Independence Day Special | Interesting Facts About India
On this independence day, we bring to you a few interesting facts about our motherland. India is one of the most precious treasures the World holds. Ranging from astonishing wonders of nature, human skills to the amazing intellectual gifts that Indians have added to the world Heritage. This one article is to a cheers to the Incredible India.
India was the first country to mine diamonds
From the 4th century BC for around 1,000 years, India was the only source of diamonds in the world. The original diamonds were found in the Krishna River Delta.
India is the wettest inhabited place on Earth
Meghalaya village has won the Guinness world record title for the wettest place on Earth, with about 11,873 milliliters of rain annually. The monsoon season lasts six months here.
India has over 300,000 mosques and over 2 million Hindu temples
The mosques across the country range from small village buildings to immense famous ones, like the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad or the Jama Masjid in New Delhi. The same can be said about India’s Hindu temples, which surpass two million to serve the 79.8% of India’s Hindu population.
Just the holy city of Varanasi has over 23,000 temples. It is safe to say India is the land of temples!
Chenab Bridge is the highest rail bridge in the world
Not all of India’s famous monuments are religious. The jaw-dropping bridge spanning the Chenab river in Jammu is 1,178 feet above the water.
Rajasthan has a Temple of Rats
The animal wonders of India continue. Although rats might not be the first species you think of to worship, there is a temple in Rajasthan dedicated to rats. Thousands of rats call the temple home.
Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world and it’s not a true polytheism
With documents dating back as early as 5,500 BCE, Hinduism is considered the oldest religion in the world. There is not a known founder of Hinduism, and no one cares to know who started Hinduism since Hinduism is a way of life.
Currently, Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, serving more than 1 billion people.
A village with no locks and doors exists as one of the safest place
The village of Shani Shingnapur is famous for not having a door or lock on a single house. Beyond that, there has not been a recording of a criminal act for almost 400 years.
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India
Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12)
Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery
Over 2600 years ago Sushrata and his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
The value of “pi” was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana
he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
The Art of Navigation was born in India
The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘NAVGATIH’. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nou’.
India has the world’s largest religious pilgrimage destination
The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world’s largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple every day.
