2000 years of Indian Economic History...in 20 tweets

This is your Read Of The Day

Dig in: 1. India's "Sone Ki Chidiya" Phase was real, and it lasted a thousand years

The details are staggering:

- 32% share in world GDP
- World's best universities
- Rome has to ban trade with India to stop gold outflow
- Buddhism changes the world
- Asia is Sanskritized

Read on.

The world has forgotten this, but Indus Valley Civilization invented:

• Advanced dentistry
• History's first bronze sculpture
• Shirt buttons!
• Shampoo
• Grid planned cities

This thread is an important reminder for the world—but above all, for Indians...

Let's dig in: 1. Teeth, the hardest structures in the human body, survive for thousands of years. This is why they're often found in archeological sites. Teeth found in the Indus Valley, carbon-dated to over 8,000 years old, show intricate drilling and clear signs of early advanced dentistry.

Here are 9 architectural masterpieces...

Built by Indians, destroyed by foreign invaders.

A thread:

1. Elephanta Caves, used for shooting practice by Portuguese soldiers in the 16th century... 1. These cave temples dedicated to Lord Shiva are among the most stunning examples of rock-cut sculptures anywhere in the world. Portuguese colonists used these caves for shooting practice, severely damaging priceless Hindu heritage. When you visit, you can see the bullet marks

In 1968, psychologist John B. Calhoun built a rat utopia:

- 0 predators
- 0 disease
- Infinite food

Then he sat back, expecting the rat population to explode.

Instead…they went extinct.

What happened? And is there a lesson for humanity here?

Let's find out. Thread: 1. In the 1940s, John B. Calhoun was hired to solve a rodent pest problem in Baltimore.

This project sparked off a lifetime of obsession with rats.

Calhoun conducted dozens of experiments with rats, the most famous of which was the "Universe 25" experiment of 1968...

THIS Nataraja statue is everywhere:

- CERN, Switzerland
- MET, New York
- British Museum, London

But did you know it wouldn't exist without one specific medieval empire?

Here's the story of an Indian empire that conquered the seas and created artistic masterpieces: 1. The Chola Empire has been unfairly ignored by Indian school textbooks. Famous actor R Madhavan recently talked about this:

"Mughals got eight chapters, Cholas get one...where's that part of our history?"

You'll be asking the same question by the end of this thread. Read on.

One of the holiest numbers in Hinduism?

108

Randomly chosen?

Or chosen for deep spiritual and scientific reasons? Let's find out!

Thread: 1. 108 is sacred in Hinduism:

- Lord Shiva has 108 names
- Sudarshana Chakra has 108 edges
- There are 108 Upanishads

But here's the twist: step outside sacred texts and you find 108 everywhere in nature...

These strange rocks in India?

Older than the dinosaurs. Older than the Himalayas. Older than all the continents...

And even TODAY they remain a geological mystery.

Thread: 1. The Himalayas were formed 50 million years ago. Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. The continents were created 200 million years ago when Pangaea, a single land mass, split up

But the Hampi rocks, located now in South India, are dated at over 3 billion years old...

Dharmic religious groups (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh) are perhaps the only groups to continue to practice cremations (besides other rituals) for departed souls. These are deeply sacred, and not subjects for media broadcasts. Report on the tragedy and hold govts to account, 1/4 but please don't make a media circus of this. Dharmic religions believe in reincarnation. Our rituals for our ancestors are to help their souls on their journey. This, we believe, is among our primary duties to our ancestors. Those doing it in Covid times are already 2/4