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Apart from the famous Takshasila and Nalanda Universities, there were many more such places where vedic sciences and research were done by students from various neighbouring countries. Education has always been given great prominence in Indian society since the times of the vedic civilization, with gurukul and ashrams being the centers of learning. Most ancient gurukul known in history of India was Dronacharya’s gurukul (5200 years old), which later became guru-gaon (guru’s village) and went on to become modern day’s Gurgaon, near Delhi. Takshasila University in present day Pakistan Taxila as it is called today in Pakistan, Takshasila University established around 3700 years ago (around 1700 BC) was home to over 10500 students where the students from all across the world used to come to attain specialization in over 64 different fields of study like vedas, grammar, philosophy, ayurveda, agriculture, surgery, politics, archery, warfare, astronomy, commerce, futurology, music, d

CT Scan of a 1000 year old Buddha Statue from China Reveals Mummified Monk Hidden Inside. These unusual contents of the statue were discovered in the 1990s when the statue underwent restoration. Experts were unable to remove the mummy due to the risk of disintegration, so they could do little more than peer into the darkened cavity of the Buddha. The mummy was found sitting on a bundle of cloth covered in Chinese inscriptions, revealing its identity as a Buddhist monk called Liuquan who may have practiced “ self-mummification ” to prepare for life after death. The process of self-mummification is a known tradition in countries like Japan, China and Thailand, and was practiced over a thousand years ago. The elaborate and arduous process includes eating a special diet and drinking a poisonous tea so the body would be too toxic to be eaten by maggots. Few monks who were able to successfully complete the process were highly revered. The monk, who is sitting in the lotus positio

Many Temples, even in South India were plundered, looted and idols destroyed when Islamic invasion happened. But few temples like Tirumala, Srisailam managed to survive through that period. Srisailam was not easily accessible in those days because it was being in between hills and thick forest, and also it did not have much wealth to loot. Also, it came under rule of Maratha kingdom, when Chatrapati Shivaji was ruling. Tirumala temple was accessible through steps from Tirupati from both sides. Initially Islamic invaders did not bother to take steps and loot Tirumala temple as there were many temples in Tirupati town and around, which were easily accessible. But, Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah of Golkonda sent his army to invade Tirupati in late 17th century CE. His army, under leadership of commander-in-chief, Ali, managed to destroy few idols and temples in tirupati. Venkatachala Vihara Satakamu , a telugu poem written around that time (1665–1668 CE), by an unknown poet, describes th

In Ancient India, 12 types of children were considered to be legal heir of his father. All of them need not be biological children of their legal father. Manu Smriti and other dharma sastras describe 12 different ways a child can become legal heir of someone. When a husband dies childless or is husband is either incapable of fatherhood, wife can opt for a method called ‘ Niyoga ‘. She can request for appointment of a person for helping her bear a child. The man who was appointed must be or would most likely be a revered person. There were various clauses associated with this process, as follows: 1. The woman would agree to this only for the sake of rightfully having a child and not for pleasure. 2. The child, thus born would be considered the child of the husband-wife and not that of the appointed man. 3. The appointed man would not seek any paternal relationship or attachment to this child in the future. 4. To avoid misuse, a man was allowed a maximum of three times in his lifet

Gyanvapi mosque is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb after he demolished the original Kashi Vishwanath temple at the site. One can clearly notice the old hindu temple wall mixed into mosque. There is a small well in the temple called the Jnana Vapi also spelled as Gyaan vapi (the wisdom well). The Jnana Vapi well sites to the north of the main temple and it is believed that the Jyotirlinga was hidden in the well to protect it at the time of invasion. It is said that the main priest of the temple jumped in the well with the Siva Linga in order to protect it from invaders. This mosque was built by Aurangzeb in 1669 CE, after destroying the Kasi Viswanath temple located on the site. The mosque is named after Gyanvapi (“ the well of knowledge “), which is situated between the temple and the mosque. Kasi Viswanath temple existed since many thousands of years and has been reconstructed every few hundreds of years. The temple str

Taj Mahal is a white marble structure located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is believed to be built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, but there are multiple proofs to prove it wrong ! Taj Mahal is a corrupt form of the sanskrit term Tejo-Mahalay signifying a Siva Temple. Agreshwar Mahadev i.e., The Lord of Agra was consecrated in it. The tradition of removing the shoes before climbing the marble platform originates from pre Shahjahan times when the Taj was a Siva Temple. Had the Taj originated as a tomb, shoes need not have to be removed because shoes are a necessity in a cemetery. The term Tajmahal itself never occurs in any mogul court paper or chronicle even in Aurangzeb’s time. The attempt to explain it away as Taj-i-mahal is ridiculous. The ending “ Mahal ” is used for hindu palaces and is never muslim because in none of the muslim countries around the world from Afghanistan to Algeria is there a building known as “ Mahal “. The unu

Qutub Minar in Delhi was actually Dhruv Sthambh or Vishnu Dhwaj that existed even before the times of Prithviraj Chauhan and had arabic scripts and motifs retro-installed by Qutb-ud-din Aibak between 1191 – 1210 AD, followed by his successors Iltutmish, Alauddin etc till 1315 AD. If we look at Qutub Minar from top angle, it shows a lotus of 24 petals. Lotus is definitely not islamic symbol, but it is ancient vedic symbol and the creator Brahma is said to have been born from a lotus that emerged from Lord Vishnu’s navel. There is a township adjoining the Kutub Minar is known as Mehrauli. That is a Sanskrit word Mihira-awali . It signifies the town- ship where the well known astronomer Varaha-Mihira of Vikramaditya’s court lived along with his helpers, mathematicians and technicians. They used the so-called Qutub tower as an observation post for astronomical study. Around the tower were pavilions dedicated to the 27 constellations of the Vedic Astrology. Even the dome of this tower

Indian History in text books was written mostly by people who were not patriots. There are many dynasties who ruled for centuries, but few invaders who ruled for lesser years got more coverage. Many warriors, especially females were neglected and never included in history. One such is Nayaki Devi, the queen of Gujarat. She defeated Muhammad of Ghori 14 years before he faced Prithviraj Chauhan. It is well known that Muhammad Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan at the 2nd Battle of Tarain in 1192 CE. However, he was defeated by Nayaki Devi, a Goa born, Queen of Gujarat. Nayaki Devi belonged to Chalukya Clan and was widow of Solanki King Ajaya Pala, who ruled for a short period of 4 years around 1170 CE. She was the daughter of the Kadamba ruler Mahamandalesvara Permadi of Goa and after the death of her husband, Nayaki Devi served as a Queen Regent as her son Mularaja II was just a child. Their capital was Anahilapataka (modern Patan in Gujarat). Gujarati court poet Someshwara, who se

Prithviraj Chauhan was a king from the Chahamana dynasty. He ruled Sapadalaksha, the traditional Chahamana territory, in present-day north-western India. He controlled much of the present-day Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi; and some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. His capital was located at Ajayameru (modern day Ajmer). Prithviraj was born to the Chahamana king Someshvara and queen Karpuradevi. Both Prithviraj and his younger brother Hariraja were born in Gujarat, where their father Someshvara was brought up at the Chalukya court by his maternal relatives. According to Prithviraja Vijaya , he was born on the 12th day of the Jyeshta month. This book does not mention the year of his birth, but provides some of the astrological planetary positions at the time of his birth, calling them auspicious. Based on these positions and assuming certain other planetary positions, the year of Prithviraj’s birth was calculated as 1166 CE (1223 Vikram Samvat). The same book states that h

1.Security:  The perfect example of Modi Government's inclination towards nation's security is the bold and timely move of conducting surgical strikes on terrorist camps in PoK in Sep 2016.These terrorist camps were responsible for the infiltration in country through Kashmir. Back in year 2015,surgical strikes were also carried out in forests of Myanmar where several terrorist camps were located and were a serious threat to country. Increasing the defence budget from 37.4 billion dollars in 2014 to 53.5 billion dollar lead to India's fifth position in investment in Defence Sector. 2.Cleanliness Drive:  The government has not just projected  Swatchh Bharat Abhiyaan  as done by previous government of inaugrating a project and abandoning it later, but is closely monitering the progress and has set a definite aim for cleanliness of the country by 2 Oct 2019. Government is also aiming to achieve an Open-Defecation Free India by 2019 by constructing 12 million toilets i