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A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to proselytize or perform ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.[1][2] The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem (nom. missio), meaning "act of sending" or mittere, meaning "to send".[3] The word was used in light of its biblical usage; in the Latin translation of the Bible, Christ uses the word when sending the disciples to preach The gospel in his name. The term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but can be used for any creed or ideology.[4] Contents 1 Missionaries by religion 1.1 Christian missions 1.1.1 Historic 1.1.2 Modern 1.1.2.1 Maryknoll 1.2 Islamic missions 1.2.1 Ahmadiyya Islam missions 1.2.2 Early Islamic missionaries during Muhammad's era 1.3 Missionaries and Judaism 1.4 Baha'i pioneering 1.5 Buddhist missions 1.6 Hindu missions 1.7 Sikh missions 1.8 Tenrikyo missions 1.9 Jain missions 1.10 Ananda Marga missions 2 Criticism 3 Impact of missions 4 Lists of prominent missionaries 4.1 American missionaries 4.2 British Christian missionaries 4.3 See also 5 See also 6 Notes 7 General references 8 External links Missionaries by religion Christian missions Main articles: Mission (Christianity) and List of Christian Missionaries See also: Jesuit reduction A Christian missionary can be defined as "one who is to witness across cultures".[2] The Lausanne Congress of 1974, defined the term, related to Christian mission as, "to form a viable indigenous church-planting movement". Missionaries can be found in many countries around the world. In the Bible, Jesus is recorded as instructing the apostles to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19–20, Mark 16:15–18). This verse is referred to by Christian missionaries as the Great Commission and inspires missionary work. Historic Village of Christianized Tapuyos Indians, Brazil c. 1820 The Christian Church expanded throughout the Roman Empire already in New Testament times and is said by tradition to have reached even further, to Persia (Church of the East) and to India (Saint Thomas Christians). During the Middle Ages, the Christian monasteries and missionaries such as Saint Patrick (5th century), and Adalbert of Prague (ca 956-997) propagated learning and religion beyond the European boundaries of the old Roman Empire. In 596, Pope Gregory the Great (in office 590-604) sent the Gregorian Mission (including Augustine of Canterbury) into England. In their turn, Christians from Ireland (the Hiberno-Scottish mission) and from Britain (Saint Boniface (ca 675-754), and the Anglo-Saxon mission, for example) became prominent in converting the inhabitants of central Europe. During the Age of Discovery, the Catholic Church established a number of missions in the Americas and in other Western colonies through the Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans to spread Christianity in the New World and[clarification needed] to convert the Native Americans and other indigenous people. About the same time, missionaries such as Francis Xavier (1506–1552) as well as other Jesuits, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans reached Asia and the Far East, and the Portuguese sent missions into Africa. Emblematic in many respects is Matteo Ricci's Jesuit mission to China from 1582, which was totally peaceful and non-violent. These missionary movements should be distinguished from others, such as the Baltic Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, which were arguably compromised in their motivation by designs of military conquest. English missionary John Williams, active in the South Pacific Much contemporary Catholic missionary work has undergone profound change since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965, with an increased push for indigenization and inculturation, along with social justice issues as a constitutive part of preaching the Gospel. As the Catholic Church normally organizes itself along territorial lines and had the human and material resources, religious orders, some even specializing in it, undertook most missionary work, especially in the era after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. Over time, the Holy See gradually established a normalized Church structure in the mission areas, often starting with special jurisdictions known as apostolic prefectures and apostolic vicariates. At a later stage of development these foundations are raised to regular diocesan status with a local bishops appointed. On a global front, these processes were often accelerated in the later 1960s, in part accompanying political decolonization. In some regions, however, they are still in course. Just as the Bishop of Rome had jurisdiction also in territories later considered to be in the Eastern sphere, so the missionary efforts of the two 9th-century saints Cyril and Methodius were largely conducted in relation to the West rather than the East, though the field of activity was central Europe. The Eastern Orthodox Church, under the Orthodox Church of Constantinople undertook vigorous missionary work under the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. This had lasting effects and in some sense is at the origin of the present relations of Constantinople with some sixteen Orthodox national churches including the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (both traditionally said to have been founded by the missionary Apostle Andrew), the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (said to have been founded by the missionary Apostle Paul). The Byzantines expanded their missionary work in Ukraine after the mass baptism in Kiev in 988. The Serbian Orthodox Church had its origins in the conversion by Byzantine missionaries of the Serb tribes when they arrived in the Balkans in the 7th century. Orthodox missionaries also worked successfully among the Estonians from the 10th to the 12th centuries, founding the Estonian Orthodox Church. Jesuits who were martyred by the Araucanian Indians in Elicura in 1612 Under the Russian Empire of the 19th century, missionaries such as Nicholas Ilminsky (1822–1891) moved into the subject lands and propagated Orthodoxy, including through Belarus, Latvia, Moldova, Finland, Estonia, Ukraine, and China. The Russian St. Nicholas of Japan (1836–1912) took Eastern Orthodoxy to Japan in the 19th century. The Russian Orthodox Church also sent missionaries to Alaska beginning in the 18th century, including Saint Herman of Alaska (died 1836), to minister to the Native Americans. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia continued missionary work outside Russia after the 1917 Russian Revolution, resulting in the establishment of many new dioceses in the diaspora, from which numerous converts have been made in Eastern Europe, North America, and Oceania. Early Protestant missionaries included John Eliot and contemporary ministers including John Cotton and Richard Bourne, who ministered to the Algonquin natives who lived in lands claimed by representatives of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century. Quaker "publishers of truth" visited Boston and other mid-17th century colonies, but were not always well received.[5] The Danish government began the first organized Protestant mission work through its College of Missions, established in 1714. This funded and directed Lutheran missionaries such as Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg in Tranquebar, India, and Hans Egede in Greenland. In 1732, while on a visit in 1732 to Copenhagen for the coronation of his cousin King Christian VI, the Moravian Church's patron Nicolas Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf, was very struck by its effects, and particularly by two visiting Inuit children converted by Hans Egede. He also got to know a slave from the Danish colony in the West Indies. When he returned to Herrnhut in Saxony, he inspired the inhabitants of the village – it had fewer than thirty houses then – to send out "messengers" to the slaves in the West Indies and to the Moravian missions in Greenland. Within thirty years, Moravian missionaries had become active on every continent, and this at a time when there were fewer than three hundred people in Herrnhut. They are famous for their selfless work, living as slaves among the slaves and together with the Native Americans, the Delaware (i.e., Lenni Lenape) and Cherokee Indian tribes. Today, the work in the former mission provinces of the worldwide Moravian Church is carried on by native workers. The fastest-growing area of the work is in Tanzania in Eastern Africa. The Moravian work in South Africa inspired William Carey and the founders of the British Baptist missions. As of 2014, seven of every ten Moravians live in a former mission field and belong to a race other than Caucasian. Much Anglican mission work came about under the auspices of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG, founded in 1701), the Church Missionary Society (CMS, founded 1799) and of the Intercontinental Church Society (formerly the Commonwealth and Continental Church Society, originating in 1823). Modern The first recorded baptism in Alta California A Christian missionary of the Wisconsin Synod going to the Apache With a dramatic increase in efforts since the 20th century, and a strong push since the Lausanne I: The International Congress on World Evangelization in Switzerland in 1974,[6] modern evangelical groups have focused efforts on sending missionaries to every ethnic group in the world. While this effort has not been completed, increased attention has brought larger numbers of people distributing Bibles, Jesus videos, and establishing evangelical churches in more remote areas. Internationally, the focus for many years in the later 20th century was on reaching every "people group" with Christianity by the year 2000. Bill Bright's leadership with Campus Crusade, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, The Joshua Project, and others brought about the need to know who these "unreached people groups" are and how those wanting to tell about the Christian God and share a Christian Bible could reach them. The focus for these organizations transitioned from a "country focus" to a "people group focus". (From "What is a People Group?" by Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins: A "people group" is an ethnolinguistic group with a common self-identity that is shared by the various members. There are two parts to that word: ethno and linguistic. Language is a primary and dominant identifying factor of a people group. But there are other factors that determine or are associated with ethnicity.) The missionary ship Duff arriving at Tahiti, c. 1797 What can be viewed as a success by those inside and outside the church from this focus is a higher level of cooperation and friendliness among churches and denominations. It is very common for those working on international fields to not only cooperate in efforts to share their gospel message, but view the work of their groups in a similar light. Also, with the increased study and awareness of different people groups, western mission efforts have become far more sensitive to the cultural nuances of those they are going to and those they are working with in the effort. Over the years, as indigenous churches have matured, the church of the "Global South" (Africa, Asia, and Latin America) has become the driving force in missions. Korean and African missionaries can now be found all over the world. These missionaries represent a major shift in church history. Brazil, Nigeria, and other countries have had large numbers of their Christian adherents go to other countries and start churches. These non-western missionaries often have unparalleled success; because, they need few western resources and comforts to sustain their livelihood while doing the work they have chosen among a new culture and people. Main articles: London Missionary Society, Church Mission Society, China Inland Mission, Church's Ministry Among Jewish People, and Baptist Missionary Society David Livingstone preaching from a wagon One of the first large-scale missionary endeavors of the British colonial age was the Baptist Missionary Society, founded in 1792 as the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen. The London Missionary Society was an evangelical organisation, bringing together from its inception both Anglicans and Nonconformists; it was founded in England in 1795 with missions in Africa and the islands of the South Pacific. The Colonial Missionary Society was created in 1836, and directed its efforts towards promoting Congregationalist forms of Christianity among "British or other European settlers" rather than indigenous peoples.[7] [8] Both of these merged in 1966, and the resultant organisation is now known as the Council for World Mission. The Church Mission Society, first known as the Society for Missions to Africa and the East, was founded in 1799 by evangelical Anglicans centred around the anti-slavery activist William Wilberforce. It bent its efforts to the Coptic Church, the Ethiopian Church, and India, especially Kerala; it continues to this day. Many of the network of churches they established became the Anglican Communion. In 1809, the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews was founded, which pioneered mission amongst the Jewish people; it continues today as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People. In 1865, the China Inland Mission was founded, going well beyond British controlled areas; it continues as the OMF, working throughout East Asia. The iconic black name tags of missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has an active missionary program. Young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five are encouraged to prepare themselves to serve a two-year, self-funded, full-time proselytizing mission. Young women who desire to serve as missionaries can serve starting at the age of nineteen, for one and a half years. Retired couples also have the option of serving a mission. Missionaries typically spend two weeks in a Missionary Training Center (or two to three months for those learning a new language) where they study the scriptures, learn new languages when applicable, prepare themselves to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and learn more about the culture and the people they live among. As of January 2014, the LDS Church had over 80,000 missionaries worldwide[9] and over 10,000 Welfare Services Missionaries.[10] Maryknoll The sending of missioners from the U.S. Church was seen as a sign of the U.S. Catholic Church finally coming of age. When two American Catholic priests from distinctly different backgrounds met in Montreal in 1910, they discovered they had one thing in common. Father James Anthony Walsh, a priest from the heart of Boston, and Father Thomas Frederick Price, the first native North Carolinian ordained into the priesthood, recognized that through their differences, they were touched by the triumph of the human spirit and enriched by encountering the faith experience of others. This was the foundation of their mutual desire to build a seminary for the training of young American men for the foreign Missions. Countering arguments that the Church needed workers here, Fathers Walsh and Price insisted the Church would not flourish until it sent missioners overseas.[11] Independently, the men had written extensively about the concept, Father Price in his magazine Truth, and Father Walsh in the pages of A Field Afar, an early incarnation of Maryknoll Magazine.[12] Together, they formulated plans to establish a seminary for foreign missionaries. With the approval of the American hierarchy, the two priests traveled to Rome in June 1911 to receive final approval from Pope Pius X for their project. On June 29, 1911, Pope Pius X gave his blessings for the formation of the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, now better known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.[13] Islamic missions Main article: Islamic missionary activity Mission Dawah is one of the largest contemporary Islamic missionary organizations.   The tombs of historic Islamic missionaries in China, Sa-Ke-Zu and Wu-Ko-Shun at Mount Lingshan, Quanzhou Dawah means to "invite" (in Arabic, literally "calling") to Islam, which is the second largest religion with 1.6 billion members.[14] From the 7th century, it spread rapidly from the Arabian Peninsula to the rest of the world through the initial Muslim conquests and subsequently with traders and explorers after the death of Muhammad. Initially, the spread of Islam came through the Dawah efforts of Muhammad and his followers. After his death in 632 C.E., much of the expansion of the empire came through conquest such as that of North Africa and later Spain (Al-Andalus). The Islamic conquest of Persia put an end to the Sassanid Empire and spread the reach of Islam to as far east as Khorasan, which would later become the cradle of Islamic civilization during the Islamic Golden Age (622-1258 C.E.) and a stepping-stone towards the introduction of Islam to the Turkic tribes living in and bordering the area. The missionary movement peaked during the Islamic Golden Age, with the expansion of foreign trade routes, primarily into the Indo-Pacific and as far south as the isle of Zanzibar as well as the South-Eastern shores of Africa. With the coming of the Sufism tradition, Islamic missionary activities increased. Later, the Seljuk Turks' conquest of Anatolia made it easier for missionaries to go lands that formerly belonged to the Byzantine Empire. In the earlier stages of the Ottoman Empire, a Turkic form of Shamanism was still widely practiced in Anatolia, but soon lost ground to Sufism. During the Ottoman presence in the Balkans, missionary movements were taken up by people from aristocratic families hailing from the region, who had been educated in Constantinople or other major city within the Empire such as the famed madrassahs and kulliyes. Primarily, individuals were sent back to the place of their origin and were appointed important positions in the local governing body. This approach often resulted in the building of mosques and local kulliyes for future generations to benefit from, as well as spreading the teachings of Islam. The World Islamic Mission's mosque in Oslo, Norway The spread of Islam towards Central and West Africa had until the early 19th century has been consistent but slow. Previously, the only connection was through Trans-Saharan trade routes. The Mali Empire, consisting predominantly of African and Berber tribes, stands as a strong example of the early Islamic conversion of the Sub-Saharan region. The gateways prominently expanded to include the aforementioned trade routes through the Eastern shores of the African continent. With the European colonization of Africa, missionaries were almost in competition with the European Christian missionaries operating in the colonies. There is evidence of Arab Muslim traders entering Indonesia as early as the 8th century.[15] Indonesia's early people were animists, Hindus, and Buddhists.[16] However it was not until the end of the 13th century that the process of "Islamization" began to spread throughout the areas local communities and port towns.[15] The spread, although at first introduced through Arab Muslim traders, continued to saturate through the Indonesian people as local rulers and royalty began to adopt the religion subsequently leading their subjects to mirror their conversion. Recently, Muslim groups have engaged in missionary work in Malawi. Much of this is performed by the African Muslim Agency based in Angola. The Kuwait-sponsored AMA has translated the Qur'an into Chichewa (Cinyanja),[17] one of the official languages of Malawi, and has engaged in other missionary work in the country. All of the major cities in the country have mosques and there are several Islamic schools.[18] Several South African, Kuwaiti, and other Muslim agencies are active in Mozambique, with one important one being the African Muslim Agency. The spread of Islam into West Africa, beginning with ancient Ghana in the 9th century, was mainly the result of the commercial activities of North African Muslims. The empires of both Mali and Songhai that followed ancient Ghana in the Western Sudan adopted the religion. Islam made its entry into the northern territories of modern Ghana around the 15th century. Mande speakers (who in Ghana are known as Wangara) traders and clerics carried the religion into the area. The northeastern sector of the country was also influenced by an influx of Hausa Muslim traders from the 16th century onwards Islamic influence first occurred in India in the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders. Trade relations have existed between Arabia and the Indian subcontinent from ancient times. Even in the pre-Islamic era, Arab traders used to visit the Malabar region, which linked them with the ports of Southeast Asia. According to Historians Elliot and Dowson in their book The History of India as told by its own Historians, the first ship bearing Muslim travelers was seen on the Indian coast as early as 630 C.E.. H. G. Rawlinson, in his book: Ancient and Medieval History of India claims the first Arab Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century.[19] Shaykh Zainuddin Makhdum's "Tuhfat al-Mujahidin" also is a reliable work.[20] This fact is corroborated, by J. Sturrock in his South Kanara and Madras Districts Manuals,[21] and also by Haridas Bhattacharya in Cultural Heritage of India Vol. IV.[22] It was with the advent of Islam that the Arabs became a prominent cultural force in the world. The Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion, and they propagated it wherever they went.[23] Islam in Bulgaria can be traced back to the mid-ninth century when there were Islamic missionaries in Bulgaria, evidenced by a letter from Pope Nicholas to Boris of Bulgaria calling for the extirpation of Saracens.[24] Pioneer Muslim missionaries to the Kenyan interior were largely Tanganyikans, who coupled their missionary work with trade, along the centres began along the railway line such as Kibwezi, Makindu, and Nairobi. Outstanding among them was Maalim Mtondo Islam in Kenya, a Tanganyikan credited with being the first Muslim missionary to Nairobi. Reaching Nairobi at the close of the 19th century, he led a group of other Muslims, and enthusiastic missionaries from the coast to establish a "Swahili village" in present-day Pumwani. A small mosque was built to serve as a starting point and he began preaching Islam in earnest. He soon attracted several Kikuyus and Wakambas, who became his disciples.[25] In 1380, Karim ul' Makhdum the first Arabian Islamic missionary reached the Sulu Archipelago and Jolo in the Philippines and established Islam in the country. In 1390, the Minangkabau's Prince Rajah Baguinda and his followers preached Islam on the islands.[26] The Sheik Karimal Makdum Mosque was the first mosque established in the Philippines on Simunul in Mindanao in the 14th century. Subsequent settlements by Arab missionaries traveling to Malaysia and Indonesia helped strengthen Islam in the Philippines and each settlement was governed by a Datu, Rajah, and a Sultan. Islamic provinces founded in the Philippines included the Sultanate of Maguindanao, Sultanate of Sulu, and other parts of the southern Philippines. Modern missionary work in the United States has increased greatly in the last one hundred years, with much of the recent demographic growth driven by conversion.[27] Up to one-third of American Muslims are African Americans who have converted to Islam during the last seventy years. Conversion to Islam in prisons,[28] and in large urban areas[29] has also contributed to Islam's growth over the years. An estimated US$45 billion has been spent by the Saudi Arabian government financing mosques and Islamic schools in foreign countries. Ain al-Yaqeen, a Saudi newspaper, reported in 2002 that Saudi funds may have contributed to building as many as 1,500 mosques and 2,000 other Islamic centers.[30] Ahmadiyya Islam missions Jamia Ahmadiyya, Ghana Missionaries belonging to the Ahmadiyya thought of Islam often study at International Islamic seminaries and educational institutions, known as Jamia Ahmadiyya. Upon completion of their degrees, they are sent to various parts of the world including South America, Africa, North America, Europe, and the Far East as appointed by Mirza Masroor Ahmad, present head and Caliph of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim community. Jamia students may be appointed by the Caliph either as Missionaries of the community (often called Murrabi, Imam, or Mawlana) or as Qadis or Muftis of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community with a specialisation in matters of fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence). Some Jamia alumni have also become Islamic historians such as the late Dost Muhammad Shahid, former Official Historian of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, with a specialisation in tarikh (Islamic historiography). Missionaries stay with their careers as appointed by the Caliph for the rest of their lives, as per their commitment to the community. Early Islamic missionaries during Muhammad's era vte Campaigns of Muhammad Main article: List of expeditions of Muhammad During the Expedition of Al Raji in 625,[31] the Islamic Prophet Muhammad sent some men as missionaries to various different tribes. Some men came to Muhammad and requested that Muhammad send instructors to teach them Islam,[31] but the men were bribed by the two tribes of Khuzaymah who wanted revenge for the assassination of Khalid bin Sufyan (Chief of the Banu Lahyan tribe) by Muhammad's followers[32] 8 Muslim Missionaires were killed in this expedition.,[31] another version says 10 Muslims were killed[33] Then during the Expedition of Bir Maona in July 625 [34] Muhammad sent some Missionaries at request of some men from the Banu Amir tribe,[35] but the Muslims were again killed as revenge for the assassination of Khalid bin Sufyan by Muhammad's followers[32] 70 Muslims were killed during this expedition[35] During the Expedition of Khalid ibn al-Walid (Banu Jadhimah) in January 630,[36] Muhammad sent Khalid ibn Walid to invite the Banu Jadhimah tribe to Islam.[37] This is mentioned in the Sunni Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari, 5:59:628.[38] Missionaries and Judaism Despite some Jewish missionary activity in the biblical times, contemporary Judaism states clearly that missionary activities are mostly taboo. Historically, various Judaic sects and movements have been consistent on avoiding proselytization to convert Gentiles. Jewish religious groups encourage "Outreach" to Jews. The outreach, or kiruv, movements encourage Jews to become more knowledgeable and observant of Jewish law. People who become more observant are known as baalei teshuva. "Outreach" is done worldwide, by organizations such as Chabad Lubavitch, Aish Hatorah, Ohr Somayach, and Partners In Torah. There are also many such organizations in the United States. There has been a singular, isolated movement to convert Catholics to Judaism in Peru. Members of the American Reform movement began a program to convert to Judaism the non-Jewish spouses of its intermarried members and non-Jews who have an interest in Judaism. Their rationale is that so many Jews were lost during the Holocaust that newcomers must be sought out and welcomed. This approach has been repudiated by Orthodox and Conservative Jews[39] as unrealistic and posing a danger. They say that these efforts make Judaism seem an easy religion to join and observe when in reality being Jewish involves many difficulties and sacrifices. Baha'i pioneering Main articles: Pioneering (Bahá'í), Ten Year Crusade, and `Abdu'l-Bahá's journeys to the West Buddhist missions Buddhist proselytism at the time of king Ashoka (260–218 BCE), according to his Edicts Central Asian Buddhist monk teaching a Chinese monk. Bezeklik, 9th-10th century; although Albert von Le Coq (1913) assumed the blue-eyed, red-haired monk was a Tocharian,[40] modern scholarship has identified similar Caucasian figures of the same cave temple (No. 9) as ethnic Sogdians,[41] an Eastern Iranian people who inhabited Turfan as an ethnic minority community during the phases of Tang Chinese (7th-8th century) and Uyghur rule (9th-13th century).[42] The first Buddhist missionaries were called "Dharma Bhanaks", and some[who?] see a missionary charge in the symbolism behind the Buddhist wheel, which is said to travel all over the earth bringing Buddhism with it. The Emperor Ashoka was a significant early Buddhist missioner. In the 3rd century BCE, Dharmaraksita—among others—was sent out by emperor Ashoka to proselytize[citation needed] the Buddhist tradition through the Indian Maurya Empire, but also into the Mediterranean as far as Greece. Gradually, all India and the neighboring island of Ceylon were converted. Then Buddhism spread eastward and southeastward to the present lands of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.[43] Buddhism was spread among the Turkic people during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE into modern-day Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan, eastern and coastal Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. It was also taken into China brought by Kasyapa Matanga in the 2nd century CE, Lokaksema and An Shigao translated Buddhist sutras into Chinese. Dharmarakṣa was one of the greatest translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Dharmaraksa came to the Chinese capital of Luoyang in 266 CE, where he made the first known translations of the Lotus Sutra and the Dasabhumika Sutra, which were to become some of the classic texts of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Altogether, Dharmaraksa translated around 154 Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna sutras, representing most of the important texts of Buddhism available in the Western Regions. His proselytizing is said to have converted many to Buddhism in China, and made Chang'an, present-day Xi'an, a major center of Buddhism. Buddhism expanded rapidly, especially among the common people, and by 381 most of the people of northwest China were Buddhist. Winning converts also among the rulers and scholars, by the end of the T'ang Dynasty Buddhism was found everywhere in China.[44] Marananta brought Buddhism to the Korean Peninsula in the 4th century. Seong of Baekje, known as a great patron of Buddhism in Korea, built many temples and welcomed priests bringing Buddhist texts directly from India. In 528, Baekje officially adopted Buddhism as its state religion. He sent tribute missions to Liang in 534 and 541, on the second occasion requesting artisans as well as various Buddhist works and a teacher. According to Chinese records, all these requests were granted. A subsequent mission was sent in 549, only to find the Liang capital in the hands of the rebel Hou Jing, who threw them in prison for lamenting the fall of the capital. He is credited with having sent a mission in 538 to Japan that brought an image of Shakyamuni and several sutras to the Japanese court. This has traditionally been considered the official introduction of Buddhism to Japan. An account of this is given in Gangōji Garan Engi. First supported by the Soga clan, Buddhism rose over the objections of the pro-Shinto Mononobe[45] and Buddhism entrenched itself in Japan with the conversion of Prince Shotoku Taishi.[43] When in 710 Emperor Shomu established a new capital at Nara modeled after the capital of China, Buddhism received official support and began to flourish.[45] Padmasambhava, The Lotus Born, was a sage guru from Oḍḍiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century. The use of missions, councils, and monastic institutions influenced the emergence of Christian missions and organizations, which developed similar structures in places that were formerly Buddhist missions.[46] During the 19th and 20th centuries, Western intellectuals such as Schopenhauer, Henry David Thoreau, Max Müller, and esoteric societies such as the Theosophical Society of H.P. Blavatsky and the Buddhist Society, London spread interest in Buddhism. Writers such as Hermann Hesse and Jack Kerouac, in the West, and the hippie generation of the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a re-discovery of Buddhism. During the 20th and 21st centuries Buddhism has again been propagated by missionaries[citation needed] into the West such as the Dalai Lama and monks including Lama Surya Das (Tibetan Buddhism). Tibetan Buddhism has been significantly active and successful in the West since the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1959. Today Buddhists make a decent proportion of several countries in the West such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, France, and the United States. In Canada, the immense popularity and goodwill ushered in by Tibet's Dalai Lama (who has been made honorary Canadian citizen) put Buddhism in a favourable light in the country. Many non-Asian Canadians embraced Buddhism in various traditions and some have become leaders in their respective sanghas. In the early 1990s, the French Buddhist Union (UBF, founded in 1986) estimated that there are 600,000 to 650,000 Buddhists in France, with 150,000 French converts among them.[47] In 1999, sociologist Frédéric Lenoir estimated there are 10,000 converts and up to 5 million "sympathizers", although other researchers have questioned these numbers.[48] Taisen Deshimaru was a Japanese Zen Buddhist who founded numerous zendos in France. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated, Vietnamese-born Zen Buddhist, founded the Unified Buddhist Church (Eglise Bouddhique Unifiée) in France in 1969. The Plum Village Monastery in the Dordogne in southern France was his residence and the headquarters of his international sangha. Temple of One Thousand Buddhas, in La Boulaye, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy In 1968 Leo Boer and Wener van de Wetering founded a Zen group, and through two books made Zen popular in the Netherlands.[49][50] The guidance of the group was taken over by Erik Bruijn,[51] who is still in charge of a flourishing community. The largest Zen group now is the Kanzeon Sangha, led by Nico Tydeman under the supervision of the American Zen master Dennis Genpo Merzel, Roshi, a former student of Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles. This group has a relatively large centre where a teacher and some students live permanently. Many other groups are also represented in the Netherlands, like the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives in Apeldoorn, the Thich Nhat Hanh Order of Interbeing and the International Zen Institute Noorderpoort[52] monastery/retreat centre in Drenthe, led by Jiun Hogen Roshi. Perhaps the most widely visible Buddhist leader in the world is Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, who first visited the United States in 1979. As the exiled political leader of Tibet, he has become a popular cause célèbre. His early life was depicted in Hollywood films such as Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet. He has attracted celebrity religious followers such as Richard Gere and Adam Yauch. The first Western-born Tibetan Buddhist monk was Robert A. F. Thurman, now an academic supporter of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama maintains a North American headquarters at Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, New York. Lewis M. Hopfe in his "Religions of the World" suggested that "Buddhism is perhaps on the verge of another great missionary outreach" (1987:170). Hindu missions Hinduism was introduced into Java by travelers from India in ancient times. When the early Javanese princes accepted Hinduism, they did not give up all of their early animistic beliefs—they simply combined the new ideas with them. Several centuries ago, many Hindus left Java for Bali rather than convert to Islam. Hinduism has survived in Bali ever since.[53] Dang Hyang Nirartha was responsible for facilitating a refashioning of Balinese Hinduism. He was an important promoter of the idea of moksha in Indonesia. He founded the Shaivite priesthood that is now ubiquitous in Bali, and is now regarded as the ancestor of all Shaivite pandits.[54] Shantidas Adhikari was a Hindu preacher from Sylhet who converted King Pamheiba of Manipur to Hinduism in 1717.[55] Historically, Hinduism has only recently had a large influence in western countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada. Since the 1960s, many westerners attracted by the world view presented in Asian religious systems have converted to Hinduism.[56] Canada is no exception.[citation needed] Many native-born Canadians of various ethnicities have converted during the last 50 years through the actions of the Ramakrishna Mission, ISKCON, Arya Samaj and other missionary organizations as well as due to the visits and guidance of Indian gurus such as Guru Maharaj, Sai Baba, and Rajneesh. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness has a presence in New Zealand, running temples in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. Paramahansa Yogananda, an Indian yogi and guru, introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a Yogi.[57] Swami Vivekananda, the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission is one of the greatest Hindu missionaries to the West. Sikh missions Sikhs have emigrated to countries all over the world, especially to English-speaking and East Asian nations. In doing so they have retained, to a high degree, their distinctive cultural and religious identity. Sikhs are not ubiquitous worldwide in the way that adherents of larger world religions are, and they remain primarily an ethnic religion. However, they can be found in many international cities and have become an especially strong religious presence in the United Kingdom and Canada.[58] One morning, when he was twenty-eight, Guru Nanak Dev went as usual down to the river to bathe and meditate. It was said that he was gone for three days. When he reappeared, it is said he was "filled with the spirit of God". His first words after his re-emergence were: "there is no Hindu, there is no Muslim". With this secular principle he began his missionary work.[59] He made four distinct major journeys, in the four different directions, which are called Udasis, spanning many thousands of kilometres, preaching the message of God.[60] Currently there are Gurdwaras in over 50 countries.[61][62][63] Of missionary organizations, the most famous is probably The Sikh Missionary Society UK. The Aim of the Sikh Missionary Society is the Advancement of the Sikh faith in the U.K and abroad, engages in various activities:[64][65][66][67] Produce and distribute books on the Sikh faith in English and Panjabi, and other languages to enlighten the younger generation of Sikhs as well as non-Sikhs. Advise and support young students in schools, colleges, and universities on Sikh issues and Sikh traditions. Arrange classes, lectures, seminars, conferences, Gurmat camps and the celebration of holy Sikh events, the basis of their achievement and interest in the field of the Sikh faith and the Panjabi language. Make available all Sikh artifacts, posters, literature, music, educational videos, DVDs, and multimedia CD-ROMs. There have been several Sikh missionaries: Bhai Gurdas (1551-1636), Punjabi Sikh writer, historian, missionary, and religious figure; the original scribe of the Guru Granth Sahib and a companion of four of the Sikh Gurus[68] Giani Pritam Singh Dhillon, Indian freedom fighter Bhai Amrik Singh, devoted much of his life to Sikh missionary activities; one of the Sikh community's most prominent leaders along with Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale Jathedar Sadhu Singh Bhaura (1905–1984), Sikh missionary who rose to be the Jathedar or high priest of Sri Akal Takhat, Amritsar Sikhs have emigrated to many countries of the world since Indian independence in 1947. Sikh communities exist in Britain, East Africa, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, and most European countries.[69] Tenrikyo missions Tenrikyo conducts missionary work in approximately forty countries.[70] Its first missionary was a woman named, Kokan, who worked on the streets of Osaka.[71] In 2003, it operated approximately twenty thousand mission stations worldwide.[72] Jain missions According to Jaina tradition, Mahavira's following had swelled to 14,000 monks and 36,000 nuns by the time of his death in 527 BC.[73] For some two centuries the Jains remained a small community of monks and followers. However, in the 4th century BCE, they gained strength and spread from Bihar to Orissa, then so South India and westwards to Gujarat and the Punjab, where Jain communities became firmly established, particularly among the mercantile classes.[74] The period of the Mauryan Dynasty to the 12th century was the period of Jainism's greatest growth and influence. Thereafter, the Jainas in the South and Central regions lost ground in face of rising Hindu devotional movements. Jainism retreated to the West and Northwest, which have remained its stronghold to the present.[75] Emperor Samprati is regarded as the "Jain Ashoka" for his patronage and efforts to spreading Jainism in east India. Samprati, according to Jain historians, is considered more powerful and famous than Ashoka himself. Samprati built thousands of Jain Temples in India, many of which remain in use, such as the Jain temples at Viramgam and Palitana (Gujarat), Agar Malwa (Ujjain). Within three and a half years, he got one hundred and twenty-five thousand new temples built, thirty-six thousand repaired, twelve and a half million murtis, holy statues, consecrated and ninety-five thousand metal murtis prepared. Samprati is said to have erected Jain temples throughout his empire. He founded Jain monasteries even in non-Aryan territory, and almost all ancient Jain temples or monuments of unknown origin are popularly attributed to him. It may be noted that all the Jain monuments of Rajasthan and Gujarat, with unknown builders are also attributed to Emperor Samprati. Virachand Gandhi (1864–1901) from Mahuva represented Jains at the first Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893 and won a silver medal. Gandhi was most likely the first Jain and the first Gujarati to travel to the United States, and his statue still stands at the Jain temple in Chicago. In his time he was a world-famous personality. Gandhi represented Jains in Chicago because the Great Jain Saint Param Pujya Acharya Vijayanandsuri, also known as Acharya Atmaram, was invited to represent the Jain religion at the first World Parliament of Religions. As Jain monks do not travel overseas, he recommended the bright young scholar Virchand Gandhi to be the emissary for the religion. Today there are 100,000 Jains in the United States.[76] There are also tens of thousands of Jains located in the UK and Canada. Ananda Marga missions Ānanda Mārga, organizationally known as Ānanda Mārga Pracaraka Samgha (AMPS), meaning the samgha (organization) for the propagation of the marga (path) of ananda (bliss), is a social and spiritual movement[77][78] founded in Jamalpur, Bihar, India, in 1955 by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (1921–1990), also known by his spiritual name,[79] Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti.[80] Ananda Marga counts hundreds of missions around the world through which its members carry out various forms of selfless service on Relief. (The social welfare and development organization under AMPS is Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team, or AMURT.)[81] Education and women's welfare The service activities of this section founded in 1963 are focused on:[82] Education: creating and managing primary, post-primary, and higher schools, research institutes Relief: creating and managing children's and students' homes for destitute children and for poor students, cheap hostels, retiring homes, academies of light for deaf dumb and crippled, invalid homes, refugee rehabilitation Tribal: tribal welfare units, medical camps Women's welfare: women welfare units, women's homes, nursing homes Criticism Contact of zealous missionaries with the uncontacted tribes has made some tribes and their culture extinct due to several factors, such as extinction from infections and even simple diseases such flu, Great Andamanese are exampleof such extinction.[83][84] The Europeans contact with indigenous since 1492 has killed 100 million from the imported diseases to which tribes had no immunity.[85] Survival International, a human rights organisation formed in 1969 which campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples, advocates the authorities to enforce their protection for the safety of both the tribe and outsiders.[83] Certain issues have brought criticism to missionary activity. This has included concerns that missionaries have a perceived lack of respect for other cultures.[86] Potential destruction of social structure among the converts has also been a concern. The Akha people of South East Asia are an example of those who believe that missionaries are only converting others for personal gain. The Akha people have complained the missionaries are more worried about building a church than building a clinic in a village that is very unhealthy. Many traditional values of the Akha have been lost as a result of these conversions.[87] The Huaorani people of Amazonian Ecuador have had a well-documented mixed relation with Evangelical Christian missionaries and the contacts they brought to their communities, criticized by outsiders. Impact of missions A 2012 study by political scientist Robert Woodberry, focusing on Protestant missionaries, found that they have often left a very positive societal impact in the areas where they worked. "In cross-national statistical analysis Protestant missions are significantly and robustly associated with higher levels of printing, education, economic development, organizational civil society, protection of private property, and rule of law and with lower levels of corruption".[88] A 2017 study found that areas of colonial Mexico that had Mendicant missions have higher rates of literacy and educational attainment today than regions that did not have missions.[89] Areas that had Jesuit missions are today indistinct from the areas that had no missions.[89] The study also found that "the share of Catholics is higher in regions where Catholic missions of any kind were a historical present."[89] A 2016 study found that regions in Sub-Saharan Africa that Protestant missionaries brought printing presses to are today "associated with higher newspaper readership, trust, education, and political participation."[90][91] Missionaries have also made significant contributions to linguistics and the description and documentation of many languages. "Many languages today exist only in missionary records. More than anywhere else, our knowledge of the native languages in South America has been the product of missionary activity… Without missionary documentation the reclamation [of several languages] would have been completely impossible"[92] "A satisfactory history of linguistics cannot be written before the impressive contribution of missionaries is recognised."[93] Lists of prominent missionaries This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. American missionaries Gerónimo Boscana, (Roman Catholic Franciscan) missionary Isabel Crawford, (Baptist) missionary[94] Antonio de Olivares, (Roman Catholic Franciscan) missionary Anton Docher, (Roman Catholic) missionary Mary H. Fulton, female medical missionary to China, founder of Hackett Medical College for Women (夏葛女子醫學院) in Guangzhou, China [95][96][97][98][99] Eusebio Kino, (Roman Catholic Jesuit) missionary Zenas Sanford Loftis, medical missionary to Tibet Robert E. Longacre, Christian linguist missionary to Mexico Dada Maheshvarananda, Ananda Marga yoga missionary Fred Prosper Manget, medical missionary to China, founder of Houzhou General Hospital, Houzhou, China, also a doctor with the Flying Tigers and U.S. Army in Kunming, China, during World War II[98][99][100] Lottie Moon, Baptist missionary to China Arthur Lewis Piper, medical missionary to the Belgian Congo Dada Pranakrsnananda, Ananda Marga yoga missionary Darlene Rose, missionary in Papua New Guinea John Stewart, (Methodist) missionary José de Anchieta, (Roman Catholic Jesuit) missionary Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur, (Roman Catholic Franciscan) missionary British Christian missionaries John Hobbis Harris, with wife Alice used photography to expose colonial abuses Benjamin Hobson, medical missionary to China, set up a highly successful Wai Ai Clinic (惠愛醫館( [101][102] in Guangzhou, China.[98][99] Teresa Kearney, Sister in Uganda Robert Morrison, Bible translator to China William Milne, Bible translator to China Sam Pollard, Bible translator to China John Wesley See also List of Protestant missionaries in China List of Protestant missionaries in India List of Roman Catholic missionaries List of Roman Catholic missionaries in China List of Roman Catholic missionaries in India List of Eastern Orthodox missionaries List of missionaries to Hawaii List of missionaries to the South Pacific List of Slovenian missionaries List of Russian Orthodox missionaries List of Protestant missionaries to Southeast Asia List of Eastern Orthodox missionaries List of SVD missions List of Roman Catholic missions in Africa Christian missionaries in New Zealand Christian missionaries in Oceania Timeline of Christian missions
India, officially the Republic of India (ISO: Bhārat Gaṇarājya),[25] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country as of June 1, 2023;[26][27] and from the time of its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy.[28][29][30] 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;[j] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago.[31][32][33] Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity.[34] Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE.[35] By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest.[36][37] Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Rigveda. Preserved by an oral tradition that was resolutely vigilant, the Rigveda records the dawning of Hinduism in India.[38] The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions.[39] By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism,[40] and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity.[41] Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin.[42] Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity,[43] but also marked by the declining status of women,[44] and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief.[k][45] In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.[46] In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts.[47] Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains,[48] eventually founding the Delhi Sultanate, and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval Islam.[49] In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India.[50] In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion.[51] The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace,[52] leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.[l][53] Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy, but also consolidating its sovereignty.[54] British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly,[55][56] but technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and the public life took root.[57] A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule.[58][59] In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions,[60][61][62][63] a Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration.[64] India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed through a democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to almost 1.4 billion in 2022.[65] During the same time, its nominal per capita income increased from US$64 annually to US$2,601, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951,[66] India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class.[67] It has a space programme. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[68] India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality.[69] India is a nuclear-weapon state, which ranks high in military expenditure. It has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century.[70] Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender inequality, child malnutrition,[71] and rising levels of air pollution.[72] India's land is megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots.[73] Its forest cover comprises 21.7% of its area.[74] India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's culture,[75] is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats. Etymology According to the Oxford English Dictionary (third edition 2009), the name "India" is derived from the Classical Latin India, a reference to South Asia and an uncertain region to its east; and in turn derived successively from: Hellenistic Greek India ( Ἰνδία); ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός); Old Persian Hindush, an eastern province of the Achaemenid Empire; and ultimately its cognate, the Sanskrit Sindhu, or "river," specifically the Indus River and, by implication, its well-settled southern basin.[76][77] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which translates as "The people of the Indus".[78] The term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] (listen)), mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India,[79][80] is used in its variations by many Indian languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied originally to North India,[81][82] Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.[79][83] Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] (listen)) is a Middle Persian name for India that became popular by the 13th century,[84] and was used widely since the era of Mughal Empire. The meaning of Hindustan has varied, referring to a region encompassing present-day northern India and Pakistan or to India in its near entirety.[79][83][85] History Main articles: History of India and History of the Republic of India Ancient India Manuscript illustration, c. 1650, of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, composed in story-telling fashion c. 400 BCE – c. 300 CE[86] By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, or Homo sapiens, had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved.[31][32][33] The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[31] After 6500 BCE, evidence for domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in Balochistan, Pakistan.[87] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[88][87] the first urban culture in South Asia,[89] which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India.[90] Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.[89] During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones.[91] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism,[92] were composed during this period,[93] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.[91] Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.[92] The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations impure, arose during this period.[94] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.[91] In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[95] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[95] Cave 26 of the rock-cut Ajanta Caves In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas.[96][97] The emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during the life of its exemplar, Mahavira.[98] Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class; chronicling the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India.[99][100][101] In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,[102] and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire.[103] The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent except the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas.[104][105] The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma.[106][107] The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas, and the Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with West and Southeast Asia.[108][109] In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.[110][103] By the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created a complex system of administration and taxation in the greater Ganges Plain; this system became a model for later Indian kingdoms.[111][112] Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself.[113] This renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite.[112] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[112] Medieval India Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur, completed in 1010 CE The Qutub Minar, 73 m (240 ft) tall, completed by the Sultan of Delhi, Iltutmish The Indian early medieval age, from 600 to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.[114] When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.[115] When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[115] When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by the Pallavas from farther south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and the Cholas from still farther south.[115] No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region.[114] During this time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy, were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling classes.[116] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[116] In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[117] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.[117] Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well.[118] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.[118] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.[119] Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.[119] After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[120] The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs.[121][122] By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north.[123][124] The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[125] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India,[126] and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.[125] Early modern India In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers,[127] fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.[128] The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices[129][130] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[131] leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[132] Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.[131] The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[133] and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[134] caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[132] The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion,[132] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture.[135] Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, the Rajputs, and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience.[136] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India.[136] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.[137] A distant view of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort A two mohur Company gold coin, issued in 1835, the obverse inscribed "William IV, King" By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the English East India Company, had established coastal outposts.[138][139] The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly assert its military strength and caused it to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline the other European companies.[140][138][141][142] Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s.[143] India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.[138] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the East India Company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas, including education, social reform, and culture.[144] Modern India Main article: History of the Republic of India Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—among them, railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction in Europe.[145][146][147][148] However, disaffection with the company also grew during this time and set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule.[149][150] Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and the direct administration of India by the British government. Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest.[151][152] In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.[153][154][155][156] The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks and many small farmers became dependent on the whims of far-away markets.[157] There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines,[158] and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.[159] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption.[160] The railway network provided critical famine relief,[161] notably reduced the cost of moving goods,[161] and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.[160] 1909 map of the British Indian Empire Jawaharlal Nehru sharing a light moment with Mahatma Gandhi, Mumbai, 6 July 1946 After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[162] a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of non-co-operation, of which Mahatma Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.[163] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections.[164] The next decade was beset with crises: Indian participation in World War II, the Congress's final push for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism. All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan.[165] Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which put in place a secular and democratic republic.[166] Per the London Declaration, India retained its membership of the Commonwealth, becoming the first republic within it.[167] Economic liberalisation, which began in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing economies,[168] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian films, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[169] Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;[169] by religious and caste-related violence;[170] by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[171] and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[172] It has unresolved territorial disputes with China[173] and with Pakistan.[173] India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newer nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be achieved.[174] Geography Main article: Geography of India India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic plate, a part of the Indo-Australian Plate.[175] India's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian Plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.[175] Simultaneously, the vast Tethyan oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian Plate.[175] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[175] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast crescent-shaped trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[176] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[177] The original Indian plate makes its first appearance above the sediment in the ancient Aravalli range, which extends from the Delhi Ridge in a southwesterly direction. To the west lies the Thar Desert, the eastern spread of which is checked by the Aravallis.[178][179][180] The Tungabhadra, with rocky outcrops, flows into the peninsular Krishna river.[181] Fishing boats lashed together in a tidal creek in Anjarle village, Maharashtra The remaining Indian Plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east.[182] To the south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats;[183] the plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitude[m] and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude.[184] India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres (1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains.[185] According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coastline consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and 46% mudflats or marshy shores.[185] Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[186] Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's extremely low gradient, caused by long-term silt deposition, leads to severe floods and course changes.[187][188] Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding, include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal;[189] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[190] Coastal features include the marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of eastern India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh.[191] India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.[192] Indian climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons.[193] The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes.[194][195] The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the majority of India's rainfall.[193] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[196] Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018.[197] Climate change in India is often thought to be the cause. The retreat of Himalayan glaciers has adversely affected the flow rate of the major Himalayan rivers, including the Ganges and the Brahmaputra.[198] According to some current projections, the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century.[199] Biodiversity Main articles: Forestry in India and Wildlife of India India has the majority of the world's wild tigers, approximately 3,170 in 2022.[200] A Chital (Axis axis) stag in the Nagarhole National Park in a region covered by a moderately dense[n] forest. India is a megadiverse country, a term employed for 17 countries which display high biological diversity and contain many species exclusively indigenous, or endemic, to them.[201] India is a habitat for 8.6% of all mammal species, 13.7% of bird species, 7.9% of reptile species, 6% of amphibian species, 12.2% of fish species, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[202][203] Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic.[204] India also contains four of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots,[73] or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism.[o][205] According to official statistics, India's forest cover is 713,789 km2 (275,595 sq mi), which is 21.71% of the country's total land area.[74] It can be subdivided further into broad categories of canopy density, or the proportion of the area of a forest covered by its tree canopy.[206] Very dense forest, whose canopy density is greater than 70%, occupies 3.02% of India's land area.[206][207] It predominates in the tropical moist forest of the Andaman Islands, the Western Ghats, and Northeast India. Moderately dense forest, whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.39% of India's land area.[206][207] It predominates in the temperate coniferous forest of the Himalayas, the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India, and the dry deciduous teak forest of central and southern India.[208] Open forest, whose canopy density is between 10% and 40%, occupies 9.26% of India's land area.[206][207] India has two natural zones of thorn forest, one in the Deccan Plateau, immediately east of the Western Ghats, and the other in the western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain, now turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation, its features no longer visible.[209] Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in rural Indian herbal medicine,[210] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepul,[211] which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[212] and under which the Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.[213] Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana, the southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years ago.[214] India's subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic changes later caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.[215] Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes flanking the Himalayas.[216] This had the effect of lowering endemism among India's mammals, which stands at 12.6%, contrasting with 45.8% among reptiles and 55.8% among amphibians.[203] Among endemics are the vulnerable[217] hooded leaf monkey[218] and the threatened[219] Beddome's toad[219][220] of the Western Ghats. The last three Asiatic cheetahs (on record) in India were shot dead in 1948 in Surguja district, Madhya Pradesh, Central India by Maharajah Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo. The young males, all from the same litter, were sitting together when they were shot at night. India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms.[221] These include the endangered Bengal tiger and the Ganges river dolphin. Critically endangered species include: the gharial, a crocodilian; the great Indian bustard; and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.[222] Before they were extensively utilized for agriculture and cleared for human settlement, the thorn forests of Punjab were mingled at intervals with open grasslands that were grazed by large herds of blackbuck preyed on by the Asiatic cheetah; the blackbuck, no longer extant in Punjab, is now severely endangered in India, and the cheetah is extinct.[223] The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was expanded substantially. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act[224] and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988.[225] India hosts more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and eighteen biosphere reserves,[226] four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; seventy-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[227] Politics and government Politics Main article: Politics of India As part of Janadesh 2007, 25,000 pro-land reform landless people in Madhya Pradesh listen to Rajagopal P. V.[228] A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system,[229] it has six recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 50 regional parties.[230] The Congress is considered centre-left in Indian political culture,[231] and the BJP right-wing.[232][233][234] For most of the period between 1950—when India first became a republic—and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in the Parliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP,[235] as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalition governments at the centre.[236] In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951, 1957, and 1962, the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister; he was succeeded, after his own unexpected death in 1966, by Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi, who went on to lead the Congress to election victories in 1967 and 1971. Following public discontent with the state of emergency she declared in 1975, the Congress was voted out of power in 1977; the then-new Janata Party, which had opposed the emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted just over two years. There were two prime ministers during this period; Morarji Desai and Charan Singh. Voted back into power in 1980, the Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated; she was succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi, who won an easy victory in the general elections later that year. The Congress was voted out again in 1989 when a National Front coalition, led by the newly formed Janata Dal in alliance with the Left Front, won the elections; that government too proved relatively short-lived, lasting just under two years. There were two prime ministers during this period; V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar.[237] Elections were held again in 1991; no party won an absolute majority. The Congress, as the largest single party, was able to form a minority government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao.[238] US president Barack Obama addresses the members of the Parliament of India in New Delhi in November 2010. A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of 1996. Several short-lived alliances shared power at the centre. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996; it was followed by two comparatively long-lasting United Front coalitions, which depended on external support. There were two prime ministers during this period; H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. In 1998, the BJP was able to form a successful coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA became the first non-Congress, coalition government to complete a five-year term.[239] Again in the 2004 Indian general elections, no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the largest single party, forming another successful coalition: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It had the support of left-leaning parties and MPs who opposed the BJP. The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers, and it no longer required external support from India's communist parties.[240] That year, Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term.[241] In the 2014 general election, the BJP became the first political party since 1984 to win a majority and govern without the support of other parties.[242] In the 2019 general election, the BJP was victorious again. The incumbent prime minister is Narendra Modi, a former chief minister of Gujarat. On 22 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu was elected India's 15th president and took the oath of office on 25 July 2022.[243] Government Main articles: Government of India and Constitution of India Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India, was designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker for the Viceroy of India, and constructed between 1911 and 1931 during the British Raj.[244] India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India—the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic. Its democratic functioning has come into question in recent years, with some stating that it has become a mixed regime or electoral autocracy.[245] Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the union and the states. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950,[246] originally stated India to be a "sovereign, democratic republic;" this characterisation was amended in 1971 to "a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic".[247] India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states,[248] has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.[249][250] National symbols[1] Flag of India Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital Anthem Jana Gana Mana Song "Vande Mataram" Language None[9][10][11] Currency ₹ (Indian rupee) Calendar Saka Bird Indian peafowl Flower Lotus Fruit Mango Mammal Bengal tiger River dolphin Tree Banyan River Ganges The Government of India comprises three branches:[251] Executive: The President of India is the ceremonial head of state,[252] who is elected indirectly for a five-year term by an electoral college comprising members of national and state legislatures.[253][254] The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power.[255] Appointed by the president,[256] the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.[255] The executive of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice president, and the Union Council of Ministers—with the cabinet being its executive committee—headed by the prime minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of one of the houses of parliament.[252] In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature; the prime minister and their council are directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament. Civil servants act as permanent executives and all decisions of the executive are implemented by them.[257] Legislature: The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament. Operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system, it comprises an upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and a lower house called the Lok Sabha (House of the People).[258] The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body of 245 members who serve staggered six-year terms.[259] Most are elected indirectly by the state and union territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population.[256] All but two of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are elected directly by popular vote; they represent single-member constituencies for five-year terms.[260] Two seats of parliament, reserved for Anglo-Indians in the article 331, have been scrapped.[261][262] Judiciary: India has a three-tier unitary independent judiciary[263] comprising the supreme court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 25 high courts, and a large number of trial courts.[263] The supreme court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the centre and has appellate jurisdiction over the high courts.[264] It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution[265] and invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.[266] Administrative divisions Main article: Administrative divisions of India See also: Political integration of India India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories.[16] All states, as well as the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments following the Westminster system of governance. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.[267] There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels.[268] A clickable map of the 28 states and 8 union territories of India States Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal Union territories Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh Lakshadweep National Capital Territory of Delhi Puducherry Foreign, economic and strategic relations Main articles: Foreign relations of India and Indian Armed Forces During the 1950s and 60s, India played a pivotal role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[269] From left to right: Gamal Abdel Nasser of United Arab Republic (now Egypt), Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and Jawaharlal Nehru in Belgrade, September 1961. In the 1950s, India strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia and played a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[270] After initially cordial relations with neighbouring China, India went to war with China in 1962 and was widely thought to have been humiliated.[271] This was followed by another military conflict in 1967 in which India successfully repelled Chinese attack.[272] India has had tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan; the two nations have gone to war four times: in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. Three of these wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir, while the third, the 1971 war, followed from India's support for the independence of Bangladesh.[273] In the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of the host country: a peace-keeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990; and an armed intervention to prevent a 1988 coup d'état attempt in the Maldives. After the 1965 war with Pakistan, India began to pursue close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier.[274] Aside from ongoing its special relationship with Russia,[275] India has wide-ranging defence relations with Israel and France. In recent years, it has played key roles in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the World Trade Organization. The nation has provided 100,000 military and police personnel to serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. It participates in the East Asia Summit, the G8+5, and other multilateral forums.[276] India has close economic ties with countries in South America,[277] Asia, and Africa; it pursues a "Look East" policy that seeks to strengthen partnerships with the ASEAN nations, Japan, and South Korea that revolve around many issues, but especially those involving economic investment and regional security.[278][279] The Indian Air Force contingent marching at the 221st Bastille Day military parade in Paris, on 14 July 2009. The parade at which India was the foreign guest was led by India's oldest regiment, the Maratha Light Infantry, founded in 1768.[280] China's nuclear test of 1964, as well as its repeated threats to intervene in support of Pakistan in the 1965 war, convinced India to develop nuclear weapons.[281] India conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out additional underground testing in 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory.[282] India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its "Minimum Credible Deterrence" doctrine.[283][284] It is developing a ballistic missile defence shield and, a fifth-generation fighter jet.[285][286] Other indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of Vikrant-class aircraft carriers and Arihant-class nuclear submarines.[287] Since the end of the Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and military co-operation with the United States and the European Union.[288] In 2008, a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States. Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the sixth de facto nuclear weapons state.[289] India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia,[290] France,[291] the United Kingdom,[292] and Canada.[293] Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India (left, background) in talks with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico during a visit to Mexico, 2016 The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.45 million active troops, they compose the world's second-largest military. It comprises the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Coast Guard.[294] The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or 1.83% of GDP.[295] Defence expenditure was pegged at US$70.12 billion for fiscal year 2022–23 and, increased 9.8% than previous fiscal year.[296][297] India is the world's second largest arms importer; between 2016 and 2020, it accounted for 9.5% of the total global arms imports.[298] Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.[299] In May 2017, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the South Asia Satellite, a gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries.[300] In October 2018, India signed a US$5.43 billion (over ₹400 billion) agreement with Russia to procure four S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia's most advanced long-range missile defence system.[301] Economy Main article: Economy of India A farmer in northwestern Karnataka ploughs his field with a tractor even as another in a field beyond does the same with a pair of oxen. In 2019, 43% of India's total workforce was employed in agriculture.[302] India is the world's largest producer of milk, with the largest population of cattle. In 2018, nearly 80% of India's milk was sourced from small farms with herd size between one and two, the milk harvested by hand milking.[304] Women tend to a recently planted rice field in Junagadh district in Gujarat. 55% of India's female workforce was employed in agriculture in 2019.[303] According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2022 was nominally worth $3.46 trillion; it was the fifth-largest economy by market exchange rates, and is around $11.6 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).[305] With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012,[306] India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies.[307] However, the country ranks 139th in the world in nominal GDP per capita and 118th in GDP per capita at PPP.[308] Until 1991, all Indian governments followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics. Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the outside world. An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 forced the nation to liberalise its economy;[309] since then, it has moved increasingly towards a free-market system[310][311] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows.[312] India has been a member of World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.[313] The 522-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second-largest, as of 2017.[294] The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and the agricultural sector 18.1%. India's foreign exchange remittances of US$100 billion in 2022,[314] highest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians working in foreign countries.[315] Major agricultural products include: rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.[16] Major industries include: textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software.[16] In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985.[310] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%;[316] In 2021, India was the world's ninth-largest importer and the sixteenth-largest exporter.[317] Major exports include: petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and manufactured leather goods.[16] Major imports include: crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.[16] Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%.[318] India was the world's second largest textile exporter after China in the 2013 calendar year.[319] Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,[310] India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.[320] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.[321] Though ranking 68th in global competitiveness,[322] as of 2010, India ranks 17th in financial market sophistication, 24th in the banking sector, 44th in business sophistication, and 39th in innovation, ahead of several advanced economies.[323] With seven of the world's top 15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, as of 2009, the country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States.[324] India is ranked 40th in the Global Innovation Index in 2022.[325] India's consumer market, the world's eleventh-largest, is expected to become fifth-largest by 2030.[321] Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita increased steadily from US$308 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,380 in 2010, to an estimated US$1,730 in 2016. It is expected to grow to US$2,466 by 2022.[20] However, it has remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the near future. A panorama of Bangalore, the centre of India's software development economy. In the 1980s, when the first multinational corporations began to set up centres in India, they chose Bangalore because of the large pool of skilled graduates in the area, in turn due to the many science and engineering colleges in the surrounding region.[326] According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.[327] During the next four decades, Indian GDP is expected to grow at an annualised average of 8%, making it potentially the world's fastest-growing major economy until 2050.[327] The report highlights key growth factors: a young and rapidly growing working-age population; growth in the manufacturing sector because of rising education and engineering skill levels; and sustained growth of the consumer market driven by a rapidly growing middle-class.[327] The World Bank cautions that, for India to achieve its economic potential, it must continue to focus on public sector reform, transport infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, removal of labour regulations, education, energy security, and public health and nutrition.[328] According to the Worldwide Cost of Living Report 2017 released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which was created by comparing more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services, four of the cheapest cities were in India: Bangalore (3rd), Mumbai (5th), Chennai (5th) and New Delhi (8th).[329] Industries A tea garden in Sikkim. India, the world's second largest-producer of tea, is a nation of one billion tea drinkers, who consume 70% of India's tea output. India's telecommunication industry is the second-largest in the world with over 1.2 billion subscribers. It contributes 6.5% to India's GDP.[330] After the third quarter of 2017, India surpassed the US to become the second largest smartphone market in the world after China.[331] The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010,[332] and exports by 36% during 2008–2009.[333] In 2022, India became the world's third-largest vehicle market after China and the United States, surpassing Japan.[334] At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed 2.8 million professionals, generated revenues close to US$100 billion equalling 7.5% of Indian GDP, and contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.[335] The pharmaceutical industry in India emerged as a global player. As of 2021, with 3000 pharmaceutical companies and 10,500 manufacturing units India is the world's third-largest pharmaceutical producer, largest producer of generic medicines and supply up to 50—60% of global vaccines demand, these all contribute up to US$24.44 billions in exports and India's local pharmaceutical market is estimated up to US$42 billion.[336][337] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world.[338][339] The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–2013, increasing its revenues from ₹204.4 billion (Indian rupees) to ₹235.24 billion (US$3.94 billion at June 2013 exchange rates).[340] Energy Main articles: Energy in India and Energy policy of India India's capacity to generate electrical power is 300 gigawatts, of which 42 gigawatts is renewable.[341] The country's usage of coal is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions by India but its renewable energy is competing strongly.[342] India emits about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This equates to about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide per person per year, which is half the world average.[343][344] Increasing access to electricity and clean cooking with liquefied petroleum gas have been priorities for energy in India.[345] Socio-economic challenges Health workers about to begin another day of immunisation against infectious diseases in 2006. Eight years later, and three years after India's last case of polio, the World Health Organization declared India to be polio-free.[346] Despite economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-economic challenges. In 2006, India contained the largest number of people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.[347] The proportion decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005.[348] Under the World Bank's later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[p][350] 30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight.[351] According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.[352][353] The Mid-Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[354] A 2018 Walk Free Foundation report estimated that nearly 8 million people in India were living in different forms of modern slavery, such as bonded labour, child labour, human trafficking, and forced begging, among others.[355] According to the 2011 census, there were 10.1 million child labourers in the country, a decline of 2.6 million from 12.6 million in 2001.[356] Since 1991, economic inequality between India's states has consistently grown: the per-capita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that of the poorest.[357] Corruption in India is perceived to have decreased. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, India ranked 78th out of 180 countries in 2018 with a score of 41 out of 100, an improvement from 85th in 2014.[358][359] Epidemic and pandemic diseases have long been a major factor, including COVID-19 recently.[360] Demographics, languages, and religion Main articles: Demographics of India, Languages of India, and Religion in India See also: South Asian ethnic groups India by language The language families of South Asia With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report,[361] India was the world's second-most populous country.[q] Its population grew by 17.64% from 2001 to 2011,[363] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).[363] The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.[361] The median age was 28.7 as of 2020.[294] The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people.[364] Medical advances made in the last 50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "Green Revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly.[365] The life expectancy in India is at 70 years—71.5 years for women, 68.7 years for men.[294] There are around 93 physicians per 100,000 people.[366] Migration from rural to urban areas has been an important dynamic in India's recent history. The number of people living in urban areas grew by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001.[367] Yet, in 2001, over 70% still lived in rural areas.[368][369] The level of urbanisation increased further from 27.81% in the 2001 Census to 31.16% in the 2011 Census. The slowing down of the overall population growth rate was due to the sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991.[370] According to the 2011 census, there are 53 million-plus urban agglomerations in India; among them Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, in decreasing order by population.[371] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.[372] The rural-urban literacy gap, which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The improvement in the rural literacy rate is twice that of urban areas.[370] Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[372] The interior of San Thome Basilica, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Christianity is believed to have been introduced to India by the late 2nd century by Syriac-speaking Christians. Among speakers of the Indian languages, 74% speak Indo-Aryan languages, the easternmost branch of the Indo-European languages; 24% speak Dravidian languages, indigenous to South Asia and spoken widely before the spread of Indo-Aryan languages and 2% speak Austroasiatic languages or the Sino-Tibetan languages. India has no national language.[373] Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.[374][375] English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";[6] it is important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Each state and union territory has one or more official languages, and the constitution recognises in particular 22 "scheduled languages". The 2011 census reported the religion in India with the largest number of followers was Hinduism (79.80% of the population), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remaining were Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%) and others[r] (0.9%).[15] India has the third-largest Muslim population—the largest for a non-Muslim majority country.[376][377] Culture Main article: Culture of India A Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar, Punjab Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years.[378] During the Vedic period (c. 1700 BCE – c. 500 BCE), the foundations of Hindu philosophy, mythology, theology and literature were laid, and many beliefs and practices which still exist today, such as dhárma, kárma, yóga, and mokṣa, were established.[78] India is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the nation's major religions.[379] The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[380] the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[379] and by Buddhist philosophy.[381] Visual art Main article: Indian art India has a very ancient tradition of art, which has exchanged many influences with the rest of Eurasia, especially in the first millennium, when Buddhist art spread with Indian religions to Central, East and South-East Asia, the last also greatly influenced by Hindu art.[382] Thousands of seals from the Indus Valley Civilization of the third millennium BCE have been found, usually carved with animals, but a few with human figures. The "Pashupati" seal, excavated in Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, in 1928–29, is the best known.[383][384] After this there is a long period with virtually nothing surviving.[384][385] Almost all surviving ancient Indian art thereafter is in various forms of religious sculpture in durable materials, or coins. There was probably originally far more in wood, which is lost. In north India Mauryan art is the first imperial movement.[386][387][388] In the first millennium CE, Buddhist art spread with Indian religions to Central, East and South-East Asia, the last also greatly influenced by Hindu art.[389] Over the following centuries a distinctly Indian style of sculpting the human figure developed, with less interest in articulating precise anatomy than ancient Greek sculpture but showing smoothly-flowing forms expressing prana ("breath" or life-force).[390][391] This is often complicated by the need to give figures multiple arms or heads, or represent different genders on the left and right of figures, as with the Ardhanarishvara form of Shiva and Parvati.[392][393] Most of the earliest large sculpture is Buddhist, either excavated from Buddhist stupas such as Sanchi, Sarnath and Amaravati,[394] or is rock cut reliefs at sites such as Ajanta, Karla and Ellora. Hindu and Jain sites appear rather later.[395][396] In spite of this complex mixture of religious traditions, generally, the prevailing artistic style at any time and place has been shared by the major religious groups, and sculptors probably usually served all communities.[397] Gupta art, at its peak c. 300 CE – c. 500 CE, is often regarded as a classical period whose influence lingered for many centuries after; it saw a new dominance of Hindu sculpture, as at the Elephanta Caves.[398][399] Across the north, this became rather stiff and formulaic after c. 800 CE, though rich with finely carved detail in the surrounds of statues.[400] But in the South, under the Pallava and Chola dynasties, sculpture in both stone and bronze had a sustained period of great achievement; the large bronzes with Shiva as Nataraja have become an iconic symbol of India.[401][402] Ancient painting has only survived at a few sites, of which the crowded scenes of court life in the Ajanta Caves are by far the most important, but it was evidently highly developed, and is mentioned as a courtly accomplishment in Gupta times.[403][404] Painted manuscripts of religious texts survive from Eastern India about the 10th century onwards, most of the earliest being Buddhist and later Jain. No doubt the style of these was used in larger paintings.[405] The Persian-derived Deccan painting, starting just before the Mughal miniature, between them give the first large body of secular painting, with an emphasis on portraits, and the recording of princely pleasures and wars.[406][407] The style spread to Hindu courts, especially among the Rajputs, and developed a variety of styles, with the smaller courts often the most innovative, with figures such as Nihâl Chand and Nainsukh.[408][409] As a market developed among European residents, it was supplied by Company painting by Indian artists with considerable Western influence.[410][411] In the 19th century, cheap Kalighat paintings of gods and everyday life, done on paper, were urban folk art from Calcutta, which later saw the Bengal School of Art, reflecting the art colleges founded by the British, the first movement in modern Indian painting.[412][413] Bhutesvara Yakshis, Buddhist reliefs from Mathura, 2nd century CE Bhutesvara Yakshis, Buddhist reliefs from Mathura, 2nd century CE   Gupta terracotta relief, Krishna Killing the Horse Demon Keshi, 5th century Gupta terracotta relief, Krishna Killing the Horse Demon Keshi, 5th century   Elephanta Caves, triple-bust (trimurti) of Shiva, 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, c. 550 Elephanta Caves, triple-bust (trimurti) of Shiva, 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, c. 550   Chola bronze of Shiva as Nataraja ("Lord of Dance"), Tamil Nadu, 10th or 11th century Chola bronze of Shiva as Nataraja ("Lord of Dance"), Tamil Nadu, 10th or 11th century   Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram at Ajmer on His Return from the Mewar Campaign, Balchand, c. 1635 Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram at Ajmer on His Return from the Mewar Campaign, Balchand, c. 1635   Krishna Fluting to the Milkmaids, Kangra painting, 1775–1785 Krishna Fluting to the Milkmaids, Kangra painting, 1775–1785 Architecture Main article: Architecture of India The Taj Mahal from across the Yamuna river showing two outlying red sandstone buildings, a mosque on the right (west) and a jawab (response) thought to have been built for architectural balance Much of Indian architecture, including the Taj Mahal, other works of Indo-Islamic Mughal architecture, and South Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions with imported styles.[414] Vernacular architecture is also regional in its flavours. Vastu shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to Mamuni Mayan,[415] explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings;[416] it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.[417] As applied in Hindu temple architecture, it is influenced by the Shilpa Shastras, a series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is the Vastu-Purusha mandala, a square that embodied the "absolute".[418] The Taj Mahal, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by orders of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, has been described in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".[419] Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[420] Literature Main article: Indian literature The earliest literature in India, composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE, was in the Sanskrit language.[421] Major works of Sanskrit literature include the Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE – c. 1200 BCE), the epics: Mahābhārata (c. 400 BCE – c. 400 CE) and the Ramayana (c. 300 BCE and later); Abhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of Śakuntalā, and other dramas of Kālidāsa (c. 5th century CE) and Mahākāvya poetry.[422][423][424] In Tamil literature, the Sangam literature (c. 600 BCE – c. 300 BCE) consisting of 2,381 poems, composed by 473 poets, is the earliest work.[425][426][427][428] From the 14th to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic change because of the emergence of devotional poets like Kabīr, Tulsīdās, and Guru Nānak. This period was characterised by a varied and wide spectrum of thought and expression; as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly from classical traditions.[429] In the 19th century, Indian writers took a new interest in social questions and psychological descriptions. In the 20th century, Indian literature was influenced by the works of the Bengali poet, author and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore,[430] who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Performing arts and media Main articles: Music of India, Dance in India, Cinema of India, and Television in India India's National Academy of Performance Arts has recognised eight Indian dance styles to be classical. One such is Kuchipudi shown here. Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles. Classical music encompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots: the northern Hindustani and the southern Carnatic schools.[431] Regionalised popular forms include filmi and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a well-known form of the latter. Indian dance also features diverse folk and classical forms. Among the better-known folk dances are: bhangra of Punjab, bihu of Assam, Jhumair and chhau of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, garba and dandiya of Gujarat, ghoomar of Rajasthan, and lavani of Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil Nadu, kathak of Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohiniyattam of Kerala, kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, manipuri of Manipur, odissi of Odisha, and the sattriya of Assam.[432] Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.[433] Often based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances or social and political events, Indian theatre includes: the bhavai of Gujarat, the jatra of West Bengal, the nautanki and ramlila of North India, tamasha of Maharashtra, burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu, and the yakshagana of Karnataka.[434] India has a theatre training institute the National School of Drama (NSD) that is situated at New Delhi It is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of culture, Government of India.[435] The Indian film industry produces the world's most-watched cinema.[436] Established regional cinematic traditions exist in the Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[437] The Hindi language film industry (Bollywood) is the largest sector representing 43% of box office revenue, followed by the South Indian Telugu and Tamil film industries which represent 36% combined.[438] Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades.[439][440] The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s. Since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society.[441] Today, television is the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012 there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite or cable connections compared to other forms of mass media such as the press (350 million), radio (156 million) or internet (37 million).[442] Society Muslims offer namaz at a mosque in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Indian caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found on the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes".[443] India abolished untouchability in 1950 with the adoption of the constitution and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. Family values are important in the Indian tradition, and multi-generational patrilineal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas.[444] An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders.[445] Marriage is thought to be for life,[445] and the divorce rate is extremely low,[446] with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce.[447] Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.[448] Female infanticide in India, and lately female foeticide, have created skewed gender ratios; the number of missing women in the country quadrupled from 15 million to 63 million in the 50-year period ending in 2014, faster than the population growth during the same period, and constituting 20 percent of India's female electorate.[449] According to an Indian government study, an additional 21 million girls are unwanted and do not receive adequate care.[450] Despite a government ban on sex-selective foeticide, the practice remains commonplace in India, the result of a preference for boys in a patriarchal society.[451] The payment of dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines.[452] Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry laws.[453] Many Indian festivals are religious in origin. The best known include: Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Thai Pongal, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Bakr-Id, Christmas, and Vaisakhi.[454][455] Education Main articles: Education in India, Literacy in India, and History of education in the Indian subcontinent Children awaiting school lunch in Rayka (also Raika), a village in rural Gujarat. The salutation Jai Bhim written on the blackboard honours the jurist, social reformer, and Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar. In the 2011 census, about 73% of the population was literate, with 81% for men and 65% for women. This compares to 1981 when the respective rates were 41%, 53% and 29%. In 1951 the rates were 18%, 27% and 9%. In 1921 the rates 7%, 12% and 2%. In 1891 they were 5%, 9% and 1%,[456][457] According to Latika Chaudhary, in 1911 there were under three primary schools for every ten villages. Statistically, more caste and religious diversity reduced private spending. Primary schools taught literacy, so local diversity limited its growth.[458] The education system of India is the world's second-largest.[459] India has over 900 universities, 40,000 colleges[460] and 1.5 million schools.[461] In India's higher education system, a significant number of seats are reserved under affirmative action policies for the historically disadvantaged. In recent decades India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development.[462][463] Clothing Main article: Clothing in India Women in sari at an adult literacy class in Tamil Nadu A man in dhoti and wearing a woollen shawl, in Varanasi From ancient times until the advent of the modern, the most widely worn traditional dress in India was draped.[464] For women it took the form of a sari, a single piece of cloth many yards long.[464] The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body and the shoulder.[464] In its modern form, it is combined with an underskirt, or Indian petticoat, and tucked in the waist band for more secure fastening. It is also commonly worn with an Indian blouse, or choli, which serves as the primary upper-body garment, the sari's end—passing over the shoulder—serving to cover the midriff and obscure the upper body's contours.[464] For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.[465] Women (from left to right) in churidars and kameez (with back to the camera), jeans and sweater, and pink Shalwar kameez The use of stitched clothes became widespread after Muslim rule was established at first by the Delhi sultanate (c. 1300 CE) and then continued by the Mughal Empire (c. 1525 CE).[466] Among the garments introduced during this time and still commonly worn are: the shalwars and pyjamas, both styles of trousers, and the tunics kurta and kameez.[466] In southern India, the traditional draped garments were to see much longer continuous use.[466] Shalwars are atypically wide at the waist but narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring, which causes them to become pleated around the waist.[467] The pants can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias, in which case they are called churidars. When they are ordinarily wide at the waist and their bottoms are hemmed but not cuffed, they are called pyjamas. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic,[468] its side seams left open below the waist-line.[469] The kurta is traditionally collarless and made of cotton or silk; it is worn plain or with embroidered decoration, such as chikan; and typically falls to either just above or just below the wearer's knees.[470] In the last 50 years, fashions have changed a great deal in India. Increasingly, in urban northern India, the sari is no longer the apparel of everyday wear, though they remain popular on formal occasions.[471] The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn by younger urban women, who favour churidars or jeans.[471] In white-collar office settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round.[471] For weddings and formal occasions, men in the middle- and upper classes often wear bandgala, or short Nehru jackets, with pants, with the groom and his groomsmen sporting sherwanis and churidars.[471] The dhoti, once the universal garment of Hindu males, the wearing of which in the homespun and handwoven khadi allowed Gandhi to bring Indian nationalism to the millions,[472] is seldom seen in the cities.[471] Cuisine Main article: Indian cuisine South Indian vegetarian thali, or platter Railway mutton curry from Odisha The foundation of a typical Indian meal is a cereal cooked in a plain fashion and complemented with flavourful savoury dishes.[473] The cooked cereal could be steamed rice; chapati, a thin unleavened bread made from wheat flour, or occasionally cornmeal, and griddle-cooked dry;[474] the idli, a steamed breakfast cake, or dosa, a griddled pancake, both leavened and made from a batter of rice- and gram meal.[475] The savoury dishes might include lentils, pulses and vegetables commonly spiced with ginger and garlic, but also with a combination of spices that may include coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamon and others as informed by culinary conventions.[473] They might also include poultry, fish, or meat dishes. In some instances, the ingredients might be mixed during the process of cooking.[476] A platter, or thali, used for eating usually has a central place reserved for the cooked cereal, and peripheral ones for the flavourful accompaniments, which are often served in small bowls. The cereal and its accompaniments are eaten simultaneously rather than a piecemeal manner. This is accomplished by mixing—for example of rice and lentils—or folding, wrapping, scooping or dipping—such as chapati and cooked vegetables or lentils.[473] 0:14 A tandoor chef in the Turkman Gate, Old Delhi, makes Khameeri roti (a Muslim-influenced style of leavened bread).[477] India has distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.[478] The appearance of ahimsa, or the avoidance of violence toward all forms of life in many religious orders early in Indian history, especially Upanishadic Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, is thought to have contributed to the predominance of vegetarianism among a large segment of India's Hindu population, especially in southern India, Gujarat, the Hindi-speaking belt of north-central India, as well as among Jains.[478] Although meat is eaten widely in India, the proportional consumption of meat in the overall diet is low.[479] Unlike China, which has increased its per capita meat consumption substantially in its years of increased economic growth, in India the strong dietary traditions have contributed to dairy, rather than meat, becoming the preferred form of animal protein consumption.[480] The most significant import of cooking techniques into India during the last millennium occurred during the Mughal Empire. Dishes such as the pilaf,[481] developed in the Abbasid caliphate,[482] and cooking techniques such as the marinating of meat in yogurt, spread into northern India from regions to its northwest.[483] To the simple yogurt marinade of Persia, onions, garlic, almonds, and spices began to be added in India.[483] Rice was partially cooked and layered alternately with the sauteed meat, the pot sealed tightly, and slow cooked according to another Persian cooking technique, to produce what has today become the Indian biryani,[483] a feature of festive dining in many parts of India.[484] In the food served in Indian restaurants worldwide the diversity of Indian food has been partially concealed by the dominance of Punjabi cuisine. The popularity of tandoori chicken—cooked in the tandoor oven, which had traditionally been used for baking bread in the rural Punjab and the Delhi region, especially among Muslims, but which is originally from Central Asia—dates to the 1950s, and was caused in large part by an entrepreneurial response among people from the Punjab who had been displaced by the 1947 partition of India.[478] Sports and recreation Main article: Sport in India Girls play hopscotch in Jaora, Madhya Pradesh. Hopscotch has been commonly played by girls in rural India.[485] Several traditional indigenous sports such as kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda, and also martial arts such as Kalarippayattu and marma adi, remain popular. Chess is commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga;[486] in recent years, there has been a rise in the number of Indian grandmasters.[487] Viswanathan Anand became the Chess World Champion in 2007 and held the status until 2013.[488] Parcheesi is derived from Pachisi, another traditional Indian pastime, which in early modern times was played on a giant marble court by Mughal emperor Akbar the Great.[489] Cricket is the most popular sport in India.[490] Major domestic competitions include the Indian Premier League, which is the most-watched cricket league in the world and ranks sixth among all sports leagues.[491] Other professional leagues include the Indian Super League (football) and the Pro Kabaddi league.[492][493][494] Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar about to score a record 14,000 runs in Test cricket while playing against Australia in Bangalore, 2010 India has won two ODI Cricket world cups, the 1983 edition and the 2011 edition, as well as becoming the inaugural Twenty20 International Cricket Champions in 2007. India also has eight field hockey gold medals in the summer olympics[495] The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis Cup team and other Indian tennis players in the early 2010s have made tennis increasingly popular in the country.[496] India has a comparatively strong presence in shooting sports, and has won several medals at the Olympics, the World Shooting Championships, and the Commonwealth Games.[497][498] Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton[499] (Saina Nehwal and P. V. Sindhu are two of the top-ranked female badminton players in the world), boxing,[500] and wrestling.[501] Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-eastern states.[502] India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events: the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games; the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World Cup tournaments; the 2003 Afro-Asian Games; the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy; the 2009 World Badminton Championships; the 2010 Hockey World Cup; the 2010 Commonwealth Games; and the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Major international sporting events held annually in India include the Maharashtra Open, the Mumbai Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon, and the Indian Masters. The first Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix featured in late 2011 but has been discontinued from the F1 season calendar since 2014.[503] India has traditionally been the dominant country at the South Asian Games. An example of this dominance is the basketball competition where the Indian team won four out of five tournaments to date.[504] See also flag India portal icon Asia portal Administrative divisions of India Outline of India
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