good quotations about india

Discussion in 'The ChitChat Lounge' started by jamhead, Dec 20, 2005.

  1. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend

    It is impossible not to be astonished by India. Nowhere on Earth does humanity present itself in such a dizzying, creative burst of cultures and religions, races and tongues. Enriched by successive waves of migration and marauders from distant lands, every one of them left an indelible imprint which was absorbed into the Indian way of life. Every aspect of the country presents itself on a massive, exaggerated scale, worthy in comparison only to the superlative mountains that overshadow it. It is this variety which provides a breathtaking ensemble for experiences that is uniquely Indian. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than to be indifferent to India would be to describe or understand India completely. There are perhaps very few nations in the world with the enormous variety that India has to offer. Modern day India represents the largest democracy in the world with a seamless picture of unity in diversity unparalleled anywhere else.

    ~ A Rough Guide to India
     
  2. the_wizard

    the_wizard Omega == God

    "India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!" --Mark Twain
     
  3. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend

    Dawn on the Arabian Desert has been described as waking in the heart of an opal; the snow-capped volcanoes and glaciers breaking off into Resurrection Bay on the Alaskan coast are among the most awe-inspiring works of Nature; and for dramatic suddenness the terrific Grand Canyon of the Colorado is unsurpassed on earth; but the high Himalayas stand alone, above all the wonders of the world, above all the things of beauty and terror on this planet.


    - From "India Land of the Black Pagoda" by Lowell Thomas 1930
     
  4. the_wizard

    the_wizard Omega == God

    "We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made." - Albert Einstein
     
  5. alpha1

    alpha1 I BLUES!

    India's contribution to the World:


    ZERO
     
  6. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend


    its far, far more than that... so much so that the 0 would come in real handy while trying to assign a number to it.
     
  7. shak

    shak Harrr!

    yes the digit 0 zero is really a huge contribution of india to the world ... without that .. just imagine where we would be today ..
    i remember once i said that in public .. exactly like aplha 1 .. and i got told off .. the narrow buggers didnt realize i was talking of digit zero .. so i thought i would clear that up here .. so the ones who read aplha1's post dont go brandishing fists at him . (the indian style)
     
  8. shsnawada

    shsnawada Cyborgs & Pasta

    Didnt india contribute the other digits as well? Its funny how people could say that the arabs "stole" it....
     
  9. shak

    shak Harrr!

    aah come on now!! u still caught in the dilemma of who stole what? i will be goin very very off topic if i go in detail ... but the decimal system was founded by the harrapan civilization (not exactly india .. they just happened to be there in south asia along the fertile rivers) .. the algebra as described in vedic mathematics is just the continuation of egyptian and babylonian ideas .. the zero was discovered but again . it wasnt really india .. they did do some work in negative numbers though ..
    so no one stole anything .. arabs dont come into view as scholars and great mathematicians .. untile after 700 A.D .. (correct me if i am wrong) and this the time when rome/egypt/greek civilisations had already made great progress in mathematics and other fields .. after them .. arabs took over and gave the world one of the most notable contributions in the field of mathematics, optics, astrology, gegraphy, medicine, surgery, botany, biology and chemistry ...
     
  10. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend


    well you asked to be corrected in case you were wrong - and were you wrong !??!

    here are your mistakes -


    the decimal system was not found during the harrappan civilization.

    the swaraswati valley civilzation - as the harrappan civilization should be called - was 100% indian. the aryan invasion never ever happened.
    https://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/books/ait/index.htm


    the algebra described in the babylonian math is a continuation of vedic math.
    reference - https://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/articles/aid/astronomy.html in section 3.3

    the zero/or positional counting, was indeed discovered by another people who werent really indian - the mayans of south america.

    the arabs should not "come into view" as scholars - they should get their due for being the good translators (of sanskrit books) they were. actually the translation was done by the persians, who speak the sister language of sanskrit - farsi - and are as related to arabs as greeks are to mongolians.

    egypt never really made any progress in math !!

    and the pythagoras theorem attributed to greeks is actually buddhayana's theorem. refer section 3.3 of previous link.

    the arabs gave the world none of the fantasy you weaved out. they did make a good job os plagiarising indian knowledge an passing it off as their own - as also passing off greek knowledge as their own here in india (ie. the unani medical system that they speak of is totally of greek construct). btw you forgot to add quantum mechanics to your fantasy list of camel jockey creations.


    and this should put the record straight -
    https://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Projects/Pearce/index.html





    and finally, ome request to everyone - last time i started a thread which gave a blow by blow acount of india's recent growth - and then it got derailed with un-necessary allusions to israel, victoria's secret panties and what not.

    i'll request everyone to refrain from posting anything that will shift this thread from what its handle says. this one concerns quotations about india.

    if you want to discuss israel or arabs - then start another thread.
     
  11. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend

    "Before Indian art, as before every phase of Indian civilization, we stand in humble wonder at its age and its continuity. From the time of Mohenjodaro to the present, through the vicissitudes of five thousand years, India has been creating its peculiar type of beauty in a hundred arts. The record is broken and incomplete, not because India ever rested, but because war and the idol-smashing ecstasies of Moslems destroyed uncounted masterpieces of building and statuary, and poverty neglected the preservation of others. Probably no other nation known to us has ever had so exuberant a variety of arts."


    - Will Durant (1885-1981),
    American historian in a glowing tribute to Indian Art
     
  12. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend

    There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds. It was as if all my life I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor.

    ~~~ Keith Bellows (Vice-President, National Geographic Society)
     
  13. I think we are all in agreement in what a magnificent contribution India has made in the history of mankind.

    But lets not get into arguments over who came first.

    It is far better to accept many civilisations have created ideas and many other who developed them further.

    Get rid of your nationalistic notions which are akin to supremism and think of the human race as one.

    Is this sticking to the subject or am i digressing?
     
  14. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend

    digressing.
     
  15. shak

    shak Harrr!

    @jamhead: LOL!! the ultimate stash of prejudiced and biased views .. the great elst! :p i am not havin that sorry ..
     
  16. Hey Shahrukh

    You ever watch the character in 'Goodness gracious me'.
    Who answers to everything with INDIA.

    Guess who?
     
  17. shak

    shak Harrr!

    no idea sir .. but as a blind guess i would say sanjeev bhuskar?
     
  18. jamhead

    jamhead Unknown Legend

    why do you keep ruining our threads??
     
  19. shak

    shak Harrr!

    i am sorry .. please carry on with "your" thread ..
     
  20. sixstringsin

    sixstringsin ||||||

    "I have a great deal of respect for Indian music. I am aware how complex ragas are, and how specific the rhythm is."
    "I have become addicted to India"

    -STING
     

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