Orasele care le-am vizitat
 

• Bombay
• Calcutta
• Darbhanga
• Patna
• Bodhgaya
• Varanasi

Bombay

Mumbai, fost Bombay, este capitala statului indian Maharashtra si este cel mai populat oras indian. Mumbai este situat pe o insula în apropierea coastei vestice a Indiei. Cu o populatie metropolitana estimata Mumbai - vedere din satelitde 17 milioane de locuitori (2005) [1], este a treia cea mai mare zona metropolitana din lume, iar împreuna cu orasele satelite învecinate formeaza una dintre cele mai populate aglomerari urbane. Orasul, care are un port adânc natural, este totodata cel mai mare port din India vestica, desfasurând jumatate din traficul de pasageri al Indiei. Mumbai este capitala comerciala a Indiei si gazduieste importante institutii financiare cum ar fi Banca Indiei, Bursa de marfuri Bombay si sediile grupate ale multor companii indiene. Cu mari oportunitati de afaceri si un nivel de trai relativ ridicat, Mumbai a atras oameni din întreaga Indie si din Asia de sud, transformându-se într-un oras cosmopolit cu numeroase comunitati si culturi. În Mumbai este situat Bollywood, epicentrul hindi al industriei de film si televiziune, care produce anual cel mai mare numar de filme din lume. Mumbai este unul dintre putinele orase care gazduieste pe teritoriul sau un parc national. Numele Mumbai este un eponim, derivat etimologic din Mumba — numele zeitei locale hinduse Mumbadevi si Aai — însemnând mama în limba marathi. În secolul al XVI-lea, portughezii au numit regiunea Bom Bahia, care înseamna Golf bun. Acesta s-a transformat ulterior în Bomaím sau Bombaim, nume sub care este cunoscut si astazi în portugheza; si dupa ce britanicii l-au cucerit, numele i-a fost anglicizat în Bombay. Numele a fost schimbat oficial din Bombay în Mumbai în 1995, dar vechiul nume este înca mult folosit în Occident, de multi dintre locuitorii orasului si de institutiile renumite.

Calcutta

Calcutta (scris si Calcuta sau Kolkata) este un oras în India cu o populatie de peste 4.600.000 de locuitori. Pâna în 1911 a fost capitala coloniei India Britanica si resedinta guvernatorului general al East India Company. În prezent este capitala provinciei federale Bengalul de Vest din India. Calcutta este centru principal de comert, afaceri si finante al Indiei de est si al statelor nordestice. Este sediul Bursei din Calcutta, a doua bursa ca marime din India. De asemenea orasul este un port major comercial si militar, si contine singurul aeroport international din regiune. Desi Calcutta era la un timp capitala Indiei si cel mai dezvoltat oras, a trecut printr-un declin economic dupa independenta statului din cauza situatiei politice instabile si cresterii miscarilor sindicale si laburiste. Între anii 1960 si anii 1990, foarte mult capital a iesit din oras din cauza închiderii fabricilor si mutarea afacerilor spre alte centre precum Bombay. Totusi, din anii 1990 încoace, economia orasului a redevenit dinamica din cauza liberalizarii economice din India si alegerea unui Ministrul Sef reformist, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

Darbhanga

Darbhanga (derbŭng´ge) is a city and a municipal corporation in and headquarters of Darbhanga district and Darbhanga Division in the state of Bihar, India. It gets its name from "Dwar Banga" or the Gate to Bengal.

The history of Darbhanga dates back to the Ramayana and Mahabharata periods. According to the Vedic sources, the Videhas of Aryan stock first migrated to the area from the banks of Saraswati in Punjab. They were guided to the east of Sadanira (Gandak river) by Agni, the God of Fire. Settlements were established and, thus, flourished the kingdom of Videhas-the Selfless. In course of time Videhas came to be ruled by a line of kings called Janaks. In this line of kings there was a very famous king named Mithi. To commemorate his greatness the territory was named as MITHILA. Another famous king was Janak Sirdhwaja, father of Sita. The legends speak of various learned men patronized by Janak Sirdhwaja, who himself was an erudite scholar. Among them prominent were Yagyavalkya, who codified the Hindu law in his Yagyavalkya Smriti and Gautam, who had various valuable philosophical treatises to his credit. King Janak was himself a great philosopher and his ideas have been eternally enshrined in the Upanishads.

Traditions also speak of Kapil Muni's relationship with this area that propounded the Sankhya philosophy. Association of this area with Pandavas is also evident by the belief that they stayed here during their period of exile.

The learned men like Vidyapati, Kumaril Bhatt, Mandan Mishra, Nagarjun, Vibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhya and Vidushi Bhariti belonged to this reason.

Patna

Patnā pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: पटना) is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. Megasthenes (350 BCE-290 BCE), in his book Indica has mentioned that the city of Palibothra (Pataliputra, modern day Patna) was situated on the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Arennovoas (Sonabhadra - Hiranyawah) and was 9 miles long and 1.75 miles wide. [1]

The modern city of Patna lies on the southern bank of the Ganges, as it flows past with the combined waters of the rivers Ghagra, Son and Gandak. At the point where the city is located, the sacred Ganges looks more sea than river: mighty, wide and never-ending.

A bustling city of 1,800,000 people, the city is approximately 25 km long and 9 km to 10 km wide.

The Buddhist and Jain pilgrim centres of Vaishali, Rajgir or Rajgriha, Nalanda, Bodhgaya, and Pawapuri are all nearby. Patna is a sacred city for Sikhs also. Their tenth and last "human" guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was born here. It is the ideal gateway for all the places on this circuit. The monuments in and around the city take one down the history to its glorious past.

Apart from being the administrative centre of the state and its historic importance, the city is also a major educational centre and medical centre. It's the epicentre for all the students from Bihar preparing for various competitive examinations. Various educational instituitions are coming up here.

The walled old area, called Patna City by the locals, is also a major trading centre.

The population of Patna is over 1,885,470 , The population density is 1132 persons per square kilometre. There are 839 females to every 1,000 males. Overall Literacy rate is 62.9%, and female Literacy rate is 50.8%. Source – District Elementary Education Report Card 2004 of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi

Many languages are spoken in Patna. Hindi is the official language of the state of Bihar. Thanks to the British influence since early days, English is also spoken extensively.

The native dialect is Magahi named after Magadha the ancient name of Bihar . Other dialects from other regions of Bihar spoken widely in Patna are Angika, Bhojpuri, and Maithili. Other languages spoken in Patna include Urdu, Bengali, and Oriya.

Though geographically located in the Magadh region of Bihar, there are ample people who are natives from the Bhojpur, Mithila, Vajj and Ang regions. These are the five regions of Bihar, which differ from each other slightly. Intermarriages and cultural intemixing between the people from these five regions have always been there. Hence it may be difficult for an outsider to even discern the differences between them.

Bodhgaya

Bodh Gaya or Bodhgaya(24° 41' 60N, 84° 58' 60E) is a city in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous for being the place of Buddha's attainment of Enlightenment.

Historically, it was known as the Bodhimanda (ground round the Bodhi-tree), and there was a large monastic settlement there. The main monastery of Bodhgaya used to be called the Bodhimanda-vihāra (Pali). Now it is called the Mahabodhi Temple.

For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is the most important of the main four pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha, the other three being Kushinagar, Lumbini, and Sarnath. In 2002, Mahabodhi Temple, located in Bodh Gaya, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The complex, located about 96 kilometers from Patna, at 24°41′43″N, 84°59′38″E,[2] contains the Mahabodhi Temple with the diamond throne (called the Vajrasana) and the holy Bodhi tree. This tree was originally a sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka, itself grown from a sapling of the original Bodhi tree.

It is believed that 250 years after the Enlightenment of the Buddha, Emperor Asoka visited Bodh Gaya. He is considered to be the founder of the original Mahabodhi temple. It consisted of an elongated spire crowned by a miniature stupa and a chhatravali on a platform. A double flight of steps led up to the platform and the upper sanctum. The mouldings on the spire contained Buddha images in niches. Some historians believe that the temple was constructed or renovated in the 1st century during the Kushan period. With the decline of Buddhism in India, the temple was abandoned and forgotten, buried under layers of soil and sand.

The temple was later restored by Sir Alexander Cunningham as part of his work for the British Archaeological Society in the late 19th century. In 1883, Cunningham along with J. D. Beglar and Dr Rajendralal Miitra painstakingly excavated the site. Extensive renovation work was carried out to restore Bodh Gaya to its former glory.

Varanasi

Vārāṇasī pronunciation (Hindi: वाराणसी, IPA: [βɑrɑɳɐsiː]), also known as Benares, Banaras, or Benaras (Hindi: बनारस, Banāras, IPA: [bɐnɑrɐs]), or Kashi or Kasi (Hindi: काशी, Kāśī), is a famous Hindu holy city situated on the banks of the river Ganges (Ganga) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, dating back thousands of years and contemporaneous with the Sumer civilization.[3] The city is called Kasi, "the luminous" in the Rigveda.[4] It is often also referred to as "city of temples and learning."

The culture of Varanasi is deeply associated with the river Ganga and the river's religious importance. The city has been a cultural and religious center in northern India for thousands of years. Varanasi has its own style of classical Hindustani music, and has produced prominent philosophers, poets, writers and musicians in Indian history, including Kabir, Ravi Das, Munshi Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ustad Bismillah Khan. Varanasi is the home of Banaras Hindu University. Tulsidas wrote his Ramcaritmanas here, and Gautam Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath near Kashi. The language spoken in Varanasi is Kashika Bhojpuri related to Hindi.