Start this weekend reading about “Maccha Yantra” – which might have been the precursor to the mariner’s compass of today…
Next, read former Governor of J&K, Jagmohan’s account of  his trek to Amarnath…
…and finally, ponder over Chandan Mitra’s provocative piece on the purpose of history
Excerpts from all the three articles below, as always.

Stumbled across this remarkable fact recently:
The first report of the use of ‘phototherapy’ in the treatment of skin disorders dates from 1400 BC from India…
A liitle bit of digging led me to the following references:
Historical aspects
The first report of the use of ‘phototherapy’ in the treatment of skin disorders dates from 1400 BC from India when patients with vitiligo were given certain plant extracts (whose active ingredients included psoralens) and then exposed to the sun.[1] Fitzpatrick TB, Pathak MA. Historical aspects of methoxsalen and other furocoumarins. J Invest Dermatol 1959;31:229-31 …

Many of you must have read a report in The Hindu from a few weeks ago by unnamed “Eminent Historians” titled, “From ‘India Shining’ to ‘India was Shining’“. The report (dt. 3rd May) appeared to be an amateurish attempt at trashing some of the claims made in the BJP’s manifesto regarding India’s past and heritage.
It had excerpts from the BJP’s manifesto and brief counter-points dismissing the claims and assertions. Curiously – in spite of being authored by “Eminent Historians” – it was surprisingly light on references and historical sources.
Dr. …

I have moved the last few comments on the discussion on Islam, Hindutva, Dr Zakir Naik, Godhra post here to prevent comment overload.
Please continue discussing your thoughts on this thread.
The extract below picks up from the last few comments.
*** Comments Begin ***
*** Comment by Naved

There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad (pbuh) is the Messenger of Allah.
A Muslim believes in the existence of that which is beyond human perception. A Muslim believes in Allah and His attributes. A Muslim believes in the angels, the scriptures, and the Prophets. …

Lord Curzon, the late Viceroy of India, in an address delivered at the Delhi Durbar in 1901:
Powerful Empires existed and flourished here [in India] while Englishmen were still wandering painted in the woods, and while the British Colonies were a wilderness and a jungle.
India has left a deeper mark upon the history, the philosophy, and the religion of mankind, than any other terrestrial unit in the universe. [ link ]
Related Posts:
The Myth of a Benevolent “Raj” 
India in the 1820s
Loot – in search of East India Co. (excerpts) 
Clearing the dust off …

Thanks to a comment left on this blog, I was alerted to this website maintained by Brian Champness and dedicated to the memory of one of the greatest scientists that India has produced in modern times – Sir J C Bose.
I have written about Acharya Bose before…but he deserves far more attention than one single post…and I was very glad when I came across Brian’s site in which he explores aspects of consciousness and feelings in plants – a subject first studied by Sir Bose and now coming inder increasing interest from …

Many of you may�have�come across this information about “Ancient Indian Scientists” before. I received it in a chain email but I shall be most grateful if any reader(s) have links or references to the original source(s).�
There are many assertions and statements here�that have not been verified or explained (see e.g. the entry on Acharya Bharadwaj who is credited with advances in aviation technology*). We need to source and evidence�these it to make it more credible.
Some excerpts below (statements on which I need help are marked in italics):
***
ARYABHATT (476 CE), …

I recently stumbled on this news-item about the development of a new type of corrosion-resistant iron by Prof Balasubramaniam and one of his colleagues at IIT, Kanpur (emphasis mine):
…Indian metallurgists have developed a type of corrosion-resistant iron that construction engineers would love. And vital clues for it came for Delhi’s famous Iron Pillar that has been standing tall for over 1,600 years.
Developed by Ramamurthy Balasubramaniam and his former student Gadadhar Sahoo of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, the iron contains phosphorus and shows remarkable resistance to corrosion, …

Came across an ad for this device in a recent edition of Newsweek.
Excerpts from the ad (emphasis mine):
“…Now you can enjoy the pleasures of stress-free living and feel younger in just 15 minutes a day. It’s suprisingly easy with the remarkable new medical device called the StressEraser.
This medical breakthrough actually reverses ergotropic tuning. The harmful process that causes your nerves to respond faster and more strongly to stress….
Medical researchers now know that the harmful effects of ergotropic training are intricately connected to the biological mechanisms of breathing.
More importantly, they …

I recently stumbled across this article �Time Travel Machine Outlined��which provides food for thought for those who deride the stories in the puranas about “Vimanas” as mere myths.
The report talks about recent research at Haifa�s Israel Instt. of Technology that �could possibly enable distant future generations to travel into the past�
The hypothesis is – if space-time is bent far enough, so that time lines actually turn back on themselves to form a loop, such a manipulation could essentially get objects/people �back in time�.
Physicist Amos Ori whose findings are detailed in …

Some of you may have read an article I wrote more than two years ago, titled: “Does no one remember the Hindu contribution to Mathematics?”
I stumbled across a related piece recently: “Indians predated Newton ‘discovery’ by 250 years”
Dr George Joseph at the University of Manchester suggests in his latest research that the “Kerala school” identified the ‘infinite series’- one of the basic components of calculus – in about 1350 – hundreds of years before Newton.
His team also revealed that the Kerala School “discovered what amounted to the Pi series …

Came across this amazing story�in a recent issue of the technology magazine Red Herring: “Copper Cure-all?”.
It lists some amazing medicinal properties of Copper (”Taamba” in Hindi or “Tamra” in Sanskrit) which should not surprise most people of my generation who were taught as children that drinking water from copper vessels (and wearing it next to your skin) has beneficial effects.
Another example of ancient “wisdom” being proven right by modern “science”?
No doubt some of you�will notice that there is no mention of use of copper in India in the opening paragraph.
Excerpts:
“Could …

Whenever I read about the great �Arabic� contribution to Mathematics and Science (often in an apologetic tone of �how could these great people come to such a pass?�) the thing that really upsets me is the complete omission of any reference to the Hindu contribution to mathematics and numbers.
Slightly more than a year ago (Aug �04), in an article in the Sunday Times, Michael Portillo, eminent Conservative party leader in the UK and a one-time aspirant to the leadership of the Tory Party, wrote that, �Islam brought back to the …