5 Facts of India

The capital of India is New Delhi

The Republic of India is one of the largest nations in the world, and is presently home to over 1,2 billion people. With a history spanning thousands of years, it is a country of immense historical, religious, and cultural significance. Despite the economic and population challenges India has faced, it is the largest democracy in the world, in addition to being considered one of the world's fastest growing economies.

5 Facts You Might Not Know

1

India is a very diverse country, and as a consequence there are many languages and dialects in common usage. The dominant language of Hindi is only spoken by 30-40% of the population. Some other languages recognized by the government as official are Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, and English.

2

The Indus Valley civilization, upon which the current nation of India is located, began roughly 4,000 years ago. During this time, the first Hindu texts were created, called the vedas. This makes Hinduism, the main religion of India, the oldest living religion in the world. While India is commonly known as a Hindu country, Muslims now make up over 10% of the religious population.

3

Education in India has a similarly lengthy history--Takshila, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is considered by many to be the world's first University. More than 10,000 students from around the world studied in Takshila, which specialized in the teaching of medicine.

4

The popular game of chess is believed to have originated in India, during its Golden Age under the Gupta empire. It was then known as chaturanga, and quickly spread across the world in different forms and variations. One notable difference between chaturanga and chess is that instead of a bishop, there was an elephant!

5

India is the world's largest producer of milk and dairy products. The history of vegetarianism in India makes it uniquely suited to the industry. Interestingly, most of this milk does not come from cows, but instead from buffalo!