India is the planet's largest, oldest and -- if you exclude the 19th and 20th centuries -- wealthiest civilization. The influence of ancient Indian history on the modern world is due to the many manifestations of Indian genius and the fact that the language people used was so logical that it nourished critical thinking on the fundamental unity underlying mankind's diversity.
Up to the 17th century, the wealth in India was more than twice that of the rest of the world combined. So many of the foundations of modern society -- science, medicine, mathematics, metaphysics, religion and astronomy -- originated in India. We can call India the cradle of human civilization, the birthplace of speech, the mother of history and numerous languages, the grandmother of legends and traditions.
