Colonial Era

By the end of the 18th century the postal system in the region had reached high levels of efficiency. According to Thomas Broughton, the Maharaja of Jodhpur sent daily offerings of fresh flowers from his capital to Nathadvara (320 km) and they arrived in time for the first religious Darshan at sunrise. Later this system underwent modernization with the establishment of the British Raj. The Post Office Act XVII of 1837 enabled the Governor-General of India to convey messages by post within the territories of the East India Company. Mail was available to some officials without charge, which became a controversial privilege as the years passed. The Indian Post Office service was established on October 1, 1837.

Late Middle Ages 3rd slide

By the 16th century, Indians were manufacturing a diverse variety of firearms; large guns in particular, became visible in Tanjore, Dacca, Bijapur and Murshidabad. Guns made of bronze were recovered from Calicut (1504) and Diu (1533).Gujarāt supplied Europe saltpeter for use in gunpowder warfare during the 17th century. Bengal and Mālwa participated in saltpeter production. The Dutch, French, Portuguese, and English used Chāpra as a center of saltpeter refining.

Late Middle Ages 2nd slide

In A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder, James Riddick Partington describes Indian rockets, mines and other means of gunpowder warfare:

The Indian war rockets were formidable weapons before such rockets were used in Europe. They had bam-boo rods, a rocket-body lashed to the rod, and iron points. They were directed at the target and fired by lighting the fuse, but the trajectory was rather erratic. The use of mines and counter-mines with explosive charges of gunpowder is mentioned for the times of Akbar and Jahāngir.

Late Middle Ages 1st slide

The infinite series for π was stated by Madhava of Sangamagrama (c. 1340-1425) and his Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. He made use of the series expansion of arctanx to obtain an infinite series expression, now known as the Madhava-Gregory series, for π. Their rational approximation of the error for the finite sum of their series are of particular interest. They manipulated the error term to derive a faster converging series for π. They used the improved series to derive a rational expression, 104348 / 33215 for π correct up to nine decimal places, i.e. 3.141592653

Prehistory 5th slide

Based on archaeological and textual evidence, Joseph E. Schwartzberg (2008)—a University of Minnesota professor emeritus of geography—traces the origins of Indian cartography to the Indus Valley Civilization (ca. 2500–1900 BCE). The use of large scale constructional plans, cosmological drawings, and cartographic material was known in India with some regularity since the Vedic period (1 millennium BCE).

Prehistory 4th slide

Excavations at Balakot (c. 2500-1900 BC), present day Pakistan, have yielded evidence of an early furnace.The furnace was most likely used for the manufacturing of ceramic objects.Ovens, dating back to the civilization's mature phase (c. 2500-1900 BC), were also excavated at Balakot.

Prehistory 3rd slide

The world's first dock at Lothal (2400 BCE) was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt. Modern oceanographers have observed that the Harappans must have possessed knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever-shifting course of the Sabarmati, as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering. This was the earliest known dock found in the world, equipped to berth and service ships.

Prehistory 2nd slide

By 2800 BCE private bathrooms, located on the ground floor, were found in many houses of the Indus civilization.Pottery pipes in walls allowed drainage of water and there was, in some case, provision of a crib for sitting in toilets.'Western-style' toilets were also made from bricks and used wooden toilet seats on top. The waste was then transmitted to drainage systems. Large scale sanitary sewer systems were in place by 2700 BCE.The drains were 7–10 feet wide and 2 feet below ground level. The sewage was then led into cesspools, built at the intersection of two drains, which had stairs leading to them for periodic cleaning. Plumbing using earthenware plumbing pipes with broad flanges for easy joining with asphalt to stop leaks was in place by 2700 BCE.

Prehistory 1st slide

Irrigation was developed in the Indus Valley Civilization by around 4500 BCE.The size and prosperity of the Indus civilization grew as a result of this innovation, which eventually led to more planned settlements making use of drainage and sewers. Sophisticated irrigation and water storage systems were developed by the Indus Valley Civilization, including artificial reservoirs at Girnar