172 Interesting Facts About India
Romaine Rolland, a French scholar once quoted "If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India!"India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization. India is the seven largest country in the world. India is a country in Asia.
Official Name of India is Bharat[Hindi], Republic of India[English].
India has seven neighbours, Pakistan in the north-west, China and Nepal in the north, Bhutan and Bangladesh in the North-east India region of the country and Myanmar in the east and Sri Lanka in the south.
India is a peninsula, bound by the Indian Ocean in the south, the Arabian Sea on the west and Bay of Bengal in the east. The coastline of India is of about 7,517 kilometers (4,671 mi) long.
India has the third largest army in the world and nuclear weapons. India has also done nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998, and it is one of the few countries that has nuclear bombs.Since 1991, India has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Capital is New Delhi.
India is a growing economy and has high levels of poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition. India has a higher rate of malnutrition among children under the age of three (46% in year 2007) than any other country in the world.
India is a founding member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and has signed the Kyoto Protocol.
Population of India is 1,027,015,247.It is second most populated country after China in the world.
Area of India is 3.3 million square kilometers.
Geographical Location is between latitudes 8 degree 4' and 37 degree 6'north and longitudes 68 degree 7' and 97 degree 25' east.
Major Religions are Hinduism, Islam, Christainity, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.
Literacy rate in India is 65.38%.
Its government is divided into three branches:the Legislative (the one that makes the laws, the Parliament), the Executive (the government), and the Judiciary (the one that makes sure that the laws are obeyed, the supreme court).
For administration purposes, India has been divided into smaller pieces. Most of these pieces are called states, some are called union territories. States and union territories are different in the way they are represented. Most union territories are ruled by administrators sent by the central government. All the states, and the territories of Dehli, and Puducherry elect their local government themselves. In total, there are twenty-eight states, and seven union territories.
Pakistan and China do not recognise the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. This state makes up the Indian part of Kashmir. Similarly, India does not recognise the Pakistani and Chinese parts of Kashmir.There are constant disputes with Indian borders.
In 1914, British India and Tibet agreed on the McMahon Line, as part of the Simla Accord. India and the Tibetan government see this line as the official border of India. China does not accept this agreement (accord). As a result, both mainland China and Taiwan do not recognize that the state of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to India. According to them it is a part of South Tibet, which belongs to China.
The northern part of India has many mountains.The most famous mountain range in India is the Himalayas, which have some of the tallest mountains in the world. There are many rivers in India. The main rivers are the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari, the Kaveri, the Narmada, and the Krishna.
India has different climates. In the South, the climate is mainly tropical, which means it can get very hot in summer and cool in winter.The northern part, though, has a cooler climate, called sub-tropical, and even alpine in mountainous regions.The Himalayas, in the alpine climate region, can get extremely cold. There is very heavy rainfall along the west coast and in the Eastern Himalayan foothills. The west, though, is drier. Because of some of the deserts of India, all of India gets rain for four months of the year. That time is called the monsoon. That is so because the deserts attract water-filled winds from the Indian Ocean, which give rain when they come into India. When the monsoon rains come late or not so heavily, droughts (when the land wears out because there is less rain) are possible.
The economy of India is the 11th largest in the world with a GDP of $568 billion.
India's economy is diverse. Major industries include automobiles, cement, chemicals, consumer electronics, food processing, machinery, mining, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, steel, transportation equipment, and textiles.
The Bombay stock exchange, in Mumbai,is Asia's largest and oldest stock exchange.
About 70% of Indians live on farms. The largest cities in India are Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad.[India has 23 official languages.Altogether, 1,625 languages are spoken in India.
Cave Paintings from the Stone Age are found across India. They show dances and rituals and suggest there was a prehistoric religion. During the Epic and Puranic periods, the earliest versions of the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata were written from about 500–100 BCE,although these were orally transmitted for centuries before this period.
Other South Asian Stone Age sites apart from Pakistan are in modern India, such as the Bhimbetka rock shelters in central Madhya Pradesh and the Kupgal petroglyphs of eastern Karnataka, contain rock art showing religious rites and evidence of possible ritualised music.
The first settlement was 8000 years ago and developed in Indus valley civilisation.It was followed by the Vedic period, which laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 500s BCE. From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the Mahajanapadas were established across the country.
In third century BCE, most of South Asia was united into Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the great.Then followed the Gupta Dynastry, called as Golden period.
Empires in southern India included those of the Chalukyas, the Cholas and the Vijayanagara Empire. Science, technology, engineering, art, logic, language, literature, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings.
Between 1oth and 12 th century, nothen India came under the power of Mughal empire.It took over large part of continent.Threat ot Mughal empire was Maharana Pratap.In west Maratha ruled in 18th century.Then slowly Portugal, Dutch, France,and lastly British took over,first came as in for trade.
Since independence, India has faced challenges from religious violence, casteism, naxalism, terrorism and regional separatist insurgencies, especially in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast India. Since the 1990s terrorist attacks have affected many Indian cities.
All of the religions have different schools (ways of thinking) and traditions that are related. As a group they are called the Eastern religions. The Indian religions are similar to one another in many ways: The basic beliefs, the way worship is done and several religious practices are very similar. These similarities mainly come from the fact that these religions have a common history and common origins. They also influenced each other.
President is Pratibha Patil.[2011]
Prime Minister is Dr.Manmohan Singh.[2011]
National Anthem is Jana Gana Mana written by Rabindranath Tagore.
National Song is Vandematram in Sanskrit composed by Bankimchandra Chatterjee.
National Emblem is Replica of the Lion Capital of Sarnath.
National Animal is Tiger.
National Bird is Peacock found primarily in semi dessert grasslands scrubs and decidious forests of India.
National Flower is Lotus.
National Tree is Banyan.The banyan,or Indian fig tree, is considered a symbol of immortality and is mentioned in many Indian myths and legends. This self-renewing plant.
Marigold flowers are used as decoration for Hindu marriages and are a symbol of good fortune and happiness.
National Fruit is Mango.
National Currency is Rupee.[one rupee is 100 paise.]
India has the world’s third largest road network at 1.9 million miles.
Rivers have played a vital role in India’s popular culture and folklore—they have been worshipped as goddesses because they bring water to an otherwise dry land. Bathing in the Ganges in particular is thought to take away a person’s sins. It is not unusual to spread a loved one’s ashes in the Ganges.
India, which lies within the Indomalaya ecozone, displays significant biodiversity with three hotspots located within its area.One of the seventeen megadiverse countries, it is home to 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of all avian, 6.2% of all reptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian, 11.7% of all fish, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species. Many ecoregions, such as the Shola forests, exhibit extremely high rates of endemism.Overall 33% of Indian plant species are endemic.
India’s pastoral communities are largely dependent on dairy and have made India the largest milk-producing country in the world.
Raziya Sultana (1205-1240) was the first woman leader of India. She was considered a great leader, though she ruled for only three years before being murdered.
Most Indians rinse their hands,legs,and face before eating a meal. It is considered polite to eat with the right hand, and women eat after everyone is finished. Wasting food is considered a sin.
During the Vedic era in India, horse sacrifice sanctioned the sovereignty of the king.
National Sport is Hockey. The Indian field hockey team won the 1975 Men's Hockey World Cup. They have also won eight gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the Olympic games.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India. The India cricket team won the 1983 Cricket World Cup and the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. They shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka. Cricket in India is considered a religion.The most famous is Sachin Tendulkar with tons of world records in his bag.
Tennis has become popular due to the victories of the India Davis Cup team. Association football is also a popular sport in northeast India, West Bengal, Goa and Kerala.The Indian national football team has won the South Asian Football Federation Cup many times.
Languages in India are India has two National languages (Central administrative). They are English (associate official) and Hindi (in the Devanagiri script). The Indian Constitution also officially recognizes 22 regional languages.
There are many different languages and cultures in India. The only geographical place with more different languages and cultures is the Africa.There are two main language families in India, the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages. About 69% of Indians speak an Indo-Arayan language, about 26% speak a Dravidian language. Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic group. Around 5% of the people speak a Tibeto-Burman language.
In the south of India, many people speak Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. In the north, many people speak Chhattisgarhi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Marathi, Oriya, and Bihari.Tamil was born in India.
The Indian flag has three horizontal bands of color: saffron for courage and sacrifice,white for truth and peace, and green for faith, fertility, and chivalry.An emblem of a wheel spinning used to be in the center of the white band, but when India gained independence, a Buddhist dharma chakra, or wheel of life, replaced the spinning wheel.
The earliest cotton in the world was spun and woven in India. Roman emperors would wear delicate cotton from India that they would call “woven winds.” Mogul emperors called the fabrics “morning dew” and “cloth of running water.”
The Himalayas—from the Sanskrit hima, meaning “snow,” and alaya, meaning “abode”—are found in the north of India. They extend 1,500 miles and are slowly growing taller, by almost an inch (2.5 cm) a year. Several ancient Indian monasteries are found nestled in the grandeur of these mountains.
In ancient and medieval India, sati,21.India is the world’s largest producer of dried beans, such as kidney beans and chickpeas. It also leads the world in banana exports; Brazil is second in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, were common.Sati was made illegal.
The temples of Khajuraho are famous for their erotic sculptures and are one of the most popular tourist attractions in India. Scholars still debate the purpose of such explicit portrayals of sexual intercourse, which sometimes involves animals.It also suggested that sex was a step for attaining ultimate liberation or moksha.Many writers have written about the their translation of the art.eg is Kamasutra.
Agriculture is not only the dominant occupations of the people of India but is also one of the most important economic sectors for the country.
India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.Indians are known for peace in the world.
India has produced so many spiritual leaders and spiritual persons who not only change India they change the whole world like Swami vevekananda, Mahatma gandhi, Osho, ravishankar, baba ramdev, rabindranath tagore, mother teressa mahirshi yogi etc and lots of others.
In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct investment destination.
12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin; 38 percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.
On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).
When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
Chess was invented in India. It is also called Shatranj or Ashtapada. Most famous grand master in the world is Vishwanathan Anand.
Traditional sports include kabaddi, kho kho, and gilli-danda, which are played throughout India.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.[Gujrat].
According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.Sanskrit a most classical language in the world was born in India.
The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
The Taj Mahal in Agra was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is thought to be of "outstanding universal Value and it is one of the seven wonders of world.
India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century.they ruled for 200 years. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
Removal of untouchablity and illiteracy are among the aims of Free India. Indians can rightly feel proud of its past achievements, and it is hoped will continue its onward journey spreading the message of LOVE, FRIENDSHIP & PEACE.
Namaste or Pranam --How we greet each other in India.To greet a friend or another Indian, We join our hands (palms together), bows down in front of the other person,The Lord dwells in the heart of every human being. This joining of hands symbolizes the meeting of two souls, our real self actually meets Itself. This signifies reverent Salutations and Unity of Souls.Bowing down & joining hands symbolizes humility and also makes us humble. Thus when we joins our hands and say Namaskar, we actually see the Lord in the other persons and believe, "I bow with deep respects to the all-loving, all-powerful and omnipresent (present everywhere) Lord in you."
The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians
Algebra,Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world.(Source: Gemological Institute of America).
The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
India exports software to 90 countries.
The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
The religion of Hinduism is followed by 80.5% of people in the Republic of India; Islam – 13.4%; Christianity – 2.3%; Sikhism – 1.9%; Buddhism – 0.8% and Jainism – 0.4%.
Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.In the beginning of the 1900s, millions of people peacefully started to protest. One of the people who were leading the freedom movement was Mahatma Gandhi, who only used peaceful tactics, including a way called "ahimsa", which means "non-violence". On August 15, 1947, India peacefully became free and independent from the British Empire. India's constitution was founded on January 26, 1950. The first official leader (Prime Minister) of India was Jawaharlal Nehru. India has also done nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998, and it is one of the few countries that has nuclear bombs.
The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively.
The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
Martial Arts were first created in India,and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.Vedic age also laid the foundation of Hindu Philosophy, mythology, literary tradition and practise of Dharma, Karma, yoga and Moksha.The thoughts are based on Upanishads, the yoga sutra and Bhakti movement.
India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.
Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.
Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.
Vinod Khosla is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems.Vinod Dahm is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it).
According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Aziz Premji,is the third richest man on the world who is the CEO of Wipro Industries.
Sabeer Bhatia, of Indian origin is the one who is the founder and creator of Hotmail.
Arun Netravalli is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few).
Rajiv Gupta, an Indian, is the GM of Hewlett Packard.
Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart.
Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.Total number of Indians in U.S are 1.5% of population of U.S.
In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat today (November 14, 2008) with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday.
The Kumbh Mela (or Grand Pitcher Festival) is a huge Hindu religious festival that takes place in India every 12 years. In 2001, 60 million people attended, breaking the record for the world’s biggest gathering. The mass of people was photographed from space by a satellite.
To avoid polluting the elements (fire, earth, water, air), followers of Zoroastrianism in India don’t bury their dead, but instead leave bodies in buildings called “Towers of Silence” for the vultures to pick clean. After the bones dry, they are swept into a central well.
It is illegal to take Indian currency (rupees) out of India.
India leads the world with the most murders (32,719), with Russia taking second at 28,904 murders per year.
India has one of the world’s highest rates of abortion.
Cows can be found freely wandering the streets of India’s cities. They are considered sacred and will often wear a tilak, a Hindu symbol of good fortune. Cows are considered one of humankind’s seven mothers because she offers milk as does one’s natural mother.
Dancing is one of India’s most highly developed arts and was an integral part of worship in the inner shrines of every temple. It is notable for its expressive hand movements.[mudras].
Rabies is endemic in India.Additionally,“Delhi Belly” or diarrhea is commonplace due to contaminated drinking water.
Many Indian wives will never say her husband’s name aloud, as it is a sign of disrespect. When addressing him, the wife will use several indirect references, such as “ji” or “look here” or “hello,” or even refer to him as the father of her child.
India is the world’s largest producer of dried beans, such as kidney beans and chickpeas. It also leads the world in banana exports.
In India,the fold and color of clothing are viewed as important markers of social classification. Additionally, women will be viewed as either a prostitute or a holy person depending on the manner in which she parts her hair.Widows had to wear particular colored saree and had to go bald earlier.They had to be in confinement,were considered inauspicious and could not have any social status or say in the family.Now the things have improved in cities.Women were not allowed to work out of home.
In India, grasping one’s ears signifies repentance or sincerity.Children were punished by sitting in squatting position and holding their ears this way.India followed Guru-shishya tradition.
Traditionally Indian society is defined by strict social hierchy.The caste system defines the social stratifications, and restrictions with social classes consisting of groups or jatis.Untouchables are th most discriminated now also in interior of India.
Traditionally India had and now also has Joint family system. Marriages are arranged by parents.Marriage is thought to be for life.Divorce rate is very low.Chid marriage is still common in rural India and half of women in India marries before the legal age of 18.Not listening to parents was/is said to be insulting to parents and going against their wish is a sin.Parent hold the position of God in India.
Fesivals in India is for all religion and all celebrate it with joy. It is purely unity in diversity.Most famous festivals are Diwali[light festival], Holi[color festival].Mostly all the festivals follows the Lunar calender and also some are harvest festivals.
Traditionally saree is the dress for women and married women uses Bindi, sindoor which is red in clor to put it on forehead and Dhoti for men.Indians follow the dress and the color according to season.Now people follow lots of western culture, dressing and eating habits in urban areas.
Indian follows classical type of music.India has too diverse folk and classical dance style famous for each state.Theatre is based mostly mythology, romances of mediveal times and social and political events.It is also unique of each state.
Indian cuisine is characterised by a wide variety of regional styles and a large use of herbs and spices.The staple food in south is rice and in north it is wheat.In most of the big cities people love the western, chinese, Thai, European and the Fast food.Indian food is the third most liked food in the world.
Alexander the Great of Macedon (356-323 B.C.) was one of the first important figures to bring India into contact with the West. After his death, a link between Europe and the East would not be restored until Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) landed in Calicut, India, in 1498.
India has the world’s largest movie industry, based in the city of Mumbai (known as the “City of Dreams”). The B in “Bollywood” comes from Bombay, the former name for Mumbai. Almost all Bollywood movies are musicals.Amitabh Bachan was a star of millenium.
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) is known around the world as Mahatma, which is an honorific title meaning “Great Soul” in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. He devoted his life to free India from British rule peacefully and based his campaign on civil disobedience. His birthday, October 2, is a national holiday. He was assassinated in 1948.He is known as the father of the nation.
The lotus is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. The Bahá'í house of worship in Delhi, known as the “Lotus Temple,” is shaped like a lotus flower with 27 gigantic “petals” that are covered in marble.
It is traditional to wear white, not black, to a funeral in India. Widows will often wear white in contrast to the colorful clothes of married or single women.
All of India is under a single time zone.
India is the world’s largest tea producer, and tea (chai) is its most popular beverage.
Greek sculpture strongly influenced many portrayals of Indian gods and goddess, particularly after the conquest of Alexander the Great around 330B.C. In fact, early Indian gods had Greek features and only later did distinct Indian styles emerge.
When the first independent prime minister of India, pacifist Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), was featured in Vogue, his distinctive close fitting, single-breasted jacket briefly became an important fashion statement for the Mod movement in the West. Named the Nehru jacket, the prime minister’s coat was popularized by the Beatles and worn by such famous people as Johnny Carson (1925-2005) and Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990).
The Indian election in 1984 was the largest election of any country.
On India’s Independence Day, August 15, 1947, the country was split into India and Pakistan. The partition displaced 1.27 million people and resulted in the death of several hundred thousand to a million people.
In recent years, Indian authors have made a mark on the world with such novels as Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (1988), Vikram Seth’s Suitable Boy (1993), and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997).
The only country in the world that has a Bill of Rights for Cows is India.
Approximately 3 billion movie tickets are sold in India every year.
Barbie's boyfriend Ken was not sold in India until recently because it clashed with the traditional arranged marriage.
Arabic numerals are not Arabic, they were invented in India.
India share an extensive economic,defence and technological relationship with Russia.
India has the world's second largest labor force.
India is one of the most polluted country. Noise pollution is also very high.One of the largest slum of Asia is in Mumbai.
There are lots of Archeological monuments in India. Many were built during Mughal empire. There are good number of Forts too.The most famous being, Ajanta and Ellora caves,Kutub Minar etc.
India is world's fifteen largest importer and 18 largest exporter.Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, gems and jewelry, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and leather manufactures. Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals.
Seven of the world's top 15 technology outsourcing companies are based in India and the country is viewed as the second most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States. India's consumer market is currently the world's thirteenth largest and is expected to become the fifth largest by 2030. India has the world's fastest growing telecommunication industry, adding about 10 million subscribers during 2008–09 period.The country has the world's second fastest growing automobile industry, with domestic sales increasing by 26% during the 2009–10 period and exports increasing by 36% during the 2008–09 period.eg. Tata Nano.
Ambani's of Reliance industries have come up beginning from gas station to the leading business house all over the world.
India is visited by many foreigners for seeking peace through meditation and yoga.Yoga culture is variously modified in west and followed.Spas consisting of clay and other types of therapy[aroma, oil, herbs] from kerala attracts tourism.Goa, is one of the most visited places by foreign tourist.Medical tourism has become very famous in recent years due to excellent service and budget fitting.
"She (India) has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim ... her place amongst the great nations summarizing and symbolizing the spirit of humanity. From Persia to the Chinese sea, from the icy regions of Siberia to Islands of Java and Borneo, India has propagated her beliefs, her tales, and her civilization!" -- Sylvia Levi
Written by Jigna Chinoy
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