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India is a vast country known for its culture and diversity, there are so many things India is famous for, here a few:
Languages
There are a total of 22 official languages in India as defined in the 8th schedule of the Constitution. Initially, there were only 14 official languages.
And the rest of the languages were only added later in 1967. Sindhi was included in 1992, languages such as Manipuri, Nepali, and Konkani were added. And finally, in 2003, Dogri Santhali, Mathili, Bodo were added.
Size
India is one of the largest countries in the world in terms of absolute size; in fact, it is the 7th largest. Spread over an area of 3.3 million square kilometers. Also, the country is home to 18% Of the world population!
Mosques
India might be a land of Hindus but it has a sizeable population of Muslims as well. They pray in over 300,000 mosques located all over the country this number is the highest in anywhere in the world. India is famous for having the highest number of mosques.
Democracy
The country is known the world over as the biggest democracy ever known to mankind! As per the electoral records from the 2019 general election, the total number of registered voters comes out to be around 911 million!
India is famous for its gifts to the world
Yoga
We all know yoga, and some of us practice it as well. Yoga is one of the most well-known gifts of India to the world. This 5000 years practice is considered to be pre-Vedic. If the historians to be believed. You will find mentions of yoga.
In open sheds and Vedas as well. Lord Shiva who is popularly known as Adiyogi is also considered the very first individual to do yoga.
Religious Origins
India is a Hindu majority nation. But it also gave birth to 3 other religions – Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
Buddhism and Jainism came out of Hinduism in 5th century and 6th century respectively. While Sikhism, which is practiced by the people of Punjab is attributed to Guru Nanak Dev.
Diamonds
India is famous for its diamonds. Although diamonds are not exactly rare, India was one of the first countries to mine them. That is, until the Brazil became the number one production house!
As the records suggest as early as 4th century BC. Diamonds were mined. Some of the most famous diamonds in the world are from India, such as Moon of Baroda and Kohinoor.
Snakes and Ladders
We all have played the game, snakes and ladders as children. The popular board game was born from Moksha Patam.
The game was used to teach kids about morality, about good and bad. First off, needless to say, the ladder represented good. and the snakes represented the bad things. So, if you do good things, you will rise up. But if you did bad you will be pulled down.
The game was later adapted into different forms all over the world.
Chess
Many believe that chess originated in India. It has roots in an old game known as chathuranga. It was a strategy game, quite popular during the time of Gupta empire. Over the centuries, the game evolved and went from country to country, civilization to civilization, and transformed into what we see as chess.
Cultural/ Historical things India is known for
Kumbh Mela
There are many festivals celebrated in India, but perhaps the most important one is Kumbh Mela. It is held every 12 years, in the most holiest of the cities in India. Some call it the largest gathering of people in anywhere in the world.
Can you imagine more than 200 million visitors in one single place in a very short span of time? Well, that was kumbha mela of 2019 which took place in Prayagraj.
Varanasi
Varanasi, a popular destination among the foreign tourists, holds the crown of being the oldest inhabited city in the world. Located by the river Ganges the city is also known as Kashi or Banaras.
During the olden times many philosophers and travelers have come visited this city.
In 6th century BC there used to be Kingdom of Kashi which Varanasi was part of. And it was during that time Hiuen Tsang a Chinese philosopher-cum-traveller visited this eternal city. In his writings he has gone into the details of the importance of the city both religiously and culturally.
India is famous for her Monuments
Statue Of Unity
Interestingly. India has the tallest statue in the world. The statue of Unity, around 600 feet high statue, is located in Gujarat. Statue of Unity was inaugurated in 2018 by Prime Minister Modi.
The monument is dedicated to Sardar Vallabhai Patel, who was the first home minister of India.
The location of the statue is as beautiful as the statue itself. It soars high on the river island called Sadhu Bet.
Fun fact, statue of Liberty is only half the size of statue of Unity.
Hawa Mahal
Considered to be one of the most stunning monument in Rajasthan, Hawa Mahal is a must see in Jaipur.
Bandra Sea Link Bridge
One of the modern example of India’s engineering proweress is the majestic Bandra Worli Sea Link. Also known as Rajiv Gandhi Setu it provides a connection between southern and the western parts of the Mumbai.
Driving on this bridge is as much fun as it is to take pictures of it at the night time, truly a photograph’s delight.
Refined Sugar
Sugar is bad for us but we cannot help our cravings do we? It is interesting to note that the form of sugar that we consume today is the crystallised sugar first produced in India.
It is believed that creation of sugar crystals from the raw sugar cane first started in India thousands of years back.
Floating Post Office
Interestingly, India has a unique achievement when it comes to post offices. We have them at the most impossible locations, and now we have a floating one too! The post office is located on the beautiful Dal lake of Kashmir.
In fact, it was open quite recently in 2011 by the state Chief minister. More than a post office, it has become a popular tourist attraction as well.
India is famous for its beautiful nature
Tigers
India wildlife is as diverse as its culture. The country is particularly known for its population of tigers. As per the last consensus there are more than 3000 tigers here. Roaming in the wilds of India the number comes around to be 70%. Of the total tiger population in the world.
Thanks to her effort, the population of tigers have doubled from 1400 in 2006.
One Horned Rhino
Addition to India’s wildlife diversity is the one horned rhino. It is amazing how this animal was saved from extinction, all thanks to the effort of NGOs and the government. As it stands today the population of this wild animal is north of 3600. If you are planning to see this majestic animal, note that the majority of rhinos are in Kaziranga National Park in state of Assam.
Aviary
Mysore, located in the South of India, is popular for many things including a world class aviary. The unique thing about it is that more than 468 species of birds. And as per the Guinness Book of world record this is the largest variety of species of birds at an aviary.
Wettest Place on Earth
India is a great example of a nation with varied climate and diverse ecological systems. One such example of this diversity is Mawsynram, a small village in Meghalaya, which officially is the wettest place on the planet.
The place receives a record 11.87 mm rainfall annually. Actually, it is the nearby town of cherrapunji which used to hold this record, but now it is second. Interestingly, Cherrapunji received a rainfall of 26.46 mm on August 1st 1860 which is the highest ever for any place on earth!
Lions
We have talked about how India has a sizeable population of lions as well as tigers. It is worth mentioning that no other country in the world has both of these animals together.
While the Gir National park in Gujarat boasts of a safe habitat for majestic Asian lions, ferocious tiger is found across the country.
India is famous for its inventions/ discoveries
Cataract Surgery
Cataract is a common eye problem of the olds, modern technologies have made it easy to operate on this health condition.
But it was Sushruth the medical man from ancient India who first conducted this intricate cataract surgery in his book sushrut samhita. Written around 6th century he has detailed the procedures needed in such complex surgery.
Ayurveda
Ayurveda, an alternate source of medicine, also originated in India. It is extensively referenced in Atharvaveda which describes several medicinal plants and health issues that can be cured by them.
Other Sanskrit texts such as Charkha samitha gives further detail on Ayurveda.
Zero
Do you know the base of the decimal system i.e. zero was discovered in India. It was the genius mathematician Brahmagupta, way back in 628 AD, who put forward the definition of zero.
He also conceptualized negative integers mostly to signify debts and credits. India is known for inventing zero.
Another mathematician Aryabhatta shed light on Trigonometric functions. As well as further refined the use of zero within the decimal system.
The Biggest/ Unique things about India
Bollywood
India is known for its movie industry. Do you know Hollywood is not the biggest industry in the world but it is India’s film industry that produces the maximum number of movies and shows in the world.
Apart from the Bollywood there are a number of regional production houses, the biggest once are in South India. Including the names which produce movies in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.
Post Office Network
Surprised to know that there are 1.5 lakh post offices. In India? Out of these 80% of them. Oren less populated area, such as small towns and villages. As per the data from postal department. A single post office. Is needed. For a population of 7500 people. India is known for its vast network of post offices.
Highest Cricket Ground
India is known for housing the highest cricket ground in the world. Known as Chail Cricket Stadium, and located at a height of 2400+ metres, you can say it is quite cool to play a game of cricket here!
You’ll be surprised to know that it was built in 1893, by then King Bhupinder Singh. Not only you will enjoy the game here but you will see some of the Majestic vistas of the beautiful Himalayan.
Spices
You know that India is known as the land of spices. Not only in terms of variety, but also in terms of quantity. It produces. almost 70% of the world’s need. India is known for its spices!
In addition to that there are 75 varieties out of total 109 that are produced here in India.
As the largest exporter India sends it’s produce to countries all over the world including the USA.
Langar
There are many organizations in the world that provide free food to those in need. But do you know the famous golden temple of Amritsar has a daily longer which serves up 200,000 people in a single day!
Also, it is considered auspicious to both eat as well as work in the langer.
Silk
India is quite popular for its silk clothes specially silk sarees which are artistically made from North to South. But do you know that India is also one of the largest producer.
Of the top varieties that India produces, Malabari silk is widely used in making sarees and other clothing. In terms of production Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the 2 biggest producer of natural silk in India.
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