10 Amazing Scientific “Facts of The World” interesting facts for Class 10 and 12 Part 2

Facts of The World – 2

671. Varanasi got its name from the two tributaries of the Ganga, i.e., Varuna and Asi, between the two of which it is situated. This sacred city, which was founded ten centuries before the birth of Christ, is mentioned in the holy scriptures like the Varnara Purana, Buddhist texts and the Mahabharata.

672. The flute, known by various names, is associated with Lord Krishna. It is an ancient instrument which was taken to the West.

673. Among the various Indian musical instruments, the ‘shehnai’ falls in the category of wind instruments.

674. It took more than 22 years to construct the Taj Mahal. Materials for the construction were brought from all over Asia.

675. Joseph Mohr, an Austrian priest , wrote ‘Silent Night’ in the year, 1818. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and could not be prepared in time for the Christmas Eve Mass,. He was saddened by this and could not think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write a carol music. He sat down and wrote three stanzas. Later that night, the people in the little Austrian church sang ‘Still Nacht’ for the first time. The song was later translated into various languages.

676. The popular Christmas carol, ‘Rudolph, the red- nosed reindeer’, was written by a copywriter named Robert May in 1939 and set of music by Gene Autry in 1949.

677. The great scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, was born on Christmas Day in 1642.

678. Europe is named after a Phoenician princess, Europa.

679. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in eleven caves along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea between the years, 1947 and 1956. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem and is 1300 feet below sea level. The most fragmented texts are numbered according to the caves that they came out from. They have been called the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times. The scrolls can be divided into two categories- biblical and non- biblical. Fragments of every book of the Hebrew canon (old Testament) have been discovered, except for the book of Esther, Prophecies of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel not found in the Bible, are written in the Scrolls. The scrolls were most likely written by the Essences during the period from about 200 B.C to 68 C.E./A.D. The Essenes were a strict Torah observant , Messianic , apocalyptic, Baptist, Wilderness, new covenant Jewish sect. they were led by a priest, which they called the ‘Teacher of Righteousness’ who was opposed and possibly killed by the establishment priesthood in Jerusalem. The last words of Joseph, Judah, Levi, Naphtali and Amram (The father of Moses) are written down in the scrolls. The Dead Sea scrolls enhance our knowledge of both Judaism and Christianity. They represent a non- rabbinic form of Judaism and provide a wealth of comparative material for New Testament scholars, including many more parallels to the Jesus movement. They show Christianity to be rooted in Judaism and have been called the evolutionary link between the two.

680. The exclamation mark comes from the Greek word ‘to’, meaning, ‘I am surprised’.