Despite the government’s best efforts to present a fantastic image of how pristine and perfect ancient India was, factual history presents the truth. Get ready to be offended.

Vedic math is not really Vedic at all!

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The term 'Vedic Maths' became popular after a book by that name was published in 1965. It lays down word formulae (sutras) that are supposed to facilitate quick mental calculations. Written by Shankaracharya Bharti Krishna Tirthaji, the book's introduction states clearly that the work is the result of the author's study and interpretation of the Vedas. But the book has been popularized as a Vedic text. "The so-called 16 sutras which form the foundation of Vedic Math are nowhere to be found in the known corpus of Vedic texts," says Madhav Deshpande, Sanskrit expert and professor at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Nowhere in the book, is there any reference to the actual Atharva Veda text that inspired Tirathji's sutras, points out Amba Kulkarni, head of the Sanskrit department in Hyderabad University. Kulkarni, who is working on the use of Sanskrit in modern computational systems, says the work neglects the other contributions made by ancient Indian mathematicians.

Kissing IS very much a part of Indian culture

There's a lunatic fringe which fumes at even the mention of a kiss in Bollywood movies, chanting 'THIS IS NOT OUR CULTURE!' Guess what, guys - it is.

Kissing in the Vedas and the Mahabharatas: The Vedas mention the custom of rubbing and pressing noses together, possibly an early form of kissing. 500 to 1,000 years after the Vedas, the Mahabharata mentioned lip kissing. According to academics, kissing spread across the world as Alexander the Great conquered Punjab in 326 B.C., and his troops learned the practice, taking it across the world! Even the word "kiss" came from the word "kus", once used for the act in northern India.

Our first on-screen kiss happened in 1929!: It wasn't the 1970's Rishi Kapoor era, but the 1929 silent film “A Throw of Dice” which saw our first on-screen kiss. 4 years later, Devika Rani kissed Himanshu Rai in “Karma” - a 4 minute kiss. Somewhere between then and now, we went crazy about morals. This was obvious when outrage resulted from a 75-year-old Nelson Mandela kissing Shabana Azmi on the cheek.

Indian women did not cover their upper body in ancient India

A. L. Bhasham, former Professor at London's School of Oriental and African Studies asserted in his work 'The Wonder That Was India', that Indian women did not cover up their upper torso for centuries, citing the example of Nayar tribal women of south India.

It is believed by many historians, that it was the influence of Muslim invasions and British orthodoxy, that changed India's dress codes. In Kerala, lower caste women were not even allowed to cover their breasts, as it was something only permitted for upper castes.

The Kama Sutra was ALSO meant to be read by women!

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Vatsyayana, Indian philosopher and the Kamasutra's author, instructed the book's relevance to women: "A woman should study the Kamasutra and its subsidiary arts before she reaches the prime of her youth, and she should continue when she has been given away, if her husband wishes it..."

Here's a quick summation of what women can expect from the Kamasutra

Book Three: Advice to virgins attempting to secure a husband

Book Four: Instructions for wives.

Kautilya, the Arthashastra's author, casually accepts women with multiple husbands, and also is permissive of divorce, widow remarriage, and property for women.

Sanskrit was first spoken and written in Syria, not India

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While the Modi government is enthusiastically pushing our Sanskrit legacy (and has even created a 'Joint Secretary for Sanskrit' in the Ministry of External Affairs!), Sanskrit isn't really that sacred - lowly castes weren't even permitted to hear it being recited! And more shockingly, Sanskrit wasn't first spoken in India - it was spoken (and written!) in Syria! In fact, as Scroll recently reminded us, the form of Sanskrit found in the Rig Veda was found is Northern Syria.

Sanskrit is in fact, NOT the mother of all languages, as many proud nationalists would like us to believe - it came from what it today considered the 'Proto-Indo-European' language.

Homosexuality is NOT against Indian culture

Sage Vatsyayana's Kamasutra devotes a whole chapter to homosexual sex: it is to be engaged in and enjoyed for its own sake as one of the arts. Besides providing a detailed description of oral sex between men, Kama Sutra categorizes men who desire other men as "third nature" and refers to long-term unions between men.

Child marriage is NOT Indian culture

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Scholar and social reformer R.G. Bhandarkar was a social reformer who worked to separate custom and rituals from "true religion", and used Sanskrit and Pali texts to defend his stance for women's education, widow remarriage and against child marriage. He established, that social ideal was much higher and more rational in ancient times. Women were not barred from the highest education in ancient days and seclusion of women was a much later phenomenon, which intensified with Muslim domination. He observed that "girls were married after they came of age". Even up to the time when the metrical smritis were composed "the practice of widow remarriage did exist".

(Inputs from Subodh Varma, TNN | Manoj Mitta, TNN | Research: 'A Short History of the Kiss in India', Wall Street Journal India, 1 November 2014)