Snigdha TiwariDid you know that India used to be an island more than 100 million years ago? About 50 million years ago, it collided with the Asian continent and thus was born the Himalayas. Fascinating, isn’t it? Even the great Mark Twain once said – “India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most artistic materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!” Now, with over a billion people from all kinds of religions and ethnicities, India is not only the second most populated country, but it also has in store some mind-blowing facts and achievements under its belt. So, how about finding some Interesting Facts On India That You Had No Idea About? Let’s find out.
Here are the 31 Fun Facts About India That You Had No Idea About:
1. The name ‘India’ originated from a river. ‘India’ was acquired from the River Sindhu also known as the Indus River.
2. Shampoo was invented in India, not the commercial liquid ones but the method by use of herbs. The word ‘shampoo’ itself has been derived from the Sanskrit word champu, which means to massage.
3. India has a spa just for elephants where they receive baths, massages, and even food at the Punnathoor Cotta Elephant Yard Rejuvenation Centre in Kerala.
4. India is not only known for the most significant number of post offices in the world, but it has its very own floating post office on Dal Lake in Srinagar. Perched on a houseboat, it also includes a philately museum within itself.
5. India is the world’s second-largest English speaking country which is second only to the USA when it comes to speaking English with around 125 million people speaking the language, which is only 10% of our population.
6. The largest number of vegetarians in the world whether it is because of religious reasons or personal choices or both, around 20-40% of Indians are vegetarians, making it the largest vegetarian-friendly country in the world.
7. India was the first country to develop extraction and purifying techniques of sugar. Many visitors from abroad learned the refining and cultivation of sugar from India.
8. India takes up 2.4% of Earth’s surface area. India’s land area is 3,287,469 square km. It is 2.2 times bigger than Alaska, USA. The distance between northern India to southern India is similar to the distance between Canada and Mexico
9. India has 22 official languages. If two random Indians met on the street, there is only a 36% chance that they can understand each other because India has 22 official languages which are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
10. India has 6 seasons in the Hindu calendar. Vasanta Ritu: Spring, Grishma Ritu: Summer, Varsha Ritu: Monsoon, Sharad Ritu: Autumn, Hemant Ritu: Pre winter, and Shishir Ritu: Winter.
11. In India, cows are worshipped as a maternal figure bounty of mother earth, and feeding cows or contributing to cow shelters are religious acts. They acknowledge that cows are a source of life-sustaining milk and slaughtering or eating cows is considered to be a sin. The Indians do this as gratitude to Mother Earth.
12. Fasting is a basic part of Hindu culture. Indians believe that this act will show their sincerity and express their gratefulness to the gods and goddesses.
13. The human calculator, Shakuntla Devi was given this title after she demonstrated the calculation of two 13 digit numbers: 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 which were picked at random. She answered correctly within 28 seconds.
14. Diamonds were first mined in India. Initially, diamonds were only found in the alluvial deposits in the Guntur and Krishna District of the Krishna River Delta. Until diamonds were found in Brazil during the 18th century, India led the world in diamond production.
15. Holding a Guinness record for the highest average annual rainfall, Mawsynram town in Meghalaya is the Wettest Place on Earth that gets about 11,873 millimetres of rain owing to its proximity to the Bay of Bengal. The winter months of this region are spent in preparation for the six-month-long monsoon ahead
16. India has one of the lowest divorce cases in the world. Statistics show that 1 in 100 marriages in India ends in divorce, one of the lowest rates in the world.
17. Indians value their guests as much as they value God. Atithi Devo Bhavah means the guest is equivalent to God and for Hindu, it prescribes as a zestful host-guest relationship. The guests have always been important in India’s culture.
18. 5000 years old, Varanasi is One of The Oldest Inhabited Places in the World.
19. India is a cricket-loving nation. It’s only natural for it to also feature the highest cricket ground in the world recorded by the Guinness Book. It is situated at a level of 2,144 metres above sea level in Chail, Himachal Pradesh.
19. Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.
20. Martial Arts were first created in India and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
21. India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
22. Chess was invented in India.
23. Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus which originated in India.
24. The ‘Place Value System’ and the ‘Decimal System’ were developed in India in 100 B.C.
25. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
26. The Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest peaceful gathering. Specifically, the one in 2001, when on a single day 40 million people gathered on the bank of Ganges. This congregation was visible from space.
27. The highest post office in the world at 15,550 ft, is in the small village of Hikkim in Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh.
28. Sanskrit, the language which gave birth to several languages around the world, is still spoken in many Indian villages every day.
29. The Bailey Bridge connecting Dras and Suru rivers is the highest bridge in the world at 18,379 ft. Built by the Indian Army in 1982, it is a lifeline for armed forces and locals from isolated villages.
30. The number of people travelling in the Indian Railways every day is equal to the population of Australia (more than 23 million).
31. The Howrah Bridge does not have any nuts and bolts. The entire structure is riveted together consuming 26,500 tons of steel and a high tensile alloy, Tiscrom, supplied by Tata Steel in 1942.
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