn't get to see what
happened next the giant indian island
collided with asia
in a colossal continental boom the
impact was so hard in fact
that the himalayas were formed almost in
an instant
yep that's how the youngest mountain
chain in the world appeared
actually india now a subcontinent is
still
slowly pressing northward making everest
grow
basically the highest peak on the planet
is now a few millimeters or even
centimeters
taller than last year which come to
think of it makes it harder and harder
for alpinest to get to the top
oh better cross that one off your bucket
list sooner than later
now do you know any other neat or
shocking facts about india's history
let me know in the comments below don't
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on the bright side of life