Vedic Mathematics or Vedic Nonsense ?

Lets multiply 98 by 76. Under prevalent system, you will do something like this:

First, 98 * 6 = 588.

Second, 98 * 70 = 6860 (Actually, 98 * 7 = 686, then just put 0 at the end)

Finally, 588 + 6860 = 7448

21st Dec, 2012 : The day before forever

So the world is going to end on 21st Dec, 2012. If not “end”, at least something cataclysmic is going to happen, and it will change the whole world. What that cataclysmic event could possibly be, is of course, open to imagination, and every ripe brain out there, has gleefully jumped on the bandwagon. There are books to be sold and money to made.

Lets first understand, what this brouhaha is all about.

21st December, 2012 is the date, when one of the Mayan calendars is coming to an end. The Mayans believed, that, prior to the current world, that they lived in – or we still live in – there existed, 4 preceding worlds, which were destroyed by some mythological cataclysmic events. The current world would, likewise come to an end, when the current cycle comes to an end and a new world would come into existence with the start of a whole new cycle. This cycle is the Long Calendar (also called Long Count), and it comes to an end, i.e. completes its cycle on 21st Dec, 2012.

Lets dive in, shall we.

Evidence of nuclear explosion in ancient India ?

Time and again, I have been pestered with this link, as a definite proof of some nuclear explosion in ancient India. Well, as dumb as it may sound, some people actually believe this kind of mindless story, without even batting an eyelid (Not that batting an eyelid is necessary in the process of believing).

The crux of the matter is that, some people are claiming that the Indians, during the time of the Indus Valley Civilization (3000-1500 BCE), had nuclear weapons, and proof of the fact is in the radioactive skeletal remains at Mohenjo-Daro itself. Apparently, a reference to an incidence in The Mahabharata, an ancient Indian text, looks too similar to be anything else, other than a nuclear explosion. Since it is impossible to imagine such events with such vividness, it thus automatically transpires that the narration was nothing but an eyewitness account of a nuclear explosion.

Apparently some other tangible proofs of ancient nuclear India exist too. Remains at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa are, we are given to believe, highly radioactive. Radioactivity, of such high proportion, as has been allegedly recorded at the archeological sites, can’t come into existence right out of the blue. Coupled with the fact that these two civilizations came to an abrupt end, which in it self is a mystery, the nuclear explosion, apparently, fits quite snuggly.

Lets examine, if there is any evidence to the above conclusions.