Published in The Indian Journal of Landscape System and Ecological Studies, Vo.37,Dec,2014, No.2,p.1-12.

SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS OF INDIAN HERITAGE

Compiled by
Dr. D. R. Nandy*
Lord T. B. Macaulay, the then Director of Education, East India Company addressed the British Parliament in
February, 1835 stating that I have travelled across length and breadth of India and not seen one person who is
beggar, who is thief. Such moral values, people of such calibre that I do not think we would even conquer this
country, unless we break the backbone of this Nation, which is spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore, I
propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture. For if the Indians think that all that
is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose self-esteem, their native culture and
they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation. As it is clear from this quotation it was for
English domination over India but it is sad that even after 67 years of our independence the trend is continuing
with more and more vigour.

ABSTRACT
Important events of our glorious past from 9000 BCE to 1936 CE in the field of philosophy, science,
mathematics, town planning, architecture, sculpture, metallurgy, education, music etc. have been
enlisted chronologically in this write up for the benefit of inquisitive readers, many of whom may not
have clear idea about our contribution in these fields from ancient times. A brief history will also be
apparent how our ancient original thinking and discoveries reached the European countries and
their appreciation for our ancient wisdom and linguistics. It will be clear that many of the modern
scientific discoveries in the western countries were known to us since the prehistoric era especially
in the field of mathematics, astronomy, engineering in town planning etc.

INTRODUCTION
As it is known now from modern scientific research that Indian subcontinent had been the cradle of
most ancient civilization in the world predating the Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations. The worlds
oldest philosophical thoughts revealed in the Vedas and Upanishads date back to 4600 BCE. The
chronological sequence of development of philosophy, science, mathematics, astronomy,
metallurgy, agricultures etc. in this subcontinent is not available in any one particular place or
publication. Therefore, this attempt is to enlist the important events/periods chronologically in one
place from different sources to highlight our glorious past and for the benefit of the interested
readers.
There are differences of opinion regarding the age of various prehistoric events/periods. Therefore,
all such opinions available have been incorporated in this write up.

YEAR/ PERIODS AND IMPORTANT EVENTS

9000-5000 BCE: Mesolithic period. Paintings in the walls of rock shelters of Bhimbetka in the foot
hills of the Vindhya Mountain began to appear (Year Book, 2008).
8000-6000 BCE: Mehergarh in Baluchistan, now in Pakistan, has revealed pre-ceramic Neolithic
culture showing flint tools, grinding stones, barely, wheat, cereal cultivation, cakes of red ochre,
beads of shell, turquoise, lapis lazuli and cylindrical shaped copper ring(?) and beads (Biswas, 2012).

6000-2100 BCE: Indus-Saraswati civilization flourished in western Indian subcontinent (Biswas,

1996). Age of Indus valley seals found at Kish is of 2700 BCE and the mature Harappan phase began
during 2650 BCE (Year Book, 2008). More than 2600 archaeological sites and 1500 old settlements
have been found (Fig. 2) so far along the bank of the changing courses of the River Saraswati now
almost completely dried up.
4600-3700 BCE: Vedic and Upanishadic period (Rajaram, 1996) during which supreme knowledge
was revealed to the meditating Rishis/Saints belonging to the so called Aryan race, in their
hermitage located along the bank of River Saraswati. There are other opinions regarding this period
viz. 3000 BCE (Biswas, 1996), 3000-2500 BCE (Mukhopadhyay, 2004). Vedic civilization was firmly
established in India during 4000 BCE (Rajaram, 1996); by then the so called Aryan civilization was at
a very advance stage. The transition from Neolithic to Chalcolithic period has been subtly mentioned
in the Rig Veda (RV). Cutting stone tools have been indicated in RV 1.91.15 and this is corroborated
by pre-Harappan stratum of Kalibangan-I (Rajasthan) where we find chalcedony and agate blades.
These were serrated and mounted on wooden handle and probably used for cutting and sowing.
Karmara was originally stone worker (RV 9.112.2) gradually became metal smith.
3800-3700 BCE: Closing of Rig Vedic period (Rajaram, 1996; Bala Gangadhar Tilak, 1893).
3700 BCE: Age of Vashisthas Head found near Delhi by Harry Hicks of USA in1958 which was
beautifully crafted metallic Vedic Aryan head that yielded the age of 3700 BCE through many
modern scientific tests (Rajaram, 1996).
3000 BCE: Various types of Vedic altars found in number of Harappan sites of 3000 BCE. Town
planning and architectures were of the secular application of originally religious and ritual oriented
mathematics (Rajaram, 1996). The world had to wait more than 2000 years, until the rise of Roman
Empire, before town planning and sanitation reached the same standard as those found in Harappan
sites. There are evidences of use of copper, bronze, beads etc. during this period. Clearest evidence
about pre-Harappan Chalcolithic culture in India has been obtained in Ganeswar-Jodhpura area,
Rajasthan (Agarwal, 1982 & 1984) that has yielded large quantities of copper objects such as blades,
arrow heads and fish hooks used in pre-Harappan Sothi culture.
2900 BCE: Upper stage of archaeological layers at Kalibangan (Rajasthan) showed the proof of first
cultivation of land ploughed in E-W and N-S direction in the world that produced Barley and Peas
(Biswas, 1994).
2600 BCE: Harbour at Lothal (Gujarat) shows considerable engineering skills with sophisticated
knowledge of geometry and mathematics. The application of theory of Pythagoras, stated by the
Vedic commentator Bhoudhayana, was discovered in India at least 2000 years before the birth of
Pythagoras. Use of weighing tools, manufacture of beads and furnaces for copper smelting etc. have
been found here (Fig. 2 and Plate 1). The earliest brass anywhere in the world is from Harappan
sites of Lothal. The artefacts assayed 6.04% zinc (Rao, 1985).
2600-1700 BCE: Civilization of great cities in the Indus Valley and to the east of Indus Valley like
Mohenjodoro, Harappa, Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Lothal (Gujarat) etc. was most advanced (Year Book,
2008).

2000-1600 BCE: So called invasion of Aryans in the Indus Valley region (in 1999 a theory of gene
pattern confirmed Caucasoid invaders entered this region?) put forward by Max Muller and others
(Year Book, 2008) which Max Muller disowned in 1871 (Rajaram, 1996). The present view on the
basis of evidence derived from archaeology, mathematics (Shulba Sutra), astronomy, metallurgy etc.
clearly indicates the Aryan must have been firmly established in India by 4000 BCE and they were
indigenous and not migratory race.
2000 BCE: Exact period of composition of Ramayana is not known. However, from this chronological
sequence it may be derived that the age may be somewhere during 2000 BCE. Year Book (2008)
records the period as 500 BCE.
1900 BCE: The River Saraswati got completely dried up during this period (Rajaram, 1996) and 1800
BCE (Mukhopadhyay, 2004).
1600-1500 BCE: The Epic Mahabharata was composed (Mukhopadhyay, 2004). There are opinions
derived from astronomical data that the War of Kurukshetra under the guidance of Lord Sri Krishna,
God incarnation, was held in 3102 BCE (Rajaram, 1996).
1260 BCE: The oldest mine in India was at Rajpura-Dariba, 80km north of Udaipur, Rajasthan, which
gave C-14 date 1260 BCE and extended up to 100m depth. The interesting mine working showed
timber, ropes, woven basket for transport of broken ore; dam, ladder for water removal; and heaps
of glass slag and a piece of lead metal (Willies, 1989). From the present geological setting it may be
inferred that zinc ore was mined here.
1200 BCE: The dates for earliest Iron Age sites in India show that discovery and use of Iron started
around 1200 BCE indigenously and independently in at least three nuclear zones viz. Karnataka area
in the south, UP-Rajasthan(?) area in the north and Bihar-Bengal area in the east. Laminations and
forge welding or alternate layer of carburised and uncarburised sheets proved to be a spectacular
and useful Indian discovery made much before the era of laminated Egyptian knife dated 900-800
BCE (Agarwal, et al, 1990).
700-500 BCE: Takshasila (Taxila) University, now in Pakistan, shined between 600-500 BCE. Sixty
courses in science, philosophy, mathematics, music, astronomy, medicine, war strategies, archery,
hunting, elephant riding etc. were taught. It was the oldest University of the world. It is said that
Panini, Chandragupta Maurya, Chanakya and Charak were the students of this university (Fig. 1).
About 10,000 students, many from Greece, Babylon, China, Iran etc., used to study at a time. It is
believed that the Hoon invaders plundered it during 500 BCE. Carbon dating of old settlements in
the area gave the age between 2500-2288 BCE (oldest). Some of the artefacts revealed the age from
700 to 500 BCE (Websites).
600 BCE: Kapils Samkhya philosophy was composed (Year Book, 2008).
520-400 BCE: The famous grammarian Panini was born at Salutula (now in Pakistan) but he himself
described that he was born in a village on the bank of Kabul river of Afghanistan. He systematised
and transformed Sanskrit grammar and phonetics around 4th Century BCE. He is now considered by
many as forerunner of modern formal language used to specify computer language (Year Book,
2008).

486 BCE: Traditional date of Gautam Buddhas nirvana. First Buddhist council was held at Rajagriha
in 486 BCE, second council was held at Vaishali in 386 BCE and the third council was held at
Patuliputra in 250 BCE (Fig. 1; Year Book, 2008).
400 BCE: Ayurveda Sastra of Charaka and Susruta was written (Year Book, 2008).
327-326 BCE: Invasion of Alexander. He was accompanied by Megasthenes, a Greek scholar, who
wrote on the prevailing culture and history of India.
302 BCE: Kautilya, a minister in the court of Chandrgupta Maurya, had written the ARTHASATRA, a
compendium of laws, administrative procedures and political advice for running a kingdom that are
relevant even today (Year Book, 2008).
273-232 BCE: Reign of Emperor Asoka. During his time Buddhist religion reached up to Turkey in the
northwest and up to Japan to the east and northeast. In situ rock carving (like Khanda Giri, Udai Giri
in Odisha; Ajanta, Ellora in Maharastra etc.) and writing of epigraph (might be in Pali or Brahmi) on
rock surface started during this period and continued till 9th century CE. The French explorer
discovered ancient epigraph on stone from the Indo-China Region written in Sanskrit language.
200 BCE: Patanjalis Yoga Sastra was composed (Year Book, 2008).
400 CE: Final form of Bhagavat Gita was composed (Year Book, 2008).
405-411 CE: Chinese scholar Fa-Hien visited India during Gupta Empire and wrote highly about the
Indian culture and civilisation during that period (Year Book, 2008).
410 CE: Iron pillar was constructed at Delhi possibly by Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (Year Book,
2008). The forge-welded 1600 years old structure is made of wrought iron (0.5% carbon). Its
astounding corrosion resistance character is partly due to its composition: high slag and
phosphorous (0.25%) content and low magnesium (0.05%) and sulphur (0.005%) content. It is one of
the wonders of the world (Biswas, 2012).
476 CE: Birth of famous astronomer Aryabhatta author of Aryabhatiya. He contributed to the
advanced mathematics, scientific explanation of lunar and solar eclipses, rejection of earth centric
movement of sun and stars and identified the forces of gravity (Year Book, 2008).
500-1197 CE: The Nalanda University of Bihar near Patna had been flourishing between 5th and 11th
century CE during the reign of Kumargupta II and Pal dynasty. Besides Indian students, students from
China, greater Iran, Tibet etc. used to study here. Science, language, mathematics, astronomy,
anatomy, Hindu and Buddhist philosophies were taught in this University (Fig. 1). Total Students
used to be about 10,000 with about 2000 teachers. Bhaktier Khilji of Turkey destroyed this
University during 1193-1194 CE. The library was so vast that it burnt for 3 months continuously. The
site was discovered by Alexander Cunningham in 1916. 20 years long excavation could reveal only
one third of the total constructions (Bharat Kosh, 1964).
505 CE: Famous astronomer and mathematician Varahamihira author of Pancasiddhantika was
born (Year Book, 2008).

500-600 CE: The famous poets and dramatists viz. Kalidasa, Bharavi, Bhatti, Magh and Sudrak
composed their immortal writings. Kalidasa: Kumar Sambabam, Meghadootam, Raghu Bansa, Ritu
Sanhara, Abhijnan Sakuntalam, Vikramashi, Malabikagnimitram etc.; Bharavi: great epic
Kiratarjuniam; Bhatti: Bhatti Kabya; Maha Kabi Magh: Sishupal Badha Katha; Sudrak:
Mrichhakatikam and Maha Kabi Bhavabhuti: Uttar Ramcharit.
598 CE: The famous mathematician Brahmagupta author of Brahmasputa- Siddhanta and Khanda
akhandyaka was born. He calculated the circumference of the earth to be 36,800km and diameter
of the moon. He was responsible for the birth of Indian decimal system, numerals and algebra (Year
Book, 2008).
600 CE: Approximate date of birth of the famous mathematician Bhaskara I. He authored
Mahabhaskariya, Laghubhaskariya and the Aryabhatiyabhasya (Year Book, 2008).
630-643 CE: Chinese scholar and traveller, Hiuen Tsang visited many places in India. He studied and
taught in the Nalanda University and he met Emperor Harsha Vardhan in 643 CE. Lot of information
of culture, education and politics prevailing during the period are known from his travelogues (Year
Book, 2008).
686 CE: Approximate date of birth of Shankaracharya who travelled extensively across India to
revive the Sanatan Hindu philosophy from the influence of degraded Buddhism and established the
teaching of Upanishads. He founded four religious centres in four corners of India: to the north Joshi
Math, to the south Sringiri Math, to the east Gobordhan Math and to the west Sarada Math. He also
created the 10 sects of sannyasis and composed many religious literatures including important
explanation (bhasya) of various scriptures. He died only at the age of 32 years.
870 CE: The famous mathematician, Sridhar, author of two mathematical treaties, Trisatika (also
called Patiganitsara) and Patiganita, was born (Year Book, 2008).
1001 CE: Al Baruni came to India with Sultan Mahmud of Gazni who plundered many places in India.
Al Baruni was Iranian born in central Asia in 973 CE. He witnessed the plunder inflicted by Mahmud.
He stayed in India for 11years, travelled to many parts of India and learnt Sanskrit as well as local
languages. He acquired many Hindu friends. He studied contemporary Indian treatises on
mathematics, astronomy, sculptures, philosophy and religions. He wrote a book Tarikh-I-Hind
(History of India) in Arabic which was highly informative about Indias high achievement in science,
mathematics, philosophy, linguistic, religion etc. It was through Arabs Indian decimal system and
numerals including concept of zero reached Europe, as did the Indian writings on mathematics,
science, philosophy and Indian advance in trigonometry.
1100 CE: Construction of the Jagannath temple at Puri began by Anantavarman Choda Ganga.
1070-1122 CE: Somadeva Bhatta had written Kathasaritsagara (Year Book, 2008).
1185-1205 CE: Rule of Lakshmana Sena in Bengal. Jaydev had written Gitagovinda (Year Book,
2008).
1231-32 CE: Completion of construction of Qutub Minar at Delhi by Iltutmish.
1333-34 CE: Arrival of Ibn Bututa in India.
5

1469 CE: Birth of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikh religion.

1486-1543 CE: Life of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He founded the popular Vaishnava sects of Hindu
religion, especially in Bengal when the Hindu culture was suffering from various meaningless rituals
and untouchability and was under pressure of Muslim conversion. His religious philosophy is spread
all over the world now by the organisation called ISKON.
1500-1600 CE: During the period two great saints were born in the so called lower cast of the
society. They are Sant Kabir and Dadu, former from weaver (Muslim) family and the latter from
cobbler family. It is believed that Dadu was born in 1544 and Kabir was living during reign of
Emperor Ibrahim Lodhi. Throughout their lives they fought against religious narrowness and
superstition. They taught about universal brotherhood and omnipresence of god in all creations.
One can reach God only through honest prayer and devotion (Sahajia path). Kabir was popular
preacher throughout northern India having millions of follower from all casts and creeds.
1505-85 CE: Mia Tansen, born as Ramtanu in a Hindu Brahmin family of Gowalior in 1506 CE,
became the disciple of the great saint and musician Ramdas for learning Hindustani classical music at
the age of 10 in the jungle of Vrindaban. He became the principal jewels in the court of Akbar and
Akbar became his disciple for learning music. He composed many immortal Raga-Raginis of
Hindustani classical music viz. Darbari Kanada, Darbari Todi, Mia Ki Mallar, Mia Ki Sarang,
Iman Kalyan etc. He also composed more than 1000 Drupad songs. According to the Historian Abul
Fazal Tansen had the divine power and was second to none in the field of music in India (Bharat
Kosh, 1964).
1582 CE: Emperor Akbar promulgated the new religion named Din-I-Ilahi or Devine Faith with the
help of Saint Dadu (Year Book, 2008).
1583-88 CE: Filippo Sasseti, a merchant from Florence stayed for 5 years in Goa and studied Sanskrit
and came to the conclusion that there had been definite connections between Sanskrit and
European languages (Rajaram, 1996).
1632 CE: Construction of Tajmahal began at Agra and completed in1646 CE (Year Book, 2008).
Modern investigations by some researchers revealed that the monument was converted to
mausoleum over a magnificent Hindu Palace.
1651 CE: An English factory started at Hugli, West Bengal.
1656 CE: Dara Suko, the eldest son of Emperor Shahjahan, translated 50 Upanishads in Persian
language (Year Book, 2008).
1659-66 CE: Francois Bernier, a French scholar, had been in the court of Aurangazeb, the Moghal
Emperor.
1671 CE: French traveller, Francois Bernier, took the Persian translation of Upanisadas to France and
those were translated in to English from French in 1684 CE (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1784 CE: Sir William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Kolkata. His English translation of
Isha Upanishada was published in London in 1799.

1785 CE: Sir Charles Wilkins (1750-1836) printed Bhagawat Gita in English in London in 1785 CE and
authored a Sanskrit grammar in English. His discovery of copper plates written in Sanskrit revealed
the glory of Pal dynasty (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1786 CE: Greek scholar of Athens Demitrius Galanos (1760-1833) who was compared to Socrates,
Plato and Megasthenes, single handed studied and translated many Hindu scriptures from Sanskrit
to Greek for three decades when he was stationed at Varanasi (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1787 CE: Bhagawat Gita was translated from English to French and from Sanskrit to French in 1832
by Jean-Denis Lonjninais (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1800 CE: Beginning 1800 France became the centre for oriental studies. Antoina- Leonard de Che`zy
(1774-1832) was first to hold European Chair for Sanskrit studies in France in January 16, 1815.
1801-1802 CE: Anquetil-Duperon (1731-1805) of France translated number of Upanishads from
Persian to French. By reading these translations Schopenhauer remarked that those were
profoundest philosophy he had ever read (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1810 CE: Henry Thomas Colebroke (1765-1837) was one of the greatest and early Sanskrit Scholar
who founded the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He also wrote about Hindu
mathematics (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1818 CE: Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded the Brahma Samaj and abolished the burning of Sati (Year
Book, 2008). He was the father of Bengali renaissance.
1820-1891 CE: Pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born during 1820. His growing up years were
spent in struggle to be the topper and make ends meet. When he was at the height of his carrier
many of his countrymen sought to make him pariah. All these trouble would have overwhelmed a
lesser man but not Ishwar Chandra. A polymath and a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance, he was
multifaceted to say the least. The philosopher, academic, educator, writer, translator, printer,
publisher, entrepreneur, reformer and philanthropist, was a large hearted man. His effort to simplify
and modernise Bengali prose was significant. He had also rationalised and simplified the Bengali
alphabets and types which had remained unchanged since Charles Wilkins and Panchanan Karmakar
had cut first (wooden) Bengali types in 1780. He received the title Vidyasagar (Ocean of
knowledge) from the Sanskrit College, Kolkata. He was also the Ocean of kindness. He introduced
the widow marriage fighting against wishes of the so called pundits and the leaders of the society in
spite of the threat on his life. His retirement from public life was due to, he used to say, loss of faith
in the moral courage and earnestness of his educated countrymen and their betrayal.
1818 CE: August Wilhelm Von Shlegel (1767-1845) occupied the chair of Indology at University of
Bonn, dubbed as the Benaras on Rhine (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1833 CE: Sanskrit Chair was created at Oxford University (London) that was known as Boden Chair
from endowment of Col. Boden for the purpose of translation of Bible in Sanskrit which could help
conversion of Hindus to Christianity. Wilson first occupied the Chair who was succeeded by Monnier
Williams by denying the chance to Max Muller.

1835-1840 CE: Three great scholarsFriedrich Max Muller, Rudolf van Roth and Theodore
Goldstucker of Germany went to France to learn about Indian Wisdom and Sanskrit Language under
Eugene Burnouf (1801-1852). After the death of Burnouf it was Germany that made great progress
in the studies of Indian philosophy between 1850 and 1870 (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1846 CE: Max Muller reached England in 1846 and spent rest of his life in London. He became
professor at Oxford in 1850 and published English version of Rig Veda with Sayanacharyas
commentary in six volumes which was a landmark work in Sanskrit studies in Europe. He also
published the Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, 1879) having 51 volumes that included 12 main
Upanishads. He further published English version of life and sayings of Sri Ramakrishna. Another
book he wrote was India: what it can teach us (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005). He was made to
write the Aryan invasion theory during 1500 BCE to India that was contested by renowned historians
like M. Winternitz, A. A. Macdonel and John Muir (Biswas, 1994). After the Prussian war and
Germanys unification Max Muller changed his opinion about Aryan invasion theory in
1871(Rajaram, 1996).
1850 CE: Horace Hay Man (1788-1860) translated Rig Veda with Sayanas commentary entirely in
verse. He was an eminent authority in Sanskrit literature and Hinduism. He collected more than 540
manuscripts of Sanskrit literature and other Indian classical works which were disseminated to the
western world. His collected works were compiled and published in 12 volumes in London (1862-71).
1860 CE: Sir Monnier Monnier-William (1819-1899), professor of Sanskrit chair at Oxford, published
a book named Indian Wisdom and a Sanskrit- English dictionary. He observed that (1) though there
were more than 500 spoken language in India Sanskrit had been the vehicle for expressing all
knowledge from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; (2) Hindus were Spinozaits 2000 year before Spinoza and
(3) They were Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of evolution was accepted by the
scientists of his time and before that the word like evolution did not exist in any language of the
world (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).
1860 CE: Sri. Sri. Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1836-1886) is considered as the God incarnation by his
disciples. He revolutionised the Hindu thought when the country was suffering from religious
superstition, misadventure of newly educated class, under attack of Christianity and Muslim religion.
He taught gist of Veda, Upanishada and Gita with style rich in simile and with very simple language.
His main teachings were that any one could reach God by faithfully and truly following any path
prescribed by all religious teachings (Jata Mat Tata Path). He trained 14 young disciples including
Swami Vivekananda the way to achieve God who turned out eventually the great saints to spread his
teachings in India and abroad.
1874 CE: Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (1839- 1894) laid the foundation of industries in India by setting
up first cotton mill in 1874 at Nagpur followed by the Empress Cotton Mill and Tata Iron and Steel
Company (advised by Swami Vivekananda) that began production in 1912 (Year Book, 2008).
1885 CE: Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) translated Bhagawat Gita as the Song Celestial in blank
verse which sold many copies. In 1879 he composed a book named The Light of Asia on the life of
Gautam Buddha. These two precious books are being read all over the western countries with
reverence even today (Swami Tathagatananda, 2005).

1887 CE: Srinivasa Ramanuj, FRS (1887-1920) was born in Tamilnadu. He was a natural mathematic
genius without formal training as said by English Mathematician, G. H. Hardy, having similar acumen
as that of the famous mathematicians Euler and Gauss. He showed his original thinking power in
mathematics at the age of ten, even at the age of 12 he discovered theorem on his own. By the age
of 17 he had conducted his own research on Bernouli numbers and Euler-Maschronic constant. He
has been the world famous for his Number Theory, Infinite Series and Continued Fraction. His
birth day on 22nd December has been declared as the National Mathematics Day by the
Government India in 2011 (Websites).
1892 CE: Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944), an outstanding Chemistry professor of

Calcutta University, started producing common pharmaceutical products in his house and
marketed the products as made by Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical works, first of its
kind in India. The Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works became a public limited
company in 1901. He authored, besides many scientific papers of high calibre, a book in two
parts entitled Hindu Chemistry in 1902 and 1909. He discovered Mercurous Nitrite in 1896
and founded Indian Chemical Society in 1924 and Bangiya Sankat Tran Samity (Bengal
Relief Committee) in 1931 (Bharat Kosh, 1964).
1893 CE: Swami Vivekananda delivered his land mark and outstanding speech based on
Upanishada and Hindu philosophy at the World Parliament of Religion in Chicago, U. S. A. in
September,1893 which kept all the world leaders of religion as well as the learned public
attending the conference spell bound. His concluding remarks was new to the audience that
was-Help not fight, assimilation and not destruction, harmony and peace and not
dissention. He travelled all over America and part of Europe for four years in two phases
delivering lectures on Vedanta philosophy, especially on Monism (Adwaita philosophy) with
earnest response from the western scholars and he also acquired some western disciples.
Before leaving for USA he travelled length and breadth of India, sometimes incognito,
mixing with the royalty as well as the poorest of the poor to realise the social and economic
conditions of the Indians. He gave a call for upliftment of the poor and the outcaste, and
education for the women as well as service to all mankind as divine incarnation. He can be
designated as the first socialist born in the Indian soil. He founded the Ramakrishna Math
and Mission in 1898 to spread the message of Sri Ramakrishna and for dedicated service to
the poor and the outcaste by way of social service, education and health care that has
worldwide branches today.
1901 CE: Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) founded the Ashram type school at
Santiniketan in 1901 near Bolpur, West Bengal where many luminaries from our country and
abroad used to conduct research and impart education to the children in the style of
hermitage which was upgraded to a University in later period with lost glory. He was
honoured with the Nobel Prize in recognition of his literary achievement and creativity in
1913. He was the first Asian to be honoured by Nobel Prize. He is the only poet whose
compositions have been adopted as national anthems for two sovereign countries viz. India
and Bangladesh. He had been the trend setter for modern Bengali literature and language
9

which influence the literary works even now. He had innovated special style of song and
dance forms. Besides his literary works his writings on philosophy, social and political issues
were of very high standard and of outstanding in nature which are referred even to day
(Year Book, 2008).
1902 CE: Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858-1937) was Chemist, Botanist, Physicist and
Philosopher par excellence. He was pioneer in the research of plant science in the world to
study the stimuli and response of plants under different types of conditions and external
forces. He was the father of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent. He designed
and assembled an instrument called Cresco graph to measure the growth of plants. He was
also the father of radio science. He demonstrated his experiment in Europe during 1901-02.
He was a great friend of Rabindranath Tagore and Sister Nivedita (Year Book, 2008).
1930-31 CE: French philosopher and writer Romain Rolland (1866-1944) was interested in
Indian philosophical thought. He published two books on the life and teachings of Sri
Ramakrishna and that of Swami Vivekananda in French in 1930-31 which were later
translated in to English. He was a great friend of Rabindranath Tagore who advised Rolland
to read the works of Swami Vivekananda to know about India. He received Nobel Prize for
literature in 1915.
1923 CE: Swami Pranabananda (1896-1941) had founded the Bharat Sevasram Sangha in
1923 which has been continuing its social services to the down trodden of the society and
also rescue and relief operation during natural calamities all over India by a devoted group
of Sannyasis even today. The Sangha has its Ashrams or centres of activities in all parts of
India, especially in the places of pilgrimage, for shelter and to help the poor as well rich
pilgrims by protecting them from the exploitation by the local priests. Swami Pranabananda
started his first relief work amongst the famine stricken peoples of Sundarban in 1921 on
the advice of Acharya P. C. Ray (Bharat Kosh, 1964).
1930 CE: Sir C. V. Raman (1888-1970) got Nobel Prize in 1930 for his pioneering work in
physics on scattering of light. In 1970 he became first professor to occupy the Palit Chair of
Calcutta University. In 1928 he discovered radiation effect of light that was later known as
the Raman Effect. He became F.R.S. in 1924 and was knighted in 1929. He was awarded
inaugural Bharat Ratna in 1954.
1935 CE: Professor Meghnad Saha (1893-1956) produced the famous thermo-ionization
equation, later known as the Saha equation. This equation became one of the foundations
in the field of astrophysics. He founded the Institute of Nuclear Physics in 1947, National
Academy of Science and the Indian Physical Society (Year Book, 2008).
1936 CE: Satyendranath Bose (1894-1974) was a famous mathematician and physicist noted
for his collaboration with Albert Einstein. He had the privilege to work with famous
scientists like Lois de Broglie, Madam Curie and Albert Einstein for two years. He predicted

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the presence of a group of sub-particles in the nucleus of an atom named Boson. One of
such particle was identified as Higgs particle or Gods particle responsible for the mass of
an atom (Year Book, 2008). During his later life he was ardently engaged in the study and
culture of science in vernacular.
CONCLUDING REMRAKS:
It took 5/6 months time of research work to collect the data and to chronologically arrange the
events of our glorious past. It will be heartening for me if the readers go through the write up
seriously and realise about our ancestors original thinking and creative power in the field of
philosophy, science, mathematics, astronomy, town and country planning, sculpture, agriculture ,
linguistic etc. and compare them with the status of our contemporary activities in these fields. The
present generations may take cue from this write up to improve upon their creativeness and embark
on original thinking in all type of research work to leave their foot prints on the sands of time. It will
be clear from the events chronologically arranged in the foregoing that the Aryans/Vedic civilization
grew on the Indian soils and the Aryans never migrated to or invaded India from outside as taught in
the schools and colleges even to day.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
I express my gratitude to Dr. Anupendu Gupta, my ex-colleague, for igniting the idea for this work in
the context of my recent studies of Indian philosophy and for valuable discussions on many
occasions. I am thankful to Emeritus Professor S. C. Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta University, for
suggesting to incorporate some maps and photographs along with this write up and for agreeing to
publish the write up in the Indian Journal of Landscape and Ecological Studies. Thanks are also due
to Dr. Jayanta Sen for cartography of the maps on GIS platform. I am indebted to Mr. K. K. Dasgupta,
my friend, for typing the first draft.

REFERENCES:
1. Agarwal, D. P. (1971): The Copper-Bronze Age in India: Munshiram Monoharlal, New Delhi.
2. Agarwal, D. P. (1984): Metal Technology of the Harappans: in Frontiers of the Indus
Civilization: ed. B. P. Lal, S. P. Gupta and Sasi Asthana: Books and Books, New Delhi.
3. Agarwal, O. P., Harinarayan, Jai Prakash and Bhatia, S. K. (1990): Lamination technique in
Iron Artefacts in Ancient India: Historical Metallurgy, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp.12-26
4. Biswas, Arun Kumar (1994): Saraswati Saradar Anuddhyan (in Bengali): Ananda Publishers,
Kolkata 700 009.

5. Biswas, Arun Kumar (2012): Mineral Engineering in India- Reflection: The Indian Institute of
Mineral Engineers, NML, Jamshedpur, India.
6. De Sushil Kumar and Others Ed. (1964): Bharat Kosh (in Bengali): Pub. Bangiya
Sahitya Parishat, Kolkata, in 6 volumes.

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7. Mukhopadhyay Maniratna (2004): Ekti Nadir Mrityu Kahini (in Bengali):

Udbodhan, 11th and 12th issues, November-December, 2004.
8. Mukherjee K. N. (1980): Indus Civilization and Rigvedic Age- A Rethinking on Climate
and Chronology: Journal of Landscape, Ecology and Ekistics, pts. 1&2, Kolkata 700
019.
9. Rajaram (1996): New Light on Vedic India and Ancient Civilization: Prabuddha
Bharat, Vol. 101, in 3 parts, September-November, 1996.
10. Rao, S. R. (1985): Lothal- a Harappan Port Town: Archaeological Survey of India, New
Delhi, Vol. I & II.
11. Swami Tathagatananda (2005): Journey of Upanishads to the West: Pub.
Adwaita Ashram, Dihi Entally, Kolkata.
12. Year Book (2008): Derek O Brian Ed. : Penguin: Penguin, New Delhi.
13. Willies Lynn (January, 1983): Ancient Lead-Zinc-Silver Mines in Rajasthan: Mining
Magazine, pp.31-35.
14. Number of relevant Websites.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Editors Note: The Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies is a
multidisciplinary journal publishing mainly articles and research results from the geographer
encompassing the relevant subjects. The present article by Dr. D. R. Nandy, D. Sc., a renowned
earthquake scientist, now engaged mostly in the study of Indian philosophy, is the result of his
painstaking effort to inspire and make aware the present generation of researchers about our
ancient past achievements and creativeness in the field of education, science, mathematics,
astronomy, metallurgy, philosophy, sculpture, architecture, town planning etc. before the
western world knew about them. Therefore, it is our great pleasure to publish this article.
(The following text should come as footer at the end of first page after composing the text)
*BCE= Before Christian Era, CE=Christian Era. *Dr. D. R. Nandy, D.Sc., Retired Director, GSI; Ex-Emeritus
Scientist, DST and Ex-Member, Project Advisory and Monitoring Committee, Department of Science &
Technology, Government of India. Mobile: 09432282520

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A FEW PICTURES FROM WORLDS MOST ANCIENT HARBOUR AND DOCKYARD AT LOTHAL, GUJARAT

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