Amazing Facts About India

Do you know that Christopher Columbus discovered America by accident? In fact attracted by India’s great wealth, he embarked on a journey to discover a sea route to India, but accidentally found America. Until the British arrived in India, it was considered the wealthiest country in the world. The time when most of the modern cultures were nothing but nomadic forest dwellers, the Indians had already established Indus Valley Civilization and were flourishing. The Indians were the pioneers in the field of astrology, astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. The modern India is nothing but a tattered remnant of its magnificent past, shattered and looted recurrently by foreign invaders. Albert Einstein once said, “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” There are many interesting and little known facts about India which have been compiled below. Read the article to find.

Amazing Facts About India

• The name India has been derived from the River Indus. In and around the Indus valley, the Harappa Civilization, one of the earliest civilizations of mankind, started taking its roots.
• It is said that the first bathroom was built in India about 4500 years ago.
• The first university in the history of mankind was established in Takshila in 700 BC. The University of Nalanda was built in the 4th century and was considered one of the greatest landmarks in the field of education.
• The oldest inhabited city in the world is Varanasi or Banaras.
• The study of Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus were first devised in India. An Indian mathematician-astronomer Aryabhatta invented zero.
• Over 2,600 years ago, the father of surgery Sushruta and his team performed complex surgeries such as cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
• Chess was invented in India and was known as ‘Chaturanga’ during those days. In the 13th century, Gyandev, a poet-saint invented the game of Snakes and Ladders. During those days, the game was known as ‘Mokshapat’ and held a significant meaning. The snakes represented vices, while the ladders stood for good virtues. The essence of the game was that the ladders or good virtues take people directly to heaven while snakes or vices take them to heaven through various cycles of re-birth.
• The art of yoga originated in India around 5,000 years ago.
• Martial art traces its roots to India that was later spread across Asia by the Buddhist missionaries.
• India is the birthplace of religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The other religions such as Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam first started arriving in India around first millennium CE. 11 different religions are practiced in modern day India.
• India is one of the earliest manufacturers of cotton. Roman emperors wore this delicate fabric from India, which they fondly called as the “woven winds.” Mughal emperors, on the other hand, fondly referred to cotton as “morning dew” and “cloth of running water.
• The Vishnu Temple, situated in the city of Tirupati, built in the 10th century, is the world’s largest religious pilgrimage destination, larger than both Rome and Mecca, with an average of 30,000 visitors every day.
• The Indian Railways is the biggest employer in the world, employing over a million people.
• India has the highest bridge in the world called the “Baily Bridge”. Located in the Ladakh Valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan Mountains, the bridge was built in the year 1982 by the Indian army.
• Bombay, modern day Mumbai, is India’s largest city and the financial capital. In 1661, British engineers built a causeway uniting all seven original islands of Bombay into a single landmass.
• Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. It took 22,000 workers and 22 years to be completed.
• The Indian film industry, known as the Bollywood, is the largest film industry in the world and is situated in the city of Mumbai. There are several other regional film industries, which also exist side by side in India such as Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi.
• The British introduced cricket in India and cricket has been the most popular sport ever since. The highest cricket ground in the world is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh, India. It was built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, and the cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
• According to the latest census reports, about 50% of the Indians are under 25 years.
• According to the reports of the Gemological Institute of America, until the year 1896, India was the only source for diamonds in the world.
• India exports software to 90 countries.
• Considering the volume of pills produced, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s second largest behind China.
• India is one of the three countries which makes supercomputers, the other two being USA and Japan.
• India has the highest number of post offices in the world.
• The World’s First Granite Temple is Brihadeeswara Temple, situated at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. The ‘shikhara’ of the temple was made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. It was built during the reign of Rajaraja Chola in just five years.
• More than two million people of Indian origin living in the U.S. India also send the highest number of college students to the US universities.
• Did you know it is illegal to take Indian rupees out of the country?