GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA
| Location: | Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan | |
| Geographic coordinates: | 20 00 N, 77 00 E | |
| Map references: | Asia | |
| Area: | total: 3,287,590 sq km land: 2,973,190 sq km water: 314,400 sq km | |
| Area - comparative: | slightly more than one-third the size of the US | |
| Land boundaries: | total: 14,103 km border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km | |
| Coastline: | 7,000 km | |
| Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin | |
| Climate: | varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north | |
| Terrain: | upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north | |
| Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m | |
| Natural resources: | coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land | |
| Land use: | arable land: 54.4% permanent crops: 2.74% other: 42.86% (2001) | |
| Irrigated land: | 590,000 sq km (1998 est.) | |
| Natural hazards: | droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes | |
| Environment - current issues: | deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources | |
| Environment - international agreements: | party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements | |
| Geography - note: | dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes |
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
The civilization of the Indus River at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa arose at
about 2500 BCE and ended with apparent destruction about 1500 BCE. It is uncertain
whether this civilization had its roots in Sumer or Sumer had its roots in this
civilization. Apparently the Indus civillization was likely destroyed by the
Indo-European migrants from Iran, the Aryans.
The cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were built of fire-baked bricks.
Over the centuries the need for wood for brick-making denuded the country side
and this may have contributed to the downfall. The written records of this
civilization have not yet been deciphered.
The layout of the cities in this civilization of 2500 B.C. is
surprisingly neat and orderly. The cities had not only brick-lined streets but
also a brick-lined sewer system. The images below give some idea of the
surprising orderliness of the cities.
The Lost Civilization of Mohenjo-daro
and Harappa
to trade beads and shells with people in distant areas in central Asia
and areas west of the Khyber Pass. And they began using bronze and working
metals.
The climate changed again, bringing still more rainfall, and on the
nearby plains, through which ran the Indus River, grew jungles inhabited by
crocodiles, rhinoceros, tigers, buffalo and elephants. By around 2600, a
civilization as grand as that in Mesopotamia and Egypt had begun on the Indus
Plain and surrounding areas. By 2300 BCE this civilization had reached maturity
and was trading with Mesopotamia. Seventy or more cities had been built, some
of them upon buried old towns. There were cities from the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains to Malwan in the
south. There was the city of Alamgirpur in the east and Sutkagen Dor by the
Arabian Sea in the west.
One of these cities was Mohenjo-daro (Mohenjodaro), on the Indus river
some 250 miles north of the Arabian Sea, and another city was Harappa, 350
miles to the north on a tributary river, the Ravi. Each of these two cities had
populations as high as around 40,000. Each was constructed with manufactured,
standardized, baked bricks. Shops lined the main streets of Mohenjo-daro and
Harappa, and each city had a grand marketplace. Some houses were spacious and
with a large enclosed yard. Each house was connected to a covered drainage
system that was more sanitary than what had been created in West Asia. And Mohenjo-daro
had a building with an underground furnace (a hypocaust) and dressing rooms,
suggesting bathing was done in heated pools, as in modern day Hindu temples.
The people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa shared a sophisticated system of
weights and measures, using an arithmetic with decimals. Whether these written
symbols were a part of a full-blown written language is a matter of controversy
among scholars, some scholars pointing out that this and the brevity of grave
site inscriptions and symbols on ritual objects are not evidence of a fully
developed written language.
The people of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa mass-produced pottery with fine
geometric designs as decoration, and they made figurines sensitively depicting
their attitudes. They grew wheat, rice, mustard and sesame seeds, dates and
cotton. And they had dogs, cats, camels, sheep, pigs, goats, water buffaloes,
elephants and chickens.
Between 1800 and 1700 BCE, civilization on the Indus Plain all but
vanished. What befell these people is unknown. One suspected cause is a shift
in the Indus River. Another is that people dammed the water along the lower
portion of the Indus River without realizing the consequences: temporary but
ruinous flooding up river, flooding that would explain the thick layers of silt
thirty feet above the level of the river at the site of Mohenjo-daro. Another
suspected cause is a decline in rainfall.
Agriculture declined and people abandoned the cities in search of food.
Later, a few people of a different culture settled in some of the abandoned
cities, in what archaeologists call a "squatter period." Then the
squatters disappeared. Knowledge of the Mohenjo-daro and Harappa civilization
died -- until archaeologists discovered the civilization in the mid-19th
century.
Contributions of Ancient Indian Civilization
Science, Medicine, Technology in Ancient India
Science
and technology in ancient and medieval India
Ancient India India
- Mathematics - Vedic literature is replete with concepts of zero, the techniques of algebra and algorithm, square root and cube root. Arguably, the origins of Calculus lie in
- Astronomy - Rig Veda (2000 BC) refers to astronomy.
- Physics - Concepts of atom and theory of relativity were explicitly stated by an Indian Philosopher around 600 BC.
Mathematics
Mathematics represents a very high level of abstraction attained by
human brain. In ancient India India
Will Durant, American historian (1885-1981) said that India
It is now generally accepted that India
Geometrical theories were known to ancient Indians and find display in
motifs on temple walls, which are in many cases replete with mix of floral and
geometric patterns. The method of graduated calculation was documented in a
book named "Five Principles" (Panch-Siddhantika) which dates to 5th
Century AD.A. L. Basham, an Australian Indologist, writes in his book, The
Wonder That was India that "... the world owes most to India in the realm
of mathematics, which was developed in the Gupta period to a stage more
advanced than that reached by any other nation of antiquity.
The success of Indian mathematics was mainly due to the fact that
Indians had a clear conception of the abstract number as distinct from the
numerical quantity of objects or spatial extension.
Algebraic theories, as also other mathematical concepts, which were in
circulation in ancient India, were collected and further developed by
Aryabhatta, an Indian mathematician, who lived in the 5th century, in the city
of Patna, then called Pataliputra. He has referred to Algebra (as Bijaganitam)
in his treatise on mathematics named Aryabhattiya.
Mathematics: Contributions of ancient Hindus in
field of mathematics is truly marvelous. The decimal system and present day
numerals 1 to 9 and zero, which are known as “Hindu Numerals”, were first
invented by ancient Hindus. The binary digits of ‘0’ and ‘1’ are so vital for
present day digital world, IT and even Internet. They had calculated value of
‘pi’ to 31 digits. Algebraic equations, Permutations and Combinations, pascal
triangle, pythogorous theorm .etc were known to them several thousand years
before it was known to modern world.
1. The
Concept of the Zero
The earliest
inscription of Zero was a record on Sankheda Copper Plate found in Gujarat , India(585 – 586 CE). This paved the
way for the decimal system that simplified counting and
calculations. It is noteworthy that it was the traders who transmitted Indian
knowledge and skills to the West.
2. Geometry
and Trigonometry
The word Geometry
seems to have emerged from the Indian word ‘Gyaamiti’
which means measuring the Earth. Although Euclid (a Greek) is credited with its
invention in 300 BCE, the concept of Geometry developed in India
3. The Value of Pi (n)
The ratio of the
circumference to the diameter of a circle is known as Pi. The text Baudhyana
Shulba Sutra mentions this ratio to
be approximately equal to 3. Aryabhatta in 499 CE worked out the value of Pi to
the fourth decimal place as 3.1416.
ASTRONOMY
Ancient
India
- Determination of Earth's circumference
- Theorizing about the theory of gravitation
- Determining that sun was a star and determination of number of planets under our solar system
PHYSICS
The root to the concept of atom in ancient India
CHEMISTRY
Ancient India India from Mesopotamia and the Near
East . Coinage dating from the 8th Century B.C. to the 17th Century
A.D. Numismatic evidence of the advances made by smelting technology in ancient
India.
In the 5th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus has observed that
Indian and the Persian army used arrows tipped with iron. Ancient Romans were
using armor and cutlery made of Indian iron.
Presidents
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| INDIA’S ART Art is an integral part of any civilization and ancient India flourished in this. The artifacts that have been discovered by archaeologists and historians reveal valuable facts about the lifestyle and mental patterns of that age. During ancient India various art forms developed at great pace. It is evident from the surviving art forms and literature that the ancient Indian art forms have great detailing and unique realistic style of their own. According to the evidence found, it looks like people in ancient India were great admirers of different art forms. They loved fine arts and indulged in dancing, sculpting and painting. A very interesting aspect of ancient art in India is that it is highly realistic. Though bit crude, the anatomical detailing in their sculptures is worth applauding for. Animal and human figures have been carefully carved and chiseled to get a refined effect and portray the physical details in a very fine way. The fine artistic sensibilities of the people are pretty much evident in their terracotta and bronze sculptures. From the artifacts another interesting aspect that has come to light is the fact that musical instruments were used at that point of time. Certain seals and sculptures have inscriptions marked like instrument that looks somewhat like the harp. The paintings and inscriptions basically reveal the mental patterns of the people. As time progressed, the cruder forms were refined and a new kind of art form developed. This was the art form of rock cut caves and temple art. Rock cut art and architecture was a very important step taken towards the progress of ancient Indian art. The rock cut architecture was first initiated by the Buddhists and this inspired Hindus and the Jains who built similar structures at sites like Ajanta, Badami, Ellora, Elephanta, etc. The patterns varied according to different regions they were built in. The expression of mental attitudes in the form of ancient art is truly fascinating and helps us analyze the journey traveled from then to now. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RELIGION | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zoroastrin Religion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Though the total number of Zoroastrians in Indian population is very less yet they continue to be one of the important religious communities of India. According to the 2001 census, there were around 70,000 members of the Zoroastrian faith in India. Most of the Parsis (Zoroastrians) live in Maharashtra (mainly in Mumbai) and the rest in Gujarat. Zoroastrians or Parsis are mainly the descendants of the tenth-century immigrants from Persia. Though the number of Zoroastrians in India is alarmingly low yet they wield great influence because of their financial position. The level of Zoroastrian population is ascribed to migration, low birth, late marriages, non-marriages, divorce and infertility. In the beginning, the Parsis or Zoroastrians were engaged in shipbuilding and trade activities and were located in the ports and towns of Gujarat. Slowly and gradually their entrepreneurial skills saw them expanding and controlling trade and commerce. With colonial expansion they got more trading opportunities and substantial number of Parsis moved to Bombay. From then onwards Mumbai or Bombay served as a base for expanding their business activities throughout India and abroad. Sanjan, Nausari and Udvada towns in Gujarat are of great importance to Parsis as they served as community centers before the Zoroastrians or Parsis migrated to Bombay in the nineteenth century The Zoroastrians enjoyed the benefit of Western commercial contacts and English-language education and expanded their commercial dominance rapidly and became the most cosmopolitan community in India during the British rule. In modern India, Parsis are the most urban, elite, and wealthy of almost all the religious groups of India. Parsis have played an important role in the development of trade, industry, finance, and philanthropy, which has earned them an important place in the India's social and economic life. Many of the Parsis or Zoroastrians have earned accolades in government services and law. The religious book of the Parsis is called source the Avesta, which includes a number of sections in archaic language attributed to Zoroaster and which preserve the cult of the fire sacrifice as the focus of ritual life. The religious and ritual life of pious Parsis revolves around sacred fires. The most important rite for most lay Parsis is the Navjote. It is performed when a person is between the age group of seven and fifteen. It initiates the young person into the adult community of the Parsis. The Navjote ceremony involves purifying bathing, reciting Avesta -based scriptures, and being invested with a sacred shirt and waist thread (kusti) that should always be worn after the ceremony. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
