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India Portal

Introduction

India (ISO: Bhārat), also known as the Republic of India (ISO: Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area and with more than 1.3 billion people, it is the second most populous country as well as the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE. In the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, and Buddhism and Jainism arose. Early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires; later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as Southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, and Sikhism emerged, all adding to the region's diverse culture. Much of the north fell to the Delhi Sultanate; the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal Empire. In the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British Crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance and led to India's independence in 1947.

National Anthem of India

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Profile of a Hoysala temple at Somanathapura

Hoysala architecture is the building style developed under the rule of the Hoysala Empire between the 11th and 14th centuries, in the region known today as Karnataka, a state of India. Hoysala influence was at its peak in the 13th century, when it dominated the Southern Deccan Plateau region. Large and small temples built during this era remain as examples of the Hoysala architectural style, including the Chennakesava Temple at Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebidu, and the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura. Other examples of Hoysala craftsmanship are the temples at Belavadi, Amruthapura, Hosaholalu, Mosale, Arasikere, Basaralu, Kikkeri and Nuggehalli. Study of the Hoysala architectural style has revealed a negligible Indo-Aryan influence while the impact of Southern Indian style is more distinct.

Temples built prior to Hoysala independence in the mid-12th century reflect significant Western Chalukya influences, while later temples retain some features salient to Western Chalukya architecture but have additional inventive decoration and ornamentation, features unique to Hoysala artisans. Some three hundred temples are known to survive in present-day Karnataka state and many more are mentioned in inscriptions, though only about seventy have been documented. The greatest concentration of these are in the Malnad (hill) districts, the native home of the Hoysala kings. Hoysala architecture is classified by the influential scholar Adam Hardy as part of the Karnata Dravida tradition, a trend within Dravidian architecture in the Deccan that is distinct from the Tamil style of further south. Other terms for the tradition are Vesara, and Chalukya architecture, divided into early Badami Chalukya architecture and the Western Chalukya architecture which immediately preceded the Hoysalas. The whole tradition covers a period of about seven centuries began in the 7th century under the patronage of the Chalukya dynasty of Badami, developed further under the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta during the 9th and 10th centuries and the Western Chalukyas (or Later Chalukyas) of Basavakalyan in the 11th and 12th centuries. Its final development stage and transformation into an independent style was during the rule of the Hoysalas in the 12th and 13th centuries. Medieval inscriptions displayed prominently at temple locations give information about donations made toward the maintenance of the temple, details of consecration and on occasion, even architectural details. Read more...

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The National Highways of India provide a means of long-distance travel and movement of freight. Majority of the 227 national highways are two-laned (one in each direction), and constitute a total of about 58,000 km, of which 4,885 km are median-separated express highways. This roadway map of India provides extensive details of the national highways in India.

Map credit: Planemad

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News

16 April 2019 –: Apple Inc. and Google remove TikTok from their app stores in India after a high court in Madras ruled the app could expose children to sexual content and cyberbullying. (CNN)
7 April 2019 – Second Libyan Civil War, 2019 Western Libya offensive: The United States Africa Command evacuates a contingent of U.S. troops from Libya due to the unrest. India also withdraws a contingent of peacekeepers from Tripoli. (The Guardian)
12 March 2019 – Boeing 737 MAX groundings: The European Union, Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Turkey ground all Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets. This means 40% of the global fleet is now grounded, with Indonesia, China and several airlines grounding their aircraft yesterday. Boeing states they will issue a software update for the model within weeks. (The Guardian) (BNO) (AFP)
9 March 2019 – 2018–19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season: The floods from the predecessor of Cyclone Idai cause 23 deaths and 11 missing in southern Malawi. (The Maravi Post)
2 March 2019 – 2019 India–Pakistan standoff: Indian and Pakistani soldiers target each other’s posts and villages in Kashmir, killing at least six civilians and two Pakistani troops. (Associated Press)
28 February 2019 – 2019 India–Pakistan standoff, 2019 Balakot airstrike: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says that captured Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be released tomorrow as a gesture of peace. (Economic Times) (Reuters)
27 February 2019 – 2019 India–Pakistan standoff: The Pakistani Air Force claims it has carried out airstrikes against Indian Kashmir, shooting down one Indian aircraft and capturing one pilot following a dogfight. Indian officials confirm one of their planes has crashed, one pilots was missing in action. India also shot down a Pakistani F-16 that violated its airspace. (Bloomberg) (ANI)

Did you know...

... that a 2017 ruling of the Supreme Court of India about the governance of Delhi stated: "There is no room for absolutism and there is no room for anarchism also"?
... that Gujarati folk singer Diwaliben Bhil was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India?
... that former Indian Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao called the Parkala Massacre the "Jallianwala Bagh of the south", referring to the 1919 British slaughter of hundreds of people at a peaceful protest?
... that Ravinder Goswami carried out the first studies on vitamin D deficiency in India?
... that during Operation Python, oil reserves, ammunition warehouses and workshops worth $3 billion were destroyed by the Indian Navy?
... that Piru Singh threw a grenade at the enemy even after he was shot in the head, and was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military decoration?
... that C. Washington Eves was the honorary commissioner for Jamaica at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886?
... that Ram Nath Chawla and Aspy Engineer were the first Indians to pilot an aircraft from India to England?
... that Jepara was the only town on the north coast of Mataram not to be taken by Trunajaya's North Coast offensive, after a successful joint defense by Mataram and the Dutch East India Company?
... that Indian quantum physicist Shasanka Mohan Roy developed an exact integral equation, now known as "Roy's equations"?
... that Kodandera M. Cariappa is one of only two Indian Army officers to hold the five-star rank of field marshal?
... that a housewife, Bhogeswari Phukanani, played a part in the Quit India Movement and lost her life in doing so?
... that American pianist Joe Sample died from mesothelioma prior to completing his parts for the collaborative album Christmas With Friends with India Arie?
... that Indian Railways runs loss-making trains on the Patna–Digha Ghat line to prevent encroachment?