Proud to be an Indian

Here are some amazing facts that will make you more proud to be an Indian. Read on ...
India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software, according to a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.

The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects there. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our
civilization.India was the richest country on earth until the British invaded in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.

Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun in the 5th century - 365.258756484 days. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).

Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community, that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindh Valley, known as the Indus Valley Civilization.

The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC. Spiritual science, Yoga and most of the religions were found in India and the teachings spread all over the world by Indian Mystics and the Saints.

The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ' 80-tonne ' piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola

India is.......the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).
The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Raoborn Nimmakuru, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh; 28 May 1923–18 January 1996, also known as NTR, was an actor, director, producer, and politician. He is the founder of Telugu Desam Party and served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1968, recognizing his contribution to Telugu cinema. After his career in movies, Rao became a political activist and a political party leader. He is known as an advocate of Andhra Pradesh's distinct cultural identity, distinguishing it from Madras State with which it was often associated

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (19 May 1913 - 1 June, 1996) was an Indian statesman. He was the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982 and was the only person to be elected President of India unopposed.

Reddy was born in Andhra Pradesh. He had his primary education at the High School run by Theosophical Society Adyar, Madras. The spiritual atmosphere of the school left a deep impact on his mind. He joined the Government Arts College at Anantapur for his higher studies.

Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Anantapur in July 1929 was the turning point in Reddy's life. He came under the profound influence of Gandhiji's thoughts, words and actions. He discarded his foreign clothes and took to Khadi as his dress. He gave up his studies and joined the Indian Independence Movement. In 1931 he left his studies to join Congress Party.

He was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1946 and became the Secretary of the Madras Congress Legislature Party. In 1947, he became a Member of the Indian Constituent Assembly. He was Minister for Prohibition, Housing and Forests in the composite state of Madras from 1949 to 1951. He was Elected as President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee in 1951. In 1952, he was elected as a Member of the Rajya Sabha.

He served as the first chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in October 1956 and again from 1962 to 1964. He also served as President of the Indian National Congress from 1959 to 1962.

The degree of Honorary Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by the Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupathi in 1958.

On 9 June 1964, He was appointed a Member of the Union Cabinet and took over the portfolio of Steel and Mines. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in November, 1964.

He was Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, Shipping and Tourism from January 1966 to March 1967 in the Cabinet. He was Elected to the Lok Sabha from Hindupur constituency in Andhra Pradesh. He was elected Speaker of Lok Sabha on 17 March 1967, where he won unprecedented acclaim and admiration.

He entered active politics again in 1975 along with Shri Jayaprakash Narayan. In March 1977, he fought the Lok Sabha election from Nandyal constituency in Andhra Pradesh as a Janata Party candidate. He was the only non-Congress candidate to get elected from Andhra Pradesh. He was unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha on 26 March 1977.

He was elected President by the electoral college in July 1977.

He died in Bangalore, India.

Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu 23 August 1872 – d. 20 May 1957) was an Indian politician and Freedom Fighter and the first Chief Minister of the Indian province that was to become Andhra Pradesh. He was also known as Andhra Kesari (literally, the Lion of Andhra).

Potti Sreeramulu

Potti Sreeramulu 16 March 1901 – 16 December 1952), was an Indian revolutionary. He became famous for undertaking a fast-unto-death for achieving the Andhra State and losing his life in the process. His sacrifice became instrumental in the linguistic re-organisation of states. He is revered as Amarajeevi (Immortal being) in Andhra for his sacrifice. As a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he worked life long to uphold principles such as truth and non-violence and objectives such as Harijan upliftment

Pingali Venkayya

Pingali Venkayya (August 2, 1876 - July 4, 1963) was the designer of the Indian national flag.He was born in Bhatlapenumarru, near Masulipatnam or the present day Machilipatnam of Andhra Pradesh, India to Hanumantharayudu and Venkataratnamma. After high school at Machlipatnam, he went to Colombo to complete his Senior Cambridge. On returning to India, he worked as a railway guard, then as a government employee at Bellary, and later moved to Lahore to join the Anglo-Vedic college to study Urdu and Japanese.

He was an accomplished person on many fronts. He was immensely knowledgeable in geology and obtained a doctorate in it. He was an authority on diamond mining in Andhra Pradesh and was popularly known as 'Diamond Venkayya'. He also specialised in agriculture and spent most of his fortune in experimenting with ginger plantations in Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh. He served in the British Indian army during the Anglo-Boer wars in South Africa. It was there he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi and was influenced by his ideology.

During the National conference of Indian National congress at Kakinada, he suggested that we should have a flag of our own. Gandhiji liked this idea and said it would be good if he could come up with a design. During the National conference at Vijayawada, he proposed the Tricolour with a charkha at the middle. Gandhiji liked the flag and this was later adopted as the National flag of India with the Ashok Chakra at the centre.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,(5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He was the first Vice-President of India (1952-1962), and its second President (1962-1967).

One of India's most influential scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, Radhakrishnan is considered through his efforts to have built a bridge between East and West by having shown the philosophical systems of each tradition to be comprehensible within the terms of the other. He wrote authoritative exegeses of India's religious and philosophical literature for the English speaking world. His academic appointments included the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta (1921-?) and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University (1936-1952).

Among the many honours he received were a knighthood (1931) and the Bharat Ratna (1954). His birthday is celebrated in India as Teacher's Day on 5 September.

Alluri Sita Rama Raju

Alluri Sita Rama Raju also known as Aluri Rama Raju, Rama Chandra Raju, and Alluri Seetha Rama Raju, was a young Indian revolutionary during the freedom struggle and to this day he remains an inspiring role model for those who fight against oppression. His father was from Mogallu village in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India and was an official photographer in the central jail at Rajahmundry.Sita Rama Raju was born in Pandrangi,a village near Visakhapatnam which happened to be his mother's native place. Raju led the ill-fated Rampa Rebellion joined by many tribal leaders and their sympathisers in the fight against the British from 1922 to 1923. He was adoringly referred to Manyam Veerudu (Hero of the jungles) by the Telugus.



Legacy
Today a statue of Raju stands at Seethammadhara Junction and on the beach road near The Park Hotel in Visakhapatnam. A statue of him stands in Pandringi, which is his grand mother's village near Bhemili, about 20 km from Vizag. The Indian Postal Department issued a commemorative stamp on Sri Alluri Seetarama Raju in the series 'India's struggle for freedom' in 1986.

A Telugu movie was made about Raju's life, entitled Alluri Sita Rama Raju. Krishna starred as Raju and V. Rama Chandra Rao directed the film. The popular song 'Telugu Veera Levara' was included in this film and has inspired generations of the Telugu community.

Mantena Satyanarayana Raju, a dietician and a naturopath, is said to be a relative of Sri Alluri Sitarama Raju.

The only photograph of Raju, which was taken after his death is preserved in the A.P. State Archives, Hyderabad

Chandrashekhar Azad

Chandrashekhar Azad, often called, Panditji (Brahman ji) was the founder of Garam Dal. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he was the first among many Indian revolutionaries to use arms in their fight for independence against the British rulers. A devout Brahmin, he believed that it was his "dharma" (duty) to fight for others. He also believed that a soldier never relinquishes his weapon.

Born to Pandit Sitaram Tiwari and Jagaraani Devi, Azad spent most of his childhood and received primary education in Badarka village in Unnao District, Uttar Pradesh. He then went to the Sanskrit Pathashala at Varanasi for higher education. Azad was an ardent follower of Lord Hanuman and once disguised himself as a priest in a Hanuman temple to escape a British police dragnet.

Chandrashekhar Azad was deeply troubled by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919. In 1921, when Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation movement, he actively participated in the protest movement. He was arrested and received his first punishment at the age of fifteen for this act of civil disobedience. When the magistrate asked him his name, he said "Azad" (meaning free). For this, he was sentenced to fifteen lashes. With each stroke of the whip, young Chandrasekhar shouted "Bharat Mata Ki Jai"["Hail The Motherland!"]. From that point onwards, Chandrashekhar assumed the title of Azad and came to be known as Chandrashekhar Azad.

After suspension of the non-cooperation movement, Azad was attracted by more aggressive and violent revolutionary ideals. He committed himself to complete independence by any means. Towards this end, he formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association and was mentor to revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Batukeshwar Dutt, and Rajguru. HSRA's goal was full Indian independence and wanted to build a new India based on socialist principles. Azad and his compatriots also planned and executed several acts of violence against the British. He was involved in numerous such activities like the Kakori Train Robbery (1925), the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's train (1926), and the shooting of John Poyantz Saunders at Lahore (1928) to avenge the killing of Lala Lajpat Rai.

Azad was a terror to the British police. He was on their hit list and the British police badly wanted to capture him dead or alive. For his part, Azad had also vowed that he would never be arrested by the British police and that he would die a free man. On February 27, 1931 Chandrashekhar Azad met two of his comrades at Alfred Park, Allahabad. He was betrayed by an informer, the police surrounded the park and ordered Chandrashekhar Azad to surrender. Azad fought alone and killed three policemen but got shot in the thigh. After nearly exhausting his ammunition and foreseeing no means of escape, he shot himself in the head with his last bullet.

Most of his revolutionary activities were planned and executed from Shahjahanpur

Subhash Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose was born on January 23 1897 in Cuttack (Odiya Bazar) Orissa, the ninth child among 14, of Janakinath Bose, an advocate, and Prabhavati Devi. Bose studied in an Anglo school, Cuttack until standard 6 which is now known as Stewart School and then shifted to Ravenshaw Collegiate School of Cuttack. A brilliant student, Bose topped the matriculation examination of Calcutta province in 1911 and passed his B.A. in 1918 in Philosophy from the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta.

Bose went to study in Fitzwilliam Hall of the University of Cambridge, and his high score on civil service exams meant an almost automatic appointment. He then took his first conscious step as a revolutionary and resigned the appointment on the premise that the "best way to end a government is to withdraw from it." At the time, Indian nationalists were shocked and outraged because of the Amritsar massacre and the repressive Rowlatt legislation of 1919. Returning to India, Bose wrote for the newspaper Swaraj and took charge of publicity for the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. His mentor was C.R. Das, spokesman for aggressive nationalism in Bengal. Bose worked for Das when the latter was elected mayor of Calcutta in 1924. In a roundup of nationalists in 1925, Bose was arrested and sent to prison in Mandalay, where he contracted tuberculosis.

He was a devout Hindu and spent much time in meditation.Strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda's teachings, he was known for his patriotic zeal as a student.


"Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in order to free India from the shackles of British imperialism organized the Azad Hind Government from outside the country on October 21, 1943. Netaji set up the Provisional Government of Independent India (Azad Hind) and transferred its headquarter at Rangoon on January 7, 1944. On the 5th April, 1944, the "Azad Hind Bank" was inaugurated at Rangoon. It was on this occasion that Netaji used this chair for the first time. Later the chair was kept at the residence of Netaji at 51, University Avenue, Rangoon, where the office of the Azad Hind Government was also housed. Afterwards,at the time of leaving Burma, the Britishers handed over the chair to the family of Mr.A.T.Ahuja, the well known business man of Rangoon. The chair was officially handed over to the Government of India in January 1979. It was brought to Calcutta on the 17th July, 1980. It has now been ceremonially installed at the Red Fort on July 7, 1981."

Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh was born into a Sandhu Jatfamily to Sardar Kishan Singh Sandhu and Vidyavati in the Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in the Lyallpur district of Punjab.Singh's given name of Bhagat means "devotee". He came from a patriotic Sikh family, some of whom had participated in movements supporting the independence of India and others who had served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army.His grandfather, Arjun Singh, was a follower of Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Hindu reformist movement, Arya Samaj, which would carry a heavy influence on Singh. His uncles, Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh, as well as his father were members of the Ghadar Party, led by Kartar Singh Sarabha Grewal and Har Dayal. Ajit Singh was forced to flee to Persia because of pending cases against him while Swaran Singh was hanged on December 19, 1927 for his involvement in the Kakori train robbery of 1925.

Unlike many Sikhs his age, Singh did not attend Khalsa High School in Lahore, because his grandfather did not approve of the school officials' loyalism to the British authorities.Instead, his father enrolled him in Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School, an Arya Samajist school.At age 13, Singh began to follow Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement. At this point he had openly defied the British and had followed Gandhi's wishes by burning his government-school books and any British-imported clothing. Following Gandhi's withdrawal of the movement after the violent murders of policemen by villagers from Chauri Chaura, Uttar Pradesh, Singh, disgruntled with Gandhi's nonviolence action, joined the Young Revolutionary Movement and began advocating a violent movement against the British.

In 1923, Bhagat famously won an essay competition set by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. This grabbed the attention of members of the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan including its General Secretary Professor Bhim Sen Vidyalankar. At this age, he quoted famous Punjabi literature and discussed the Problems of the Punjab. He read a lot of poetry and literature which was written by Punjabi writers and his favourite poet was Allama Iqbal from Sialkot.

In his teenage years, Bhagat Singh started studying at the National College in Lahore,but ran away from home to escape early marriage, and became a member of the organization Naujawan Bharat Sabha ("Youth Society of India").In the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Singh and his fellow revolutionaries grew popular amongst the youth. He also joined the Hindustan Republican Association at the request of Professor Vidyalankar, which was then headed by Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan.[citation needed] It is believed that he had knowledge of the Kakori train robbery. He wrote for and edited Urdu and Punjabi newspapers published from Amritsar.In September 1928, a meeting of various revolutionaries from across India was called at Delhi under the banner of the Kirti Kissan Party. Bhagat Singh was the secretary of the meet. His later revolutionary activities were carried out as a leader of this association. The capture and hanging of the main HRA Leaders also allowed him to be quickly promoted to higher ranks in the party, along with his fellow revolutionary Sukhdev Thapar.