INDIAN ARTIST FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA EXHIBITION PAMPHLET INDIA rare 1985 ORIGINAL

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176277815928 INDIAN ARTIST FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA EXHIBITION PAMPHLET INDIA rare 1985 ORIGINAL. 1985 FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA VINTAGE ORIGINAL EXHIBITION CATALOG/[AMPHLET FEATURING MANY OF HIS WORKS FROM 1985. DHOOMI MAL GALLERY 8-A CONNAUGHT, NEW DELHI-110001 . MEASURES FOLDED APPROXIMATELY 9 7/8 X 6 1/2 INCHES Francis Newton Souza was a Goan artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay, and was the first post-independence Indian artist to achieve high recognition in the West. Souza's style exhibited both low-life and high energy.
In 1949, curious art lovers in Bombay (now Mumbai) gathered at the Art Society of India to see the work of a rising young painter named Francis Newton. They were in for a surprise. On the gallery’s center wall hung an expressionistic self-portrait of the artist, stark naked, paintbrush in hand, looking directly at the viewer with total assurance and a complete lack of shame. Nearly six feet tall, it made a powerful impression. A scandal ensued. The police rushed in, covering up the figure’s private parts. Obscenity charges were filed. Then, after removing all four paintings in the show, the police raided the artist’s studio in a search for pornographic material. Once again, Newton, who soon gained fame under the name F.N. Souza, his actual surname, had delivered on the promise of his Progressive Artists’ Group, a handful of like-minded renegades who favored an assertively modern approach, incorporating such Western influences as Cubism, Expressionism and Art Brut. Dig deeper into the moment. Subscribe for $1 a week. Souza founded the group in 1947, just months after India gained its independence from British colonial rule. The goal, he wrote in the manifesto-like catalog essay for the group’s first major exhibition, at the Bombay Arts Society in July 1949, was a “new art for a newly free India.” No one embodied this spirit more than Souza, with a rebellious nature he exhibited from childhood. He was born Francisco Victor Newton de Souza on April 12, 1924, in Saligao, Goa, a Portuguese colony in the south of India, to Roman Catholic parents. His father, José Victor Aniceto Piedade de Souza, an English teacher who went by the name Joe Newton, died just three months after his son was born. Within a few years the boy was taken to Mumbai by his mother, Lilia Maria Cecilia (Antunes) de Souza, who started a successful dressmaking business. He was expelled from St. Francis Xavier’s College, a secondary school, for inscribing erotic doodles on the wall of the boys’ room. He protested that he had merely “corrected” an existing drawing. At 16, he enrolled in the Sir J.J. School of Art, where he chafed at the strict academic approach and again ran into trouble. In 1945, along with other politically active students, he was suspended for his activities in support of Gandhi’s Quit India movement and never returned. Editors’ Picks 90,000 Packages Are Stolen in N.Y.C. Every Day. How One Building Fought Back. I Wanted to Love Her, Not Save Her No Boys Allowed Continue reading the main story ImageSouza in about 1965. Souza in about 1965.Credit...Tony Evans/Getty Images; Estate of F.N. Souza. All rights reserved, DACS/ARS 2020 (artwork) On the day of his suspension, he went home in a rage and immediately began painting. The result was “The Blue Lady,” a nude he created by squeezing pigment directly from the tube onto a sheet of plywood and spreading the paint around with a palette knife. “It was an angry, impulsive picture, and in painting it he discovered the way he wanted to paint,” Edwin Mullins wrote in “F.N. Souza: An Introduction” (1962). Souza spent time in Goa, painting rural landscapes and portraits of poor laborers in a style reminiscent of Gauguin, then returned to Mumbai, where he began showing his work at the Bombay Art Society and gathered the coterie that became the Progressive Artists’ Group, among them Maqbool Fida Husain and Sayed Haider Raza. In 1949, after taking part in an exhibition of Indian art at the Royal Academy of Arts the previous year, he set sail for London. He toiled in obscurity until catching the eye of the poet Stephen Spender, who introduced him to Peter Watson, a well-connected collector and philanthropist. A group show with Francis Bacon, Henry Moore and others followed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1954. A year later Spender published Souza’s autobiographical essay, “Nirvana of a Maggot,” in Encounter magazine. His career took off when Victor Musgrave, the owner of the pioneering Gallery One, began selling his work. It was in the 1950s and ’60s, fusing stylistic elements drawn from classical Indian art, African tribal art and Western modernism, that Souza produced some of his most notable works. He expanded his reach beyond landscapes and portraits to embrace the sacred and profane in erotically charged images, teetering at times on the edge of violence, and religious subjects like the crucifixion and the Last Supper. “With a few slashing lines and a raw, expressive energy, Francis Newton Souza stripped away all subterfuge,” The Times of India wrote in a 2010 review of a retrospective of his work at the Dhoomimal Gallery in New Delhi. “Be it the sluts or the suits, the seamy side of life or the steamy, the gnomish, pox-scarred boy from Goa who went on to become one of the first Indian artists to be feted in the salons of Europe, laid it bare.” His brutal “Crucifixion” (1959), purchased by the Tate in 1993, showed a black, jagged-edged Christ, “scourged and dripping, with matted hair tangled in plaited thorns,” as Souza described it in his collection “Words and Lines” (1959). Image “Crucifixion,” 1959. Souza’s most notable works embraced the sacred and profane, teetering at times on the edge of violence. “Crucifixion,” 1959. Souza’s most notable works embraced the sacred and profane, teetering at times on the edge of violence.Credit...Tate/Estate of F.N. Souza. All rights reserved, DACS/ARS 2020 Several of the paintings from this period later fetched record auction prices for Indian art. “Birth” (1955), depicting a nude, heavily pregnant woman whose delivery is attended by a man in priestly garb, sold for $2.8 million in 2008, and then for $4 million when resold in 2015. His “black paintings,” first exhibited in 1966 at the Grosvenor Gallery in London, adopted many of his recurring themes, but rendered in a nearly all-black palette. In 1967 he moved to New York and returned to brighter colors, applied in a brushy, expressionistic manner, like the wildly exuberant “Oklahoma City” (1971), one of several cityscapes and landscapes that reflected his travels around the United States. He also embarked on a series of experimental works in which he used chemicals to dissolve the ink on magazine pages, catalogs or photographs and superimpose new images. A long period of neglect ended after his death, on March 28, 2002, while visiting Mumbai. The cause was complications of a heart attack. He was 77. His art would find new admirers. Tate Britain, as part of the 2018 exhibition “All Too Human: Bacon, Freud, and a Century of Painting Life,” set aside an entire room showcasing 10 of his works. Later that year, the Asia Society in New York included several of Souza’s works in “The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India,” a show devoted to the Progressive Artists’ Group, and a stirring reminder of Souza’s headlong charge into the future. “We were bold and full of fire,” Souza told The Times of India in 1989. “We were forging a modern Indian art with a blast!” India's most important, and famous, modern artist Francis Newton Souza, who has died aged 77 was of a generation whose creative roots remained anchored securely and authentically to the expressive modernism inspired by Picasso. Born in the Portuguese Catholic colony of Goa, Souza was brought up by his mother, a dressmaker. In 1929 after the family moved to Bombay, he survived smallpox - and his mother added the name Francis as a mark of respect to Goa's patron saint St Francis Xavier. Having been expelled from schools in 1937 and 1939, he entered the Sir JJ school of art in Bombay in 1940 (now Mumbai) where he was mainly taught the British academic tradition. He was expelled in 1945. In 1947 he was awarded first prize in the Bombay art society annual exhibition. He joined the Communist party and founded the progressive art group along with KH Ara, SK Bakre, HA Gade, MF Husain, and SH Raza. When his pictures were shown at Burlington House a year later, Souza decided to make his home in England and in 1949 he settled in London. For the next five years he struggled to make an impact, but being a talented writer, he made a living out of journalism . Later, his early autobiographical essay Nirvana Of A Maggot - which was published in 1955 - was sent to Stephen Spender. He introduced Souza to Victor Musgrave, Gallery One's owner and in 1955 his first show sold out A decade of almost unbroken successfollowed. But 1964 proved to be a difficult year. In a recent letter he wryly described this period to me - when he met a 16-year-old whom he married the following year. The result was headlines like: "Souza, 40 Weds Girl 17." "We went to India for our honeymoon," he wrote, "but no sooner had I returned to London when all hell broke out." So when the offer of a gallery contract arrived from Schuster in Detroit, Souza and his new wife fled, finally settling in New York where, until his death, he had a residence ever since. On this side of the Atlantic his reputation went into slow decline and almost vanished completely, until recently, when Tate Modern re-hung his magnificent and brutal Crucifixion (1959), reminding us of the expressive forces Souza had at his disposal. Souza continued to work prolifically from his New York base, exhibiting all over the world but spending more and more time in his beloved India. Over the years his subject matter remained consistent. Crucifixes, last suppers, erotic nudes, the mother and child, still lives and landscapes. In later years he developed the "chemical works", a transfer process in which he could combine printed imagery with drawing and painting. But, for all this invention, in the end, Souza may best be remembered for his compelling paintings of Christ and the power of his erotically charged nudes. These were his subjects and the imagery of his most important works. Here the east, the west, the spiritual and the physical fuse together, giving credence to his often used declaration that, the "whole meaning of life is life itself!" Souza held on to his wry humour and a healthy scepticism of the establishment in any form. He celebrated the individual. "Everything happens according to nature's intention", he was fond of repeating. Souza lived his life painting and loving. On his gravestone in Bombay are the image of an Angel and the words "Nature is the Sole Principle". It was Souza's last wish that a permanent museum of all his works be created in India, his beloved motherland. India's first modern artist deserves no less. He is survived by his daughter Shelley from his first marriage; Karen, Francesca and Anya from his second wife; Patrick from his third wife; six grandchildren; and Srimati Lal, his partner at the time of his death. Who was Francis Newton Souza? Francis Newton Souza was born in Goa, India, in 1924, and would go on to become one of India’s most influential Modern painters. After his death in 2002, Indian Modernist M.F. Husain paid a moving tribute to the artist. ‘Souza was my mentor,’ he said. ‘He is the most significant painter, almost a genius.’ As a small child, Souza moved with his mother from Goa, which was a Portuguese Catholic colony at the time, to Bombay, and went on to attend St Xavier’s High School, then run by Jesuit priests. It was there that he developed an interest in drawing, studying oleographs, prints and pictures imported from Europe. He was a precocious, rebellious child, however, and was expelled at 15 for, among other antics, drawing pornographic images in the school lavatories.  He later enrolled at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Bombay, from which he and 21 other students were suspended for joining Gandhi’s Quit India movement. On the day of his suspension, Souza produced The Blue Lady (1945), a landmark work painted with pigment squeezed straight out of the tube and spread over the canvas with a palette knife. It was, according to Edwin Mullins in his monograph of the artist, utterly different from anything he had done before: ‘It was an angry impulsive picture, and in painting it he discovered the way he wanted to paint.’ Souza elected not to return to the art school to complete his studies. What was F.N. Souza best known for? Over the course of his six-decade career, Souza experimented with a number of genres and styles, but it’s probably his strong figurative practice, his line drawings and series of ‘black paintings’ produced in London during the 1950s and ’60s for which he is most famous.  Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Lovers), 1963. Mixed media on silk laid on board. 27¼ x 37¾  in (69.2 x 95.9  cm). Estimate $50,000-70,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Lovers), 1963. Mixed media on silk laid on board. 27¼ x 37¾ in (69.2 x 95.9 cm). Estimate: $50,000-70,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York He’s also revered for his repetitive use of themes and motifs, including Catholicism, the female nude, and the dichotomy between good and evil. What unites his work, though, is a visceral, evocative sensuality that’s sometimes violent, sometimes sexual. Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Seated Woman), 1962. Oil on satin laid on canvas. 47¾ x 37  in (121.3 x 94  cm). Estimate $150,000-200,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Seated Woman), 1962. Oil on satin laid on canvas. 47¾ x 37 in (121.3 x 94 cm). Estimate: $150,000-200,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Was Souza involved with India’s most radical art movement? Yes, Souza co-founded the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) in Mumbai in 1947, the same year that India gained independence and Souza joined India’s Communist Party. Although the founding members of the PAG, which included S.H. Raza, K.H. Ara, M.F. Husain, S.K. Bakre and H.A. Gade, had wildly different styles, they unanimously agreed to define the meaning of Modern art in India. ‘They saw the importance of looking back to India’s classical, artistic past and to the West for innovations in technique and style,’ explains Avari. ‘In doing so, they created a new language for Modern art in India.’ The Progressive Artists’ Group largely disbanded after Souza moved to London in 1949 and S. H. Raza went to Paris to study the following year. Goan landscapes and the Indian poor In the late 1940s, Souza was primarily painting small-format watercolours of Goan landscapes and illustrating the plight of the Indian poor, though he did experiment with oil on board and canvas, too. Among his most compelling paintings from this early period are Indian Family  (1947), an oil on board depicting a family of four outside a house with empty bowls at their feet, while fish and fruit sit atop a table inside the house behind them; and Pietà (1947), an oil painting featuring the Virgin Mary. Many of his paintings from this period are deeply influenced by the Church, observes Avari. ‘Some even resemble stained-glass windows. In these, Souza applies daubs of brightly coloured paint to heighten religious iconography such as the pietà.’ Souza exhibited many of these provocative paintings in the working-class colonies of Bombay. He was hailed in the People’s Age, the Communist Party paper, as ‘a patriot and a revolutionary’. Despite this, his affiliation with the Communist Party was shortlived. He quit in 1949. Why did Souza leave his homeland for London? Souza left Bombay for London in 1949 in search of patronage and a more liberal audience for his work. Although he would remain in London for the better part of two decades, his early years in the capital (1949-1954) were among the most difficult of his career. In the aftermath of the Second World War, London was not the bohemian centre it had once been, and Souza struggled to establish himself in its artistic and literary circles. His works from the early 1950s explore controversial themes, in particular religion and sex, which, according to the writer and art critic Yashodhara Dalmia, would turn into ‘uneasy companions’. Souza’s early exploits failed to attract the attention of key London galleries and patrons. So he travelled around Europe and to Paris, where he reunited with fellow Indian Modernists S.H. Raza and Akbar Padamsee, and met Picasso for the first time. Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Landscape with Tree), 1955. Pencil, gouache and oil on paper. 15¼ x 22  in (38.7 x 55.9  cm). Estimate $70,000-90,000. Offered in South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Landscape with Tree), 1955. Pencil, gouache and oil on paper. 15¼ x 22 in (38.7 x 55.9 cm). Estimate: $70,000-90,000. Offered in South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York An influential meeting Souza was profoundly struck by Picasso’s art and personality, later describing his encounter with the modern master as a defining moment in his career. Young Ladies from Belsize Park (1962), sold at Christie’s in 2018 for $250,000, borrows from Picasso’s ‘visual world’ by channelling the compositional structure of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), a masterpiece that introduced the world to the artistic idea of Cubism. The stylistic influence of traditional African art played into Picasso’s Cubist breakthrough, and similarly finds resonance in Souza’s paintings and drawings from the period. The birth of Souza’s signature style During the early years in Europe, Souza alighted on his signature style — a synthesis of Western and Eastern techniques and motifs. According to Avari, Souza’s paintings from this early period are influenced by an eclectic array of sources, from South Indian bronzes and the temple sculptures of Mathura and Khajuraho, to Spanish Romanesque painting, the work of European Old Masters, tribal art from Africa, European Modernism, and Catholicism. Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Spanish Landscape, 1958. Oil on canvas. 23⅝ x 28 ¾  in (60 x 73  cm). Estimate $120,000-180,000. Offered in South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Spanish Landscape, 1958. Oil on canvas. 23⅝ x 28 ¾ in (60 x 73 cm). Estimate: $120,000-180,000. Offered in South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York What role did Catholicism play in his life and work? Raised as a Roman Catholic in Goa, Souza was initially enthralled by the various facets and traditions of the Church and its representatives, from the imposing architecture to the vestments of its priests and the implements they used in worship. Although this fascination would turn into a repudiation of the faith later in life, the visual culture of Catholicism would continue to influence his work. Many paintings depicting religious iconography have passed through Christie’s, including Untitled (The Prophet) (1955), Untitled (Still Life with Fish), 1961; Black Pope (1965) and Untitled (Flagellation of Christ) (1965). 1955: The first solo show For the first six years in Europe, his first wife Maria was the sole breadwinner for the family, while Souza struggled to support himself financially with his art through the occasional exhibition and commission, and through his journalism. As well as being a talented painter, Souza was a remarkable writer, publishing his semi-autobiographical essay in the book Words and Lines  in July 1959. The year 1954 saw Souza on the brink of defeat. By 1955, however, the tide had turned. He penned his autobiographical essay, Nirvana of a Maggot, which was published by his friend, the poet and influential editor Stephen Spender, in Encounter magazine; exhibited three paintings at the recently opened Institute of Contemporary Arts alongside works by Francis Bacon and Henry Moore, among others; and painted many of his most iconic works, such as Birth, which currently holds the world auction record for the artist at $4,085,000. It was also the year of Souza’s first solo exhibition at Victor Musgrave’s Gallery One, which together with New Vision Centre, Signals and Indica, played an important role in defining London as a centre for radical artistic expression. Souza’s show was a triumph — he won patrons as well as acclaim from key art critics of the time, including Edwin Mullins and David Sylvester, who likened the expressionistic nature of his art to that of Graham Sutherland and Francis Bacon.  It’s not surprising that there were affinities between Souza and Bacon, particularly in their depictions of the grotesque, observes Avari: ‘They shared models, such as Henrietta Moraes, and would hang out together at the Colony Club in Soho.’  By the end of the year Souza was considered among the most exciting painters in the city. Almost a decade of success and patronage followed. Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Two Men), 1955. Ink on paper. 9⅞ x 8  in (25.1 x 20.3  cm). Estimate $20,000-30,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Two Men), 1955. Ink on paper. 9⅞ x 8 in (25.1 x 20.3 cm). Estimate: $20,000-30,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York The dawn of sobriety By the end of the 1950s, despite great professional success, Souza had developed a reputation as a lothario and a reprobate. It was about that time, says Mullins, that drink began to be a serious problem, too: ‘He took to drinking continuously almost every day, was rarely sober, and a little more drunk month by month, until his craving for alcohol became insatiable.’ Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Woman in Garters), 1961. Oil on canvas. 50½ x 30¾  in (128.3 x 78.1  cm). Estimate $120,000-180,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Woman in Garters), 1961. Oil on canvas. 50½ x 30¾ in (128.3 x 78.1 cm). Estimate: $120,000-180,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Having grown bored, dissatisfied and increasingly dissolute, Souza decided to stop drinking in 1960. Although Mullins argues that sobriety did not have a ‘deep influence’ on his work, it did gain in ‘strength and vitality’: his pictures ‘show a greater freedom from the formal techniques and repetitive themes which had tended to over-stylise his work’. While there is often passion in his earlier work, Mullins adds, ‘there was seldom movement as well’. The ‘black paintings’ ‘Souza’s life was defined by rebellion from beginning to end,’ explains Avari. His ‘black paintings’, which he began in 1955 and represent a profound but brief departure within his oeuvre, are, he maintains, ‘evidence of this rebellious streak’. First exhibited at Grosvenor Gallery in 1966, they depict a range of Souza’s favoured subjects, only discernible when viewed at certain angles under light. While Souza often used black to explore his favourite themes, including nudes, portraits, religious scenes and landscapes, his investigations into black in this monochrome series enabled him to further explore the relationship between the ominous and sublime aspects of nature, as well as the ties that he believed connected nature, man and God. Souza may have drawn inspiration from Pinturas Negras  by Francisco de Goya and the monochromatic works of conceptual artist Yves Klein, whom he most likely encountered when Klein exhibited at Galerie Iris Clert in Paris in the 1950s and ’60s. Why did Souza leave London? Souza’s meteoric rise in London was followed by a sharp fall in the late 1960s. It began with the start of his affair with Barbara Zinkant, who was 17 at the time; saw him split from Liselotte de Kristian, who had modelled for him in the 1950s and with whom he had three daughters; and witnessed the finalisation of his divorce from Maria Souza. Commissions dried up, and in 1967 Souza emigrated to New York with Barbara, who had become his second wife in January of 1965. In 1971, she would give birth to his son. Fatherhood and a new perspective While travelling around America in the early and mid 1970s, Souza experimented with a more colourful, joyful palette and a more energetic, gestural style of brushstroke. The drips and splashing gave free expression to his creative vision, with Avari explaining that the artist attributed ‘this exuberant new palette to the joy he felt on the birth of his son’. Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled, 1984; two works on paper. Mixed media and chemical alteration on magazine paper. 8½ x 8⅞ in (21.6 x 22.5 cm); 12⅜ x 9 in (31.4 x 22.9 cm). Estimate $5,000-7,000                            (£3,963 - GBP 5,548.20). Offered in  A Lasting Engagement The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection Online, 13-20 March 2020, Online Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled, 1984; two works on paper. Mixed media and chemical alteration on magazine paper. 8½ x 8⅞ in (21.6 x 22.5 cm); 12⅜ x 9 in (31.4 x 22.9 cm). Estimate: $5,000-7,000 (£3,963 - GBP 5,548.20). Offered in A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection Online, 13-20 March 2020, Online Souza’s years in America were arguably the most technically innovative of his career. He painted colourful cityscapes and landscapes of the places he visited, such as Oklahoma City, which realised £162,500 at Christie’s in 2018, and embarked on his series of ‘Chemical Paintings’ and drawings. This contemporary form of expressionism involved painting over or drawing figures onto pages torn from colour magazines, catalogues, printed photographs and newspapers, using chemicals to dissolve and manipulate the printer’s ink.  The artist continued to travel extensively and paint large-scale works from his small apartment in Manhattan right up until his death in 2002. In his mature years, Souza revisited the themes and motifs that had preoccupied him in his early career. These included religious iconography, Goan vistas, sex and visceral, grotesque heads, many with fantastic tubular formations. What is the current market for Souza? ‘Souza’s period in London is widely regarded as the apex of his career,’ explains Avari. ‘It was when he was the most driven and had the means to produce works on a larger scale.’ His works made between 1955-1963 rarely come to market, adds Avari, and ‘are therefore in higher demand among collectors of Indian Modernism.’ In June 2010 Christie’s held an auction of more than 140 lots from F.N. Souza’s estate, which realised over £5 million. Since then, many more important works by the artist have been offered and his market continues to grow. ‘Nowadays, the collector base for Souza’s work extends far beyond America and Europe,’ says our specialist. ‘We’re also seeing more and more East Asian clients looking to Indian Modernists.’ Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Seated Nude), 1946. Ink on paper. 13⅛  in x 8 ½  in (33.3 x 21.6  cm). Estimate $2,000-3,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled (Seated Nude), 1946. Ink on paper. 13⅛ in x 8 ½ in (33.3 x 21.6 cm). Estimate: $2,000-3,000. Offered in A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection on 18 March 2020 at Christie’s in New York Avari recommends Souza’s works on paper as a more accessible entry point for new collectors. Particularly noteworthy are his line drawings, which demonstrate the intimacy and spontaneity that Souza so valued throughout his career. Is Souza represented in public museums, institutions and exhibitions? Yes. As one of the first post-Independence Indian artists to achieve recognition in the West, Souza has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions around the world. Tate Britain paid tribute to him in 2005 with its major retrospective Religion and Erotica, and Tate Modern re-hung his landmark 1959 Crucifixion, which the museum acquired in 1993. More recently, Tate Britain’s All Too Human exhibition in 2018 featured a dedicated room to Souza’s works; and The Asia Society in New York staged a monumental retrospective of Indian Modern Art, featuring a large grouping of Souza’s works. His work is also represented in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, India, and in public institutions across the world.  · Francis Newton Souza, painter, born April 12 1924; died March 28 2002 Francis Newton Souza (12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002) was a Goan artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay, and was the first post-independence Indian artist to achieve high recognition in the West. Souza's style exhibited both low-life and high energy. Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Reputation 4 Public collections 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Early life and education Francis Newton Souza was born to Roman Catholic parents of Goan origin in the village of Saligao, Goa.[1] In 1929, after he had moved to Mumbai with his widowed mother, he survived an attack of smallpox which left him scarred for life. His grateful mother added Francis to his name, after St Francis Xavier, the patron saint of Goa.[2] He attended St. Xavier's College in Bombay, being expelled for drawing graffiti in a toilet which he claimed he was correcting, but the priests did not accept his claims.[3] Souza studied at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay but was expelled in 1945 for his support for the Quit India Movement.[3] Souza joined the Communist Party of India in 1947.[2] Souza's grandson is the British street artist Solomon Souza, known for his work in Jerusalem.[4] Career In 1947 he was a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group which encouraged Indian artists to participate in the international avant-garde.[2] In 1948 Souza's paintings were shown at an exhibition in London's Burlington House. In 1949 Souza moved to London, where initially struggling to make an impact as an artist, he worked as a journalist. The Institute of Contemporary Arts included his work in a 1954 exhibition. His success as an artist took off following the publication in 1955 of his autobiographical essay Nirvana of a Maggot in Stephen Spender's Encounter magazine. Spender introduced Souza to the art dealer Victor Musgrave, the owner of Gallery One. Souza's 1955 exhibit was sold out, leading to ongoing success[2] In 1959 Souza published Words and Lines.[5] Souza's career developed steadily, and he participated in several shows, receiving positive reviews from John Berger. His style was, as Berger pointed out,[6] deliberately eclectic: essentially Expressionist in character, but also drawing on the post-war Art Brut movement and elements of British Neo-romanticism. His work was often highly erotic. According to art historian Yashodhara Dalmia, At the heart of Souza's creativity was the belief that society's destructive aspects shouldn't be suppressed, they should be aired and confronted. Be it the hypocrisy of the church, the corruption of the upper classes or the repression of sexuality in a country that has a Khajuraho, he was uncovering the underbelly of existence.[7] From 1967 he settled in New York City; he returned to India shortly before his death. The poet and artist Srimati Lal was his partner during his last days. Souza died on 28 March 2002 and was buried in Sewri cemetery in Mumbai.[8] Reputation In recent years Souza's Paintings have been sold for over a million dollars.[9] In 2008, his painting "Birth" (1955) set a world auction record for the most expensive Indian painting sold till then by selling for US$2.5 million (Rs 11.3 crore) at a Christie's auction. In 2015, the painting "Birth" was resold at Christie's in New York, fetching more than US$4 million.[10] In June 2010 Christie's held an auction of over 140 lots from the Souza Estate. Many of Souza's works fetched very high prices, some several times Christie's estimates.[11] A purported 1963 painting by Souza appeared on the BBC Antiques Road Show in February 2009. Neelam Raaj wrote in The Times of India: With a few slashing lines and a raw, expressive energy, Francis Newton Souza stripped away all subterfuge. Be it the sluts or the suits, the seamy side of life or the steamy, the gnomish, pox-scarred boy from Goa who went on to become one of the first Indian artists to be feted in the salons of Europe, laid it bare.[7] Public collections Birmingham Museum of Art, UK British Museum, London, UK Glenbarra Art Museum, Himeji, Hyōgo, Japan Haifa Museum, Israel National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Tate Gallery, London, UK Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK The Hepworth Wakefield Art Gallery, UK[12] Museum of Biblical Art (Dallas), Texas, USA See also Lancelot Ribeiro (brother and fellow painter) Vamona Navelcar Vasudeo S. Gaitonde
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: Bhārat Gaṇarājya),[26] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;[f] 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.[27][28][29] 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.[30] 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.[31] By 1200 BCE, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest,[32][33] unfolding as the language of the Rigveda, and recording the dawning of Hinduism in India.[34] The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions.[35] By 400 BCE, stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism,[36] and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity.[37] Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin.[38] Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity,[39] but also marked by the declining status of women,[40] and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief.[g][41] In South India, the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.[42] In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts.[43] Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains,[44] eventually founding the Delhi Sultanate, and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of medieval Islam.[45] In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India.[46] In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion.[47] The Mughal Empire, in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace,[48] leaving a legacy of luminous architecture.[h][49] Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy, but also consolidating its sovereignty.[50] British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly,[51][52] but technological changes were introduced, and ideas of education, modernity and the public life took root.[53] A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule.[54][55] In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions,[56][57][58][59] a Hindu-majority Dominion of India and a Muslim-majority Dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration.[60] India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed in a democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to 1.211 billion in 2011.[61] During the same time, its nominal per capita income increased from US$64 annually to US$1,498, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951,[62] India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class.[63] It has a space programme which includes several planned or completed extraterrestrial missions. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[64] India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality.[65] 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.[66] Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender inequality, child malnutrition,[67] and rising levels of air pollution.[68] India's land is megadiverse, with four biodiversity hotspots.[69] Its forest cover comprises 21.7% of its area.[70] India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's culture,[71] is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats. Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Ancient India 2.2 Medieval India 2.3 Early modern India 2.4 Modern India 3 Geography 4 Biodiversity 5 Politics and government 5.1 Politics 5.2 Government 5.3 Administrative divisions 5.3.1 States 5.3.2 Union territories 6 Foreign, economic and strategic relations 7 Economy 7.1 Industries 7.2 Energy 7.3 Socio-economic challenges 8 Demographics, languages, and religion 9 Culture 9.1 Visual art 9.2 Architecture 9.3 Literature 9.4 Performing arts and media 9.5 Society 9.6 Education 9.7 Clothing 9.8 Cuisine 9.9 Sports and recreation 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 External links Etymology Main article: Names of India 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.[72][73] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which translates as "The people of the Indus".[74] The term Bharat (Bhārat; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] (listen)), mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and the Constitution of India,[75][76] is used in its variations by many Indian languages. A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which applied originally to North India,[77][78] Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.[75][79] Hindustan ([ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] (listen)) is a Middle Persian name for India, introduced during the Mughal Empire and used widely since. Its meaning has varied, referring to a region encompassing present-day northern India and Pakistan or to India in its near entirety.[75][79][80] History Main articles: History of India and History of the Republic of India Ancient India An illustration from an early-modern manuscript of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana, composed in story-telling fashion c. 400 BCE – c. 300 CE.[81] 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.[27][28][29] The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[27] 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 what is now Balochistan, Pakistan.[82] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley civilisation,[83][82] the first urban culture in South Asia,[84] which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in what is now Pakistan and western India.[85] 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.[84] During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones.[86] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism,[87] were composed during this period,[88] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.[86] Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.[87] 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.[89] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.[86] In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[90] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[90] 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.[91][92] 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.[93] 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.[94][95][96] In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,[97] 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.[98] 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.[99][100] 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.[101][102] 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 South-East Asia.[103][104] In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.[105][98] 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.[106][107] Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself.[108] This renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite.[107] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[107] 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.[109] 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.[110] When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[110] 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.[110] No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region.[109] 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.[111] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[111] In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[112] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.[112] 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.[113] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.[113] 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.[114] 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.[114] 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.[115] 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.[116][117] 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.[118][119] The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[120] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India,[121] and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.[120] Early modern India In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers,[122] fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.[123] 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[124][125] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[126] leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[127] 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.[126] The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[128] and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[129] caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[127] The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion,[127] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture.[130] 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.[131] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India.[131] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.[132] 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.[133][134] 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.[135][133][136][137] Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annexe or subdue most of India by the 1820s.[138] 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.[133] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas, including education, social reform and culture.[139] 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.[140][141][142][143] 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.[144][145] 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.[146][147] In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.[148][149][150][151] 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.[152] There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines,[153] and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.[154] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption.[155] The railway network provided critical famine relief,[156] notably reduced the cost of moving goods,[156] and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.[155] 1909 map of the British Indian Empire Jawaharlal Nehru sharing a light moment with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mumbai, 6 July 1946 After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[157] 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 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.[158] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections.[159] 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.[160] 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.[161] It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active supreme court, and a largely independent press.[dubious – discuss][162] 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,[163] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[162] Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;[162] by religious and caste-related violence;[164] by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[165] and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[166] It has unresolved territorial disputes with China[167] and with Pakistan.[167] 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.[168] 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.[169] 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.[169] Simultaneously, the vast Tethyan oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian Plate.[169] 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.[169] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast crescent-shaped trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[170] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[171] 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.[172][173][174] The Tungabhadra, with rocky outcrops, flows into the peninsular Krishna river.[175] Fishing boats lashed together before a monsoon storm 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.[176] 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;[177] 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[i] and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude.[178] 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.[179] 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.[179] Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[180] 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.[181][182] 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;[183] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[184] 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.[185] 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.[186] 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.[187] 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.[188][189] 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.[187] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[190] Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018.[191] 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.[192] According to some current projections, the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century.[193] Biodiversity Main articles: Forestry in India and Wildlife of India India has the majority of the world's wild tigers, approximately 3,000 in 2019.[194] A Chital (Axis axis) stag attempts to browse in the Nagarhole National Park in a region covered by a moderately dense[j] forest.[195] 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.[196] 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.[197][198] Fully a third of Indian plant species are endemic.[199] India also contains four of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots,[69] or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism.[k][200] 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.[70] 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.[201] Very dense forest, whose canopy density is greater than 70%, occupies 3.02% of India's land area.[201][202] It predominates in the tropical moist forest of the Andaman Islands, the Western Ghats, and Northeast India.[195] Moderately dense forest, whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.39% of India's land area.[201][202] 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.[195] Open forest, whose canopy density is between 10% and 40%, occupies 9.26% of India's land area.[201][202] 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.[203] Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are the astringent Azadirachta indica, or neem, which is widely used in rural Indian herbal medicine,[204] and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa, or peepul,[205] which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro,[206] and under which the Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.[207] Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana, the southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years ago.[208] 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.[209] Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes flanking the Himalayas.[195] 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.[198]} Among endemics are the vulnerable[210] hooded leaf monkey[211] and the threatened[212] Beddome's toad[212][213] of the Western Ghats. The last three Asiatic cheetahs (on record) in India were shot dead 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 in 1948. India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms.[214] 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.[215] 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.[216] 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[217] and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988.[218] India hosts more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and thirteen biosphere reserves,[219] four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; twenty-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[220] Politics and government Politics Main article: Politics of India Social movements have long been a part of democracy in India. The picture shows a section of 25,000 landless people in the state of Madhya Pradesh listening to Rajagopal P. V. before their 350 km (220 mi) march, Janadesh 2007, from Gwalior to New Delhi to publicise their demand for further land reform in India.[221] India is the world's most populous democracy.[222] A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system,[223] it has eight recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties.[224] The Congress is considered centre-left in Indian political culture,[225] and the BJP right-wing.[226][227][228] 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,[229] as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalition governments at the centre.[230] In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951, 1957, and 1962, the 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. 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.[231] 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.[232] At the Parliament of India in New Delhi, US president Barack Obama is shown here addressing the members of Parliament of both houses, the lower, Lok Sabha, and the upper, Rajya Sabha, in a joint session, 8 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. 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.[233] 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.[234] 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.[235] 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.[236] The incumbent prime minister is Narendra Modi, a former chief minister of Gujarat. On 20 July 2017, Ram Nath Kovind was elected India's 14th president and took the oath of office on 25 July 2017.[237] 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.[238] 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 and representative democracy, in which "majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". 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,[239] originally stated India to be a "sovereign, democratic republic;" this characterisation was amended in 1971 to "a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic".[240] India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states,[241] has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.[242][243] National symbols[1] Flag Tiranga (Tricolour) Emblem Sarnath Lion Capital Anthem Jana Gana Mana Song "Vande Mataram" Language None[9][10][11] Currency ₹ (Indian rupee) Calendar Saka Animal Bengal tiger River dolphin Indian peafowl Flower Lotus Fruit Mango Tree Banyan River Ganges The Government of India comprises three branches:[244] Executive: The President of India is the ceremonial head of state,[245] who is elected indirectly for a five-year term by an electoral college comprising members of national and state legislatures.[246][247] The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power.[248] Appointed by the president,[249] the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance having a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.[248] 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.[245] 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.[250] 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).[251] The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body of 245 members who serve staggered six-year terms.[252] Most are elected indirectly by the state and union territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population.[249] 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.[253] Two seats of parliament, reserved for Anglo-Indian in the article 331, have been scrapped.[254][255] Judiciary: India has a three-tier unitary independent judiciary[256] comprising the supreme court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 25 high courts, and a large number of trial courts.[256] 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.[257] It has the power to both strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution,[258] and invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.[259] 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.[260] There are over a quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels.[261] 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.[262] 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.[263] After initially cordial relations with neighbouring China, India went to war with China in 1962, and was widely thought to have been humiliated.[264] 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 fourth, the 1971 war, followed from India's support for the independence of Bangladesh.[265] 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.[266] Aside from ongoing its special relationship with Russia,[267] 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.[268] India has close economic ties with countries in South America,[269] 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.[270][271] 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 the India's oldest regiment, the Maratha Light Infantry, founded in 1768.[272] 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.[273] 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.[274] India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its "Minimum Credible Deterrence" doctrine.[275][276] It is developing a ballistic missile defence shield and, a fifth-generation fighter jet.[277][278] Other indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of Vikrant-class aircraft carriers and Arihant-class nuclear submarines.[279] 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.[280] 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.[281] India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia,[282] France,[283] the United Kingdom,[284] and Canada.[285] 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.[286] The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or 1.83% of GDP.[287] Defence expenditure was pegged at US$70.12 billion for fiscal year 2022–23 and, increased 9.8% than previous fiscal year.[288][289] India is the world's second largest arms importer; between 2016 and 2020, it accounted for 9.5% of the total global arms imports.[290] Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.[291] In May 2017, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the South Asia Satellite, a gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries.[292] 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.[293] 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.[294] 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.[296] 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.[295] According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2021 was nominally worth $3.04 trillion; it is the sixth-largest economy by market exchange rates, and is around $10.219 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).[297] With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012,[298] India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies.[299] However, the country ranks 139th in the world in nominal GDP per capita and 118th in GDP per capita at PPP.[300] 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;[301] since then it has moved slowly towards a free-market system[302][303] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows.[304] India has been a member of World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.[305] The 522-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second-largest, as of 2017.[286] 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$87 billion in 2021, highest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians working in foreign countries.[306] 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.[302] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%;[307] In 2011, India was the world's tenth-largest importer and the nineteenth-largest exporter.[308] 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%.[309] India was the world's second largest textile exporter after China in the 2013 calendar year.[310] Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,[302] India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.[311] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.[312] Though ranking 51st in global competitiveness, 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.[313] 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.[314] India was ranked 46th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, it has increased its ranking considerably since 2015, where it was 81st.[315][316][317][318] India's consumer market, the world's eleventh-largest, is expected to become fifth-largest by 2030.[312] 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$2,313 by 2022.[21] 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.[319] According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.[320] 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.[320] 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.[320] 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.[321] 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).[322] 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.[323] After the third quarter of 2017, India surpassed the US to become the second largest smartphone market in the world after China.[324] The Indian automotive industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–2010,[325] and exports by 36% during 2008–2009.[326] 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.[327] 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 pharmacutical market is estimated up to US$42 billion.[328][329] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world.[330][331] 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).[332] 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.[333] The country's usage of coal is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions by India but its renewable energy is competing strongly.[334] 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.[335][336] Increasing access to electricity and clean cooking with liquefied petroleum gas have been priorities for energy in India.[337] 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.[338] 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.[339] The proportion decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005.[340] Under the World Bank's later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[l][342] 30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight.[343] According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.[344][345] The Mid-Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[346] 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.[347] 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.[348] 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.[349] 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.[350][351] 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,[352] India is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% from 2001 to 2011,[353] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).[353] The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.[352] The median age was 28.7 as of 2020.[286] The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people.[354] 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.[355] The average life expectancy in India is at 70 years—71.5 years for women, 68.7 years for men.[286] There are around 93 physicians per 100,000 people.[356] 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.[357] Yet, in 2001, over 70% still lived in rural areas.[358][359] 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.[360] 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.[361] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.[362] 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.[360] Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[362] 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. India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by 24% of the population). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan language families. India has no national language.[363] Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.[364][365] 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[m] (0.9%).[15] India has the third-largest Muslim population—the largest for a non-Muslim majority country.[366][367] 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.[368] 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.[74] India is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the nation's major religions.[369] The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[370] the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[369] and by Buddhist philosophy.[371] 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.[372] 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.[373][374] After this there is a long period with virtually nothing surviving.[374][375] 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.[376][377][378] 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.[379] 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).[380][381] 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.[382][383] Most of the earliest large sculpture is Buddhist, either excavated from Buddhist stupas such as Sanchi, Sarnath and Amaravati,[384] or is rock-cut reliefs at sites such as Ajanta, Karla and Ellora. Hindu and Jain sites appear rather later.[385][386] 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.[387] 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.[388][389] Across the north, this became rather stiff and formulaic after c. 800 CE, though rich with finely carved detail in the surrounds of statues.[390] 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.[391][392] 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.[393][394] 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.[395] 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.[396][397] 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.[398][399] As a market developed among European residents, it was supplied by Company painting by Indian artists with considerable Western influence.[400][401] 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.[402][403] 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.[404] Vernacular architecture is also regional in its flavours. Vastu shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to Mamuni Mayan,[405] explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings;[406] it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.[407] 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".[408] 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".[409] Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[410] Literature Main article: Indian literature The earliest literature in India, composed between 1500 BCE and 1200 CE, was in the Sanskrit language.[411] 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.[412][413][414] 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.[415][416][417][418] 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.[419] 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,[420] 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 southern Carnatic schools.[421] 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: the bhangra of Punjab, the bihu of Assam, the Jhumair and chhau of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, garba and dandiya of Gujarat, ghoomar of Rajasthan, and the 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.[422] Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.[423] 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.[424] 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.[425] The Indian film industry produces the world's most-watched cinema.[426] Established regional cinematic traditions exist in the Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[427] 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.[428] Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication and expanded slowly for more than two decades.[429][430] The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s. Since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped the popular culture of Indian society.[431] 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).[432] Society Main article: Culture of India 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".[433] India declared untouchability to be illegal[citation needed] in 1947 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.[434] An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family elders.[435] Marriage is thought to be for life,[435] and the divorce rate is extremely low,[436] with less than one in a thousand marriages ending in divorce.[437] Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.[438] 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.[439] Accord to an Indian government study, an additional 21 million girls are unwanted and do not receive adequate care.[440] 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.[441] The payment of dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines.[442] Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry laws.[443] 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.[444][445] 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%,[446][447] 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.[448] The education system of India is the world's second-largest.[449] India has over 900 universities, 40,000 colleges[450] and 1.5 million schools.[451] 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.[452][453] 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.[454] For women it took the form of a sari, a single piece of cloth many yards long.[454] The sari was traditionally wrapped around the lower body and the shoulder.[454] 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.[454] For men, a similar but shorter length of cloth, the dhoti, has served as a lower-body garment.[455] 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 (ca 1300 CE) and then continued by the Mughal Empire (ca 1525 CE).[456] 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.[456] In southern India, the traditional draped garments were to see much longer continuous use.[456] 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.[457] 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,[458] its side seams left open below the waist-line.[459] 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.[460] 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.[461] The traditional shalwar kameez is rarely worn by younger urban women, who favour churidars or jeans.[461] In white-collar office settings, ubiquitous air conditioning allows men to wear sports jackets year-round.[461] 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.[461] 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,[462] is seldom seen in the cities.[461] 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.[463] The cooked cereal could be steamed rice; chapati, a thin unleavened bread made from wheat flour, or occasionally cornmeal, and griddle-cooked dry;[464] the idli, a steamed breakfast cake, or dosa, a griddled pancake, both leavened and made from a batter of rice- and gram meal.[465] 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.[463] They might also include poultry, fish, or meat dishes. In some instances, the ingredients might be mixed during the process of cooking.[466] 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.[463] 0:14 A tandoor chef in the Turkman Gate, Old Delhi, makes Khameeri roti (a Muslim-influenced style of leavened bread).[467] India has distinctive vegetarian cuisines, each a feature of the geographical and cultural histories of its adherents.[468] 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.[468] Although meat is eaten widely in India, the proportional consumption of meat in the overall diet is low.[469] 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.[470] The most significant import of cooking techniques into India during the last millennium occurred during the Mughal Empire. Dishes such as the pilaf,[471] developed in the Abbasid caliphate,[472] and cooking techniques such as the marinating of meat in yogurt, spread into northern India from regions to its northwest.[473] To the simple yogurt marinade of Persia, onions, garlic, almonds, and spices began to be added in India.[473] 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,[473] a feature of festive dining in many parts of India.[474] 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.[468] 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.[475] 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;[476] There has been a rise in the number of Indian grandmasters.[477] Viswanathan Anand became the undisputed Chess World Champion in 2007 and held the status until 2013.[478] 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.[479] Cricket is the most popular sport in India.[480] 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.[481] Other professional leagues include the Indian Super League (football) and the pro Kabaddi league.[482][483][484] 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 and has eight field hockey gold medals in the summer olympics[485] 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.[486] 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.[487][488] Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton[489] (Saina Nehwal and P. V. Sindhu are two of the top-ranked female badminton players in the world), boxing,[490] and wrestling.[491] Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-eastern states.[492] 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.[493] 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 three out of four tournaments to date.[494]
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
  • Condition: Very Good
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: India
  • Type: Catalog
  • Publication Year: 1985

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