India at a Glance :

KNOW INDIA
INDIA is one of the oldest civilisations in the world with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved multifaceted socio-economic progress during the last 59 years of its Independence. India has become self-sufficient in agricultural production, and is now the tenth industrialised country in the world and the sixth nation to have gone into outer space to conquer nature for the benefit of the people. It covers an area of 32,87,263 sq km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan heights to the tropical rain forests of the south. As the seventh largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.
Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes 8°4' and 37°6' north, longitudes 68°7' and 97°25' east, and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km.

Physical Features
Countries having a common border with India are Afghanistan and Pakistan to the north-west, China, Bhutan and Nepal to the north, Myanmar to the east and Bangladesh to the east of West Bengal. Sri Lanka is separated from India by a narrow channel of sea formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.
The mainland comprises of four regions, namely, the great mountain zone, plains of the Ganga and the Indus, the desert region and the southern peninsula.
The Himalayas comprise three almost parallel ranges interspersed with large plateaus and valleys, some of which, like the Kashmir and Kullu valleys, are fertile, extensive and of great scenic beauty. Some of the highest peaks in the world are found in these ranges. The high altitudes admit travel only to a few passes, notably the Jelep La and Nathu La on the main Indo-Tibet trade route through the Chumbi Valley, north-east of Darjeeling and Shipki La in the Satluj valley, north-east of Kalpa (Kinnaur). The mountain wall extends over a distance of about 2,400 km with a varying depth of 240 to 320 km. In the east, between India and Myanmar, and India and Bangladesh, hill ranges are much lower. Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Naga Hills, running almost east-west, join the chain to Mizo and Rkhine Hills running north-south.

The plains of the Ganga and the Indus, about 2,400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad, are formed by basins of three distinct river systems - the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. They are one of the world's greatest stretches of flat alluvium and also one of the most densely populated areas on the earth. Between the Yamuna at Delhi and the Bay of Bengal, nearly 1,600 km away, there is a drop of only 200 metres in elevation.

The desert region can be divided into two parts - the great desert and the little desert. The great desert extends from the edge of the Rann of Kuchch beyond the Luni river northward. The whole of the Rajasthan-Sind frontier runs through this. The little desert extends from the Luni between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur up to the northern wastes. Between the great and the little deserts lies a zone of absolutely sterile country, consisting of rocky land cut up by limestone ridges.

The Peninsular Plateau is marked off from the plains of the Ganga and the Indus by a mass of mountain and hill ranges varying from 460 to 1,220 metres in height. Prominent among these are the Aravalli, Vindhya, Satpura, Maikala and Ajanta. The Peninsula is flanked on one side by the Eastern Ghats where average elevation is about 610 metres, and on the other by the Western Ghats where it is generally from 915 to 1,220 metres, rising in places to over 2,440 metres. Between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea lies a narrow coastal strip, while between Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, there is a broader coastal area. The southern point of plateau is formed by the Nilgiri Hills where the Eastern and the Western Ghats meet. The Cardamom Hills lying beyond may be regarded as a continuation of the Western Ghats.

Geological Structure
The geological regions broadly follow the physical features, and may be grouped into three regions: the Himalayas and their associated group of mountains, the Indo-Ganga Plain, and the Peninsular Shield.

The Himalayan mountain belt to the north and the Naga-Lushai mountain in the east, are the regions of mountain-building movement. Most of this area, now presenting some of the most magnificent mountain scenery in the world, was under marine conditions about 600 million years ago. In a series of mountain-building movements commencing about 70 million years ago, the sediments and the basement rocks rose to great heights. The weathering and erosive agencies worked on these to produce the relief seen today. The Indo-Ganga plains are a great alluvial tract that separates the Himalayas in the north from the Peninsula in the south.

The Peninsula is a region of relative stability and occasional seismic disturbances. Highly metamorphosed rocks of the earliest periods, dating back as far as 380 crore years, occur in the area; the rest being covered by the coastal-bearing Gondwana formations, lava flows belonging to the Deccan Trap formation and younger sediments.

Rivers
The rivers of India can be classified into four groups viz., Himalayan rivers, Deccan rivers, Coastal rivers, and Rivers of the inland drainage basin.

The Himalayan Rivers are formed by melting snow and glaciers and therefore, continuously flow throughout the year. During the monsoon months, Himalayas receive very heavy rainfall and rivers swell, causing frequent floods. The Deccan Rivers on the other hand are rain fed and therefore fluctuate in volume. Many of these are non-perennial. The Coastal streams, especially on the west coast are short in length and have limited catchment's areas. Most of them are non-perennial. The streams of inland drainage basin of western Rajasthan are few. Most of them are of an ephemeral character.

The main Himalayan river systems are those of the Indus and the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna system. The Indus, which is one of the great rivers of the world, rises near Mansarovar in Tibet and flows through India, and thereafter through Pakistan, and finally falls in the Arabian Sea near Karachi. Its important tributaries flowing in Indian Territory are the Sutlej (originating in Tibet), the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab, and the Jhelum. The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna is another important system of which the principal sub-basins are those of Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda, which join at Dev Prayag to form the Ganga. It traverses through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. Below Rajmahal hills, the Bhagirathi, which used to be the main course in the past, takes off, while the Padma continues eastward and enters Bangladesh. The Yamuna, the Ramganga, the Ghaghra, the Gandak, the Kosi, the Mahananda and the Sone are the important tributaries of the Ganga. Rivers Chambal and Betwa are the important sub-tributaries, which join Yamuna before it meets the Ganga. The Padma and the Brahmaputra join inside Bangladesh, and continue to flow as the Padma or Ganga. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet, where it is known as Tsangpo and runs a long distance till it crosses over into India in Arunachal Pradesh under the name of Dihang. Near Passighat, the Debang and Lohit join the river Brahmaputra and the combined river runs all along the Assam in a narrow valley. It crosses into Bangladesh downstream of Dhubri.

The principal tributaries of Brahmaputra in India are the Subansiri, Jia Bhareli, Dhansiri, Puthimari, Pagladiya and the Manas. The Brahmaputra in Bangladesh receives the flow of Tista, etc., and finally falls into Ganga. The Barak River, the Head stream of Meghna, rises in the hills in Manipur. The important tributaries of the river are Makku, Trang, Tuivai, Jiri, Sonai, Rukni, Katakhal, Dhaleswari, Langachini, Maduva and Jatinga. Barak continues in Bangladesh till the combined Ganga—Brahmaputra join it near Bhairab Bazar.

In the Deccan region, most of the major river systems flowing generally in east direction fall into Bay of Bengal. The major east flowing rivers are Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Mahanadi, etc. Narmada and Tapti are major West flowing rivers.

The Godavari in the southern Peninsula has the second largest river basin covering 10 per cent of the area of India. Next to it is the Krishna basin in the region, while the Mahanadi has the third largest basin. The basin of the Narmada in the uplands of the Deccan, flowing to the Arabian Sea, and of the Kaveri in the south, falling into the Bay of Bengal are about the same size, though with different character and shape.

There are numerous coastal rivers, which are comparatively small. While only handful of such rivers drain into the sea near the delta of east cost, there are as many as 600 such rivers on the west coast.

A few rivers in Rajasthan do not drain into the sea. They drain into salt lakes and get lost in sand with no outlet to sea. Besides these, there are the Desert Rivers which flow for some distance and are lost in the desert. These are Luni and others such as, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati, Banas and Ghaggar.

Climate
The climate of India may be broadly described as tropical monsoon type.
There are four seasons:
(i) winter (January-February),
(ii) hot weather summer (March-May);
(iii) rainy southwestern monsoon (June-September) and
(iv) post-monsoon, also known as northeast monsoon in the southern Peninsula (October-December).

India's climate is affected by two seasonal winds - the northeast monsoon and the southwest monsoon. The north-east monsoon, commonly known as winter monsoon blows from land to sea, whereas south-west monsoon, known as summer monsoon blows from sea to land after crossing the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal. The south-west monsoon brings most of the rainfall during a year in the country.

Flora
With a wide range of climatic conditions from the torrid to the arctic, India has a rich and varied vegetation, which only a few countries of comparable size possess. India can be divided into eight distinct-floristic-regions, namely, the western Himalayas, the eastern Himalayas, Assam, the Indus plain, the Ganga plain, the Deccan, Malabar and the Andamans.

The Western Himalayan region extends from Kashmir to Kumaon. Its temperate zone is rich in forests of chir, pine, other conifers and broad-leaved temperate trees. Higher up, forests of deodar , blue pine, spruce and silver fir occur. The alpine zone extends from the upper limit of the temperate zone of about 4,750 metres or even higher. The characteristic trees of this zone are high-level silver fir, silver birch and junipers. The eastern Himalayan region extends from Sikkim eastwards and embraces Darjeeling, Kurseong and the adjacent tract. The temperate zone has forests of oaks, laurels, maples, rhododendrons, alder and birch. Many conifers, junipers and dwarf willows also occur here. The Assam region comprises the Brahmaputra and the Surma valleys with evergreen forests, occasional thick clumps of bamboos and tall grasses. The Indus plain region comprises the plains of Punjab, western Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. It is dry and hot and supports natural vegetation. The Ganga plain region covers the area which is alluvial plain and is under cultivation for wheat, sugarcane and rice. Only small areas support forests of widely differing types. The Deccan region comprises the entire tableland of the Indian Peninsula and supports vegetation of various kinds from scrub jungles to mixed deciduous forests. The Malabar region covers the excessively humid belt of mountain country parallel to the west coast of the Peninsula. Besides being rich in forest vegetation, this region produces important commercial crops, such as coconut, betel nut, pepper, coffee and tea, rubber and cashew nut. The Andaman region abounds in evergreen, mangrove, beach and diluvia forests. The Himalayan region extending from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh through Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Meghalaya and Nagaland and the Deccan Peninsula is rich in endemic flora, with a large number of plants which are not found elsewhere.

India is rich in flora. Available data place India in the tenth position in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity. From about 70 per cent geographical area surveyed so far, 47,000 species of plants have been described by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata. The vascular flora, which forms the conspicuous vegetation cover, comprises 15,000 species. Of these, more than 35 per cent is endemic and has so far not been reported anywhere in the world. The flora of the country is being studied by the BSI and its nine circle/field offices located throughout the country along with certain universities and research institutions.
Ethno-botanical study deals with the utilisation of plants and plant products by ethnic races. A scientific study of such plants has been made by BSI. A number of detailed ethno-botanical explorations have been conducted in different tribal areas of the country. More than 800 plant species of ethno-botanical interest have been collected and identified at different centres.

Owing to destruction of forests for agricultural, industrial and urban development, several Indian plants are facing extinction. About 1,336 plant species are considered vulnerable and endangered. About 20 species of higher plants are categorised as possibly extinct as these have not been sighted during the last 6-10 decades. BSI brings out an inventory of endangered plants in the form of a publication titled Red Data Book.

Fauna
The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), with its headquarters in Kolkata and 16 regional stations is responsible for surveying the faunal resources of India. Possessing a tremendous diversity of climate and physical conditions, India has great variety of fauna, numbering 89,451 species, which include protista, mollusca, anthropoda, amphibia, mammalia, reptilia, members of protochordata, pisces, aves and other invertebrates.

The mammals include the majestic elephant, the gaur or Indian bison-the largest of existing bovines, the great Indian rhinoceros, the gigantic wild sheep of the Himalayas, the swamp deer, the thamin spotted deer, nilgai , the four-horned antelope, the Indian antelope or black-buck - the only representatives of these genera. Among the cats, the tiger and lion are the most magnificent of all; other splendid creatures such as the clouded leopard, the snow leopard, the marbled cat, etc., are also found. Many other species of mammals are remarkable for their beauty, colouring, grace and uniqueness. Several birds, like pheasants, geese, ducks, mynahs , parakeets, pigeons, cranes, hornbills and sunbirds inhabit forests and wetlands.

Rivers and lakes harbour crocodiles and gharials , the latter being the only representative of crocodilian order in the world. The salt-water crocodile is found along the eastern coast and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A project for breeding crocodiles, started in 1974, has been instrumental in saving the crocodile from extinction.

The great Himalayan range has a very interesting variety of fauna that includes the wild sheep and goats, markhor, ibex, shrew and tapir.
The panda and the snow leopard are found in the upper reaches of the mountains.

Depletion of vegetative cover due to expansion of agriculture, habitat destruction, over-exploitation, pollution, introduction of toxic imbalance in community structure, epidemics, floods, droughts and cyclones, contribute to the loss of flora and fauna. More than 39 species of mammals, 72 species of birds, 17 species of reptiles, three species of amphibians, two species of fish, and a large number of butterflies, moth, and beetles are considered vulnerable and endangered.

States and Union Territories
India comprises 28 States and 7 Union Territories. They are: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Union Territories are : Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

Citizenship
The Constitution of India provides for a single citizenship for the whole of India. Every person who was at the commencement of the Constitution (26 January 1950) domiciled in the territory of India, and (a) who was born in India, or (b) either of whose parents was born in India, or (c) who has been ordinarily resident in India for not less than five years, became a citizen of India. The Citizenship Act, 1955 deals with matters relating to acquisition, determination and termination of Indian citizenship after the commencement of the Constitution.

Fundamental Rights
The Constitution offers all citizens, individually and collectively, some basic freedoms. These are guaranteed in the Constitution in the form of six broad categories of Fundamental Rights, which are justiciable. Article 12 to 35 contained in Part III of the Constitution deal with
Fundamental Rights. These are:

(i) right to equality, including equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment;

(ii) right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association or union, movement, residence, and right to practice any profession or occupation (some of these rights are subject to security of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency or morality);
(iii) right against exploitation, prohibiting all forms of forced labour, child labour and traffic in human beings;
(iv) right to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion;
(v) right of any section of citizens to conserve their culture, language or script, and right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice; and
(vi) right to constitutional remedies for enforcement of Fundamental Rights. Fundamental Duties

By the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution, adopted in 1976, Fundamental Duties of the citizens have also been enumerated. Article 51 A', contained in Part IV A of the Constitution deals with Fundamental Duties.
These enjoin upon a citizen among other things, to abide by the Constitution, to cherish and follow noble ideals, which inspired India's struggle for freedom, to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so, and to promote harmony and spirit of common brotherhood transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities

Directive Principles of State Policy
The Constitution lays down certain Directive Principles of State Policy, which though not justiciable, are fundamental in governance of the country', and it is the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws. These lay down that the State shall strive to promote the welfare of people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may, a social order, in which justice—social, economic and political—shall form in all institutions of national life. The State shall direct its policy in such a manner as to secure the right of all men and women to an adequate means of livelihood, equal pay for equal work and within limits of its economic capacity and development, to make effective provision for securing the right to work, education and to public assistance in the event of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement or other cases of undeserved want. The State shall also endeavour to secure to workers a living wage, humane conditions of work, a decent standard of life, and full involvement of workers in management of industries.

In the economic sphere, the State is to direct its policy in such a manner as to secure distribution of ownership and control of material resources of community to subserve the common good, and to ensure that operation of economic system does not result in concentration of wealth and means of production to common detriment.

Some of the other important directives relate to provision of opportunities and facilities for children to develop in a healthy manner; free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14; promotion of education and economic interests of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other weaker sections; organisation of village panchayats ; separation of judiciary from executive; promulgation of a uniform civil code for whole country; protection of national monuments; promotion of justice on a basis of equal opportunity; provision of free legal aid; protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forests and wildlife of the country; promotion of international peace and security; just and honourable relations between nations; respect for international law; treaty obligations; and settlement of international disputes by arbitration.

Census
The Census of India 2001, is historic and epoch making, being the first census of the twenty-first century and the third millennium. It reveals benchmark data on the state of abundant human resources available in the country, their demography, culture and economic structure at a juncture, which marks a centennial and millennial transition.

The population enumeration of 2001 census was undertaken during 9-28 February 2001, with a revisional round from 1-5 March 2001. The Census moment, the referral time at which the snapshot of the population is taken, was 00.00 hours of the 1 March 2001. Until the 1991 Census, the sunrise of 1 March was taken to be the census moment. The houseless population, as has been the usual practice, was enumerated on the night of 28 February 2001.

Population
Indias population as on 1 March 2001 stood at 1,028 million
(532.1 million males and 496.4 million females). India accounts
for a meagre 2.4 per cent of the world surface area of 135.79
million sq km. Yet, it supports and sustains a whopping 16.7
per cent of the world population.

The population of India, which at the turn
of the twentieth century was around 238.4 million, increased
to reach 1,028 million at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
The population of India as recorded at each decennial census
from 1901 has grown steadily except for a decrease during 1911-21.

The per cent decadal growth of population
in the inter-censal period 1991-2001 varies from a low of
9.43 in Kerala to a very high 64.53 in Nagaland. Delhi with
47.02 per cent, Chandigarh with 40.28 per cent and Sikkim
with 33.06 per cent registered very high growth rates. In
addition to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh registered low growth rates during 1991-2001.

Population Density

One of the important indices of population concentration is the density of population. It is defined as the number of persons per sq km. The population density of India in 2001 was 324 per sq km.

AThe density of population was increased in all States and Union Territories between 1991 and 2001. Among major states, West Bengal is still the most thickly populated state with a population density of 903 in 2001. Bihar is now the second highest densely populated state, pushing Kerala to the third place.

Sex Ratio
Sex ratio, defined, as the number of females per thousands males, is an important social indicator to measure the extent of prevailing equality between males and females in a society at a given point of time. The sex ratio in the country had always remained unfavourable to females. It was 972 at the beginning of the twentieth century, and thereafter showed continuous decline until 1941.

Literacy For the purpose of census 2001, a person aged seven and above, who can both read and write with understanding in any language, is treated as literate. A person, who can only read but cannot write, is not literate. In the censuses prior to 1991, children below five years of age were necessarily treated as illiterates.
The provisional results of 2001 reveal that there has been an increase in literacy in the country. The literacy rate in the country is 64.84 per cent, 75.26 for males and 53.67 for females.

Kerala retained its position by being on top with a 90.86 per cent literacy rate, closely followed by Mizoram (88.80 per cent) and Lakshadweep (86.66 per cent). Bihar with a literacy rate of 47.00 per cent ranks last in the country, preceded by Jharkhand (53.56 per cent), and Jammu and Kashmir (55.52 per cent). Kerala also occupies the top spot in the country, both in male literacy with 94.24 per cent, and female literacy with 87.72 per cent. On the contrary, Bihar has recorded the lowest literacy rates, both in case of males (59.68 per cent), and females (33.12 per cent).

National Flag
The National Flag is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (kesaria) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three. In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel which represents the chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes. The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22 July 1947.

Apart from non-statutory instructions issued by the Government from time to time, display of the National Flag is governed by the provisions of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 (No. 12 of 1950) and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 (No. 69 of 1971). The Flag Code of India, 2002 is an attempt to bring together all such laws, conventions, practices and instructions for the guidance and benefit of all concerned.

The Flag Code of India, 2002, took effect from 26 January 2002 and superseded the Flag Code—Indias' as it existed. As per the provisions of the Flag Code of India, 2002, there are no restriction on the display of the National Flag by members of general public, private organisations, educational institutions, etc., except to the extent provided in the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and any other law enacted on the subject.

The National Anthem of India is played or sung on various occasions. Instructions have been issued from time to time about the correct versions of the Anthem, the occasions on which these are to be played or sung, and about the need for paying respect to the anthem by observance of proper decorum on such occasions. The substance of these instructions has been embodied in this information sheet for general information and guidance.

The National Anthem

The composition consisting of the words and music of the first stanza of the late poet Rabindra Nath Tagore's song known as "Jana Gana Mana" is the National Anthem of India. It reads as follows: -
Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha
Dravida-Utkala-Banga
Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga
Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga.
Tava shubha name jage,
Tava shubha asisa mange,
Gahe tava jaya gatha,
Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

NATIONAL ANIMAL
The magnificent tiger, Panthera tigris is a striped animal. It has a thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes. The combination of grace, strength, agility and enormous power has earned the tiger its pride of place as the national animal of India. Out of eight races of the species known, the Indian race, the Royal Bengal Tiger, is found throughout the country except in the north-western region and also in the neighbouring countries, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. To check the dwindling population of tigers in India, Project Tiger' was launched in April 1973. So far, 27 tiger reserves have been established in the country under this project, covering an area of 37,761 sq km.

NATIONAL BIRD

The Indian peacock, Pavo cristatus, the national bird of India, is a colourful, swan-sized bird, with a fan-shaped crest of feathers, a white patch under the eye and a long, slender neck. The male of the species is more colourful than the female, with a glistening blue breast and neck and a spectacular bronze-green train of around 200 elongated feathers. The female is brownish, slightly smaller than the male and lacks the train. The elaborate courtship dance of the male, fanning out the tail and preening its feathers is a gorgeous sight.

STATE EMBLEM
The state emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. In the original, there are four lions, standing back to back, mounted on an abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening wheels over a bell-shaped lotus. Carved out of a single block of polished sandstone, the Capital is crowned by the Wheel of the Law (Dharma Chakra)

In the state emblem, adopted by the Government of India on 26 January 1950, only three lions are visible, the fourth being hidden from view. The wheel appears in relief in the centre of the abacus with a bull on right and a horse on left and the outlines of other wheels on extreme right and left. The bell-shaped lotus has been omitted. The words Satyameva Jayate from Mundaka Upanishad , meaning 'Truth Alone Triumphs', are inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script.

NATIONAL SONG
The song Vande Mataram, composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji, was a source of inspiration to the people in their struggle for freedom. It has an equal status with Jana-gana-man a. The first political occasion when it was sung was the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. The following is the text of its first stanza:
Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram!
Sujalam, suphalam, malayaja shitalam,
Shasyashyamalam, Mataram!
Vande Mataram!
Shubhrajyotsna pulakitayaminim,
Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim,
Suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim,
Sukhadam varadam, Mataram!
Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram!

NATIONAL FLOWER
Lotus (Nelumbo Nucipera Gaertn) is the National Flower of India. It is a sacred flower and occupies a unique position in the art and mythology of ancient India and has been an auspicious symbol of Indian culture since time immemorial.
India is rich in flora. Currently available data place India in the tenth position in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity. From about 70 per cent geographical area surveyed so far, 47,000species of plants have been described by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

NATIONAL CALENDAR
The national calendar based on the Saka Era, with Chaitra as its first month and a normal year of 365 days was adopted from 22 March 1957 along with the Gregorian calendar for the following official purposes:
(i) Gazette of India,
(ii) news broadcast by All India Radio,
(iii) calendars issued by the Government of India and
(iv) Government communications addressed to the members of the public.
Dates of the national calendar have a permanent correspondence with dates of the Gregorian calendar, 1 Chaitra falling on 22 March normally and on 21 March in leap year.

NATIONAL FRUIT
A fleshy fruit, eaten ripe or used green for pickles etc., of the tree Mangifera indica, the mango is one of the most important and widely cultivated fruits of the tropical world. Its juicy fruit is a rich source of Vitamins A, C and D. In India there are over100 varieties of mangoes, in different sizes, shapes and colours. Mangoes have been cultivated in India from time immemorial. The poet Kalidasa sang its praises. Alexander savoured its taste, as did the Chinese pilgrim Hieun Tsang. Mughal emperor Akbar planted 100,000 mango trees in Darbhanga, Bihar at a place now known as Lakhi Bagh.

NATIONAL TREE
Indian fig tree, Ficus bengalensis, whose branches root themselves like new trees over a large area. The roots then give rise to more trunks and branches. Because of this characteristic and its longevity, this tree is considered immortal and is an integral part of the myths and legends of India. Even today, the banyan tree is the focal point of village life and the village council meets under the shade of this tree.

NATIONAL RIVER
The Ganga or Ganges is the longest river of India flowing over 2,510 kms of mountains, valleys and plains. It originates in the snowfields of the Gangotri Glacier in the Himalayas as the Bhagirathi River. It is later joined by other rivers such as the Alaknanda, Yamuna, Son, Gumti, Kosi and Ghagra. The Ganga river basin is one of the most fertile and densely populated areas of the world and covers an area of 1,000,000 sq. kms. There are two dams on the river one at Haridwar and the other at Farakka. The Ganges River Dolphin is an endangered animal that specifically habitats this river.

The Ganga is revered by Hindus as the most sacred river on earth. Key religious ceremonies are held on the banks of the river at cities such as Varanasi, Haridwar and Allahabad. The Ganga widens out into the Ganges Delta in the Sunderbans swamp of Bangladesh, before it ends its journey by emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

INDIAN HISTORY
Ancient History
India's history and culture is dynamic, spanning back to the beginning of human civilization. It begins with a mysterious culture along the Indus River and in farming communities in the southern lands of India. The history of India is punctuated by constant integration of migrating people with the diverse cultures that surround India. Available evidence suggests that the use of iron, copper and other metals was widely prevalent in the Indian sub-continent at a fairly early period, which is indicative of the progress that this part of the world had made. By the end of the fourth millennium BC, India had emerged as a region of highly developed civilization.

The History of India begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization, more precisely known as Harappan Civilization. It flourished around 2,500 BC, in the western part of South Asia, what today is Pakistan and Western India.
The Indus Valley was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China. Nothing was known about this civilization till 1920s when the Archaeological Department of India carried out excavations in the Indus valley wherein the ruins of the two old cities, viz. Mohenjodaro and Harappa were unearthed. The ruins of buildings and other things like household articles, weapons of war, gold and silver ornaments, seals, toys, pottery wares, etc., show that some four to five thousand years ago a highly developed Civilization flourished in this region.

The Indus valley civilization was basically an urban civilization and the people lived in well-planned and well-built towns, which were also the centers for trade. The ruins of Mohenjodaro and Harappa show that these were magnificent merchant cities-well planned, scientifically laid, and well looked after. They had wide roads and a well-developed drainage system. The houses were made of baked bricks and had two or more storeys.

The highly civilized Harappans knew the art of growing cereals, and wheat and barley constituted their staple food. They consumed vegetables and fruits and ate mutton, pork and eggs as well. Evidences also show that they wore cotton as well as woolen garments.

By 1500 BC, the Harappan culture came to an end. Among various causes ascribed to the decay of Indus Valley Civilization are the invasion by the Aryans, the recurrent floods and other natural causes like earthquake, etc.

Medieval History of India
For a period that has come to be so strongly associated with the Islamic influence and rule in India, Medieval Indian history went for almost three whole centuries under the so-called indigenous rulers, that included the Chalukyas, the Pallavas, the Pandyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Muslims rulers and finally the Mughal Empire. The most important dynasty to emerge in the middle of the 9th century was that of the Cholas.

The Palas :
Between 8th and 10th centuries AD, a number of powerful empires dominated the eastern and northern parts of India. The Pala king Dharmpala , son of Gopala reigned from the late 8th century AD to early 9th century AD. Nalanda University and Vikramashila University were founded by Dharmpala.

The Senas :
After the decline of the Palas, the Sena dynasty established its rule in Bengal. The founder of the dynasty was Samantasena . The greatest ruler of the dynasty was Vijaysena . He conquered the whole of Bengal and was succeeded by his son Ballalasena . He reigned peacefully but kept his dominions intact. He was a great scholar and wrote four works including one on astronomy. The last ruler of this dynasty was Lakshamanasena under whose reign the Muslims invaded Bengal, and the empire fell.

The Pratihara :
The greatest ruler of the Pratihara dynasty was Mihir Bhoja . He recovered Kanauj (Kanyakubja) by 836, and it remained the capital of the Pratiharas for almost a century. He built the city Bhojpal (Bhopal). Raja Bhoja and other valiant Gujara kings faced and defeated many attacks of the Arabs from west.

Between 915-918 AD, Kanauj was attacked by a Rashtrakuta king, who devastated the city leading to the weakening of the Pratihara Empire. In 1018, Kannauj then ruled by Rajyapala Pratihara was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni. The empire broke into independent Rajput states.

The Rashtrakutas :
This dynasty, which ruled from Karnataka, is illustrious for several reasons. They ruled the territory vaster than that of any other dynasty. They were great patrons of art and literature. The encouragement that several Rashtrakuta kings provided to education and literature is unique, and the religious tolerance exercised by them was exemplary.

The Chola Empire of the South :
It emerged in the middle of the 9th century AD, covered a large part of Indian peninsula, as well as parts of Sri Lanka and the Maldives Islands.
The first important ruler to emerge from the dynasty was Rajaraja Chola I and his son and successor Rajendra Chola. Rajaraja carried forward the annexation policy of his father. He led armed expedition to distant lands of Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

The successors of Rajendra I, Rajadhiraj and Rajendra II were brave rulers who fought fiercely against the later Chalukya kings, but could not check the decline of Chola Empire. The later Chola kings were weak and incompetent rulers. The Chola Empire thus lingered on for another century and a half, and finally came to an end with the invasion of Malik Kafur in the early 14th century AD.
Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)
In ancient times, people from all over the world were keen to come to India. The Aryans came from Central Europe and settled down in India.The Persians followed by the Iranians and Parsis immigrated to India. Then came the Moghuls and they too settled down permanently in India. Chengis Khan, the Mongolian, invaded and looted India many times. Alexander the Great too, came to conquer India but went back after a battle with Porus. He-en Tsang from China came in pursuit of knowledge and to visit the ancient Indian universities of Nalanda and Takshila. Columbus wanted to come to India, but instead landed on the shores of America. Vasco da Gama from Portugal came to trade his country's goods in return for Indian species. The French came and established their colonies in India.

Lastly, the Britishers came and ruled over India for nearly 200 years. After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British achieved political power in India. And their paramountcy was established during the tenure of Lord Dalhousie, who became the Governor- General in 1848. He annexed Punjab, Peshawar and the Pathan tribes in the north-west of India. And by 1856, the British conquest and its authority were firmly established. And while the British power gained its heights during the middle of the 19th century, the discontent of the local rulers, the peasantry, the intellectuals, common masses as also of the soldiers who became unemployed due to the disbanding of the armies of various states that were annexed by the British, became widespread. This soon broke out into a revolt which assumed the dimensions of the 1857 Mutiny.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857
The conquest of India, which could be said to have begun with the Battle of Plassey (1757), was practically completed by the end of Dalhousies tenure in 1856. It had been by no means a smooth affair as the simmering discontent of the people manifested itself in many localized revolt during this period. However, the Mutiny of 1857, which began with a revolt of the military soldiers at Meerut, soon became widespread and posed a grave challenge to the British rule. Even though the British succeeded in crushing it within a year, it was certainly a popular revolt in which the Indian rulers, the masses and the militia participated so enthusiastically that it came to be regarded as the First War of Indian Independence.

Introduction of zamindari system by the British, where the peasants were ruined through exorbitant charges made from them by the new class of landlords. The craftsmen were destroyed by the influx of the British manufactured goods. The religion and the caste system which formed the firm foundation of the traditional Indian society were endangered by the British administration. The Indian soldiers as well as people in administration could not rise in hierarchy as the senior jobs were reserved for the Europeans. Thus, there was all-round discontent and disgust against the British rule, which burst out in a revolt by the sepoys at Meerut whose religious sentiments were offended when they were given new cartridges greased with cow and pig fat, whose covering had to be stripped out by biting with the mouth before using them in rifles. The Hindu as well as the Muslim soldiers, who refused to use such cartridges, were arrested which resulted in a revolt by their fellow soldiers on May 9, 1857.
The rebel forces soon captured Delhi and the revolt spread to a wider area and there was uprising in almost all parts of the country. The most ferocious battles were fought in Delhi, Awadh, Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and western Bihar. The rebellious forces under the commands of Kanwar Singh in Bihar and Bakht Khan in Delhi gave a stunning blow to the British. In Kanpur, Nana Sahib was proclaimed as the Peshwa and the brave leader Tantya Tope led his troops. Rani Lakshmibai was proclaimed the ruler of Jhansi who led her troops in the heroic battles with the British. The Hindus, the Muslims, the Sikhs and all the other brave sons of India fought shoulder to shoulder to throw out the British. The revolt was controlled by the British within one year, it began from Meerut on 10 May 1857 and ended in Gwalior on 20 June 1858.
End of the East India Company
Consequent to the failure of the Revolt of 1857 rebellion, one also saw the end of the East India Company's rule in India and many important changes took place in the British Governments policy towards India which sought to strengthen the British rule through winning over the Indian princes, the chiefs and the landlords. Queen Victorias Proclamation of November 1, 1858 declared that thereafter India would be governed by and in the name of the British Monarch through a Secretary of State. The Governor General was given title of Viceroy, which meant the representative of the Monarch. Queen Victoria assumed the title of the Empress of India and thus gave the British Government unlimited powers to intervene in the internal affair of the Indian states. In brief, the British paramountcy over India, including the Indian States, was firmly established. The British gave their support to the loyal princes, zamindar and local chiefs but neglected the educated people and the common masses. They also promoted the other interests like those of the British merchants, industrialists, planters and civil servants. The people of India, as such, did not have any say in running the government or formulation of its policies. Consequently, peoples disgust with the British rule kept mounting, which gave rise to the birth of Indian National Movement.

The leadership of the freedom movement passed into the hands of reformists like Raja Rammohan Roy, Bankim Chandra and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. During this time, the binding psychological concept of National Unity was also forged in the fire of the struggle against a common foreign oppressor.
Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 which aimed at purging the society of all its evil practices. He worked for eradicating evils like sati, child marriage and purdah system, championed widow marriage and womens education and favoured English system of education in India. It was through his effort that sati was declared a legal offence by the British.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) the disciple of Ramakrishna Pramhamsa, established the Ramkrishna Mission at Belur in 1897. He championed the supremacy of Vedantic philosophy. His talk at the Chicago (USA) Conference of World Religions in 1893 made the westerners realize the greatness of Hinduism for the first time.

Formation of Indian National Congress (INC)

The foundations of the Indian National Movement were laid by Suredranath Banerjee with the formation of Indian Association at Calcutta in 1876. The aim of the Association was to represent the views of the educated middle class, inspire the Indian community to take the value of united action. The Indian Association was, in a way, the forerunner of the Indian National Congress, which was founded, with the help of A.O. Hume, a retired British official. The birth of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885 marked the entry of new educated middle-class into politics and transformed the Indian political horizon. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the president ship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee and was attended among others by and Badr-uddin-Tyabji.
At the turn of the century, the freedom movement reached out to the common unlettered man through the launching of the “Swadeshi Movement by leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghose. The Congress session at Calcutta in 1906, presided by Dadabhai Naoroji, gave a call for attainment of Swaraj a type of self-government elected by the people within the British Dominion, as it prevailed in Canada and Australia, which were also the parts of the British Empire.

Meanwhile, in 1909, the British Government announced certain reforms in the structure of Government in India which are known as Morley-Minto Reforms. But these reforms came as a disappointment as they did not mark any advance towards the establishment of a representative Government. The provision of special representation of the Muslim was seen as a threat to the Hindu-Muslim unity on which the strength of the National Movement rested. So, these reforms were vehemently opposed by all the leaders, including the Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Subsequently, King George V made two announcements in Delhi: firstly, the partition of Bengal, which had been effected in 1905, was annulled and, secondly, it was announced that the capital of India was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.
The disgust with the reforms announced in 1909 led to the intensification of the struggle for Swaraj. While, on one side, the extremist led by the great leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal waged a virtual war against the British, on the other side, the revolutionaries stepped up their violent activities There was a widespread unrest in the country. To add to the already growing discontent among the people, Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919, which empowered the Government to put people in jail without trial. This caused widespread indignation, led to massive demonstration and hartals, which the Government repressed with brutal measures like the Jaliawalla Bagh massacre, where thousand of unarmed peaceful people were gunned down on the order of General Dyer.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Jalianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919 was one of the most inhuman acts of the British rulers in India. The people of Punjab gathered on the auspicious day of Baisakhi at Jalianwala Bagh, adjacent to Golden Temple (Amritsar), to lodge their protest peacefully against persecution by the British Indian Government. General Dyer appeared suddenly with his armed police force and fired indiscriminately at innocent empty handed people leaving hundreds of people dead, including women and children.

After the First World War (1914-1918), Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became the undisputed leader of the Congress. During this struggle, Mahatma Gandhi had developed the novel technique of non-violent agitation, which he called 'Satyagraha', loosely translated as moral domination. Gandhi, himself a devout Hindu, also espoused a total moral philosophy of tolerance, brotherhood of all religions, non-violence (ahimsa) and of simple living. With this, new leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose also emerged on the scene and advocated the adoption of complete independence as the goal of the National Movement.
The Non-Cooperation Movement
Under leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress launched a series of mass movements - the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920 -1922 and the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930.
The Non-Cooperation Movement was triggered by the famous Salt (Dandi) March, when Gandhi captured the imagination of the nation by leading a band of followers from his ashram at Sabarmati, on a 200 mile trek to the remote village of Dandi on the west coast, there to prepare salt in symbolic violation of British law. He inspired millions of others to take the first step on the road to emancipation and equality.

Simon Commission
The Non-cooperation movement failed. Therefore there was a lull in political activities. The Simon Commission was sent to India in 1927 by the British Government to suggest further reforms in the structure of Indian Government. The Commission did not include any Indian member and the Government showed no intention of accepting the demand for Swaraj. Therefore, it sparked a wave of protests all over the country and the Congress as well as the Muslim League gave a call to boycott it under the leadership of Lala Lajpat Rai. The crowds were lathicharged and Lala Lajpat Rai, also called Sher-e-Punjab ( Lion of Punjab) died of the blows received in an agitation.

Civil Disobedience Movement
Mahatma Gandhi led the Civil Disobedience Movement that was launched in the Congress Session of December 1929. . The aim of this movement was a complete disobedience of the orders of the British Government. During this movement it was decided that India would celebrate 26th January as Independence Day all over the country. On 26th January 1930, meetings were held all over the country and the Congress tricolour was hoisted. The British Government tried to repress the movement and resorted to brutal firing, killing hundreds of people. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. But the movement spread to all the four corners of the country Following this, Round Table Conferences were arranged by the British and Gandhiji attended the second Round Table Conference at London. But nothing came out of the conference and the Civil Disobedience Movement was revived.
During this time, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were arrested on the charges of throwing a bomb in the Central Assembly Hall (which is now Lok Sabha). And were hanged to death on March 23, 1931

Quit India Movement
In August 1942, Gandhiji started the Quit India Movement and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement Do or Die call to force the British to leave India. The movement was followed, nonetheless, by large-scale violence directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule. There were widespread acts of sabotage, and the government held Gandhi responsible for these acts of violence, suggesting that they were a deliberate act of Congress policy. However, all the prominent leaders were arrested, the Congress was banned and the police and army were brought out to suppress the movement.
Meanwhile, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who stealthily ran away from the British detention in Calcutta, reached foreign lands and organized the Indian National Army (INA) to overthrow the British from India.
The Second World War broke out in September of 1939 and without consulting the Indian leaders, India was declared a warring state (on behalf of the British) by the Governor General. Subhash Chandra Bose, with the help of Japan, preceded fighting the British forces and not only freed Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the Britishers but also entered the north-eastern border of India. But in 1945 Japan was defeated and Netaji proceeded from Japan through an aeroplane to a place of safety but met with an accident and it was given out that he died in that air-crash itself.
"Give me blood and I shall give you freedom" - was one of the most popular statements made by him, where he urges the people of India to join him in his freedom movement.

Partition of India
At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Labour Party, under Prime Minister Clement Richard Attlee, came to power in Britain. The Labour Party was largely sympathetic towards Indian people for freedom. A Cabinet Mission was sent to India in March 1946, which after a careful study of the Indian political scenario, proposed the formation of an interim Government and convening of a Constituent Assembly comprising members elected by the provincial legislatures and nominees of the Indian states. An interim Government was formed headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, the Muslim League refused to participate in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly and pressed for the separate state for Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, presented a plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan, and the Indian leaders had no choice but to accept the division, as the Muslim League was adamant.
Thus, India became free at the stroke of midnight, on August 14, 1947. (Since then, every year India celebrates its Independence Day on 15th August). Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minster of free India and continued his term till 1964. Giving voice to the sentiments of the nation, Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said,
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."
Earlier, a Constituent Assembly was formed in July 1946, to frame the Constitution of India and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its President. The Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November 1949. On January 26, 1950, the Constitution was came into force and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected the first President of India.
Lifestyle, Values & Beliefs

India is a diverse country, a fact that is visibly prominent in its people, culture and climate. From the eternal snows of the Himalayas to the cultivated peninsula of far South, from the deserts of the West to the humid deltas of the East, from the dry heat and cold of the Central Plateau to the cool forest foothills, Indian lifestyles clearly glorify the geography.
The food, clothing and habits of an Indian differ in accordance to the place of origin.

Culture
The Indian culture varies like its vast geography. People speak in different languages, dress differently, follow different religions, eat different food but are of the same temperament. So whether it is a joyous occasion or a moment of grief, people participate whole-heartedly, feeling the happiness or pain. A festival or a celebration is never constrained to a family or a home. The whole community or neighborhood is involved in bringing liveliness to an occasion. Likewise, an Indian wedding is a celebration of union, not only of the bride and groom, but also of two families, maybe cultures or religion too! Similarly, in times of sorrow, neighbours and friends play an important part in easing out the grief.


Science

The global image of India is that of an upcoming and progressive nation. True, India has leaped many boundaries in all sectors- commerce, technology and development etc in the recent past, yet she has not neglected her other creative genius. Wondering what it is? Well, it the alternative science that has been continuously practiced in India since times immemorial. Ayurveda, is a distinct form of medicine made purely of herbs and natural weeds, that can cure any ailment of the world. Ayurveda has also been mentioned in the Ancient Indian epics like Ramayana. Even today, when the western concept of medicine has reached its zenith, there are people looking for alternative methods of treatment for its multifarious qualities.

With increasing complexities in one's lives these days, people are perpetually looking for a medium through which they get some peace of mind. This is where another science, that of meditation and spirituality comes into the scene. Meditation and Yoga are synonymous with India and Indian spirituality. Meditation is one of the most important components of Yoga, which is a mind-body therapy involving a series of exercises. The word meditation' covers many disparate practices from visualizing situations, focusing on objects or images, thinking through a complex idea, or even getting lost in a provocative book, all qualifying as meditation in the broad sense. However in Yoga, meditation generally refers to the more formal practice of focusing the mind and observing oneself in the moment. Many people from India and abroad are resorting to yoga and meditation to de-stress and rejuvenate their mind.
Another widely followed phenomena in India is the Doctrine of Karma that preaches that every person should behave justly as every act or deed comes back in full circle in one of the births of an individual.

A very important aspect of India in the recent past is the emergence of the New Age woman. Women in India are predominantly homemakers, though this perspective is changing. In many places, especially metros and other cities, women are the bread earners of the house or are at par with their male counterparts. The increase in the cost of living/economy has also contributed to the rise in this aspect.
The beauty of the Indian people lies in their spirit of tolerance, give-and-take and a composition of cultures that can be compared to a garden of flowers of various colours and shades of which, while maintaining their own entity, lend harmony and beauty to the garden - India!


Ethnicity of India
With a population of more than 1,027 million as accounted by the March 1, 2001 population census, India is a colourful canvas portraying a unique assimilation of ethnic groups displaying varied cultures and religions. In fact, this uniqueness in the ethnicity of the country is the factor that makes it different from other nations. Moreover, the vastness of India's nationalism, accounting to a plethora of cultural extravaganza, religions, etc. is the reason that the country is seen more as a seat for a major world civilization than a mere nation-state.
Since ancient times, the spiritual land of India has displayed varied hues of culture, religion, race, language, and so on. This variety in race, culture, religion, etc. accounts for the existence of different ethnic groups who, although, live within the sanctums of one single nation, profess different social habits and characteristics. Regional territories in India play an important role in differentiating these ethnic groups, with their own social and cultural identities. The religions that are prevalent in the country are Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism, with the freedom for citizens to practice any religion they want to. With the governance of 35 different states and union territories in the country, there has originated a sense of regionalism amongst the various parts, with different states displaying different cultures, which although eventually fuse through a common bond to showcase a national cultural identity. The Constitution of India has recognised 22 different languages that are prevalent in the country, out of which, Hindi is the official language and is spoken in most of the urban cities of India. Other than these 22 languages, there are hundreds of dialects that add to the multilingual nature of the country.


FESTIVALS
India is a land of festivals and fairs. Virtually celebrating each day of the year, there are more festivals celebrated in India than anywhere else in the world. Each festival pertains to different occasions, some welcome the seasons of the year, the harvest, the rains, or the full moon. Others celebrate religious occasions, the birthdays of divine beings and saints, or the advent of the New Year. A number of these festivals are common to most parts of India. However, they may be called by different names in various parts of the country or may be celebrated in a different fashion


Literature
The Indian literary tradition is the oldest in the world. It is primarily one of verse and essentially oral. The earliest works were composed to be sung or recited, and were so transmitted for many generations before being written down.
Sanskrit Literature
India has 22 officially recognised languages, and a huge variety of literature has been produced in these languages over the years. Hindu literary traditions dominate a large part of Indian culture. Apart from the Vedas, which are a sacred form of knowledge, there are other works such as the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, treatises such as Vaastu Shastra in architecture and town planning, and Arthashastra in political science. The most famous works in Sanskrit are the Hindu holy texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, and Manusmriti. Another popular literature, Tamil literature has a rich literary tradition spanning over 2000 years, and is particularly known for its poetic nature in the form of epics, and philosophical and secular works.
Other great literary works, which marked the golden era of Indian literature, include Abhijanam Shakuntalam and Meghdoot by Kalidasa, Mricchakatika by Shudraka, Svapna Vasavadattam by Bhaasa, and Ratnavali by Sri Harsha. Some other famous works are Chanakya's Arthashastra and Vatsyayana's Kamasutra.
The most famous works of the Indian literature can be traced in the vernacular languages of the northern Indian cults of Krishna and of Rama. Also included are the 12th-century poems by Jaydev, called the 'Gitagovinda' and religious love poems written in Maithili (eastern Hindi of Bihar). Literature was also produced in the form of Bhakti (a personal devotion to a god) addressed to Rama (an avatar of Vishnu), most notably in the Avadhi (eastern Hindi) works of Tulsi Das; his Ramcharitmanas. The early gurus or founders of the Sikh religion, especially Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Arjun Dev, also composed bhakti hymns to their concepts of deity.
In the 16th century, the Rajasthani princess and poet Mira Bai addressed her bhakti lyric verse to Krishna, as did the Gujarati poet Narsimh Mehta.


Hindi Literature
Hindi literature started as religious and philosophical poetry in medieval periods in dialects like Avadhi and Brij. The most famous figures from this period are Kabir and Tulsidas. In modern times, the Khadi dialect became more prominent and a variety of literature was produced in Sanskrit.

Chandrakanta, written by Devaki Nandan Khatri, is considered to be the first work of prose in Hindi. Munshi Premchand was the most famous Hindi novelist. The other famous poets include Maithili Sharan Gupt, Jaishankar Prasad, Sumitranandan Pant, Mahadevi Varma, and Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'.

In the British era, a literary revolution occurred with the influence of Western thought and the introduction of printing press. Purposeful works were being written to support the cause of freedom struggle and to remove the existing social evils. Ram Mohan Roy's campaign for introduction of scientific education in India and Swami Vivekananda's works are considered to be great examples of the English literature in India.

During the last 150 years, many writers have contributed to the development of modern Indian literature, written in a number of regional languages as well as in English. One of the greatest Bengali writers, Rabindranath Tagore became the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for literature (Gitanjali) in 1913.


English Literature
Several other writers also became famous in the modern period of India, such as Mulk Raj Anand, who wrote famous novels like Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936), R. K. Narayan, who wrote novels and tales of village in southern India like Swami and Friends. Among the younger authors is Anita Desai, who wrote famous novels like Clear Light of Day (1980) and In Custody.
The other well-known novelist/ writers are Dom Moraes, Nlissim E Zekiel, P. Lal, A.K. Ramanujan, Kamala Das, Arun Kolatkar and R. Parthasarathy, Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo, Raja Rao, G.V. Desani, M. Ananthanarayanan, Bhadani Bhattacharya, Monohar Malgonkar, Arun Joshi, Kamala Markandaya, Khushwant Singh, Nayantara Sahgal, O.V. Vijayan, Salman Rushdie, K.R. Sreenivasan Iyengar, C.D. Narasimhaiah and M.K. Naik.
Among the latest are Vikram Seth (A Suitable Boy), Allan Sealy (The Trotter-Nama), Sashi Tharoor (Show Business), Amitav Ghosh (Circle of Reason, Shadow Lines), Upamanyu Chatterjee (English August) and Vikram Chandra (Red Earth and Pouring Rain).
In the recent past, a whole new genre has started with the popular writings of women authors like Arundhati Roy, Booker Prize Winner for God of Small Things, Jhumpa Lahiri, 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner in Fiction, Shobha De, etc.


FOLK & TRIBAL ARTS
India had always been known as the land that portrayed cultural and traditional vibrancy through its conventional arts and crafts. The 35 states and union territories sprawled across the country have their own distinct cultural and traditional identities, and are displayed through various forms of art prevalent there. Every region in India has its own style and pattern of art, which is known as folk art. Other than folk art, there is yet another form of traditional art practiced by several tribes or rural population, which is classified as tribal art. The folk and tribal arts of India are very ethnic and simple, and yet colorful and vibrant enough to speak volumes about the country's rich heritage.
Folk art in India apparently has a great potential in the international market because of its traditional aesthetic sensibility and authenticity. The rural folk paintings of India bear distinctive colorful designs, which are treated with religious and mystical motifs. Some of the most famous folk paintings of India are the Madhubani paintings of Bihar, Patachitra paintings from the state of Orissa, the Nirmal paintings of Andhra Pradesh, and other such folk art forms. Folk art is however not restricted only to paintings, but also stretches to other art forms such as pottery, home decorations, ornaments, cloths-making, and so on. In fact, the potteries of some of the regions of India are quite popular among foreign tourists because of their ethnic and traditional beauty. Moreover, the regional dances of India, such as the Bhangra dance of punjab, the Dandiya of Gujarat, the Bihu dance of Assam, etc, which project the cultural heritage of those regions, are prominent contenders in the field of Indian folk art. These folk dances are performed by people to express their exhilaration on every possible event or occasion, such as the arrival of seasons, the birth of a child, weddings, festivals, etc. The government of India, as well as other societies and associations, have therefore made all efforts to promote such art forms, which have become an intrinsic part of India's cultural identity.
Tribal art, like folk art, has also progressed considerably due to the constant developmental efforts of the Indian government and other organizations. Tribal art generally reflects the creative energy found in rural areas that acts as an undercurrent to the craftsmanship of the tribal people. Tribal art ranges through a wide range of art forms, such as wall paintings, tribal dances, tribal music, and so on.


Visual Arts - Paintings & Sculptures
Paintings
Indias heritage of painting dates back to the primitive era when man used to live in caves and rock shelters. Painting was initially started so that they could converse with each other by drawing graphics or images. Gradually it took the shape of art, which is evident from the caves in Hoshangabad, Mirazapur and Bimbekta.


Murals
The traditional Mural paintings are found in the Ajanta caves in modern Maharashtra. The inspiration behind this style of painting is the compassionate Buddha. Jataka tales pertaining to Buddhist mythology forms the theme of these paintings. Anonymous artists painted them collectively in gracefully and with sensitive colours.
The paintings found in the Indus Valley may have had extensive mural painting, for the painting on the pottery found here projects vigorous realism.


Manuscript
With the coming of the 11th century, one saw the degeneration of the murals to the size of a palm leaf strip. One saw the birth of Manuscript paintings here. Bengal and Bihar introduced the manuscript telling Buddhist stories. Manuscript paintings diversified their theme by using symbolism. Symbolism was the spirit of the Indian miniaturists' visual expressions and affiliation with nature. Symbolism beyond the primary function of lines and pigments caught their interest.

The advent of Mughals in India uprooted the stable pictorial style of Indian paintings, which was also influenced by the traditional Persian miniature art. The Mughals were more interested in building empires and thus architecture. Only the great Mughal emperor Akbar patronized art, and he gave re-birth to miniature paintings merging the Persian and Islamic styles. Generally, the artists in Akbars court painted portraits, courtly life, battle scenes and the nature. But the art received a boost, when emperor Akbar commissioned the rendition and illustration of Indian texts like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Jahangir, Akbars son also patronized art and his reign also saw art thriving in India. By this time, the artists used other products for painting like malachite, lapis lazuli, gold, silver and Peori, a yellow dye extracted from the urine of cows on mango leaves!!

The artists of the Mughal court later constituted the artisans of the Rajput princes. The Rajput paintings presented, in line and colour, the great myths and legends of the land, the story of Rama, of Krishna, of the Bhagavata and the Gita Govinda. The various styles of paintings that reigned the Rajput period are Kotah and Kishangarh painting (Radha-Krishna story). Among the painting that thrived in the hill states set up by the gallant Rajput warriors, Basohli is unique for its intensity of expression, Kulu for its closeness to the folk style and Kangra for both its romanticism and large output. However, the mythical sources of music are depicted in the Tanjore paintings of the South.


Contemporary Art
With the strengthening of the British control in India, creative Indian art suffered a setback. The English engaged Indian artists to paint landscapes in water and oil colour, resulting in loss of originality. Soon the political wave hit the country and what came about was the famous Bengal (revivalist) School. The pioneers of this school were ace painters like Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore and Nandlal Bose. They contributed a lot in re-shaping the Indian art and motivating others for the same. Abanindranath specialised in portraiture, Gaganendranath in cartoonist-critic of social and political (mis) happenings of that time and Nandlal was an expert in painting epic themes and later graduated to explore Asian art. However, nationalism witnessed some of the painters move towards folklore. Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Prize winner) gave a charter for free variations on naturalism, abstraction and expressionism. Today, India has a host of world famous painters like Jamini Roy (discovered the virility of the folk tradition and modulated it in many ways), Amrita Sher-Gill (integrated the pictorial idiom of the west and an Indian vision), Binod Mukherjee and Ram Kinkar. New genres of painters who have invaded the old space are M.F Hussain, Krishnan Khanna and Satish Gujral.


Sculpture
Architecture, sculpture, arts and crafts of India have their origin in the deepest channels in the history of civilization. Indian sculpture is primarily realistic and the human forms often have slim waists, supple limbs and a youthful or sensuous poise. Indian sculpture has grounded flora and fauna along with the innumerable deities.
The Great Baths of Mohenjodaro of Indus Valley civilization is the finest example of the ancient sculpture. The engravings in the temples of the Deccan like Kanchipuram, Madurai, Srirangam and Rameswaram and Varanasi in the North are standing examples of the excellent sculpture that thrived in India.
Not only this, the Khajuraho temples in Madhya Pradesh and Sun temple of Konark in Orissa also speak volumes of the excellent work. Even Sanchi Stupa has fabulous sculpture embellishing the surrounding balustrades and the gateways dating from the 3rd century BC. The temple at Mammallapuram, Mauryan stone sculpture in the Lion Capital in the Sarnath Museum (from where the state seal of India has been derived), architectural sculptures of Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda depict the life of Buddha are other examples.

The Hindu cave architecture reached its zenith in Elephanta Caves near Mumbai and so did the Hindu and Jain rock temples of Ellora, especially the Kailasa Temple of 8th century.

The rich evidences of the art pieces of the past suggest that Indian sculpture once ranked one of the highest in the entire world.

Cinema in India
India has one of the oldest film industries in the world. Nine decades ago, the pioneer of Indian Cinema, a man by the name of Dundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke encountered several years of persistent struggle but, the untiring devotion and determination by this great genius, culminated in the first ever film of Indian cinema, called Raja Harishchandra in 1913-a silent film with four reels with inter titles in Hindi and English.

Raja Harishchandra was a mythological film about a benevolent king who sacrificed his kingdom, wealth and family to uphold his ideals, "truth and integrity". This film was reflective of the standards of a society with strong religious roots. This was so because, technology made it possible tell stories through moving images, it was but natural that the Indian film pioneer turned to his own cultural heritage-the epics and Puranas for source material.

Alam Ara produced in 1913 was the genesis of the talkie feature films. The film's popular dialogues and introduction of songs appealed to the public immensely such that in a movie called "Indrasabha", the numbers of songs were increased to 71!! Film songs became a Pan-Indian phenomenon. This resulted in the craving to see and hear films in their regional language and thus a burgeoning of regional film industries sprouted.

Today, the Indian film industry is the biggest film industry in the world and produces around 800 films per year! A reasonably budgeted Hindi film would cost around US$ 1 million. Apart from the Hindi cinema popularly called Bollywood, there are others-Kollywood (Tamil cinema), Tollywood (Telugu cinema) and Mallywood (Malayalam cinema). The regional film industries like Tamil, Telegu, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Asamese and English reflect the cultural diversity of the Indian cinema. However, it should be noted here that the cost of making a commercial Hindi film varies from the regional films.

The post-independence period saw the Golden Era of Indian cinema, where one witnessed a shift in focus from mythological issues to melodious socials and melodramas. Films like Pather Panchali produced by Satyajit Ray in 1955, gained international recognition. Satayajit Ray emerged as one of India's best directors and was awarded an Oscar in 1995 for lifetime achievement. The 70's witnessed the dawn of parallel cinema, which promoted realistic cinema. Films like Sholay, Deewar, Amar Prem, Seeta Aur Geeta created waves in the film industry, so did parallel cinema like Ijjazat. Some famous names, who have contributed to the conceptualization and development of parallel cinema are Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Guru Dutt, Shyam Benegal, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar and others.

The 90's saw a different genre of films evolve, the film industry having completed a full circle. The mega blockbuster like "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun", followed by "Dilwale Dulanhiya Le Jayenge" crossed the biggest gross ever, proving that Indian cinema has come a full circle from the rickety iridescent images to a very classy state-of-the-art technology for creation and projection of image and sound track.

So many decades old now, Indian cinema has transcended many facets and genres of films. Bollywood has had a chain of distinct categories of films. A typical Bollywood film can be a musical (a film whose action and dialogue is interspersed with singing and dancing) or a melodrama characterized by moon-struck lovers, angry parents, fraudulent politicians, conniving villains, long lost siblings separated by fate and convenient coincidences etc.
Apart from acting skills, a requisite for all aspiring and established actors in Bollywood these days is the ability to dance. As far as songs are concerned, the professional playback singers record songs in the studio, while the actors lip-sync the words. A new fad in Bollywood is that of the actors singing at least one song in a movie themselves.

Dialogues in Indian cinema are powerful and quixotic. The dialogues in Indian cinema are primarily composed in Hindi, though frequent uses of poetic Urdu words are pretty common. Contemporary mainstream movies incorporate a lot of English.

Since 1913, from the time it was created until now, we thus observe how the film industry has grown multi-dimensionally with a inimitable blend of business, art, glamour, social interaction, legendary adjuncts, artistic expression, performing arts, folk forms and above all, a wide-ranging and abiding appeal to the heart, the mind and the conscience.



All India Radio
The Radio Broadcasting service was started on an experimental basis with the proliferation of private radio clubs in Mumbai and Kolkata in July 1927. This venture was the outcome of an agreement between the Government of India and a private company called the Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd. However, All India Radio (AIR) began operating formally in 1936, as a government organization, with clear objectives to inform, educate and entertain the masses. All India Radio is a national service planned, developed and operated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the government of India.

Post independence, AIR had a network of six stations, complimentary 18 transmitters and covered only 2.5% of the area and 11% of the population.

Today, AIR has a network of 215 broadcasting centres with 144 medium frequency (MW), 54 high frequency (SW) and 139 FM transmitters. It covers 91.42% of the area, serving 99.13% of the people in of India. AIR covers 24 Languages and 146 dialects in home services. In External services, it covers 27 languages, 17 national and 10 foreign languages.

Unlike yester years, when radio listenership/audience was confined to the urban genteel, today there are about 132 million estimated radio sets in the country. At present, there are 215 broadcasting centers, including 77 Radio Stations with 100% coverage.

The National Channel of AIR is one of the premier channels of today, and broadcasts music, entertainment programmes and News Bulletin for the country from 6:50 pm to 6:12 am in the morning. This is the only channel that operates after all the other channels have shut down. The National Channel broadcasts in various Indian languages like Hindi, English, Urdu and other regional languages, projecting the multi cultural diversity of India.

The quality of National Channel programmes has made it very popular and it has extended it wings far and wide. Its recognition can be gauged from the following table.

COVERAGE STATES
100% Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa, Puducherry, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand
50% & MORE Assam, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu
30% FM- Himachal Pradesh
All India Radio began broadcasting 'externally' in Pushtu, shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Today, the External Services Division (ESD) of All India Radio serves as an important link between India and the world. Besides projecting the Indian point of view on matters of National and International importance through its various programmes, the External Services Division also attempts to acquaint the listeners' abroad with the variegated cultural mosaic of India and its socio-economic milieu. ESD presently broadcasts in 27 languages, with a combined daily radio hours of 71 hours 30 minutes to about 100 countries.
The target areas of External Services Division span almost all the continents and include areas of East, North-East and South-East Asia, West Asia, West, North-West and East Africa, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., Europe and of course the Indian Sub-Continent.

News, music and spoken work programmes constitute the three major pillars of AIR's programme composition. Inspired by the logical approach of BBC, the News Services Division (NSD) is now a reality and seeks to make the newsroom free, fair and responsible. The NSD produces 112 bulletins in 17 languages, which is relayed from various AIR stations and the External News bulletins are broadcasted in 25 different languages.

AIR also broadcasts other news programmes. Some of them like "Spotlight" (English) and "Samayiki" (Hindi) deal with topical issues. Others such as "Current Affairs" discuss issues by experts on national and international events. "Charcha ka Vishai Hai" is a similar programme in Hindi. There are other news programmes like "Samachar Prabhat" and "Morning News". "News on Phone" and "Phone in Sewa" is two round the clock news services.

Besides the above, AIR broadcasts other programmes of quality quotient. Music includes classical, folk, light, devotional, film and western music programmes. Talks, discussions, interviews are regularly arranged to provide a forum for all shades of opinion on outstanding national and international issues. Radio drama incorporates narration, music, drama, interviews, poetry, sound effects etc. There are also special programmes that cater to the interests of the rural listeners, women and children. Besides these, Educational programmes for primary, secondary, tertiary and university levels and Enrichment programmes for teachers also constitute a major component of AIR. There is good news for the sports fans as well. One of AIR's important feature is the broadcast of programmes on Sports. All the important sports events of international, national, regional and local levels are given due coverage through running commentaries, dispatches and radio reports. Apart from two 5-minute daily news bulletins, AIR also broadcasts two half-hour sports magazine programmes.

"Yuva Vani" is another programmes for the likes of the age group 15-30 years. These programmes are in different formats such as talks, discussions, interviews, plays, features, music etc., and are produced and presented by the youth and for the youth. Other programmes for various groups, like the senior citizens and industrial workers are broadcast every week. Interactive broadcasts like the Phone-in-Programme, Radio Bridge and Voice Mail, are recent innovations in broadcasting. Voice Mail is another service facility, where people can telephone and record their requests, complaints, suggestions and appreciation, etc. 'Radio Bridge' is a programme on special occasions and is broadcast live by uplinking AIR stations through satellite.
Using the satellite facility, AIR has made provision for 20 radio channels for cable distribution. The system became operational on April 1, 1994 to enable the subscribers to receive the Sky Radio Channel on their domestic FM receivers.
Hence much as food, clothing and shelter are a part of our lives, so is the radio. Slowly and silently, the radio has crept into our lives and is here to stay.
Television - Doordarshan
Doordarshan, the Public Service Broadcaster of India, is one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world. It was started on an experimental basis on 15th September 1959 to transmit educational and developmental programmes. A major landmark came with the introduction of colour television in 1982 during the 9th Asian Games that ushered in a major revolution in broadcasting in the country. This was followed by a phase of rapid expansion of Doordarshan when, in 1984, DD installed a transmitter in the country more or less every day. With this, the reach of television increased far and wide.
As per the latest data, Doordarshan has 1314 transmitters (1188 for DD 1 + 121 for DD 2 + 5 others) with 56 studio centres and 23 satellite channels (which includes Gyandarshan).
The flagship of Doordarshan - DD 1 (National) operates through a network of 1188 transmitters of varying power, covering 77.5% of the land area and 89.6% population of India.
The primary channel of Doordarshan (DD-I) has 3 major components of programmes that consist - information, education and entertainment. The information component consists of News and Current Affairs. The education component is drawn from the contributions from IGNOU, UGC, CIET, and SIET etc.
Question Hour in Parliament is telecast live on the National channel. Specific window is earmarked for programmes in regional languages between 2:30 PM and 8.00 PM on all weekdays. The entertainment programmes mainly consists of mid-day daily soaps between 12:00 to 2:00 pm and again between 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. This includes feature films on Friday and Saturday and regional Award winning films on Sunday.
Doordarshan has made a significant contribution to accelerate socio-economic change, promote national integration and stimulate scientific temper. Being a Public Service Broadcaster, it strives to carry messages in its programmes on means of population control and family welfare, agricultural information and knowledge, preservation of environment and ecological balance, highlighting the need for social welfare measures for women, children and the less privileged. It also promotes games and sports, and the artistic and cultural heritage of the country.
Till about the end of 1980s, private television channels were not allowed to venture into Indian market. With the opening up of Indian economy in the 1990s, private television channels were allowed to setup their network. This brought a revolution in the Indian media industry and today more than a 100 private television channels are available in the country.
Indian - Theatre
The history of the origin of Indian theatre goes way back to the mythological age, when the need to free humanity from the clutches of corruption and power led to the creation of a source of entertainment by the universal creator Brahma. Brahma created “Natya Shashtra or the art of drama, and enlightened the sage Bharata with its nuances, who later taught the art form to his disciples, thereby spreading it throughout the world. Thus came into existence one of the oldest forms of performing art, which prevailed throughout numerous stages to enrapture the minds of onlookers who ever beheld any dramatic performance.
Indian theatre speaks a lot about the cultures and traditions of India, the colours of its festivities, and the vibrancy of the people. Theatrical performances in India started off in a narrative style, which included much narrations, songs, and dances. It is because of the compilation of all these art forms that theatre has prevailed over all other forms of performing and creative art. Indian theatre, as Brahma himself had endowed it upon the world, had been a constant journey of dedications and tributes to the Gods during the initial days, later developing to a subtler form of dramatics called contemporary theatre.
Indian theatre has roughly been classified into three prominent stages of development the classical period, the traditional period, and the modern period. These stages have determined the events and developments, which have given shape to the face of the Indian theatre that is prevalent today.


Classical period :
This period witnessed the concentration of drama around the act of writing of plays, and the techniques of presenting stage acts or plays. It was also during this period that Indian theatre saw the creation of masterpieces by playwrights such as Kalidasa, Patanjali, Bhasa, and Sudraka, who have contributed immensely to the glory of Sanskrit drama. The playwrights created their plots, mostly based on stories they garnered from epics, folklore, history, legends, etc. This made the plays easily comprehensible to the audiences who attended the shows to see the creative presentation of the stories that they were already familiar with. The actors were therefore required to be skilled enough in the art form to enthrall the audiences with such plays.

Traditional period :
Drama during the traditional period was mostly based on the traditional or oral method of representation. Folklore that had been passed on through generations was the epicenter of theatrical conventions, as diversification in linguistic order proved to be a hindrance for writing of plays. It was during this period that drama developed at various places in India in various languages. People started improvising dramatic art with their own rendition of traditional presentations. The mediums of dramatic presentation, such as songs, dances, narrations, etc, remained the same as in the classical period, thus leading to the unfolding of popular traditional acts like Ramlila, Rasleela, Nautankis, and so on.

Modern period :
The modern period saw the intermingling of the Indian theatre with the Western theatre during the British rule, and the development of a form of theatre that was based on a realistic or naturalistic presentation. The modern theatre started concentrating more on practical issues, thereby portraying the more naturalistic elements of life.
theatre in India went through a sea change in collaboration with various improvisations and developments spanning the three periods, and gradually gave way to the evolution of the contemporary theatre of the present times. Various national societies and academies have now come to the fore to promote theatre in India, which can now boast of world-renowned artistes who have been honored with numerous awards and respects in the international circuit.