India is a country that intoxicates the senses. A journey in this land will definitely be a soul- stirring experience, given that it offers a vast tapestry of religions that make up contemporary India today. Its religious history is reflected by the sacred sites and rituals in every corner. It boasts a diverse culture and enchanting traditions that date back centuries past. Aside from its deep roots in all things sacred and devotional, India also has an intense terrain of deserts, safaris and sun- washed beaches. The unpredictability and constant exploration offered by this country are what fuel the traveler to unravel its mysteries until appreciation ingrains to them.
Important and Interesting Facts about India
- Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east.
- In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
- Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a newly industrialised country.
- India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India’s south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.
- India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
- Agra’s Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan’s favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is one of the New Seven Wonders of the world, and one of three World Heritage Sites in Agra.
- Jaipur is also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Jaipur is a very famous tourist and education destination in India.Lots of people flock to Jaipur to view the various forts and monuments in Jaipur which reflect its glorious past. Tourism is a significant part of Jaipur’s economy. Some of the world’s best hotels are located here.
- Goa is Famous for its pristine beaches, infact 90% of all the tourism in Goa happens only for its beautiful beaches in Coastal Areas. Goa has two main tourist seasons: winter and summer. In the winter time, tourists from abroad (mainly Europe) come to Goa to enjoy the splendid climate. In the summertime (which, in Goa, is the rainy season), tourists from across India come to spend the holidays.
- Kashmir was once called Heaven on Earth, and once of the most beautiful places in the world- A place home to Himalayan Ranges.
- Kerala, situated on the lush and tropical Malabar Coast, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. Named as one of the “ten paradises of the world” and “50 places of a lifetime” by the National Geographic Traveler magazine, Kerala is especially known for its ecotourism initiatives, Beautiful Backwaters and Alternative healing massages.
- Ajantha & Ellora are 28 – 30 rock-cut cave monuments created during the first century BC and 5th century AD, containing paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art and universal pictorial art.
- Mysore is a tourism hot spot within the state of Karnataka and also acts as a base for other tourist places in the vicinity of the city. The city receives the maximum number of tourists during the period of the Dasara festival when festivities take place for a period of 10 days. One of the most visited monuments in India, the Ambavilas Palace (also known as Mysore Palace) is the center of the Dasara festivities.
Cool, Funny, and Fun Facts about India
- Four world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here
- Many Indians find toilet paper repellent and consider it cleaner to splash water with the left hand in the appropriate direction. Consequently, the left hand is considered unclean and is never used for eating.
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.
- Indians made significant contributions to calculus, trigonometry, and algebra. The decimal system was invented in India in 100 B.C. The concept of zero as a number is also attributed to India.
- India is the birthplace of chess.l The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers.
- 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.
- 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.
Historical and Cultural Facts about India
- The Taj Mahal (“crown palace”) was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666) for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631). This architectural beauty has been called “marbled embroidery” for its intricate workmanship. It took 22,000 workmen 22 years to complete it.
- The first and greatest civilization in ancient India developed around the valley of the Indus River (now Pakistan) around 3000 B.C. Called the Indus Valley civilization, this early empire was larger than any other empire, including Egypt and Mesopotamia.
- After the great Indus Civilization collapsed in 2000 B.C., groups of Indo-Europeans called Aryans (“noble ones”) traveled to northwest India and reigned during what is called the Vedic age. The mingling of ideas from the Aryan and Indus Valley religions formed the basis of Hinduism, and the gods Shiva, Kali, and Brahma all have their roots in Aryan civilization. The Aryans also recorded the Vedas, the first Hindu scriptures, and introduced a caste system based on ethnicity and occupation.
- Chandragupta Maurya (340-290 B.C.), a leader in India who established the Mauryan Empire (321-185 B.C.), was guarded by a band of women on horseback.
- 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 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.
- About half the people eat rice as their staple, while the remainder subsist on wheat, barley, maize, and millet. There are thus major geographic differences in diet. Just as fundamental is the division between those who eat meat and those who are vegetarian.
- “Patriarchal” is the word most commonly used to describe the traditional Indian family and the gender relationships within it.
- Indians are usually very hospitable even when poor and go to considerable lengths to make a visitor feel comfortable. Women normally adopt a deferential attitude toward men, especially to their husbands and fathers-in-law. All the people tend to show deference to religious figures and government officials.
- Most Hindu communities have a fundamental belief in reincarnation. The basic idea is that one’s soul can be reincarnated for an unknown number of rebirths and that what the soul is to be reincarnated into depends on the balance of one’s sins and good deeds in past lives.
- 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.
- 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).