155-624: The Republic of India has two principal official short names, each of which is historically significant: India and Bharat . A third name, Hindustan , is also used commonly when Indians speak among themselves. The usage of "Bhārat", " Hindustān ", or "India" depends on the context and language of conversation. The name "India" is originally derived from the name of the river Sindhu ( Indus River ) and has been in use in Greek since Herodotus (5th century BCE). The term appeared in Old English by
310-619: A "Look East" policy that seeks to strengthen partnerships with the ASEAN nations, Japan , and South Korea that revolve around many issues, but especially those involving economic investment and regional security. China's nuclear test of 1964 , as well as its repeated threats to intervene in support of Pakistan in the 1965 war, convinced India to develop nuclear weapons. India conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out additional underground testing in 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has signed neither
465-519: A 1988 coup d'état attempt in the Maldives. After the 1965 war with Pakistan, India began to pursue close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union ; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier. Aside from its ongoing special relationship with Russia , India has wide-ranging defence relations with Israel and France . In recent years, it has played key roles in
620-722: A multi-party system , India has six recognised national parties , including the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 50 regional parties . The Congress is considered center in Indian political culture , and the BJP right-wing . For most of the period between 1950—when India first became a republic—and the late 1980s, the Congress held
775-427: A comparatively destitute country in 1951, India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services , with an expanding middle class. India has a space programme with several planned or completed extraterrestrial missions . Indian movies , music , and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture. India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty , though at
930-461: A custom among them not to kill or attack [others]. From west of the states Yuezhi and Gaofu, and south until the Western Sea, and east until the state of Panqi, all is the territory of Shendu. Shendu has several hundred separate towns, with a governor, and separate states which can be numbered in the tens, each with its own king. Although there are small differences among them, they all come under
1085-537: A geographical sense is in the Hathigumpha inscription of King Kharavela (first century BCE), where it applies only to a restrained area of northern India, namely the part of the Ganges west of Magadha . The inscription clearly mentions Bharat was named after Bharata, the son of first Jain tirthankar Rishabhanatha . In middle Persian , probably from the first century CE, the suffix -stān ( Persian : ستان )
1240-796: A long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India. In the Punjab , Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion. The Mughal Empire , in 1526, ushered in two centuries of relative peace, leaving a legacy of luminous architecture . Gradually expanding rule of the British East India Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy but also consolidating its sovereignty . British Crown rule began in 1858. The rights promised to Indians were granted slowly, but technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and public life took root. A pioneering and influential nationalist movement emerged, which
1395-674: A majority in the Parliament . Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP, as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalition governments at the center. In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951 , 1957 , and 1962 , the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru -led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister; he
1550-661: A new past form ( dared ), distinct from the modal durst . The perfect of the verbs had not yet been standardised to use only the auxiliary verb "to have". Some took as their auxiliary verb "to be", such as this example from the King James Version : "But which of you... will say unto him... when he is come from the field, Go and sit down..." [Luke XVII:7]. The rules for the auxiliaries for different verbs were similar to those that are still observed in German and French (see unaccusative verb ). The modern syntax used for
1705-546: A new period of internal peace and relative stability, which encouraged the arts including literature. Modern English can be taken to have emerged fully by the beginning of the Georgian era in 1714, but English orthography remained somewhat fluid until the publication of Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language , in 1755. The towering importance of William Shakespeare over the other Elizabethan authors
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#17327761770701860-503: A phoneme that became modern / ɜːr / . By the time of Shakespeare, the spellings ⟨er⟩ , ⟨ear⟩ and perhaps ⟨or⟩ when they had a short vowel, as in clerk , earth , or divert , had an a -like quality, perhaps about [ɐɹ] or [äɹ] . With the spelling ⟨or⟩ , the sound may have been backed, more toward [ɒɹ] in words like worth and word . In some pronunciations, words like fair and fear , with
2015-685: A quarter of a million local government bodies at city, town, block, district and village levels. In the 1950s, India strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia and played a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement . After initially cordial relations with neighbouring China, India went to war with China in 1962 and was widely thought to have been humiliated. This was followed by another military conflict in 1967 in which India successfully repelled Chinese attack. India has had tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan;
2170-476: A term for the Moon , is unrelated, but has sometimes been erroneously connected. The land situated in the east from river Indus is called Indies. In this way Indies is fully interchangeable to India. West Indies was named after India which means India in the western hemisphere. Indonesia 's former name is Dutch East Indies which means India in southeast Asia. East Indies is a former Dutch colony . Bharat
2325-431: A third of Indian plant species are endemic. India also contains four of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots , or regions that display significant habitat loss in the presence of high endemism. According to official statistics, India's forest cover is 713,789 km (275,595 sq mi), which is 21.71% of the country's total land area. It can be subdivided further into broad categories of canopy density , or
2480-543: A vowel or an h , as in mine eyes or thine hand . During the Early Modern period, the verb inflections became simplified as they evolved towards their modern forms: The modal auxiliaries cemented their distinctive syntactical characteristics during the Early Modern period. Thus, the use of modals without an infinitive became rare (as in "I must to Coventry"; "I'll none of that"). The use of modals' present participles to indicate aspect (as in "Maeyinge suffer no more
2635-653: A young and rapidly growing working-age population; growth in the manufacturing sector because of rising education and engineering skill levels; and sustained growth of the consumer market driven by a rapidly growing middle-class. The World Bank cautions that, for India to achieve its economic potential, it must continue to focus on public sector reform, transport infrastructure , agricultural and rural development, removal of labour regulations, education , energy security , and public health and nutrition. Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModE or EMnE ) or Early New English ( ENE )
2790-528: Is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India—the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic. Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the union and the states . The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950, originally stated India to be a " sovereign , democratic republic ;" this characterisation
2945-697: Is a country in South Asia . It is the seventh-largest country in the world by area and the most populous country . Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China , Nepal , and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India
3100-611: Is another name of India, as set down in Article 1 of the Constitution, adopted in 1950, which states in English: "India, that is Bharat,..." Bharat, which was predominantly used in Hindi, was adopted as a self-ascribed alternative name by some people of the Indian subcontinent and the Republic of India. Bharat is derived from the name of the Vedic community Bharatas , who are mentioned in
3255-699: Is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity. When Harsha of Kannauj , who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE , attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan. When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal . When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by
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#17327761770703410-688: Is engaged in search for knowledge". Barato , the Esperanto name for India, is also a derivation of Bhārata . This realm of Bharat, which has been referred to as Bhāratavarṣa in puranas - after Bharata , the son of Rishabha . He is described to be a Kshatriya born in the Solar dynasty . This has been mentioned in Vishnu Purana (2,1,31), Vayu Puran (33,52), Linga Purana (1,47,23), Brahmanda Purana (14,5,62), Agni Purana (107,11–12), Skand Purana (37,57) and Markanday Purana (50,41), all using
3565-470: Is expected to remain so in the near future. According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers ( PwC ) report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045. During the next four decades, Indian GDP is expected to grow at an annualised average of 8%, making it potentially the world's fastest-growing major economy until 2050. The report highlights key growth factors:
3720-516: Is from Greek Indikē (cf. Megasthenes' work Indica ) or Indía ( Ἰνδία ), via Latin transliteration India . The name derives ultimately from Sanskrit Sindhu , which was the name of the Indus River as well as the lower Indus basin (modern Sindh , in Pakistan). The Old Persian equivalent of Síndhu was Hindu . Darius I conquered Sindh in about 516 BCE, upon which
3875-562: Is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives ; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand , Myanmar, and Indonesia . Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity . Settled life emerged on
4030-624: Is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period, as well as by nearby traces of agriculture , irrigation tanks , and craft traditions. In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas . The emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during
4185-645: Is recognisably similar to that of today , but spelling was unstable. Early Modern and Modern English both retain various orthographical conventions that predate the Great Vowel Shift . Early Modern English spelling was broadly similar to that encountered in Middle English . Some of the changes that occurred were based on etymology (as with the silent ⟨b⟩ that was added to words like debt , doubt and subtle ). Many spellings had still not been standardised. For example, he
4340-599: Is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, in protected habitats . According to the Oxford English Dictionary (third edition 2009), the name "India" is derived from the Classical Latin India , a reference to South Asia and an uncertain region to its east. In turn the name "India" derived successively from Hellenistic Greek India ( Ἰνδία ), ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός ), Old Persian Hindush (an eastern province of
4495-752: Is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration , or from the transition from Middle English , in the late 15th century, to the transition to Modern English , in the mid-to-late 17th century. Before and after the accession of James I to the English throne in 1603, the emerging English standard began to influence the spoken and written Middle Scots of Scotland. The grammatical and orthographical conventions of literary English in
4650-548: Is used by Lucian (2nd century CE). India was known in Old English language and was used in King Alfred 's translation of Paulus Orosius . In Middle English , the name was, under French influence, replaced by Ynde or Inde , which entered Early Modern English as " Indie ". The name "India" then came back to English usage from the 17th century onward, and may be due to the influence of Latin, or Spanish or Portuguese. Sanskrit indu "drop (of Soma )", also
4805-673: The Mahabharat (200 BCE to 300 CE), a larger region of North India is encompassed by the term Bharat, but much of the Deccan and South India are still excluded. Some other Puranic passages refer to the same Bhārata people, who are described as the descendants of Dushyanta 's son Bharata in the Mahabharata . The use of Bharat often has political overtones, appealing to a certain cultural conception of India. In 2023, President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi used
Names for India - Misplaced Pages Continue
4960-400: The annus mirabilis (year of wonders), and in prose lasts until 1688. With the increasing tensions over succession and the corresponding rise in journalism and periodicals, or until possibly 1700, when those periodicals grew more stabilised. The 17th-century port towns and their forms of speech gained influence over the old county towns . From around the 1690s onwards, England experienced
5115-663: The Achaemenid Empire ), and ultimately its cognate , the Sanskrit Sindhu , or "river", specifically the Indus River and, by implication, its well-settled southern basin. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi ( Ἰνδοί ), which translates as "The people of the Indus". The term Bharat ( Bhārat ; pronounced [ˈbʱaːɾət] ), mentioned in both Indian epic poetry and
5270-573: The Arabian Sea . Coastal features include the marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of eastern India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh. India has two archipelagos : the Lakshadweep , coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea . Indian climate is strongly influenced by
5425-506: The Asiatic cheetah ; the blackbuck, no longer extant in Punjab, is now severely endangered in India, and the cheetah is extinct. The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response, the system of national parks and protected areas , first established in 1935, was expanded substantially. In 1972, India enacted
5580-615: The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , considering both to be flawed and discriminatory. India maintains a " no first use " nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its " Minimum Credible Deterrence " doctrine. It is developing a ballistic missile defence shield and, a fifth-generation fighter jet . Other indigenous military projects involve
5735-475: The Constitution of India , is used in its variations by many Indian languages . A modern rendering of the historical name Bharatavarsha , which applied originally to North India , Bharat gained increased currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India. Hindustan ( [ɦɪndʊˈstaːn] ) is a Middle Persian name for India that became popular by the 13th century, and
5890-634: The Ganges and the Brahmaputra . According to some current projections, the number and severity of droughts in India will have markedly increased by the end of the present century. India is a megadiverse country , a term employed for 17 countries that display high biological diversity and contain many species exclusively indigenous , or endemic , to them. India is the habitat for 8.6% of all mammals , 13.7% of bird species, 7.9% of reptile species, 6% of amphibian species, 12.2% of fish species, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species. Fully
6045-502: The Great Vowel Shift ; see the related chart. The difference between the transcription of the EME diphthong offsets with ⟨ j w ⟩, as opposed to the usual modern English transcription with ⟨ ɪ̯ ʊ̯ ⟩ is not meaningful in any way. The precise EME realizations are not known, and they vary even in modern English. The r sound (the phoneme / r / ) was probably always pronounced with following vowel sounds (more in
6200-636: The Hebrew and Ancient Greek distinction between second person singular ("thou") and plural ("ye"). It was not to denote reverence (in the King James Version , God addresses individual people and even Satan as "thou") but only to denote the singular. Over the centuries, however, the very fact that "thou" was dropping out of normal use gave it a special aura and so it gradually and ironically came to be used to express reverence in hymns and in prayers. Like other personal pronouns, thou and ye have different forms dependent on their grammatical case ; specifically,
6355-586: The Himalayas . Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast crescent-shaped trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain . The original Indian plate makes its first appearance above the sediment in the ancient Aravalli range , which extends from the Delhi Ridge in a southwesterly direction. To the west lies
Names for India - Misplaced Pages Continue
6510-568: The Hou Hanshu compiled by Fan Ye (398–445): The state of Tianzhu: Also named Shendu, it lies several thousand li southeast of Yuezhi . Its customs are the same as those of Yuezhi, and it is low, damp, and very hot. It borders a large river. The inhabitants ride on elephants in warfare; they are weaker than the Yuezhi. They practise the way of Futu (the Buddha ), [and therefore] it has become
6665-548: The Indian Rebellion of 1857 . Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule. Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and
6820-643: The Indian subcontinent . Other forms include Juāndú ( 身毒 ), which appears in Sima Qian's Shiji . Another is Tiāndǔ ( 天篤 ), which is used in the Hou Hanshu (Book of the Later Han). Yìntèjiā or Indəkka ( 印特伽 ) comes from the Kuchean Indaka , another transliteration of Hindu . A detailed account of Tianzhu is given in the "Xiyu Zhuan" (Record of the Western Regions) in
6975-440: The Indus River , via Old Persian Hiñd°u . It is thus cognate with the term India. Some historical definitions prior to 1500 are presented below. वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।" i.e. "The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam; there dwell the descendants of Bharat." वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।" i.e. "The country (varṣam) that lies north of
7130-613: The Indus Valley Civilisation , the first urban culture in South Asia, which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India. Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro , Harappa , Dholavira , and Kalibangan , and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade. During the period 2000–500 BCE , many regions of
7285-589: The Insular India . The derivative Jambu Dwipa was the historical term for India in many Southeast Asian countries before the introduction of the English word "India". This alternate name is still used occasionally in Thailand, Malaysia, Java and Bali to describe the Indian Subcontinent. However, it also can refer to the whole continent of Asia. Both Gyagar ("White expanse", analogous to
7440-668: The Pallavas from farther south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and the Cholas from still farther south. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region. During this time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy, were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling classes. The caste system consequently began to show regional differences. In
7595-591: The Rigveda as one of the original community of the Āryāvarta and notably participating in the Battle of the Ten Kings . The designation Bharat appears in the official Sanskrit name of the country, Bhārat Gaṇarājya . The name is derived from the ancient Hindu Puranas , which refer to the land that comprises India as Bhāratavarṣa and uses this term to distinguish it from other varṣa s or continents. For example,
7750-406: The South Asia Satellite , a gift from India to its neighbouring SAARC countries. In October 2018, India signed a US$ 5.43 billion (over ₹ 400 billion) agreement with Russia to procure four S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia's most advanced long-range missile defence system. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2024
7905-406: The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the World Trade Organization . The nation has provided 100,000 military and police personnel to serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. It participates in the East Asia Summit , the G8+5 , and other multilateral forums. India has close economic ties with countries in South America , Asia, and Africa; it pursues
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#17327761770708060-406: The Thar Desert , the eastern spread of which is checked by the Aravallis. The remaining Indian Plate survives as peninsular India , the oldest and geologically most stable part of India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in
8215-424: The United Kingdom , and Canada . The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.45 million active troops, they compose the world's second-largest military . It comprises the Indian Army , the Indian Navy , the Indian Air Force , and the Indian Coast Guard . The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$ 36.03 billion, or 1.83% of GDP. Defence expenditure
8370-465: The Vayu Purana says " he who conquers the whole of Bhāratavarṣa is celebrated as a samrāṭa (Vayu Puran 45, 86)." The Sanskrit word Bhārata is a vrddhi derivation of Bharata , which was originally an epithet of Agni . The term is a verbal noun of the Sanskrit root bhr-, "to bear/to carry", with a literal meaning of to be maintained (of fire ). The root bhr is cognate with the English verb to bear and Latin ferō . This term also means "one who
8525-437: The Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988. India hosts more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and eighteen biosphere reserves , four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves ; seventy-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention . A parliamentary republic with
8680-441: The direct administration of India by the British government. Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest. In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885. The rush of technology and
8835-520: The progressive aspect ("I am walking") became dominant by the end of the Early Modern period, but other forms were also common such as the prefix a- ("I am a-walking") and the infinitive paired with "do" ("I do walk"). Moreover, the to be + - ing verb form could be used to express a passive meaning without any additional markers: "The house is building" could mean "The house is being built". A number of words that are still in common use in Modern English have undergone semantic narrowing . The use of
8990-405: The temperate coniferous forest of the Himalayas , the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India, and the dry deciduous teak forest of central and southern India. Open forest , whose canopy density is between 10% and 40%, occupies 9.26% of India's land area. India has two natural zones of thorn forest , one in the Deccan Plateau , immediately east of the Western Ghats, and the other in
9145-439: The " Gyagar: The Kingdom of Buddhist Doctrine ", " Gyagar: The Kingdom of Aru Medicine " ( ayurveda ), " Gyagar: The Kingdom of Pearls " and " Gyagar: The Kingdom of Golden Vases ". The Central Tibetan Administration , often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, asserts "Tibet is inextricably linked to India through geography, history, culture, and spiritually, Tibetans refer to India as ‘Gyagar Phagpay Yul’ or ‘India
9300-400: The 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206. The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for
9455-474: The 11th century in Islamic literature and became the common name for the northern Indian subcontinent in Indian languages, though it has been in Persian usage since at least the 3rd century CE while its earlier form "Hindush" was used as early as 6th century BCE. The term 'Hindu' was the Old Persian adaption of "Sindhu". "Hindustan" is still commonly used in the subcontinent to refer to the modern day Republic of India by Hindustani speakers. The English term
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#17327761770709610-403: The 11th-century Tarikh Al-Hind ('History of India'). It occurs intermittently in usage within India, such as in the phrase Jai Hind ( Hindi : जय हिन्द ) or in Hind Mahāsāgar ( हिन्द महासागर ), the Standard Hindi name for the Indian Ocean . Both the names were current in Persian and Arabic , and from that into northern Indian languages, from the 11th century Islamic conquests :
9765-526: The 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion, resulting in greater patronage of painting , literary forms, textiles, and architecture . Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas , the Rajputs , and the Sikhs , gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience. Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along
9920-427: The 17th century. In the 19th century, the term as used in English referred to the Subcontinent. "Hindustan" was in use simultaneously with "India" during the British era . Jambudvīpa ( Sanskrit : जम्बुद्वीप , romanized : Jambu-dvīpa , lit. 'berry island') was used in ancient scriptures as a name of India before the term Bhārat became widespread. It might be an indirect reference to
10075-653: The 1820s. India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period. By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and having effectively been made an arm of British administration, the East India Company began more consciously to enter non-economic arenas, including education, social reform, and culture. Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of
10230-596: The 1980s and the collaboration with Soviet Union for technical know-how, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing economies , and increased its geopolitical clout. Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban; by religious and caste-related violence ; by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies ; and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India . It has unresolved territorial disputes with China and with Pakistan . India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among
10385-473: The 3rd century BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Maurya Empire . The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent except the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas. The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka 's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of
10540-633: The 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created a complex system of administration and taxation in the greater Ganges Plain; this system became a model for later Indian kingdoms. Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than the management of ritual, began to assert itself. This renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture , which found patrons among an urban elite. Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian science , astronomy , medicine , and mathematics made significant advances. The Indian early medieval age, from 600 to 1200 CE ,
10695-493: The 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language. They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent . Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well. Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation. By
10850-521: The 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in Southeast Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar , Thailand , Laos , Brunei , Cambodia , Vietnam , Philippines , Malaysia , and Indonesia . Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; Southeast Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages. After
11005-428: The 9th century and reemerged in Modern English in the 17th century. "Bhārat" gained popularity in India during the nineteenth century. It is the shortened form of the term "Bhāratavarṣa" which is extensively used in the literature of the native religions . "Bhāratavarṣa" is derived from the name of the Vedic tribe of Bharatas who are mentioned in the Rigveda as one of the principal peoples of Aryavarta (Land of
11160-433: The Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains. According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coastline consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and 46% mudflats or marshy shores. Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra , both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal . Important tributaries of
11315-686: The Aryans). At first the name Bhāratavarṣa referred only to the western part of the Gangetic Valley , but was later more broadly applied to the Indian subcontinent . In 1949, it was adopted as an official name for the Republic of India by the Constituent Assembly along with "India". "Hindustān" is another common name for the Republic of India and is also derived from the name of the river Sindhu. It gained popularity in India in
11470-528: The BJP became the first political party since 1984 to win a majority and govern without the support of other parties. In the 2019 general election , the BJP was victorious again with majority. In the 2024 general election , the BJP failed to achieve majority and the BJP-led NDA coalition formed the government . Narendra Modi , a former chief minister of Gujarat , is serving as the 14th Prime Minister of India in his third term since May 26, 2014. India
11625-646: The BJP was able to form a successful coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee , the NDA became the first non-Congress, coalition government to complete a five-year term. Again in the 2004 Indian general elections , no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the largest single party, forming another successful coalition: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It had
11780-532: The Bharat name in connection with a G20 gathering, which caused speculation on a name-change for the country. Such a change would need a constitutional amendment, meaning two-thirds of the vote in each of the two houses of parliament, and an official notice to the UN, advising how to write the name in the UN's six official languages . The earliest recorded use of Bhārata-varṣa ( lit. ' Bharat mainland ' ) in
11935-601: The Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment. Many Indian species have descended from those of Gondwana , the southern supercontinent from which India separated more than 100 million years ago. India's subsequent collision with Eurasia set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic changes later caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms. Still later, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographic passes flanking
12090-656: The Buddhist dhamma . The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 CE , the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras , the Cholas , and the Pandyas , dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with West and Southeast Asia . In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women. By
12245-735: The Chinese: Central, Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern India. The monk Xuanzang also referred to India as Wǔ Yìn or "Five Inds". The name Tianzhu and its Sino-Xenic cognates were eventually replaced by terms derived from the Middle Chinese borrowing of * yentu from Kuchean, though a very long time elapsed between that term's first use and its becoming the standard modern name for India in East Asian languages. Pronounced Yìndù ( Chinese : 印度 ) in Chinese, it
12400-685: The Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated ; she was succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi , who won an easy victory in the general elections later that year . The Congress was voted out again in 1989 when a National Front coalition, led by the newly formed Janata Dal in alliance with the Left Front , won the elections; that government too proved relatively short-lived, lasting just under two years. There were two prime ministers during this period; V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar . Elections were held again in 1991 ; no party won an absolute majority. The Congress, as
12555-476: The East India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—among them, railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction in Europe . However, disaffection with the company also grew during this time and set off
12710-943: The Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi ; the latter's extremely low gradient, caused by long-term silt deposition, leads to severe floods and course changes. Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding, include the Godavari , the Mahanadi , the Kaveri , and the Krishna , which also drain into the Bay of Bengal; and the Narmada and the Tapti , which drain into
12865-555: The Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons . The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes. The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide
13020-462: The Himalayas. This had the effect of lowering endemism among India's mammals, which stands at 12.6%, contrasting with 45.8% among reptiles and 55.8% among amphibians. Among endemics are the vulnerable hooded leaf monkey and the threatened Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172 IUCN -designated threatened animal species , or 2.9% of endangered forms. These include
13175-401: The Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs. By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into
13330-463: The Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status. The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency, caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of
13485-617: The Persian equivalent Hinduš was used for the province at the lower Indus basin. Scylax of Caryanda who explored the Indus river for the Persian emperor probably took over the Persian name and passed it into Greek. The terms Indos for the Indus river as well as "an Indian" are found in Herodotus 's Geography. The loss of the aspirate /h/ was probably due to the dialects of Greek spoken in Asia Minor . Herodotus also generalised
13640-756: The Sanskrit Sindhu via Persian Hindu and is used since ancient times in China and its peripheries. Its Sino-Xenic reading is Tenjiku in Japanese, Cheonchuk ( 천축 ) in Korean , and Thiên Trúc in Vietnamese . Devout Buddhists in the Sinosphere traditionally used this term and its related forms to designate India as their "heavenly centre", referring to the sacred origins of Buddhism in
13795-557: The advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan. Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which put in place a secular and democratic republic. Per the London Declaration , India retained its membership of the Commonwealth , becoming the first republic within it. Economic liberalisation, which began in
13950-512: The agricultural sector 18.1%. India's foreign exchange remittances of US$ 100 billion in 2022, highest in the world, were contributed to its economy by 32 million Indians working in foreign countries. Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes. Major industries include textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software. In 2006,
14105-498: The banking sector, 44th in business sophistication, and 39th in innovation, ahead of several advanced economies. With seven of the world's top 15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, as of 2009 , the country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States. India is ranked 39th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024. As of 2023 , India's consumer market
14260-663: The beginnings of a nonviolent movement of non-co-operation, of which Mahatma Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol. During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. The next decade was beset with crises: Indian participation in World War ;II , the Congress's final push for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism . All were capped by
14415-495: The coasts of southern and eastern India. As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs. By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the English East India Company , had established coastal outposts. The East India Company's control of
14570-452: The commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks, and many small farmers became dependent on the whims of far-away markets. There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines , and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians. There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in
14725-625: The contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%. India was the world's second-largest textile exporter after China in the 2013 calendar year. Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007, India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century. Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030. Though ranking 68th in global competitiveness , as of 2010 , India ranks 17th in financial market sophistication, 24th in
14880-630: The cost of increasing economic inequality. India is a nuclear-weapon state , which ranks high in military expenditure . It has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century. Among the socio-economic challenges India faces are gender inequality , child malnutrition , and rising levels of air pollution . India's land is megadiverse , with four biodiversity hotspots . Its forest cover comprises 21.7% of its area. India's wildlife , which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's culture ,
15035-581: The design and implementation of Vikrant -class aircraft carriers and Arihant -class nuclear submarines . Since the end of the Cold War , India has increased its economic, strategic, and military co-operation with the United States and the European Union . In 2008, a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States. Although India possessed nuclear weapons at
15190-511: The designation Bhāratavarṣa . The Vishnu Purana mentions: The Bhagavat Puran mentions (Canto 5, Chapter 4) - "He ( Rishabha ) begot a hundred sons that were exactly like him... He ( Bharata ) had the best qualities and it was because of him that this land by the people is called Bhāratavarṣa" Bharat Khand (or Bhārat Kṣētra) is a term used in some of the Hindu texts . In the Sanskrit epic,
15345-574: The disputes over Tyndale 's translation of the Bible in the 1520s and the 1530s) but by 1650, "thou" seems old-fashioned or literary. It has effectively completely disappeared from Modern Standard English . The translators of the King James Version of the Bible (begun 1604 and published 1611, while Shakespeare was at the height of his popularity) had a particular reason for keeping the informal "thou/thee/thy/thine/thyself" forms that were slowly beginning to fall out of spoken use, as it enabled them to match
15500-507: The early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers, fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar ,
15655-536: The early mediaeval era, Christianity , Islam , Judaism , and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts. Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently overran India's northern plains, eventually founding the Delhi Sultanate and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of mediaeval Islam . In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created
15810-727: The east. To the south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau , is flanked on the west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats ; the plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44′ and 35° 30′ north latitude and 68° 7′ and 97° 25′ east longitude. India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres (1,300 mi) to
15965-513: The endangered Bengal tiger and the Ganges river dolphin . Critically endangered species include the gharial , a crocodilian ; the great Indian bustard ; and the Indian white-rumped vulture , which has become nearly extinct by having ingested the carrion of diclofenac -treated cattle. Before they were extensively used for agriculture and cleared for human settlement, the thorn forests of Punjab were mingled at intervals with open grasslands that were grazed by large herds of blackbuck preyed on by
16120-425: The era's long GOAT vowel, rather than today's STRUT vowels. Tongue derived from the sound of tong and rhymed with song . Early Modern English had two second-person personal pronouns: thou , the informal singular pronoun, and ye , the plural (both formal and informal) pronoun and the formal singular pronoun. "Thou" and "ye" were both common in the early 16th century (they can be seen, for example, in
16275-488: The general name of Shendu, and at this time all are subject to Yuezhi. Yuezhi have killed their kings and established a general in order to rule over their people. The land produces elephants, rhinoceros, tortoise shell, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin. It communicates to the west with Da Qin and (so) has the exotica of Da Qin. Tianzhu was also referred to as Wǔtiānzhú ( 五天竺 , literally "Five Indias"), because there were five geographical regions in India known to
16430-552: The land of aryas i.e. land of noble, holy, enlightened & superior people who are the source of spiritual enlightenment. Tibetan scholar Gendun Chopel explains that Tibetan word gyagar comes from the Indian sanskrit language word vihāra (buddhist monastery), and the ancient Tibetans applied the term Geysar mainly to the northern and central India region from Kuru (modern Haryana ) to Magadha (modern Bihar ). The Epic of King Gesar , which originally developed around 200 BCE or 300 BCE and about 600 CE, describes India as
16585-472: The land of Aryas.’" Dalai Lama reveres India as the guru with Tibet as its chela (shishya or disciple) and "refers to himself the ‘Son of India’ and a true follower of Mahatma Gandhi . He continues to advocate the revival of India's ancient wisdom based on the Nalanda tradition." Tiānzhú ( Chinese : 天竺 originally pronounced * qʰl'iːn tuɡ ) is one of several Chinese transliterations of
16740-494: The largest single party, was able to form a minority government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao . A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of 1996 . Several short-lived alliances shared power at the centre. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996; it was followed by two comparatively long-lasting United Front coalitions, which depended on external support. There were two prime ministers during this period; H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral . In 1998 ,
16895-508: The late 16th century and the 17th century are still very influential on modern Standard English . Most modern readers of English can understand texts written in the late phase of Early Modern English, such as the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare , and they have greatly influenced Modern English. Texts from the earlier phase of Early Modern English, such as the late-15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur (1485) and
17050-425: The life of its exemplar, Mahavira . Buddhism , based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha , attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class; chronicling the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India. In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal, and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by
17205-526: The loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin . Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity, but also marked by the declining status of women, and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief. In South India , the Middle kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia . In
17360-407: The loue & deathe of Aurelio" from 1556), and of their preterite forms to indicate tense (as in "he follow'd Horace so very close, that of necessity he must fall with him") also became uncommon. Some verbs ceased to function as modals during the Early Modern period. The present form of must , mot , became obsolete. Dare also lost the syntactical characteristics of a modal auxiliary and evolved
17515-471: The majority of India's rainfall. Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet , tropical dry , subtropical humid , and montane . Temperatures in India have risen by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1901 and 2018. Climate change in India is often thought to be the cause. The retreat of Himalayan glaciers has adversely affected the flow rate of the major Himalayan rivers, including
17670-470: The mid-16th-century Gorboduc (1561), may present more difficulties but are still closer to Modern English grammar, lexicon and phonology than are 14th-century Middle English texts, such as the works of Geoffrey Chaucer . The change from Middle English to Early Modern English affected much more than just vocabulary and pronunciation. Middle English underwent significant change over time and contained large dialectical variations. Early Modern English, on
17825-877: The name Indo by then. India is nowadays also called Indo ( 인도 ) in Korean, and Ấn Độ in Vietnamese . Similar to Hindu and Sindhu, the term Yin was used in classical Chinese much like the English Ind . Hodu ( Hebrew : הֹדּוּ Hodû ) is the Biblical Hebrew name for India mentioned in the Book of Esther part of the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Old Testament . In Esther, 1:1 and 8:9, Ahasuerus had been described as King ruling 127 provinces from Hodu (India) to Ethiopia . The term seemingly derives from Sanskrit Sindhu , "great river", i.e.,
17980-468: The name Tenjiku , which was heavily associated with the image of India as a land of Buddhism , was not completely displaced until the early 20th century: scholars such as Soyen Shaku and Seki Seisetsu [ ja ] who travelled to India for pilgrimages to Buddhist historical sites, continued to use the name Tenjiku to emphasise the religious aspect of their travels, though most of their contemporaries (even fellow Buddhist pilgrims) adopted
18135-496: The names Gyanak for China and Gyaser for Russia) and Phagyul are Tibetan names for India. Ancient Tibetan Buddhist authors and pilgrims used the ethnogeographic referents Gyagar or Gyagar to the south and Madhyadesa ( central land or holy centre) for India. Since at least 13th century, several influential indigenous Tibetan lamas & authors also started to refer to India as the Phagyul , short for Phags yul , meaning
18290-420: The nation to liberalise its economy ; since then, it has moved increasingly towards a free-market system by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows. India has been a member of World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995. The 522-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second largest , as of 2017 . The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and
18445-445: The newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption. The railway network provided critical famine relief, notably reduced the cost of moving goods, and helped nascent Indian-owned industry. After World War I , in which approximately one million Indians served , a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation , by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by
18600-469: The objective form of thou is thee , its possessive forms are thy and thine , and its reflexive or emphatic form is thyself . The objective form of ye was you , its possessive forms are your and yours and its reflexive or emphatic forms are yourself and yourselves . The older forms "mine" and "thine" had become "my" and "thy" before words beginning with a consonant other than h , and "mine" and "thine" were retained before words beginning with
18755-414: The ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam; there dwell the descendants of Bharat." Writers throughout history, both Indian and of other nationalities have written about a 'Greater India', which Indians have called either Akhand Bharat or Mahabharat. The official names as set down in article 1 of the Indian constitution are: India India , officially the Republic of India ,
18910-479: The other hand, became more standardised and developed an established canon of literature which survives today. The English Civil War and the Interregnum were times of social and political upheaval and instability. The dates for Restoration literature are a matter of convention and differ markedly from genre to genre. In drama, the "Restoration" may last until 1700, but in poetry, it may last only until 1666,
19065-546: The proportion of the area of a forest covered by its tree canopy . Very dense forest , whose canopy density is greater than 70%, occupies 3.02% of India's land area. It predominates in the tropical moist forest of the Andaman Islands , the Western Ghats , and Northeast India . Moderately dense forest , whose canopy density is between 40% and 70%, occupies 9.39% of India's land area. It predominates in
19220-405: The rulers in the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods called their Indian dominion, centered around Delhi , "Hindustan". In contemporary Persian and Hindi - Urdu , the term Hindustan has recently come to mean the Republic of India. The same is the case with Arabic, where al-Hind is the name for the Republic of India . "Hindustan", as the term Hindu itself, entered the English language in
19375-548: The seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly assert its military strength and caused it to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline the other European companies. Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by
19530-463: The share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985. In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.7%; In 2021, India was the world's ninth-largest importer and the sixteenth-largest exporter . Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and manufactured leather goods. Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals. Between 2001 and 2011,
19685-576: The southern supercontinent Gondwana , began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east. Simultaneously, the vast Tethyan oceanic crust , to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian Plate . These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle , both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift
19840-517: The spellings ⟨air⟩ and ⟨ear⟩ , rhymed with each other, and words with the spelling ⟨are⟩ , such as prepare and compare , were sometimes pronounced with a more open vowel sound, like the verbs are and scar . See Great Vowel Shift § Later mergers for more information. Nature was pronounced approximately as [ˈnɛːtəɹ] and may have rhymed with letter or, early on, even latter . One may have been pronounced own , with both one and other using
19995-665: The style of today's General American , West Country English , Irish accents and Scottish accents, although in the case of the Scottish accent the R is rolled, and less like the pronunciation now usual in most of England.) Furthermore, at the beginning of the Early Modern English period there were three non-open and non- schwa short vowels before /r/ in the syllable coda : /e/ , /i/ and /u/ (roughly equivalent to modern /ɛ/ , /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ ; /ʌ/ had not yet developed). In London English they gradually merged into
20150-416: The subcontinent from the north-west. The caste system , which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations impure, arose during this period. On the Deccan Plateau , archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation. In South India , a progression to sedentary life
20305-513: The subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By at least 1200 BCE , an archaic form of Sanskrit , an Indo-European language , had diffused into India from the northwest. Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Rigveda . Preserved by an oral tradition that
20460-526: The subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones. The Vedas , the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism , were composed during this period, and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain . Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into
20615-441: The subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire . Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards. In
20770-414: The support of left-leaning parties and MPs who opposed the BJP. The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers, and it no longer required external support from India's communist parties . That year, Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term. In the 2014 general election ,
20925-547: The term "Indian" from the people of lower Indus basin, to all the people living to the east of Persia, even though he had no knowledge of the geography of the land. By the time of Alexander , Indía in Koine Greek denoted the region beyond the Indus. Alexander's companions were aware of at least India up to the Ganges delta ( Gangaridai ). Later, Megasthenes included in India the southern peninsula as well. Latin India
21080-677: The time and was not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group , ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the sixth de facto nuclear weapons state. India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia, France,
21235-518: The two nations have gone to war four times: in 1947 , 1965 , 1971 , and 1999 . Three of these wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir , while the third, the 1971 war, followed from India's support for the independence of Bangladesh . In the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of the host country: a peace-keeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990; and an armed intervention to prevent
21390-639: The union territories of Jammu and Kashmir , Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi , have elected legislatures and governments following the Westminster system of governance. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the central government through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act , states were reorganised on a linguistic basis. There are over
21545-488: The verb "to suffer" in the sense of "to allow" survived into Early Modern English, as in the phrase "suffer the little children" of the King James Version , but it has mostly been lost in Modern English. This use still exists in the idiom "to suffer fools gladly". Also, this period includes one of the earliest Russian borrowings to English (which is historically a rare occasion itself ); at least as early as 1600,
21700-495: The western part of the Indo-Gangetic plain, now turned into rich agricultural land by irrigation, its features no longer visible. Among the Indian subcontinent's notable indigenous trees are the astringent Azadirachta indica , or neem , which is widely used in rural Indian herbal medicine , and the luxuriant Ficus religiosa , or peepul , which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro , and under which
21855-444: The world in nominal per capita income and 125th in per capita income adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP)—the vast majority of Indians fall into the low-income group. Until 1991, all Indian governments followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics. Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the outside world. An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 forced
22010-437: The world's most populous democracy since the time of its independence in 1947. It is a pluralistic , multilingual and multi-ethnic society . India's nominal per capita income increased from US$ 64 annually in 1951 to US$ 2,601 in 2022, and its literacy rate from 16.6% to 74%. During the same time, its population grew from 361 million to almost 1.4 billion, and India became the most populous country in 2023. From being
22165-537: The world's newer nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be achieved. India accounts for the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic plate , a part of the Indo-Australian Plate . India's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian Plate, then part of
22320-459: Was resolutely vigilant , the Rigveda records the dawning of Hinduism in India. The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions. By 400 BCE , stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism, and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity. Early political consolidations gave rise to
22475-449: Was added, indicative of a country or region, forming the name Hindūstān . Thus, Sindh was referred to as Hindustān in the Naqsh-e-Rustam inscription of Sassanid emperor Shapur I in c. 262 CE. Emperor Babur of the Mughal Empire said, "On the East, the South, and the West it is bounded by the Great Ocean." Hind was notably adapted in the Arabic language as the definitive form Al-Hind ( الهند ) for India, for example, in
22630-457: Was amended in 1971 to "a sovereign, socialist , secular , democratic republic". India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states, has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes. The Government of India comprises three branches: India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories . All states, as well as
22785-403: Was first used by the seventh-century monk and traveler Xuanzang . In Japanese for example, the name Indo ( インド , 印度 , or occasionally 印土 ) had been found occasionally in 18th and early 19th-century works, such as Arai Hakuseki 's Sairan Igen (1713) and Yamamura Saisuke [ ja ] 's Indoshi ( 印度志 , a translation of a work by Johann Hübner ). However, the use of
22940-426: Was nominally worth $ 3.94 trillion; it was the fifth-largest economy by market exchange rates and is, at around $ 15.0 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–2012, India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies . However, due to its low GDP per capita—which ranks 136th in
23095-443: Was noted for nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending British rule. In 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions , a Hindu-majority dominion of India and a Muslim-majority dominion of Pakistan , amid large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration. India has been a federal republic since 1950, governed through a democratic parliamentary system , and has been
23250-438: Was pegged at US$ 70.12 billion for fiscal year 2022–23 and, increased 9.8% than previous fiscal year. India is the world's second-largest arms importer; between 2016 and 2020, it accounted for 9.5% of the total global arms imports. Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean. In May 2017, the Indian Space Research Organisation launched
23405-409: Was spelled as both he and hee in the same sentence in Shakespeare's plays and elsewhere. Certain key orthographic features of Early Modern English spelling have not been retained: Most consonant sounds of Early Modern English have survived into present-day English; however, there are still a few notable differences in pronunciation: The following information primarily comes from studies of
23560-532: Was succeeded, after his own unexpected death in 1966, by Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi , who went on to lead the Congress to election victories in 1967 and 1971 . Following public discontent with the state of emergency she declared in 1975, the Congress was voted out of power in 1977 ; the then-new Janata Party , which had opposed the emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted just over two years. There were two prime ministers during this period; Morarji Desai and Charan Singh . Voted back into power in 1980,
23715-411: Was the world's fifth largest . Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita increased steadily from US$ 308 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$ 1,380 in 2010, to an estimated US$ 2,731 in 2024. It is expected to grow to US$ 3,264 by 2026. However, it has remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and
23870-463: Was the result of his reception during the 17th and the 18th centuries, which directly contributes to the development of Standard English . Shakespeare's plays are therefore still familiar and comprehensible 400 years after they were written, but the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland , which had been written only 200 years earlier, are considerably more difficult for the average modern reader. The orthography of Early Modern English
24025-736: Was used widely since the era of the Mughal Empire . The meaning of Hindustan has varied, referring to a region encompassing the northern Indian subcontinent (present-day northern India and Pakistan ) or to India in its near entirety. By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans, or Homo sapiens , had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved. The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. After 6500 BCE , evidence for domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in Balochistan, Pakistan . These gradually developed into
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