Facts About India

• India, home to more than one billion people, constitutes for 18% of the world's population.
• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
• Indus Valley Civilization (circa 2500-1700BC), earliest known civilization of South Asia, corresponding to the Bronze Age cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete (Kríti). The remains of settlements belonging to this culture have been found throughout the Indus River valley in Pakistan, westward along the coast to the Iranian border, in India's northwestern states as far east as New Delhi, and on the Oxus River in northern Afghanistan. The Indus Valley civilization encompasses one of the largest geographical areas covered by a single Bronze Age culture.
• AREA: 1.3 million sq miles (3.3 million sq km) stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Indian ocean in the south. India shares borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh.
• Since the beginning of history the Ganges (THE GANGA, Holy River) has been a precious source of water in the hot climate of India, providing water for drinking, irrigation, bathing, and most recently, electrical energy. For providing such sustenance the river is worshipped by millions of Indian as Mother Ganges. By bathing in the Ganges, one can wash away all sins and begin again, cleansed from the imperfections of the past.
• Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages as well as Hindi predominately used in India.
• The caste system was created as an means for providing social status in the community. A family's caste was determined by the family's main occupation. The classifications of the caste system are: Brahman (the priest), Kshatriya (the warrior), Vaisya (the trader), and Sudra (the laborer).
• Main exports: Gems and jewelry, ready made garments, cotton yarn and fabrics, handicrafts, cereals, marine products, transport equipment. Main imports: Crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, electrical machinery, fertilizers, iron, steel, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones.
• India, which traces its civilization back 5,000 years, won independence from Britain in 1947 in a welter of sectarian bloodshed as the subcontinent was partitioned into predominantly Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. India has since fought three wars with Pakistan, two of them over disputed Kashmir. In 1962, India also fought a short border war with China.
• Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.
• Bombay (Mumbai), home to India's largest stock exchange and its reserve bank, has vast slums sitting on some of the most expensive real estate of the world.
• India is the world's largest consumer of gold. And, by year 2000 the Indian market for gold will reach 1000 tons.
• India is one of the biggest players in the international fashion arena. Buyers such as Macys, Levi's, Wrangler, etc. all folk to India for its vast array of cloths and prints.
• India is the biggest diamond-cutting center for small roughs. These diamonds are eventually sold in shops on Fifth Avenue.
• India has 3.5 million professionals trained in medicine or other technical sciences. Ranking India as one of the ten largest emerging markets in the world.
• India has one of the largest middle classes in the world nearly 250 million people which is the total population of the United States.

• Perhaps the most popular of all India's culinary exports, the curry was recently named as the most popular dish in Britain. Curry derives it's name from 'kadi', the Tamil word for sabzi (or vegetable). In some parts of the world, going for a 'curry and a beer' are an intrinsic part of a good 'night out'.
• YOGA: The ancient Hindu system of mental and physical exercise is practiced the world over. The belief that yoga can improve one's health and peace of mind, has prompted thousands of foreigners to try it out.
• Ayurveda in Sanskrit means "the science of Life". It is an ancient, unfailing system of treatment based on medicines prepared from herbal plants found in abundance in India. Ayurveda is an integral part of the people of India. This ancient knowledge system of medicine has gained global acceptance especially for alternative ways of preventive, curative and rejuvenative processes making life a more pleasurable experience.
• Kamasutra, This ancient text on sexual love, was written by Vatsyayana in the mid-4th century. The text was made accessible to the English-speaking world by the orientalist Sir Richard Burton. It is essentially a philosophy on love and how to achieve happy and harmonius relationships, especially between husband and wife.
• One of the most enduring symbols of India is the figure of Shiv Nataraj or the dancing Shiva. Shiva's cosmic dance is believed to encompass creation, preservation, and destruction and this idea has been embedded in Hindu thought and ritual since the dawn of civilisation
• Dating from the Vedic period, the Neem plant is considered to be very auspicious, not only for it's medicinal values, but also for it's use in religious rites. Neem is also revered for it's unmatched use as a biologically sound pesticide and an air purifier. The magical properties of the neem have now been revealed to the world.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
- Albert Einstein

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
- Mark Twain

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.
- Romain Rolland, French scholar

India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all.
-Will Durant, American historian