Tuesday, 3 April 2012

20 Interesting Facts About . . . India

1. India is about 1/3 the size of the United States, yet it is the second   
    most populous country in the world, with a population of 1,166,079,217. 
    India is the seventh largest country in the world, at 1.27 million square 
    miles.


2. India is the largest democracy in the world.


3. The Kumbh Mela (or Grand Pitcher Festival) is a huge Hindu religious 
    festival that takes place in India every 12 years. In 2001, 60 million 
    people attended, breaking the record for the world’s biggest gathering. 
    The mass of people was photographed from space by a satellite.


4. Many Indians find toilet paper repellent and consider it cleaner to splash 
   water with the left hand in the appropriate direction. Consequently, the 
   left hand is considered unclean and is never used for eating.


5. To avoid polluting the elements (fire, earth, water, air), followers of Zo
    roastrianism in India don’t bury their dead, but instead leave bodies in 
    buildings called “Towers of Silence” for the vultures to pick clean. After 
    the bones dry, they are swept into a central well. It is illegal for 
    foreigners to import or export Indian currency (rupees)


6. It is illegal to take Indian currency (rupees) out of India.


7. India leads the world with the most murders (32,719), with Russia 
    taking second at 28,904 murders per year.


8. India has one of the world’s highest rates of abortion.


9. More than a million Indians are millionaires, yet most Indians live on 
    less than two dollars a day. An estimated 35% of India’s population 
    lives below the poverty line.

10. Cows can be found freely wandering the streets of India’s cities. They 

     are considered sacred and will often wear a tilak, a Hindu symbol of 
     good fortune. Cows are considered one of humankind’s seven mothers 
     because she offers milk as does one’s natural mother.


11. Dancing is one of India’s most highly developed arts and was an 
     integral part of worship in the inner shrines of every temple. It is 
     notable for its expressive hand movements.

12. Rabies is endemic in India. Additionally, “Delhi Belly” or diarrhea is 

     commonplace due to contaminated drinking water.


13. Many Indian wives will never say her husband’s name aloud, as it is a 
     sign of disrespect. When addressing him, the wife will use several 
     indirect references, such as “ji” or “look here” or “hello,” or even refer to 
     him as the father of her child.


14. A widow is considered bad luck—otherwise, her husband wouldn’t have 
     died. Elderly women in the village might call a widow “the one who ate 
     her husband.” In some orthodox families, widows are not allowed near 
     newlyweds or welcomed at social gatherings.


15. India is the birthplace of chess.l The original word for “chess” is the 
     Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were 
     mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers.

16. The Indian flag has three horizontal bands of color: saffron for courage 

     and sacrifice, white for truth and peace, and green for faith, fertility, 
     and chivalry. An emblem of a wheel spinning used to be in the center of 
     the white band, but when India gained independence, a Buddhist 
     dharma chakra, or wheel of life, replaced the spinning wheel. 
     Khajuraho’s exotic art may suggest that sex was a step for attaining 
     ultimate liberation or moksha.


17. The temples of Khajuraho are famous for their erotic sculptures and are 
     one of the most popular tourist attractions in India. Scholars still 
     debate the purpose of such explicit portrayals of sexual intercourse, 
     which sometimes involves animals.


18. 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.


19. In ancient and medieval India, suttees, in which a recently widowed 
     woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, were 
     common.


20. The Himalayas—from the Sanskrit hima, meaning “snow,” and alaya, 
     meaning “abode”—are found in the north of India. They extend 1,500 
     miles and are slowly growing taller, by almost an inch (2.5 cm) a year. 
     Several ancient Indian monasteries are found nestled in the grandeur of 
     these mountains.

No comments:

Post a Comment