AMAZING FACTS ABOUT INDIA.........(Must read & share ).....

1. The name India is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were
the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshipers referred to the river Indus as the
Sindhu. The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name Hindustan
combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
2. The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who
invented the digit zero.
3. India exports software to 90 countries.
4. Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist
missionaries.
5. Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.
6. The Worlds first university was established inTakshashila in 700BC. More than
10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. TheUniversity
of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of
ancient India in the field of education.
7. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable
language for computer software.(a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987).
8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father
of medicine consolidatedAyurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining
its rightful place in our civilization.
9. 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 Indias wealth.
10. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word
Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also
derived from Sanskrit Nou.
11. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds
of years before the astronomer Smart in 5th century that time taken by earth to orbit
the sun 365.258756484 days.
12. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the
concept of what is known as thePythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th
century long before the European mathematicians.
13. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by
Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans
used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of
53) with specific names as early as 5000 BC during the Vedic period. Even today, the
largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
14. IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific
community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Chandra
Bose and not Marconi.

15. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
16. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 BC, a beautiful lake called
Sudarshana was constructed on the hills ofRaivataka during Chandragupta Mauryas
time.
17. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
18. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his
time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs,
fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of
anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used.
Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion,
metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
19. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago,
Indians establishedHarappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
20. The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are
followed by 25% of the worlds population.
21. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
22. India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without
violence.
23. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
24. India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
25. India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer
indigenously.
26. The first six Mogul Emperors of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father
to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.
27. The Worlds First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil
Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. Also, this
magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD)
during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
28. India is the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world
AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).
29. 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 cowry shells and
dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the
meaning is the same i.e. good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of rebirths.
30. The worlds highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893
after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.

31. India has the most post offices in the world!

32. The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a
million people!
33. Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. (Source:
Gemological Institute of America)
34. The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh
valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by
the Indian Army in August 1982.
35. Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C.
respectively.
36. Islam is Indias and the worlds second largest religion.
37. There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country,
including the Muslim world.
38. The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin.
They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
39. Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D.
respectively.
40. The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in
Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
41. The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the worlds
largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an
average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
42. Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the
Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
43. India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka,
Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and
political persecution.
44. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs
his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
45. India is the worlds largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
46. India never invaded any country in her last 10,000 years of history.
47. India is the worlds largest democracy.
48. Varanasi, also known as Banaras, was called the ancient city when Lord Buddha
visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world
today.
UPDATED ON 14/12/2010.
49. Most historians agree that the first recorded account of plastic surgery is found in

ancient Indian Sanskrit texts.

50. India has the worlds 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.
51. With 150,000 post offices, India has the largest postal network in the world.
52. India is the worlds largest producer of dried beans, such as kidney beans and
chickpeas. It also leads the world in banana exports; Brazil is second.
53. 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.
54. India is the birthplace of chess.l The original word for chess is the Sanskrit
chaturanga, meaning four members of an armywhich were mostly likely
elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers.
55. Hindi and English are the official languages of India. The government also
recognizes 17 other languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali, Manipuri,
Konkani, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi,
Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). Apart from these languages, about 1,652 dialects are
spoken in the country.
56. Indias pastoral communities are largely dependent on dairy and have made India
the largest milk-producing country in the world.
57. India has the worlds third largest road network at 1.9 million miles. It also has
the worlds second largest rail network, which is the worlds largest civilian employer
with 16 million workers.
58. India experiences six seasons: summer, autumn, winter, spring, summer
monsoon, and winter monsoon.
59. India is the worlds largest tea producer, and tea (chai) is its most popular
beverage.
60. The Taj Mahal (crown palace) was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (15921666) 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.
61. 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.
62. 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. Aryans spoke and imported Sanskrit into India, which is the
mother of all European languages. 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.

63. Alexander the Great invaded India partly because he wanted to solve the mystery
of the ocean, which he had been told was a huge, continuous sea that flowed in a
circle around the land. When he reached the Indian Ocean, he sacrificed some bulls
to Poseidon for leading him to his goal.
64. Greek sculpture strongly influenced many portrayals of Indian gods and goddess,
particularly after the conquest of Alexander the Great around 330B.C. In fact, early
Indian gods had Greek features and only later did distinct Indian styles emerge.
65. 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.
66. 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 ministers coat was popularized by the
Beatles and worn by such famous people as Johnny Carson (1925-2005) and Sammy
Davis Jr. (1925-1990)
JAI HIND........