Hindu literature

• India is a country that occupies the greater part of South Asia
• India is made up of 28 states and eight union territories, and its national capital is New Delhi
• India became the world's most populous country in 2023, according to estimates by the United Nations
• Throughout its history, India has been intermittently disturbed by incursions from beyond its northern mountain wall
• The coming of Islam, brought from the northwest by Arab, Turkish, Persian, and other raiders beginning early in the 8th century CE, was especially important
• By the 13th century much of the subcontinent was under Muslim rule, and the number of Muslims steadily increased
• Only after the arrival of the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama in 1498 and the subsequent establishment of European maritime supremacy in the region did India become exposed to major external influences arriving by sea
• Direct administration by the British, which began in 1858, effected a political and economic unification of the subcontinent
• When British rule came to an end on August 14-15, 1947, celebrated annually as Independence Day, the subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries-India, with a majority of Hindus, and Pakistan, with a majority of Muslims, the eastern portion of Pakistan later split off to form Bangladesh
• India remains one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world
• Religious minorities, including Muslim, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, still account for a significant proportion of the population
• At independence, India was blessed with several leaders of world stature, notably Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, who were able to galvanize the masses at home and bring prestige to India abroad
• The country has played an increasing role in global affairs
• The process of migrations and intermarriage that added significantly to the Indian ethnic mix are those of Persia, Scythians, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, and Afghans
• India's 2023 population is estimate 17.76 at 1,428,627,663 people, equivalent to % of the total world population
• Indian languages


  • Indo-European (Indo-Iranian branch)
  • Dravidian
  • Austroasiatic (Munda)
  • Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman)
• 22 languages are mentioned in the constitution of India: Assamese, Bengali (Bangla), Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Marathi, Nepal, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, and Urdu all belong to the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu belong to the Dravidian language family, and Manipuri (Meitei), Bodo, and Santali belong to other language families
• Hinduism


  Major world religion originating on the Indian subcontinent and comprising several and varied systems of philosophy, belief, and ritual
• Other religions of India are Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism
• School system in India

  • Lower primary (age 6 to 10)
  • Upper primary (11 and 12)
  • High (13 to 15)
  • Higher secondary (17 and 18)
• Students have to learn a common curriculum largely (except for regional changes in mother tongue) till the end of high school, and there is some amount of specialization possible at the higher secondary level
• Students throughout the country have to learn three languages (namely, English, Hindi and their mother tongue) except in regions where Hindi is the mother tongue and in some streams
• Government of India


  • Influenced by the British model of parliamentary democracy and principles from the US Constitution
  • Three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial
  • Union (central) and state governments have defined powers and responsibilities
• The constitution of India is one of the longest and most detailed in the world, with 395 articles, 10 (later 12) schedules, and more than 90 amendments
• Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the nationalist movement against the British rule
• Matters on which the Indian states may legislate

  • Law and order
  • Public health and sanitation
  • Local government
  • Betting and gambling
  • Alcoholic beverages
• Matters requiring legislation that are specifically covered in the related powers lie within the exclusive domain of the central government
• An exceedingly important power of the Indian government

  Creating new states, combining states, changing boundaries, and terminating a state's existence
• Union territories


  Their powers are more limited than those of the states
• The constitution establishes a more dominant role for the central government over the states
• Mahatma Gandhi


  Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the nationalist movement against the British rule of India
• Gandhi is internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest (satyagraha) to achieve political and social progress
• Indian subcontinent


  The great landmass of South Asia, the home of one of the world's oldest and most influential civilizations
• The Indian subcontinent comprises the present-day Republic of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
• The Indian subcontinent is effectively sheltered by wide expanses of ocean to the south and the massive Himalayan range to the north
• The Indian subcontinent may be divided into two major divisions: the Indus and Ganges river basins in the north, and the Deccan plateau region in the south
• The Narmada River flows through the belt of hills and forests separating the northern and southern regions of the Indian subcontinent
• The northern parts of India represent a series of contrasting regions, each with its own distinctive cultural history and population
• The Ganges River valley is an area of high-density population, moderate rainfall, and high agricultural productivity
• The Brahmaputra River flows from the Tibetan Himalayas through the Assam valley, bounded by various hill ranges