Welcome to my India page. I am Kalathur Vijai and I am currently a freshman at the State University of New York at Buffalo, New York. In this page you will find all the facts about India and some quotations on India by some great people. There are also pictures of India and a map of India. You will also find some great links to other good Indian sites. To know more about me read my resume. Don't forget to sign my guestbook.
ABOUT INDIA
Official Name: Republic of India
Date of Independence: August 15, 1947
National Name: Bharat
Capital: New Delhi
Government: World's largest democracy
Defence: 1,300,000 soldiers between Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Border Patrol (Fourth largest army in the world)
Geographical Area: 3,287,263 sq.km.
Population: 1,000,000,000 (Second largest population in the world)
National Bird: Peacock
National Animal: The Royal Bengal Tiger
Languages: 18 major, ~1600 minor (Hindi being the National Offical Language)
Religions: Hinduism (700M), Islam (105M), Christianity (22M), Sikhism (18M), Buddhism (6.6M), Jainism (4.5M), Judaism, and Zoroastrianism
Click here for a map of India
Facts About India
India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century CE was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for the computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years
ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British in the early 17th Century. Cristopher Columbus was attracted by her wealth.
The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAV Gatih. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit `Nou'.
Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
The value of pi was first calculated by 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 came from India. Quadratic
equations were propounded by Sridharacharya in the 11th century.
largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas
Indians used numbers as big as 1053 with specific names as early 5000 BC during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera:1012.
According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world.
USA based IEEE proves what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless
communication was Prof Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in
Saurashtra. According to Saka King Rudradaman-I of 150 CE a
beautiful lake aptly called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the
hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health
scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like
cesareans, contracts, artificial legs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
When Europeans were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years
ago,Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus
Valley Civilization)
Quotes About India
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 grandmother of tradition. Our
most valuable and most instructive materials in the
history of man are treasured up in India only."
French scholar Romain Rolland said:
"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."
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."
National Geographic
"Stare at the underbelly of Asia and behold the Indian behemoth: 950 million people, one-sixth of the world's population, who live in a country one-third the size of the U.S., who speak more than a thousand languages and dialects, and who support more than 20 political parties in the world's biggest and perhaps boldest experiment in democracy."
Lonely Planet
"There are a few countries on earth with the enormous variety that India has to offer. It's a place that somehow gets into your blood. Love it or hate it you can never ignore India. It's not an easy country to handle, and more than a few visitors are only too happy to finally get on an aircraft and fly away. Yet a year later they'll be hankering to get back."
Lonely Planet
"Basically India is what you make of it and what you want it to be. If you want to see temples, there are temples in profusion with enough styles and types to confuse anybody. If it's history you want, India has plenty of it; the forts, abandoned cities, ruins, battlefields and monuments all have their tales to tell. If you simply want to lie on the beach there are enough of those to satisfy the most avid sun worshipper. If walking and the open air is your thing then head for the trekking routes of the Himalaya, some of which are as wild and deserted as you could ask for. If you simply want to meet the real Indian you'll come face to face with it all the time -a trip on Indian trains and buses may not always be fun, but it certainly is an experience. India is not a place you simply and clinically 'see'; it's a total experience, an assault on the senses, a place you'll never forget."
