115 Interesting Facts about India you didn’t know

India is a land of ancient history and has many cultures associated with it. Along with its rich history, there are many unknown facts, fun facts about India that will blow your mind.

Here are all the interesting facts about India.

History:

  1. The name ‘India’ is derived from the name of the river Indus (also known as Sindhu). Also, the religion Hindu and another name of India, Hindustan is derived from the Sindhu river. One of the oldest civilizations, Indus valley civilization was established near the Sindhu river.
  2. India got its independence on 15th August 1947, almost 200 years after the British ruling.

    Culture and Beliefs:

  3. Indians have a unique way of greeting people i.e. namaste by joining both the palms together.
  4. In every corner of India, you will find different dressing styles for both men and women. As per Indian culture, women wear saree and salwar, mostly almost everywhere, whereas men wear dhoti, lungi, and kurta.

    Best Indian Food - Hyderabadi Biryani
  5. One of the amazing facts in India is, if you go to any state in India, you will find completely different food types. Some of the best foods you must try if you are visiting India – 
    – Biryani (both veg and non-veg), Stuffed paratha, butter naan, tandoori chicken
    – In drinks, you should try lassi, falooda.
    – Gulab jamun, ras malai, kheer, etc out of countless varieties.
  6. In India, people stay in joint families or undivided families. If you don’t know what a joint family is, let me tell you, a large family of many generations staying together in the same household.
  7. It is believed in Hindu religion to have 330 million (33 crores) gods and goddesses in India.
  8. The highest number of people are in the Hindu religion and worship the earth, cows, snakes, and trees mostly tulsi (Basil), banyan trees, and sacred fig trees.
  9. Indians consider Ganga water, cow dung, and cow urine to be holy and used in worship.
  10. If you don’t know, Indians do fasting.
    In Hindu culture, fasting shows a person’s sincerity and gratefulness towards gods and goddesses.
  11. Indians consume paan (a preparation using betel leaf, areca nut, and other ingredients).
  12. For marriage, the minimum legal age of men and women must be 21 and 18 respectively. The government is considering changing the women’s legal age from 18 to 21.
  13. Indians blindly believe in god.
    As per census 2011 data, only 0.27% of India’s population stated not having any religion. This includes atheists and rationalists.
  14. There are many cases in India where a man or a woman marries a dog/tree as atonement.
  15. Brides in India wear many ornaments like a ring on the toe, bangles, sindoor as per the tradition.
  16. Drinking milkshakes with marijuana is common in India and people drink the mixture mostly during festivals.
  17. There are two villages in India named Shani Shignapur and Sialia which have no doors in the village. Shani Shignapur is in Maharashtra and believed to be protected by Hindu god Shani, from planet Saturn. Sialia village is in Odisha and the locals believe the goddess Kharakhai protects the village from thieves.
  18. India got 8 types of classical dances from various regions i.e. Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri, and Sattriya.

    Inventions and Discoveries:

  19. Yoga is originated from India and exists over 5000 years.
  20. Martial Arts were first started in India and later Buddhist missionaries spread martial arts all over Asia including China.
    Facts about India (Yoga - Martial Arts)
  21. During the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians, the Indian Mathematician Budhayana had first calculated the value of “pi” and had explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagoras Theorem in modern Trigonometry.
  22. Trigonometry, Algebra, and Calculus originated from India.
  23. Diamond mining originated from India.
    India was the only place in the world to mine diamonds until diamond was discovered in Brazil in 1726. Almost all the world-known diamonds like Koh-i-nur, Daria-i-Noor, etc. are from India. At first, Brazilian diamonds were reputed to have lower quality than Indian diamonds. Hence, Portuguese traders used to ship Brazilian diamonds through Goa to European markets and sell them as Indian diamonds to get a higher value.
  24. The chess game (also called Chaturanga derived from the Sanskrit language) was invented in India before the 7th century.
  25. Ludo, Snake and Ladder game originated from India.
    In ancient India, these games were popular in the name of Pachisi, Gyan Chauper(Game of Wisdom)/Moksha Patam respectively. The snake represented vices and ladder represented virtues in the game. This game is to teach morality i.e. good people go to heaven while evil goes through a cycle of rebirths.
  26. The Fibonacci Number pattern was first mentioned in ancient India during 450 BC – 200 BC by Acharya Pingala in his book Chandaḥśāstra. Later it was named as Fibonacci series by Leonardo Fibonacci who worked on Indian and Arabian mathematics.
  27. The concept of a button was developed during the Indus valley civilization. In Indus valley civilization, the buttons were used as ornaments. However, the buttons with holes were designed in Germany first.
  28. Ayurveda, the ancient medicine made up of herbal plants and trees was developed in India around 6,000 BCE during Indus valley civilization. Some of the modern medical practices have been derived from Ayurveda traditions.
  29. Sushruta, an ancient Indian physician is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his apprentices performed many complicated surgeries like artificial limb implementation, cataract, fractures, cesareans, urinary stones, plastic surgery, and brain surgeries.
  30. India first produced sugar.
    The extraction and purification process from sugarcanes was developed in India. Later, other countries learned the process of producing sugar from India.
  31. The shampoo is invented in India and was derived from a Sanskrit word “champu” which means “massage”. From ancient times, the Indians have used soapberries and other herbal extracts like shikakai (acacia concinna), hibiscus flowers, ritha (Sapindus mukorossi) and arappu (albizia Amara) to clean hair.
  32. The ruler was first used during Indus valley civilization in 2650 BCE.
    The first ruler was a copper alloy measuring rod and later people started using ivory rulers.
  33. The toilet flush concept was invented during the Indus valley civilization.
  34. Zero (0) was invented in India.
  35. The concept of “place-value system” using 0 as a digit was invented in India by Aryabhata.

    Population:

  36. India is the second-highest populated country in the world with a population of 1.38 billion after China(1.43 billion).
  37. More than 50% of the Indian population is less than 25 years old.
  38. On 1st January 2020, India recorded most births of 67,385 babies.
  39. The population of India is more than the entire Western Hemisphere of Earth cumulatively.
  40. With the current population and growth rate, India is expected to be the most populous country in the world by 2050 surpassing China.
    Current population:
    India → 1.38 billion
    China → 1.43 billion

    Some Unknown Facts:

  41. In the past 100,000 years, India has never invaded any country.
  42. India has a maximum number of religions and 4 religions Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism are born in India.
  43. Buddhism was spread to different neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, Thailand, China, Tibet, Japan, South Korea, and many others.
  44. The largest postal network in the world is in India with 1,54,965 post offices. On average, a post office serves an area of 21.53 sq. Km and a population of around 9000 people.​
  45. The only floating post office in the world is located in Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, and was inaugurated in August 2011.
  46. Indian Railways is the largest employer in India with 1.227 million employees and is the 8th largest employer all over the world.
  47. A large number of Indians speak English which makes India the world’s second-largest English speaking country.
    After the United States of America, India has around 1.3 billion people who can speak English as per Census 2011. This figure is growing at a fast rate and we will have a new update in Census 2021.
  48. India has the highest number of languages in the world which is around 19500 out of which 22 are recognized by the Indian constitution.
  49. Despite having 22 recognized languages, India does not have a national language. Hindi is not the national language of India, but it was declared as the official language of India, along with English.
  50. India got the highest number of vegetarians in the world.
    This is mostly because of religious beliefs.
  51. Rabindranath Tagore wrote the national anthem for two countries, India and Bangladesh.
  52. For a single voter in the middle of the Gir forest, a special polling booth used to be set up till the 2019 election.
    Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas was the only voter from Banej in Gir forest voting since 2004. That makes the polling booth in India with a 100 percent voting record. In recent news, he died in November 2019.
  53. Indian Railways is the world’s 4th largest rail network with 13,523 passenger trains running daily covering 7,321 stations across India.
    Indian Railway carried 8.44 billion passengers in the fiscal year 2019.
    An interesting fact about Indian Railway is the number of passengers traveling through rail daily is equivalent to the population of Australia.
  54. The Karni Mata Temple in Rajasthan is called the temple of rats.
    The temple houses thousands of rats whom people worship as their ancestors. This is one of the unknown facts about India that very few people know.
  55. India holds the title of having the world’s first hospital train.
    The Lifeline Express(Jeevan Rekha Express) train was first to run on 16 July 1991 and is equipped with modern operation theatre for surgery, diagnostic center and provides medical support in rural India.
  56. It is illegal for an adult in India to neglect their parents in their old age.
  57. India is the only country in the world to have an entire ocean named after it, the Indian Ocean.
  58. Another interesting fact about India is that it is the only country in the world that has both tigers and lions in the wild.
  59. Looking at the number of vegetarian people in India, Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonalds introduced vegetarian menus in India.
  60. India has the lowest telephone call rates in the world and is one of the fastest-growing telecom markets in the world.
  61. Lonar Lake in Maharashtra is one out of the four hypervelocities basaltic meteor impact crater known to the world. The diameter of the lake is around 1.2 km which was created from the impact of a meteor of diameter around 1.8 km.
    Later it was declared as a National Geo Heritage monument. The other 3 such lakes are in Brazil.
  62. Ghaziabad is the most air polluted city in the world in 2019. Among the top 20 air-polluted cities in the world, India has 14 cities enlisted.
  63. Another unknown fact about India is that sex toys are illegal in India.
  64. Indian currency notes have braille-like markings for the visually impaired people.
  65. There are over 2.5 million zero rupee notes in India distributed by a non-government organization called 5th Pillar to fight against corruption.

    More Interesting Facts about India:

  66. Unlike other countries, people in India prefer eating with their hands.
  67. Cricket is the most popular sport in India despite Hockey being the national sport.
  68. The first rocket launched in India was transported on a bicycle. The first rocket was a 2 staged rocket imported from Russia (M-100) and France (Centaure) and it was transported to the Thumba Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram on a bicycle.
  69. A fun fact about India is that it has more people using the internet than the population of the United States. At the end of the fiscal year 2019, there were monthly 451 million active internet users with a penetration rate of 36 percent. India is 2nd in the world after China with such a high number of internet users.
  70. Another interesting fact about India is its “Go Air” airline only hires female flight attendants as they are lighter as compared to men. As a result, the airline saves fuel up to US$500,000 per year.
  71. A new word ‘Bangalored’ has been placed in the Oxford dictionary after a city name ‘Bangalore‘ (center of Indian IT companies) which provides IT related services to companies all over the world.
  72. Shops without shopkeepers.
    Yes, you read it right. In Mizoram, one of the northeastern states in India has the shops that operate without its shopkeepers. This is also called Nghah Lou Dawr and the local people believe in trust and honesty.
  73. The Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) is a space probe in Mars orbit that India had successfully launched in 2014. India is the first country to have put Mangalyaan in Mars orbit in its very first attempt and it was the most cost-effective Mars mission that cost about $74 million.
  74. 911 million people voted in the general election 2019 which is far more than the population of the entire Europe and Australia continent.
  75. As per World Gold Council (WGC), Indian homemakers have the maximum amount of gold in the world which is estimated to be 25000 tonnes. The interesting fact here in the USA has an official gold reserve of 8134 tonnes which is the highest in the world.
  76. Despite most Indians doing arranged marriages, the divorce rate is one of the lowest in the world. Around 13 out of 1000 marriages end up in divorce in India.
  77. The current Dalai lama (14th), the spiritual leader of Buddhism, runs his government in Tibet from Dharmashala, India in exile. His organization “Central Tibetan Administration” (also known as Tibetan Government in Exile) is based in India. The organization is not aimed to rule Tibet but will be dissolved once the freedom is restored in Tibet.
  78. The capital of India is New Delhi which is in the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT).
  79. Indians got more cell phones than toilets. Yes, this is a fact.
  80. One interesting fact about India is – Indians celebrate children’s day on 14th November, exactly 9 months after the valentine’s day (14th February).
  81. In West Bengal, the cows are issued photo identity cards.
    The Indian border guards took this step to stop the smuggling of cows to neighboring country Bangladesh.
  82. The cancer drug Gleevec, costing around US$80,000 in the United States, costs less than US$1500 in India.
  83. An Indian con man named “Natwarlal” has “sold” the Taj Mahal, the Indian Parliament, the Red Fort, and the Rashtrapati Bhavan and may other monuments multiple times. He was arrested 9 times and he managed to escape every time.
  84. Indian dish Chicken Tikka Masala is the National Dish of the United Kingdom.
  85. Another interesting fact is, the world’s largest Indian restaurant ‘Aakash’ is in Cleckheaton, UK; not in India.
    Up to 860 guests can have a seat at a time in the restaurant.
  86. Around 90% of the Indians work in the informal sector which is off-the-records jobs.
    These major workforce in India are day laborers and get paid in cash.
  87. Around 1% of people in India pay tax. Only 146 million (14.6 crores) people pay tax out of the 1.38 billion(138 crores) population.
    And, the top 5% of all the taxpayers pay around 60% of the tax collection.
  88. Just like Hollywood, the Hindi movie industry is called Bollywood.
    There are also other regional movie industries like Tollywood, Kollywood, Ollywood, etc.
  89. Police officers in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states get Moustache allowance for having a mustache. The department believes having a mustache gives more respect to the policemen.
  90. There was a territorial dispute between India and Bangladesh for over 3 decades that got resolved due to “Global warming”. The “New Moore” is the uninhabited island that got completely submerged in the Bay of Bengal due to global warming, thus resolving the dispute.
    India world record (Statue of Unity - Taj Mahal - Golden Temple)

    Largest/Tallest and other World Records:

  91. India is the largest democratic country in the world and the 7th largest country in the world with an area of 3,287,590 square kilometers.
  92. India’s “Taj Mahal”, a monument in Agra is one of the seven wonders of the world and also designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
  93. The world’s largest film studio complex “Ramoji Film City” is in Hyderabad, spreading across 1,666 acres and is placed in Guinness world records.
  94. The World’s tallest statue “Statue of Unity” is in Gujarat with a height of 182 meters (597 ft).
    Read also: Statue of Unity facts
  95. There are over 300,000 mosques in India which is the world’s highest in number even more than any Muslim country. Muslims are the second-largest religion in India after Hinduism.
  96. The Bailey Bridge located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains is the bridge at the highest elevation in the world. It is at an altitude of 5602 meters and is 30 meters long. The bridge was built in 1982 by the Indian Army.
  97. The golden temple in Amritsar, India is awarded as the largest free kitchen in the world by the World Book of Records. This Sikh temple serves vegetarian meals every day to 100000 people and can feed up to 200000 people every day regardless of their status, religion.
  98. The world’s second-largest tea producing country is India, after China.
  99. India is the world’s largest spice producing country.
    It is also the latest exporter of spices exporting around 74% of spices in the world. Out of 109 types of spices, 75 types are cultivated in India.
  100. The cricket ground in Chail, Himachal Pradesh in India is the highest cricket ground in the world. It was built in 1893. This cricket ground is 2444 meters above the sea level and is placed in the Guinness book of world records.
  101. The world’s highest average rainfall is in Mawsynram, a village on high altitude on the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Mawsynram gets around 1150 cm of rain as average annual rainfall. The second highest rainfall happens in Cherrapunji in the nearby area. Despite the highest rainfall, these places have become popular tourist destinations in northeast India.
  102. India is the largest milk producer in the world.
    A fun fact is India produced around 196.18 million tons of milk in 2019 that is almost twice the United States, the second-largest milk producer producing around 99.16 million tons of milk in 2019.
  103. India has the world’s second-largest road network. After the USA, India got about a total of 5.5 million km (3.417 mn miles) roads including national highways (2%), state highways, and roads in urban and rural areas.
  104. Chenab Bridge is the world’s Highest Railway Bridge under construction in Jammu and Kashmir.
    The bridge is 359 m (1,178 ft) over the Chenab river and l1315 m in length and is likely to be completed by December 2021.
    Amazing facts about this bridge is it is 29 meters taller than the Eiffel tower.
  105. Mr. Ziona Chana of Mizoram has the largest family in the world.
    Ziona holds the world record for having the world’s largest family and he lives in the Baktawng village of Mizoram with his world’s biggest family of 181 members. His family 39 wives, 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law, and 33 grandchildren.
  106. India has the largest school in the world in terms of a number of students.
    The City Montessori School in Lucknow got the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world’s largest school with more than 55 thousand students in total. When the school was founded back in 1959, it had only 5 students.
  107. The Ramanathaswamy Temple in Tamil Nadu has the second-longest corridor in the world. The 6.9 meter high outer corridors have a length of 400 feet on the east and west side and around 640 meters on the north and south. The longest corridor in the world is RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands in British Overseas Territory.
  108. India got the largest number of broadcasting channels in the world including radio, newspapers, magazines in over 20 different languages.
  109. The Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh is known to be the world’s largest religious gathering. In 2019, the number of pilgrims reached a record of 240 million.
    A. The Purna Kumbh Mela (Full Kumbh): celebrated every 12 years.
    B. The Ardh Kumbh Mela (Half Kumbh): celebrated every 6 years in between the two Purna Kumbha Melas.
    C. The Maha Kumbh Mela (Major Kumbh): celebrated every 12 Purna Kumbh Melas which is in every 144 years. The last Maha Kumbh was celebrated in 2013.
  110. The World’s First Granite Temple is Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The temple was built between 1004 AD to 1009 AD and is made of granite completely.
  111. Mukesh Ambani, the richest man of India has the world’s largest and most expensive private residence called Antilia. The mansion costs approximately US$2.2 billion. Antilia is a 27-story skyscraper with 3 helipads, a 6 storey car park, a garden, spa, a temple, and even a theatre spread over 40,000 square feet. The building can withstand an earthquake of 8 on the Richter scale.
    Antilia is the second most valuable residential property in the world after Buckingham palace, the British crown property.
  112. In 2009, Ashish Rawandale Patil, an Indian doctor removed 172,155 stones from a patient’s left pelvic kidney. The three-hour-long surgery is placed in the Guinness world records for the most kidney stones removed from a patient.
  113. During World War 2, over 2.5 million Indians volunteered in the British Indian Army. This was the largest volunteer army in world history.
  114. India holds the Guinness world records for “Most trees planted in 24 hours by a team” for planting 50,414,058 trees in 2016.
    A total of 800,000 volunteers including government officials, students, local citizens took part in this massive ecological drive in Uttar Pradesh.
  115. Indians spend around 10.4 hours per week reading which tops in the world.
    This data came out as per the survey by the World Culture Score Index.

That’s all the unknown and interesting facts about India.
Cheers!!!

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