Great Indians of Ancient India! - PART (1)

India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world and it has produced numerous great scholars whose contribution in shaping to the cause of humanitarian is still unmatchable. Let’s have a look on few of them and enrich ourselves about their work.

 

Kalidasa

Kalidasa (flourished 5th century, India), Sanskrit poet and dramatist, probably the greatest Indian writer of any epoch. The six works identified as genuine are the dramas Abhijnanashakuntala (“The Recognition of Shakuntala”), Vikramorvashi (“Urvashi Won by Valour”), and Malavikagnimitra (“Malavika and Agnimitra”); the epic poems Raghuvamsha (“Dynasty of Raghu”) and Kumarasambhava (“Birth of the War God”); and the lyric “Meghaduta” (“Cloud Messenger”).

It is also noteworthy that his thought on Meghaduta is today developing as Cloud technology.

 

Kabir

Kabir was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose poems and verses (Doha’s) have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement. He was born in 1440 A.D. The probable date of his death is 1519 A.D.. Kabir died at Maghar near Gorakhpur. He was never formally educated and was almost completely illiterate. The beauty of Kabir’s poetry is that he picks up situations that surround our daily lives. Thus, even today, Kabir's poetry is relevant and helpful in both social and spiritual context. Few of his doha's are as follows:-

Jab Tun Aaya Jagat Mein, Log Hanse Tu Roye
Aise Karni Na Kari, Pache Hanse Sab Koye
 Translation
When you came in to this world , Everyone laughed while you cried
Don't do such work, That they laugh when you are gone
.........................x............x......................
Bada Hua To Kya Hua, Jaise Ped Khajoor
Panthi Ko Chaya Nahin, Phal Laage Atidoor
 Translation
If You are Big so what? Just like a date tree
No shade for travelers, fruit is hard to reach

 

Gautam Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama, who would one day become known as Buddha ("enlightened one" or "the awakened"), lived in Northern India during the 6th to 4th century B.C. The Buddha is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in world history, and his teachings have affected everything from a variety of other faiths (as many find their origins in the words of the Buddha) to literature to philosophy, both within India and to the farthest reaches of the Western world. Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism

 

Chanakya

Chanakya (c. 370–283 BCE) was an Indian teacher, political strategist, philosopher and royal advisor. He is also considered to be the world's first and ultimate economist. He is even referred to be the "Father of Economics." By writing "Arthashastra" and "Nitishastra", Chanakya has become a never ending phenomenon. He has truly guided the generations with his wisdom. His couple of famous saying 2300 years ago are as follows:-

Unjustly earned money stays only for ten years. In the eleventh year, it disappears along with the Principal.

The biggest guru mantra is : never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.

There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without any self-interest. This is a bitter truth

 

Aryabhata

Aryabhata (476–550 CE) was the first in the line of great mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His mathematical part of the Aryabhatiya covers arithmetic, algebra, plane trigonometry and spherical trigonometry. He also worked on the approximation for pi. His greatest contribution to mathematics was ZERO. He already knew that the earth spins on its axis, the earth moves round the sun and the moon rotates round the earth. He talks about the position of the planets in relation to its movement around the sun.  He refers to the light of the planets and the moon as reflection from the sun. Aryabhata gives the radius of the planetary orbits in terms of the radius of the Earth/Sun orbit as essentially their periods of rotation around the Sun

For the readers:-

Part 2 will be coming soon , If you know any great personality of Ancient India please take a minute to write in comment section.

Thank You!

Satender Kumar Mall

Twitter: satenderiiit