Prologue continues......

Great advancement took place during the early centuries of the Christian era which revolutionized the worlds of astronomy and mathematics. The zero was invented by Indians. So was the decimal place value system. The significance of these inventions to modern mathematics is inestimable. Aryabhata, born in AD 476, was a mathematician and astronomer whose seminal work in these fields brought great fame to India.

He made radical departures in traditional mathematics by the use of the decimal system and trigonometry. He invented ideas and measurements in astronomy. Aryabhata, for the first time, explained to the world that the lunar and solar eclipses are the results respectively of the earth’s shadow Falling on the moon and the moon’s shadow obscuring the sun. He also challenged the traditional view that the sun was orbiting around the earth and established that the earth was revolving around the sun. Twelve centuries before Issac Newton (17th century) discovered the force of gravity, Aryabhata identified it as responsible for objects not being thrown out as the earth rotated at great speed. Aryabhata was followed by Bhaskara (AD 522) and Brahmagupta (AD 628) who rose to great heights by their brilliant innovations in mathematics and astronomy.

The Mauryan and Gupta empires consolidated political power in a major part of India. These were extremely powerful and stable empires under which the cultural life of India blossomed. Its fragrance reached far and wide. These were periods of unsurpassed growth in literature, art, science and religion. The creative mind of India exploded, dazzling the world.

The six centuries before the birth of Christ stand out as a shining beacon in the history of ancient India as this period saw the emergence of Buddhism and Jainism, the two religions that churned up the Indian mind in an unprecedented way. Buddha, in fact, rescued the Indian mind from the morass of empty Brahminical ritualism into which it had sunk. Buddhism created a new spiritual outlook, a new culture, and an egalitarian social order. It rationalized the thought process and laid emphasis on logic and reason in the understanding of man, his life and the mysteries of human existence.