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Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

bbc.com

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Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#251

Post by agileAlligator »

random314 wrote: post #198
fwlr wrote: post #114

I remember being taught in school about the important Muslim contributions to science, philosophy, and mathematics. It has been interesting to learn over time that much of this was inherited from Indian scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians (and it has been disquieting to learn what “inherited” is a euphemism for).

> It has been interesting to learn over time that much of this was inherited from Indian scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians (and it has been disquieting to learn what “inherited” is a euphemism for). This is a fairly standard line in the Indian middle class. However, apart from the decimal system none of the Arabic contributions are of Indian origin, and I am not aware of any philosophical ideas being borro…

> Which of these (apart from non fractional decimal systems) are if Indian origin?

There is in fact a wikipedia article on the subject https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_influence_on_Islamic_sc...

I am sure that the references there will provide a jumping off point to learn more

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#252

Post by sudhirc »

braindead_in wrote: post #244
sudhirc wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buddhism is not that different from Hinduism. Both coexisted and debated with each other for centuries until islamic invasions started. Buddhism being a pacifist sect fell first.

This topic came up in the Sam Harris and Sw Sarvapriyananda podcast recently. Sam mentioned: while the Hindus and Buddhists kept debating, the Muslims won.

India is still a Hindu nation so Hindus have suffered but they are still standing. Hindu mashal spirit never surrendered to the invasion otherwise like persia India would also completely vanished.Muslims invaded Sindh in 711 AD. For next 500 years they struggled to move past sindh and never conquered India until Turko Mughal succeeded in 12th century. Even when they ruled they faced continue challenge from the Hindu. For example when Aurangzeb tried imposing zaziya tax on Hindus, shivaji dared him to collect it from Mewar.

Hindus men performed saka (fighting to the last man) and women performed jauhar by burning themselves alive in the fire.

Buddhism on the otherhand suffered due to being non violent and practically vanished.

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#253

Post by bg117 »

It's weird when people talk about Islamic contribution when the fact is that Islamic invaders burnt Nalanda university. It was the beginning of dark ages for India. Not the only institution to be destroyed. It was accompanied by ethnic cleansing by invaders that sent the whole education system into an abyss.

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#254

Post by amriksohata »

fwlr wrote: post #114

I remember being taught in school about the important Muslim contributions to science, philosophy, and mathematics. It has been interesting to learn over time that much of this was inherited from Indian scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians (and it has been disquieting to learn what “inherited” is a euphemism for).

indeed hindu sages invented the zero and numerical system, sanskrit etc, that became hindi, then somehow the muslims and christians started calling it hindi-arabic numbers when the script itself is much older and founded by hindus

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#255

Post by finfrastrcuture »

sudhirc wrote: post #226
random314 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buddhism is very distinct from Hinduism. In particular, there aren't multiple deities to worship and there is no caste system. Buddhism, the dominant religion of India circa 400AD (as per Chinese travellers), was already under attack from Brahmins who made it a key strategy to get royal patronage, set up the religious rules for society which heavily favored themselves and also focused on acting as confidantes to king…

>there aren't multiple deities to worship and there is no caste system. There are multiple deities [0] and Buddha didn't oppose caste system. He advocated it on deed and not birth which is not very diffrent from Hindu views of caste. Could you point to some instance from ancient Indians history when discrimination was made on the basis of caste, color, or gender? The Buddha:– "Not by birth is one an outcast; not by b…

As a counterview, my interpretation is that Buddah is not advocating for a literal caste system, rather, that one's proactive choices shape their spiritual progression.

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#256

Post by rg111 »

peterfirefly wrote: post #236
rg111 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what the author is calling book maybe a manuscript? I think they are counting even five written pages as a unique book? So maybe essays are also being counted as books.

It is still an unrealistically high number. I think it is just as exaggerated as the "knowledge" of "medicine" and "mathematics" that was taught at what was just a crazy indoctrination center for a particular brand of old-fashioned superstition.

Not really.

Medicine in those times was quite standardized and effective.

There was not scientific method involved.

And the philosophy and mathematics was quite advanced.

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#257

Post by ugh123 »

quackduck wrote: post #133
msla wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bare with me here: Most people would pay money to ensure I don't. > Instead, we have to sift through irrelevant story-like content to get to the meat of the information and facts. Because journalists are frustrated novelists, and editors think the "human interest" angle sells.

> editors think the "human interest" angle sells. does it not?

When "human interest" means "keep scrolling to find the content while you look over our ads" then that angle gets less and less meaningful.

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#258

Post by selimthegrim »

rramadass wrote: post #218
random314 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is fairly standard in Indian right wing media to be dismissive of anything positive of Islamic origin, by constructing a short alternative history as per the writers imagination. So any post Islamic Arab contributions to math would have to be stolen from India, using bloodshed - as if math is a treasure that can be lifted or looted or were existing amongst Arabs before Islam.

Nobody is talking about "right wing media" etc other than you. What is being pointed out is the achievements of civilizations predating Islam in those countries which are today Islamic. It is simple factual History.

Very well, so what is wrong about mentioning Al Biruni or Ulugh Beg or Zij-i-Sultani as well?

Re: Nalanda University flourished for more than seven centuries

#259

Post by u801e »

agileAlligator wrote: post #250
u801e wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Partition [between would never have been so hotly contested if this was indeed the case. > Buddhism and Hinduism have coexisted in relative peace (with a few exceptions) for millennia. No such thing would have happened. They weren't forced exist under a single political entity where one group was a substantial majority of the total. The civil war in Sri Lanka[1] is the result of trying to do so. The actions[2][3] o…

> They weren't forced exist under a single political entity where one group was a substantial majority of the total. See: The Mauryan Empire, various Khmer kings. The Kings were previously Hindu, converted to Buddhism with no conflicts arising from this change. There was no iconoclasm, no discrimination against Hindus, no mass genocide. > [1] See the main article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_Sri_Lank…

> Stop trying to manufacture a conflict between Buddhism and Hinduism where none exists.

The point I'm trying to make is that these conflicts are caused by trying to place people of different ethnicities, religions, traditions, etc under the same political entity when they did not consent to it. It has nothing to do with particular religions. I've posted examples of various artificial partitions in previous comments that had nothing to do with religion, yet those borders still exist today. For example, the Durand Line dividing Pakistan and Afghanistan. That has nothing to do with religion, yet the line still exists because of the British. Many of the country borders in the Middle East were decided based on negotiations between France and the UK.

Religion is one of the reasons behind the divisions, but you seem to be focused on that reason to the exclusion of all others. Just like you're overly focused on the partition of Pakistan and India to the exclusion of all other examples that have been presented.

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