|
|
|
| The mixture of 4000
years of civilization, cities, villages and art, with some of
the richest history in the world and now the biggest democracy
in the world, This is India. To a foreigner this land seems
so complex with the diversity of languages, variety of foods,
clothing, vast ranging climatic conditions and what not. The
contrariety of poor and rich, India boasts of a great civilization,
a great history, a great past and hopefully a great future.
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
| |
|
| The country that has
been ruled by various civilizations, has been invaded numerous
times, but still has its culture intact. From the Great Himalayas
in the North to the Indian Ocean in the South, it is a very
diverse and beautiful land. In India one can find almost all
the climates of the world. From the Cold and picturesque Himalayas
in the North, to the green plains, spawning desert in the west
leading to Deccan Plateau and then tapering to the peninsula
with Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. India is history in itself,
with modern buildings side by side with ancient monuments reflect
a beautiful sight of the past and modern India. |
| |
|
|
Ancient
India
Ancient India was a very well diversified
culture, still the ruins of the past have so much to say and
let the world know that how advanced the Indian civilization
was. India’s "great cycle of history" as Professor
Hugh Tinker put it, entails repeating themes that continue
to add complexity and diversity to the cultural matrix. The
history of India is so vast and enriching that it is worth
spending time reading about it, exploring it and actually
experiencing it by visiting the great monuments.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Some items in history
worth reading are
| |
Harappan
Culture |
| |
Vedic
Aryans |
Kingdoms and Empires
| |
The
Mauryan Empire |
| |
Kushana
Dynasty in the Deccan and South |
The Classical Age
| |
Gupta
and Harsha |
| |
The
Mughal Era |
| |
The
British Empire in India |
| |
The
Independece Movement |
| |
Mahatma
Gandhi |
|
| |
|
|
Languages
Linguistic diversity is apparent on variety
of levels in India.
The Indian constitution recognizes official
languages address the use of Hindi, English and regional languages
for the official purposes. English continues to serve as the
language of prestige.
The constitution’s Eighth Schedule, as
amended by Parliament in 1992, lists eighteen official or
Scheduled Languages. They are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati,
Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi,
Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and
Urdu.
Language diversity in India has its own drawbacks
and benefits. In some places the dialect changes from one
village to another. Many dialects have no written script,
but the language has been handed down from generations. English
and Hindi are the most widespread languages.
|
| |
|
| | 
|
|
