In history of human culture the contribution of the Indian people in all the fields has been of the greatest importance. From India we derived domestic poultry, shellac, lemons, cotton, pepper, jute, rice, sugar, indigo, buffalo, cinnamon, ginger, sugarcane, the games of chess, pachisi, polo, the zero concept, the decimal system, the basics of certain philological concepts, a wealth of fables with moral import, an astonishing variety of artistic products, and innumerable ideas in philosophy and religion such as asceticism and monasticism. Willism H. Gilbert