Ancient Indians Inventions & Discoveries

India Gifted To The World

Earth's orbit (700 AD)

Hindu cosmological time cycles found in the Surya Siddhanta, written between 700 BC to 600 AD, give the time it takes the Earth to revolve around the Sun at 365.2563627 days. This is just a miniscule 1.4 seconds longer than the modern value of 365.256363004 days, and was the most accurate estimate in the world for over a thousand years.

Ancient Dentistry (7000 BC)

According to historians, the Indus Valley Civilization has revealed evidence of dentistry being practiced as far back as 7000 BC. One dig site in Mehrgarh even showed evidence of healers curing tooth disorders with bow drills. 

Ayurveda (5000 BC)

Ayurveda, obviously, came from the Indian subcontinent, having been tracked as far back as 5000 BC. Therapies generally include complex herbal compounds, minerals and metal substances.

Ancient flush toilet systems (2500 BC)

Another feature of the Indus Valley Civilization was water-flushed toilets. Both in Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, almost every home had a flush toilet, connected to a sophisticated sewage system. 

Ruler (2400 BC)

Areas of the Indus Valley Civilization in both now-Pakistan and Western India have had rulers of ivory uncovered from ruins. One such specimen was even calibrated to 1/16 of an inch—less than 2 millimeters. Tese kinds of rulers were clearly very prominent, as even bricks of the valley’s buildings were found to follow the same measurements. 

Weighing scale (2400BC)

The earliest existence of weighing scales also date back to between 2400 BC-1800 BC in the Indus valley civilization, where balances were used to compare measure and compare goods in trade. 

Plastic surgery (2000 BC)

Historians believe plastic surgery was being carried out in India as early as near 2000 BC. To clarify, plastic in this phrase doesn’t refer to the petroleum byproduct but to plastikē or "the art of modelling" malleable flesh. Eventually, it was ancient Indian physician Sushruta who was credited with being the father of plastic surgery around 600 BC, whose books and teachings eventually made their way to Europe centuries later.

Pythagorean theorem (700 BC)

Mesopotamian, Indian and Chinese mathematicians all discovered Pythagoras’ namesake theorem independently long before he ever did. In India, the Baudhayana Sulba Sutra between about 800 BC to 500 BC contains a statement of the Pythagorean theorem as well as geometrical proof for an isosceles right triangle.

Crucible steel (200BC)

Historians now know that by at least 200 BC (a conservative estimate) South India was producing high quality steel, using a method Europeans would later call the crucible technique. Wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed together and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon, forming high grade steel.

Cataract surgery (200 AD)

Indian physicians were known to practice a different kind of cataract surgery that that known to the Greeks in about 200 BC. It was performed with a tool called the Jabamukhi Salaka, a curved needle used to loosen the lens and push the cataract out of the field of vision. Greek scientists of the time travelled to India to see these surgeries, and the technique was even introduced into China from our country.

Spinning wheel (500 AD)

This mechanised method of spinning yarn was invented in India, between 500 and 1000 AD, eventually replacing hand spinning across the world. The Charkha, as it came to be called, eventually went on to become the symbol of India’s independence movement.