Re: What has Hinduism given to the world?
British historian Grant Duff has remarked: "Many of the advances in the sciences that we consider today to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries ago
Ancient India was a land of sages, saints and seers as well as scholars and scientists. Some examples of India’s contribution to science and technology include:
Mathematics – Vedic literature is replete with concepts of zero, the techniques of algebra and algorithm, square root and cube root. Arguably, the origins of Calculus lie in India 300 years before Leibnitz and Newton.
Astronomy – Rig Veda (2000 BC) refers to astronomy.
Physics – Concepts of atom and theory of relativity were explicitly stated by an Indian philosopher around 600 BC.
Chemistry – Principles of chemistry did not remain abstract but also found expression in distillation of perfumes, aromatic liquids, manufacturing of dyes and pigments, and extraction of sugar.
Medical science & surgery – Around 800 BC, the first compendium on medicine and surgery was complied in ancient India.
Fine Arts – study of sound and phonetics arose from the need of correct recitation of the Vedas. The natural corollary was the emergence of music and other performing arts.
Mechanical & production technology – Greek historians have testified to smelting of certain metals in India in the 4th century BC.
Civil engineering & architecture – The discovery of urban settlements of Mohenjodaro and Harappa indicates the existence of civil engineering and architecture, which blossomed to a highly precise science and found expression in innumerable monuments.
Shipbuilding & navigation – Sanskrit and Pali texts have several references to maritime activity by ancient Indians.
Sports & games – Ancient India is the birth place of chess, ludo, snakes and ladders and playing cards.
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Mathematics
Main article: Indian mathematics
Mathematics represents a very high level of abstraction attained by the human brain. In ancient India, roots to mathematics can be traced to Vedic literature, which is around 4000 years old. Between 1000 BC and 1000 AD, a number of mathematical treatises were authored in India.
American historian Will Durant (1885–1981) has said that “India was the mother of our philosophy… of much of our mathematics.” Australian Indologist A. L. Basham writes in his book, The Wonder That was India, “… the world owes most to India in the realm of mathematics, which was developed in the Gupta period to a stage more advanced than that reached by any other nation of antiquity. The success of Indian mathematics was mainly due to the fact that Indians had a clear conception of the abstract number as distinct from the numerical quantity of objects or spatial extension.”
It is now generally accepted that India was the birth place of several mathematical concepts, including zero, the decimal system, algebra, algorithm, square root and cube root. The concept of zero origininated in Indian philosophy’s concept of “sunya”, literally “void”. A symbol for zero emerged to represent this philosophical concept.