India travel guide - Wikitravel. India. Location. Flag. Quick Facts. Capital. Delhi. Government Federal Parliamentary Republic. Currency Indian Rupee (. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. This vast country offers the visitor a view of fascinating religions and ethnography, a vast variety of languages with more than 4. As it opens up to a globalised world, India still has a depth of history and intensity of culture that awes and fascinates the many who visit there. It is considered to be an emerging superpower. Therefore, your visit will indeed be an interesting one. To know more check. History. Indians date the Vedic Period as one of the significant role in Indian society, which scholars place in the second and first millennia BC continuing up to the 6th century BC, based on literary evidence. This is the period when the Vedas, one of the oldest and important books of Hinduism, were compiled. India's Largest Free Social Community Networking Site for Indian friends & Indian student.Friends,Gangs,Film News,Gossips,Photo Galleries,Wallpapers of Actor&Actress,Information On Study Abroad,free admissions,Upload Videos. Vatican City (CNN)Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping India's poor, has been declared a saint in a canonization Mass held by Pope Francis in the Vatican. Pope Francis delivered the formula. Shop Online for Smart Products Get Latest News in India Live Cricket Score Bollywood News Real Time Stock Quotes. Best of Ogilvy Volume 7; Sustainability & Pro Bono Marketing Showcase 2015-2016; OgilvyDo; The Red Papers; A Tribute: Noreen O'Leary; In Memoriam: Michael Ball; Ogilvy & Mather named World's Most Effective. BharatMatrimony - The No. 1 & Most Successful Indian Matrimonial Website. Trusted by millions of Indian Brides & Grooms globally. Indiatimes.com brings you the news, articles, stories and videos on entertainment, latest lifestyle, culture & new technologies emerging worldwide. Mother Teresa: Where Are Her Millions? T his article is the second bomb about the activities of Missionaries of Charity, after Sister Susan Shields dropped the 1st bomb, creating jaw-dropping shockwaves. More bombs are in the. The earliest archaeological traces are from 7. BC in Mehrgarh, which grew to be the . By 3. 30. 0 BC, this civilization had well- planned towns and well- laid roads, but gave no evidence of weapons or fortifications. This declined and disintegrated around 1. BC, possibly due to drought and geological disturbances. Most historians say that the Vedic people, or Aryans, were later migrants, who encountered a civilization in decline and perhaps hastened that decline. According to this view, the Vedic people eventually occupied most of North India, while the descendants of the Indus Valley cultures moved south and gave rise to the Dravidian culture. The minority view challenges this Aryan Migration theory, claiming that the Indus Valley people were in fact the ones who compiled the Vedas. Present- day Hinduism traces its roots to the Vedas, but is also heavily influenced by literature that came afterwards, like the Upanishads, the Puranas, the great epics — Ramayana and Mahabharata, and the Bhagavad Gita. By tradition, these books claim to only expand and distil the knowledge that is already present in the Vedas. Some rituals of Hinduism took shape during that period. Most North- Indian languages come from Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, and are classified as part of the Indo- European group of languages. In the 1st millennium BC, various schools of thought in philosophy developed, enriching Hinduism greatly. Most of them claimed to derive from the Vedas. However, three of these schools - Sikhism , Buddhism and Jainism - questioned the authority of the Vedas and they are now recognized as separate religions. Notable among them were the Mauryas and the Guptas. This period saw major mathematical and astronomical advancements, many of which were ahead of their time and were rediscovered later in the West. In particular, Aryabhata theorized that the earth was a sphere that rotates about its axis and revolves around the sun. He also developed a calendar that is followed to this day. The practice of Buddhism, in particular, disappeared from India's heartland, though Buddha himself was incorporated into the Hindu pantheon. Jainism continues to be practised by a significant number who are ambivalent about whether they consider themselves Hindus or not. Hinduism itself went through significant changes. The importance of Vedic deities like Indra and Agni reduced and Puranic deities like Vishnu, Shiva, their various Avatars and family members gained prominence. Gradually the raiders started staying as rulers, and soon much of North India was ruled by Muslims. The bravery of the Rajputs in resisting invasion of their land is legendary and celebrated in ballads all over the forts of Rajasthan. Prominent among the Rajputs wes Rana Pratap, the ruler of Chittorgarh, who spent years in exile fighting Akbar, the third of the Mughals. Eventually, however, the Rajputs were subdued, and the Rajput- Mughal alliance remained strong till the end of the empire. This period of North India was the golden age for Indian art, architecture, and literature, producing the monumental gems of Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal. Hindi and Urdu also took root in medieval North India. During the Islamic period, some Hindus also converted to Islam, some due to force, some due to inducements, and some to escape the caste system. Today, some 1. 3% of the Indian population is Muslim. Sikhism, another major religion, was established in Punjab during the Mughal period. Relations between Sikhism and the Mughals varied over time. The Golden Temple at Amritsar was built by the fourth guru, Guru Ram Das Ji. By the time of its tenth Guru - Guru Gobind Singh, however, relations were hostile. Conflict between the Sikhs and the Mughals was one of the causes for the eventual decline of the Mughal empire. The other cause was the challenge of the 'Marathas in Maharashtra, which was started by Shivaji and carried on by the Peshwas. The Marathas established a short- lived confederacy that was almost as large as the Mughal empire. Marathas lost their command over India after the third battle of Panipat, which in turn paved a way for British Colonialism. The period from 5. AD to 1. 60. 0 AD is called the classical period dominated by great South Indian kingdoms. Prominent among them were the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas and Vijayanagara empires who ruled from present day Karnataka and the Pallavas, Cheras, Pandyas and Cholas who ruled from present day Tamil Nadu & Kerala. Among them, the Cholas are widely recognised to be the most powerful of the South Indian kingdoms, with their territory stretching as far north as Pataliputra and their influence spreading as far east as Sumatra, Western Borneo and Southern Vietnam at the height of their power. Some of the grandest Hindu and Jain monuments that exist in India were built during this time in South and East India. Prominent among these were the British, French and the Portuguese. The British East India Company made Calcutta their headquarters in 1. They also established subsidiary cities like Bombay and Madras. Calcutta later went onto to become 'the second city of the empire after London'. By the 1. 9th century, the British had, one way or the other assumed political control of virtually all of India, though the Portuguese and the French too had their enclaves along the coast. Many Indians converted to Christianity during the period, for pretty much the same reasons as they converted to Islam, though forcible conversions ended in British India after 1. Queen Victoria's proclamation promised to respect the religious faiths of Indians. However, independence was simultaneously granted to the secular state of India and the smaller Islamic state of Pakistan, and the orgy of Hindu- Muslim blood- letting that followed Partition led to the deaths of at least half a million and the migration of 1. These policies were aimed at attaining . India achieved self- sufficiency in food grains by the 1. However these policies also led to shortages, slow growth and large- scale corruption. After a balance- of- payments crisis in 1. The IT and the business outsourcing industries have been the drivers for the growth, while manufacturing and agriculture, which have not experienced reforms, are lagging. About 6. 0% of Indians live on agriculture and around 3. The two countries have fought four wars, three of them over the status of Kashmir. The third war between the two countries in 1. East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh. India continues to experience occasional terrorist attacks that are widely believed to originate in Pakistan and ordered by its military- intelligence complex. Though current relations are peaceful, there is still military rivalry and no land crossings are allowed between the two countries, though one border crossing between Sikkim and Tibet was re- opened in 2. Security concerns over Pakistan and China prompted India to test nuclear weapons twice (including the 1. India wants to be accepted as a legitimate nuclear power and is campaigning for a permanent Security Council seat. Constitutional government and democratic freedoms have been safeguarded throughout its 6. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, suspending elections and human rights. But the current obsession, at least among the educated elite, is over whether India will be able overtake China in economic growth. The President, indirectly elected, is the Head of State, but his or her position, while not entirely ceremonial, has limited powers. In practice, the Prime Minister is seen to wield the most authority, and runs the government with her/his cabinet. The Parliament is bi- cameral. The Lok Sabha, the lower house, is directly elected by adult franchise, while the Rajya Sabha, or the upper house, is indirectly elected. The Lok Sabha is the more powerful of the two, primarily because a majority in the Lok Sabha is required to form a government and pass budgets. India has a vast number of political parties,recently got a highly stable government led by hugely popular Narendra Modi where a single party got absolute majority after a slew of unstable coalition led governments in which no single party has secured a majority in the Lok Sabha, leading to unstable governments and raucous politics. However, unlike neighbouring Pakistan, transition of power has always been peaceful and always constitutional. India has a strong and independent judiciary and a free press. Each of these have their own legislatures, with government run by a chief minister and a cabinet. A visitor has only a miniscule possibility of getting caught in these demonstrations. Daylight saving is not observed. It is bounded to the north and northeast by the snow- capped Himalayas, the tallest mountain range in the world. In addition to protecting the country from invaders, they also feed the perennial rivers Ganga, Yamuna (Jamuna) and Sindhu (Indus) on whose plains India's civilization flourished. Though most of the Sindhu is in Pakistan now, three of its tributaries flow through Punjab.
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