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The Republic of India, located in South Asia and comprising
most of the Indian subcontinent is the second most populous
country in the world and is the world's largest democracy, with over one billion people speaking about eight hundred
distinct languages. The Indian economy is the fourth-largest in the world, in terms
of purchasing power parity. India borders Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Bhutan, Nepal and
Pakistan, with Sri Lanka and the
Maldives just across the Indian mainland in the Indian Ocean.
Origin of name
The Constitution of India starts with the name of the country as "India that is Bharat..." The name India is derived from
Sindhu, the local name for the river Indus. Interestingly the
Vedas did not assign any particular name for India, although some scholars assert that
references to Indu in the Rig Veda relate to India's present name. Various
political parties have their preferred names for India some of which are Hindustan and Bharat. The name "Bharat" is
derived from either of two ancient Hindu kings named Bharata. "Bha" in sanskrit means knowledge or light, and "rat" is a verb for 'doing'. Bharat is
the one who is in search of knowledge. India is also known as Hindustan (the land of the Hindus), though its use as an indicator of the nation is debated.
History
Main article: History of India
The rock art tradition of India has been traced to about 40,000 years ago in the paleolithic at Bhimbetaka in Central India and other sites. The first permanent settlements in South Asia
appeared about 9,000 years ago. This indigenous culture developed into the Indus Valley civilization (also referred to by some as the Sindhu-Sarasvati Tradition), which was
at its height from around 2600 BC to 1900
BC and was one of the earliest civilizations.
There are two prevailing theories about the early history of India. One is the commonly accepted Aryan Migration/Invasion Theory, first propounded by the German historian Max Müller in the 19th century . It avers that
around 1500 BC, the influx of Aryan tribes
from the northwest of India and to some extent their merger with the earlier inhabitants resulted in the classical Vedic culture. The other, more recent theory, is that there was no ingress at all. Essentially,
Vedic/Aryan culture was not racially distinct but
native to the Indian subcontinent. It is known commonly as
the continuity theory. see Aryan Invasion
Theory.
Persian incursions started in the 8th century and Turkic in the 12th century. These Turkish invaders formed a series of Dynasties
(Slave, Khilji, Tughlaq, Syed, Lodhi) in Northern India based in Delhi. In 1526 the
Mughals invaded India and slowly captured most of the country. They were followed by
incursions by European traders beginning in the late 15th century.
By subjugating the Mughal empire in the 19th century, the British Empire
had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. India became a formal crown colony of the United Kingdom in 1876, and the successive British
monarchs assumed the title of "Emperor of India." The British rulers practised racial discrimination and exploited the country
economically. The British helped set up infrastructure after the Industrial Revolution in facilitation of governmental administration. Much of India's
freedom-fighters' campaigning focused on the racial discrimination and subversive economic policy that was imposed on the people
of India by the British.
Mostly nonviolent resistance to British colonialism under Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and opposition voiced by other well-known leaders, among whom were
such stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana
Azad, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Subhas Chandra Bose, led to the granting of independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan, split in 1971 into Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
In the 1975, India exploded its first nuclear bomb. In the mid 80's it
started its military upgradation. In 1991 India opened up its markets to the rest of the world. In 1998, India exploded 5 nuclear
weapons in Pokhran, Rajasthan.
Politics
Main article: Politics of India
India is a sovereign democratic republic. It is a Union of states with an increasingly federal structure. Officially it is declared as The Republic of India. India has as head of state a
president, whose duties are largely ceremonial. The president
and vice president are elected indirectly for 5-year terms by a special electoral college. Their terms are staggered, and the vice president does not automatically become
president following the death or removal from office of the president.
Executive power is centred in the Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by the prime
minister. The president appoints the prime minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority. The president then appoints subordinate
ministers on the advice of the prime minister.
India's bicameral parliament
consists of the upper house called 'The Council of States' (Rajya
Sabha) and the lower House called 'The House of the People' (Lok
Sabha), both of which were established by the Constitution of India. The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha.
The executive arm of the Government comprises of many divisions, the most important of which is the Indian Administrative Service, a strong framework
of highly-educated and trained officials with immense executive power.
States and territories
Main articles: States and
Territories of India, Population by State
India is subdivided into 28 states, 6 Union Territories and
the National Capital Territory of Delhi:
The second-level subdivision is the district. See List of Indian districts.
India has made no territorial claim in Antarctica but had a permanent scientific base there - Dakshin Gangotri.
Geography and climate
Main article Geography of India
The above map is not the official Indian map; it is CIA's version which distinguishes parts
of Kashmir claimed by India, but controlled by Pakistan, as part of Pakistan ( see also: Kashmir Map Issues). Located on the Indian subcontinent, India consists roughly
of three major parts; in the north the massive Himalayas mountain range (with the
highest point being the Kanchenjunga at 8,598 m) and the Indo-Gangetic plain (with deserts in the western end), and in the south the extensive Deccan plateau. The latter is part of a large peninsula in between
the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west, with both being part of the greater Indian Ocean. The plateau is bordered on the eastern and western sides by hilly areas called the Eastern Ghats and Western
Ghats respectively before it meets the sea.
India is home to several major rivers such as the Ganga (anglicized to Ganges), the Brahmaputra, the Yamuna, the Godavari and the Krishna. A small part of the upper course of the name-giving Indus lies within Kashmir territory controlled by India.
The Indian climate varies from a tropical climate in the south to a more temperate climate in the north. India gets its rains through the monsoons, the South-West monsoon brings in around 80% and the North-East monsoon the
remaining.
For the official Indian map, see [1] .
Economy
Main article Economy of India
India was traditionally a rural economy which subsequently participated in the industrial revolution through colonial rule. After Independence, India tended towards a more socialist policy and large scale infrastructure and industry development was done through
public sectors. However, from the early 1990s onwards, the Indian economy has opened up through liberalisation and is on the road
to privatisation through disinvestment policies.
India's economy today encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of
support services, including software. In fact, India's software exports alone are around $10 billion(2003). India's international payments position remained strong in 2001 with
adequate foreign exchange reserves, and moderately depreciating nominal exchange rates. In 2003, India joined a select club of
nations having foreign exchange reserves exceeding $100 billion. As measured by GDP in US Dollars, India's 2002 output of $597 billion ranked
it 12th in the world. As measured by GDP on Purchasing Power Parity basis, India's 2002 figure of $2.66 trillion makes it the fourth largest in
the world. India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language; India is a major exporter of software
services and software workers.
Mumbai, headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India, remains the financial capital and nerve centre of the country's economy.
Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Pune are important centres of the IT industry.
See also List of software
companies, List of Indian companies
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of India
India is the second-most populous country in the world, with only China having a
larger population. Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political
organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today. Its biggest urban
agglomerations are, in decreasing order of population, Mumbai (formerly
Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), Chennai (formerly
Madras), Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune (formerly Poona).
Hindi, in the Devanagari script, is
the national language; 18 other official languages are recognised in Schedule 8 of the Constitution. English, classified as a "Associate Official Language", is still widely in
use in law and government, particularly in the higher echelons. It enjoys a quasi-official status in the national
government, and according to the Constitution, this status is to be periodically reviewed. The number of estimated living
languages in India has been estimated to be as high as 400.
See also List of Indian languages, Indian family name.
Religions in India
Main article: Religion in India
Although 83% of the people are Hindus, India is home to a large population of
Muslims (13%) giving it the world's third largest Muslim population after Indonesia (approx. 240 million) and Pakistan (approx. 140 million). Other smaller religious minorities include Christians (3%), Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Jews, Parsis, Ahmadi and Bahá'í.
Indian society
Indian society is pluralistic due to the chequered history of the sub-continent, drawing from different religions, societal
and cultural practises.
However, Hindu ways of life influence society considerably. Today, Hindu societal practises such as sati (from the Middle
Ages) have successfully been eliminated. However, inspite of concerted efforts, the caste
system still influences social life in India with people even retaining their caste affiliations after conversion to other
religions. Some beliefs like astrology cut across all religious barriers.
Indian society can also be classified as rural and urban, with the former rapidly becoming part of the latter. In India,
urbansiation and modernisation usually mean Westernisation. In recent times, this has accelerated considerably with the opening
up of the market, leading to a more whole sale conversion to Western values. However there is a growing realisation that in
certain areas, the sustainable practices of traditional Indian society are desirable and their loss might leave a vacuum that may
not be adequately filled by the scant resources of a developing country, to name a few - attitudes towards environment, medicine
and family.
Culture
Main article: Culture of India
Indian culture is an expression of the numerous and successive waves of influences
in the sub-continent with the Northern part of India being subjected to this more than the South.
Music in India
In Indian music, two main forms are the Carnatic and the Hindustani,
the former from South India, a much purer form and the latter from North India deriving much from Mughal (Islamic line of rulers) influences. (See Indian classical music). Both systems are founded on Vedic principles of sound and fundamental
understandings of raga and tala.
(See Indian musicians and
their music).
India has a rich tradition of folk music too, ranging from Rajasthani to Kashmiri in the North-East to Baul mystics of Bengal to a wide variety of South Indian forms.
Popular music these days are [filmi music]] that are songs from Indian films. Traditonal Bhangra is another popular music form hailing from Punjab state in India.
See Indian music for more details.
Indian literature
In Indian literature, oral and written forms prevail. Hindu
literary traditions dominate a large part of Indian culture. Apart from the Vedas which
are a sacred form of knowledge, there are other works such as the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharatha, treatises such as Vaastu Shastra in architecture and town planning and Artha Shastra in political science.
Devotional Hindu drama, poetry and songs span the subcontinent. Among the best known are the works of Kalidas (writer of the famed Sanskrit play Shakuntala) and Tulsidas (who wrote an epic Hindi poem
based on the Ramayana). Tamil Sangam poetry is well renowned.
Among other traditions Urdu poetry is a fine example of linguistic and cultural
synthesis. Arab and Persian vocabulary based on the Hindi language resulted in a vast and extremely beloved class of ghazal literature, usually written by Muslims in contexts ranging from romance and society to
philosophy and devotion to Allah. Urdu soon became the court language of the Mughals and in its higher forms was once called the
'Kohinoor' of Indian languages.
See also Indian Writing in
English
Dance
Many dance forms exist in India - Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Kathakali, etc., mostly they have a narrative form,
telling stories. Other forms such as street theatre and puppetry are also found. (See Indian classical
dance and Indian folk music and dance)
Festivals
There are many festivals in India, most of which are Hindu. Some
examples of Hindu festivals are Holy, Diwali/Deepavali, Vijayadasami, Sankranthi, Pongal, etc. Most of the others are based on
religion and seasonal celebrations, others still commemorating individual milestones.
Science and math
Indian science was advanced in ancient times - Aryabhatta and Bhaskara were important
Hindu scientists who studied planetary motion. The Arabic numerals
were at largely an Indian invention - the Arabic name for number,
hindsah, means "from India". Perhaps the most famous Indian mathematician was Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Scientists from India include the physicists C. V. Raman and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, both winners of the Nobel Prize, as well as Satyendranath
Bose.
Dress and cuisine
Traditional dress in India includes the beautiful Sari and Salwar Kameez for ladies, and Dhoti and Kurta for men, often supplemented by the sherwani. Dress varies somewhat from region to region and state to state.
In Indian cuisine, rice and wheat form the staple diet. The expert
blending of fragrant, sweet or fiery spices is perhaps the hallmark of Indian cooking. Many Indians are vegetarian, or restrict
their eating of meat. The thali is a full fledged meal, with an array
of different preparations usually served in small individual bowls. Some popular dishes include Dosa and Idli from South India, Makki di roti with saag and Tandoori Chicken from the Punjab, and divine syrupy sweets from Bengal.
Film
Movies are an integral part of everyday life in India, most notably the Hindi,
Tamil and Telugu for their
commercial bases, and Bengali and Malayalam for their artistic leanings. ( See Cinema of India). Satyajit Ray, a director from the
Bengali cinema tradition, has been seen by movie critics around the
world as one of cinema's four greatest filmmakers ever, and is the only Indian to have won an Academy Award (Lifetime Achievement).
Regional cultures and influences
Specific regions, most often delineated by state, often have very widely ranging cultures and languages. Indians are very
aware of intra-Indian identities, such as being Tamils, Bengalis, Punjabis, etc. However, there is more of a tendency to borrow
and imbibe aspects of different regions and major urban centers are often confluences of Indians of widely differing backgrounds.
Also, with increasing globalisation, and due to the liberalisation of the Indian economy in the early 1990s, there has been influence of Western culture. So there is Indi-pop in music , Hinglish, Benglish, or Tanglish- English
flavoured with terms from local language used most prominently in fields such as advertising, pizzas with indigenous spices,
experimental dance and theatre forms, and so on. The invasion of cable TV has
spawned an entirely new popular culture.
Apart from these historical and context specific forms, what an Indian sees as important in Indian culture are abstract
qualities such as hospitality, family values, acceptance and toleration of differences, resilience and co-existence.
Sports
India's official national sport is Field Hockey, although most would
assert that it is in fact Cricket that has become the unofficial
national game. In fact, so popular is cricket that it has made India the game's financial powerhouse, even to the point that, as
some observers claim, it has become India's fastest growing industry. Some other popular sports are squash, badminton, and tennis. Chess, by most historical accounts of Indian origin, has seen India
produce quite a few grandmasters. Some
traditional indigenous games are Kabaddi, Gilli-danda, Polo and, indeed, Badminton, which was invented in a British club in Pune in the 16th century.
See also: Sports in India, Indian architecture, List of holidays in India
Trivia
Miscellaneous topics
Main article: miscellaneous India
topics
Related topics
Main article: List of India-related
topics
History of IndiaPoliticsGovernmentGeographyEconomyDemographicsArts& CultureOther
| Topics in
India |
| Timeline of
Indian history Indus Valley Civilization,
Aryan invasion theory, Greek Conquests in
India Ashokan Era, Gupta
dynasty, Mauryan dynasty, Islamic incursions in India, Mughal Era, British Raj, British East India Company, Governor-General of India, Viceroy of India, War
of Independence, 1857, Indian independence
movement, Quit
India Movement, Partition of India, Non-Aligned Movement, Sino-Indian War, Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Kargil War, Foreign
relations, Military, Demographic and Postal history |
| Law, Constitution, Political parties (BJP & INC), Elections, Political divisions |
| Government agencies, Legislative
branch (Lok Sabha, Rajya
Sabha) Executive branch (President & Vice-President, Cabinet, Prime Minister,
Cabinet Ministers,
Attorney-General, Election Commission of India, Foreign Minister;
Law
enforcement: CBI, CID, Intelligence: IB, RAW), Judicial branch (Supreme Court), Military (Army, Navy, Air Force, BSF, Coast Guard) |
| Himalayan Mtns.,
Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Indo Gangetic Plain,
Deccan Plateau, Thar Desert,
Ganges River, Rann of
Kutch, Brahmaputra River, North-East India; Mountains, Valleys,
Islands, Rivers; States, Cities, List of Indian Districts, Regions |
| Rupee, Bombay Stock Exchange,National Stock Exchange India, Standard of
living, Companies, Reserve Bank of India |
| Indian Census Bureau, Languages,
Standard of living, Religion |
| Music (Carnatic, Hindustani, Indi-pop), Film & TV (Bollywood),Indian TV Stations Literature, Cuisine, Holidays, Folklore, Dance, Architecture; Education, Languages, Media |
| Communications,
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India is also the letter I in the NATO phonetic alphabet
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