Achievements
Literature and Performing Arts
- One of India's greatest writers was Kalidasa
- He had been the court poet for Chandra Gupta II and his most famous play is Shakuntala, it was a story of a beautiful girl who falls in love with and marries a middle-aged king
- Generations of people continue to admire his plays since they are emotionally stirring and they are skillfully written
- Southern India has a rich literary tradition
- The city of Madurai became a site of writing academics in the second century A.D.
- Drama was popular as well
- Traveling troupes of actors put on performances across the empire, woman and men took part in the shows, the shows were a combination of drama and dance
Astronomy, Mathematics, and Medicine
- As trade expanded it started the advance of science
- Sailors on trading ships used stars to figure their position while at sea knowledge of astronomy increased
- India adapted a calendar that was based on the cycles of the sun instead of cycles of the moon, Western methods for keeping time, a seven day week, and divided each day into hours
- Indian astronomers proved that the earth was round by observing a lunar eclipse
- Mathematics in India were the most advanced in the world
- Modern decimal system, the zero, and numerals were invented in India
- Around 500 A.D. Aryabhata calculated the value of pi to four decimal places and the length of a solar year
- In medicine two important medical guides were compiled, they described more than 1,000 diseases and 500 medical plants
- Hindu physicians preformed surgery (even plastic) and gave injections