158-575: The gaur ( Bos gaurus ; / ɡ aʊər / ) is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia , and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 mature individuals in 2016, with the majority of those existing in India. It is the largest species among the wild cattle and the Bovidae . The domesticated form of
316-619: 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
474-519: 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
632-722: 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
790-427: 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
948-424: A cricket context, these countries are often referred to simply as the subcontinent around the world e.g. " Australia's tour of the subcontinent". The word is also sometimes used as an adjective in this context e.g. "subcontinental conditions". The Indian subcontinent was formerly part of Gondwana , a supercontinent formed during the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic . Gondwana began to break up during
1106-669: A decline to only 33 individuals in 2020, and 2020 encounter rates in Sre Pok Wildlife Sanctuary and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary were too low to analyze with distance sampling . In Laos, up to 200 individuals were estimated to inhabit protected area boundaries in the mid-1990s. They were reported discontinuously distributed in low numbers. Overhunting had reduced the population, and survivors occurred mainly in remote sites. Fewer than six National Biodiversity Conservation Areas held more than 50 individuals. Areas with populations likely to be nationally important included
1264-540: A distinct political entity that eventually became a nation-state (today the Republic of India). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term subcontinent signifies a "subdivision of a continent which has a distinct geographical, political, or cultural identity" and also a "large land mass somewhat smaller than a continent". Its use to signify the Indian subcontinent is evidenced from
1422-412: A distinct ridge running from the shoulders to the middle of the back; the shoulders may be as much as 12 cm (4.7 in) higher than the rump. This ridge is caused by the great length of the spinous processes of the vertebrae of the fore-part of the trunk as compared with those of the loins . The hair is short, fine and glossy; the hooves are narrow and pointed. The gaur has a distinct dewlap on
1580-474: A gaur herd often form a circle surrounding the vulnerable young and calves, shielding them from the big cat. As tigers rely on ambush attacks when taking on prey as large as a gaur, they will almost always abandon a hunt if detected and met in this manner. A herd of gaur in Malaysia encircled a calf killed by a tiger and prevented it from approaching the carcass. Nevertheless, the gaur are formidable opponents to
1738-425: A gaur in captivity is up to 30 years. Due to their size and power, gaur have few natural predators besides humans. Leopards , dhole packs and large mugger crocodiles occasionally attack unguarded calves or unhealthy animals. Only tigers and saltwater crocodiles have been reported to kill adult gaur. However, the habitat and distribution of the gaur and saltwater crocodile seldom overlap in recent times, due to
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#17327648372161896-452: A high preference for leaves. Food preference varies by season. In winter and monsoon , they feed on preferably fine and fresh true grasses and herb species of the legume family , such as tick clover ( Desmodium triflorum ), but also browse on leaves of shrub species such as karvy ( Strobilanthes callosus ), Indian boxwood ( Gardenia latifolia ), mallow-leaved crossberry ( Grewia abutifolia ), East-Indian screw tree ( Helicteres ) and
2054-796: 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
2212-618: 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
2370-685: 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;
2528-645: A region or a 'realm' by itself than the Indian subcontinent." This natural physical landmass in South Asia is the dry-land portion of the Indian Plate , which has been relatively isolated from the rest of Eurasia. The Himalayas (from Brahmaputra River in the east to Indus River in the west), Karakoram (from Indus River in the east to Yarkand River in the west) and the Hindu Kush mountains (from Yarkand River westwards) form its northern boundary. In
2686-550: A sample of 13 individuals in India, gaur males averaged about 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) and females weighed a median of approximately 700 kg (1,500 lb). In China, the shoulder height of gaurs ranges from 165 to 220 cm (5 ft 5 in to 7 ft 3 in), and bulls weigh up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb). The gaur historically occurred throughout mainland South and Southeast Asia, including Nepal , India , Bhutan , Bangladesh , Myanmar , Thailand , Laos , Cambodia , Vietnam and China . Today, its range
2844-482: A small archipelago southwest of the peninsula, while largely considered a part of the Indian subcontinent, sometimes is mentioned by sources, including the International Monetary Fund , as a group of islands away from the Indian subcontinent in a south-western direction. The population of Indian subcontinent is about 1.912 billion which makes it the most populated region in the world. It
3002-534: A term closely linked to the region's colonial heritage, as a cover term, the latter is still widely used in typological studies. Since the Partition of India , citizens of Pakistan (which became independent of British India in 1947) and Bangladesh (which became independent of Pakistan in 1971) often perceive the use of the Indian subcontinent as offensive and suspicious because of the dominant placement of India in
3160-431: 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
3318-476: 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
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#17327648372163476-822: Is a peninsular region in South Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east. It extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by large mountain barriers. Laccadive Islands , Maldives and
3634-588: Is a physiographical region in Southern Asia , mostly situated on the Indian Plate , projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas . Geographically, it spans the countries of Bangladesh , Bhutan , the British Indian Ocean Territory (United Kingdom), India , Maldives , Nepal , Pakistan , and Sri Lanka . Although the terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are often used interchangeably to denote
3792-699: 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
3950-470: 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:
4108-533: Is fragmented and probably declining. Gaurs are hunted by local tribal people in Sangu Matamuhari reserve forest although hunting is prohibited in Bangladesh. In Thailand, gaur were once found throughout the country, but fewer than 1,000 individuals were estimated to have remained in the 1990s. In the mostly semi-evergreen Dong Phayayen – Khao Yai Forest Complex , they were recorded at low density at
4266-614: Is home to a significant number of individuals. In Bhutan, they apparently persist all over the southern foothill zone, notably in Royal Manas National Park , Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary . In Bangladesh, a few gaur occur in the Chittagong Hill Tracts , mostly in Banderban district. During a camera trap project, few gaur were recorded indicating that the population
4424-624: 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
4582-582: Is listed in CITES Appendix I , and is legally protected in all range states. On 8 January 2001, the first cloned gaur was born at Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center, Iowa . The calf was carried and brought successfully to term by a surrogate mother, a domestic cow ( Bos taurus ). While healthy at birth, the calf died within 48 hours of a common dysentery , most likely unrelated to cloning. Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent
4740-535: Is seriously fragmented, and it is regionally extinct in Peninsular Malaysia and Sri Lanka . It is largely confined to evergreen forests or semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests , but also inhabits deciduous forest areas at the periphery. Gaur habitat is characterized by large, relatively undisturbed forest tracts, hilly terrain below an elevation of 1,500 to 1,800 m (4,900 to 5,900 ft), availability of water, and an abundance of forage in
4898-633: Is socially very mixed, consisting of many language groups and religions, and social practices in one region that are vastly different from those in another. [REDACTED] Media related to Indian subcontinent at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED] Africa [REDACTED] Antarctica [REDACTED] Asia [REDACTED] Australia [REDACTED] Europe [REDACTED] North America [REDACTED] South America [REDACTED] Afro-Eurasia [REDACTED] Americas [REDACTED] Eurasia [REDACTED] Oceania India India , officially
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5056-428: Is somewhat contested as there is no globally accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. Whether called the Indian subcontinent or South Asia, the definition of the geographical extent of this region varies. Afghanistan , despite often considered as a part of South Asia, is usually not included in the Indian subcontinent. Maldives, an island country consisting of
5214-599: 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
5372-442: Is the largest extant bovid. It is a strong and massively built bovine with a high convex ridge on the forehead between the horns , which protrudes anteriorly, causing a deep hollow in the profile of the upper part of the head. There is a prominent ridge on the back. The ears are very large. In the old bulls, the hair becomes very thin on the back. The adult male is dark brown, approaching black in very old individuals. The upper part of
5530-594: The 26 atolls of the Maldives lie entirely within the Southern Hemisphere. Historically, the region surrounding and southeast of the Indus River was often simply referred to as "India" in many historical sources. Even today, historians use this term to denote the entire Indian subcontinent when discussing history up until the era of the British Raj. Over time, however, "India" evolved to refer to
5688-722: 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
5846-573: 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
6004-506: 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
6162-660: The Chagos Archipelago are three series of coral atolls , cays and Faroes on the Indian Plate along with the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge , a submarine ridge that was generated by the northern drift of the Indian Plate over the Réunion hotspot during the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic times. The Maldives archipelago rises from a basement of volcanic basalt outpourings from a depth of about 2000 m forming
6320-615: 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
6478-475: 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
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6636-686: 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
6794-530: 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
6952-548: 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
7110-554: 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
7268-510: The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature fixed the valid specific name of the wild gaur as the first available name based on the wild population, despite being antedated by the name for the domestic form. Most authors have adopted the binomial Bos gaurus for the wild species as valid for the taxon . In recognition of phenotypic differences between zoological specimens of Indian and Southeast Asian gaur,
7426-768: The Mesozoic , with Insular India separating from Antarctica 130-120 million years ago and Madagascar around 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous . Insular India subsequently drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian Plate nearly 55 million years ago, during the Eocene , forming the Indian subcontinent. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains geologically active, prone to major earthquakes. Physiographically , it
7584-545: The Nam Theun catchment and the adjoining plateau. Subsequent surveys carried out a decade later using fairly intensive camera trapping did not record any gaur any more, indicating a massive decline of the population. In China, the gaur was present up to the 34th parallel north during the late Neolithic period about 5,200 years BP . Now it occurs only in heavily fragmented populations in Yunnan and southeastern Tibet . By
7742-668: 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
7900-574: The Republic of India , 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
8058-477: 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
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#17327648372168216-735: 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
8374-406: 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
8532-424: 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
8690-437: 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
8848-441: 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
9006-405: 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
9164-692: The trinomials Bos gaurus gaurus and Bos gaurus laosiensis are provisionally accepted, pending further morphometric and genetic study. Within the genus Bos , the gaur is most closely related to the banteng ( Bos javanicus ) and the probably now extinct kouprey ( Bos sauveli ), which are also native to Southeast Asia. Relationships of members of the genus Bos based on nuclear genomes after Sinding, et al. 2021. Bos primigenius + Bos taurus (aurochs and cattle) Bos mutus (wild yak) Bison bison (American bison) Bison bonasus (European bison/wisent) Bos javanicus (banteng) Bos gaurus (gaur) Bos sauveli (kouprey) The gaur
9322-400: 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
9480-526: 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
9638-653: 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
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#17327648372169796-596: 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
9954-433: The 1980s, it was extirpated in Lancang County , and the remaining animals were split into two populations in Xishuangbanna – Simao District and Cangyuan . In the mid-1990s, a population of 600–800 individuals may have lived in Yunnan Province, with the majority occurring in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve. In 2016, it was estimated that the population has declined by more than 70% in Indochina and Malaysia during
10112-473: 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
10270-633: 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 ,
10428-493: 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
10586-521: 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
10744-433: 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
10902-468: 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
11060-435: 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
11218-498: 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
11376-656: 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
11534-685: 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
11692-476: 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
11850-943: 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
12008-555: 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
12166-462: 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
12324-468: The Indian coast through the maritime routes on the Arabian Sea. In terms of modern geopolitical boundaries, the subcontinent constitutes Bangladesh , Bhutan , India, Nepal , and Pakistan , besides, by convention, the island country of Sri Lanka and other nearby island nations of the Indian Ocean, such as Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory . Unlike "South Asia", sometimes
12482-401: 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
12640-406: The Indian subcontinent has come to be known as South Asia "in more recent and neutral parlance". Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term South Asia is becoming more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia. While South Asia , a more accurate term that reflects the region's contemporary political demarcations, is replacing the Indian subcontinent ,
12798-463: 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
12956-557: 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
13114-512: 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,
13272-504: The availability of preferred plant species for food. Hence, protection of the historically preferred habitats used by gaur is a significant factor in conservation biology . Sexual maturity occurs in the gaur's second or third year. Breeding takes place year-round, but typically peaks between December and June. Females have one calf, rarely two, after a gestation period of about 275 days, a few days less than domestic cattle. Calves are typically weaned after seven to 12 months. The lifespan of
13430-498: 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
13588-663: 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
13746-482: The central part of the ridge between Laccadives and the Great Chagos Bank . According to anthropologist Patrap C. Dutta, "the Indian subcontinent occupies the major landmass of South Asia." According to historian B. N. Mukherjee , "The subcontinent is an indivisible geographical entity." According to geographer Dudley Stamp , "There is perhaps no mainland part of the world better marked off by nature as
13904-411: The chaste tree ( Vitex negundo ). In summer, they also feed on bark of teak ( Tectona grandis ), on fruit of golden shower tree ( Cassia fistula ), and on the bark and fruit of cashew ( Anacardium occidentale ). Gaur spent most of their daily time feeding. Peak feeding activity was observed between 6:30 and 8:30 in the mornings and between 17:30 and 18:45 in the evenings. During the hottest hours of
14062-495: 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
14220-452: 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
14378-625: 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
14536-630: 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 ,
14694-665: The day, they rest in the shade of big trees. They may debark trees due to shortages of preferred food, and of minerals and trace elements needed for their nutrition, or for maintaining an optimum fiber/protein ratio for proper digestion of food and better assimilation of nutrients. They may turn to available browse species and fibrous teak bark in summer as green grass and herbaceous resources dry up. High concentrations of calcium (22400 ppm) and phosphorus (400 ppm) have been reported in teak bark, so consumption of teak bark may help animals to satisfy both mineral and other food needs. Long-term survival and conservation of these herbivores depend on
14852-404: The decreasing range of both species. A crocodile likely would need to be a mature adult male (more than 3.7 m or 12 ft and 300 kg or 660 lb) to make a successful attack on healthy adult gaurs. Tigers hunt young or infirm gaur, but have also been reported to have killed healthy bulls weighing at least 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). When confronted by a tiger, the adult members of
15010-581: 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
15168-507: 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 ,
15326-536: 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
15484-631: The early twentieth century when most of the territory was either part of the British Empire or allied with them. It was a convenient term to refer to the region comprising both British India and the princely states . The term has been particularly common in the British Empire and its successors, while the term South Asia is the more common usage in Europe and North America. According to historians Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal ,
15642-424: The east, it is bounded by Patkai , Naga , Lushai and Chin hills. The Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea form the boundary of the Indian subcontinent in the south, south-east and south-west. Given the difficulty of passage through the Himalayas, the sociocultural, religious and political interaction of the Indian subcontinent has largely been through the valleys of Afghanistan in its northwest,
15800-727: 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
15958-547: The east. In the Indian Ocean, India 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
16116-513: 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
16274-444: The expression "Indian subcontinent" may exclude the islands of Maldives and Sri Lanka. According to Pawan Budhwar, Arup Varma, and Manjusha Hirekhan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan constitute the Indian subcontinent. Budhwar, Varma, and Hirekhan also maintain that with Afghanistan and Maldives included the region is referred to as South Asia. The periphery of the subcontinent, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, and
16432-408: The form of grasses , bamboo , shrubs, and trees. Its apparent preference for hilly terrain may be partly due to the earlier conversion of most of the plains and other low-lying areas to croplands and pastures. It occurs from sea level to an elevation of at least 2,800 m (9,200 ft). Low-lying areas seem to comprise optimal habitat. In Nepal, the gaur population was estimated to be 250–350 in
16590-499: The gaur is called gayal ( Bos frontalis ) or mithun . The Sanskrit word गौर gaura means 'white, yellowish, reddish'. The Sanskrit word gaur-mriga means a kind of water buffalo . The Hindi word गौर gaur means 'fair-skinned, fair, white'. Bison gaurus was the scientific name proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827. Later authors subordinated the species under either Bos or Bibos . To date, three gaur subspecies have been recognized: In 2003,
16748-513: The gaur lets out a high whistle for help. The gaur grazes and browses mostly the upper portions of plants, such as leaf blades, stems, seeds and flowers of grass species, including kadam Adina cordifolia . During a survey in the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park , gaurs were observed to feed on 32 species of plants. They consume herbs, young shoots, flowers, fruits of elephant apple ( Dillenia ) with
16906-411: The head, from above the eyes to the nape of the neck, is ashy grey, or occasionally dirty white. The muzzle is pale coloured, and the lower part of the legs are pure white or tan. The cows and young bulls are paler, and in some instances have a rufous tinge, which is most marked in groups inhabiting dry and open areas. The tail is shorter than in the typical oxen , reaching only to the hocks . They have
17064-461: The herd and may form herds of bulls only or live alone. Herds wander 2–5 km (1–3 mi) each day. Each herd has a nonexclusive home range, and sometimes herds may join in groups of 50 or more. Gaur herds are led by an old adult female, the matriarch. Adult males may be solitary. During the peak of the breeding season, unattached males wander widely in search of receptive females. No serious fighting between males has been recorded, with size being
17222-428: The horns are smooth and polished. In old bulls they are rugged and dented at the base. The gaur has a head-and-body length of 250 to 330 cm (8 ft 2 in to 10 ft 10 in) with a 70 to 105 cm (28 to 41 in) long tail, and is 142 to 220 cm (56 to 87 in) high at the shoulder, averaging about 168 cm (5 ft 6 in) in females and 188 cm (6 ft 2 in) in males. At
17380-416: The horns is some shade of pale green or yellow throughout the greater part of their length, but the tips are black. The horns, of medium size by large bovid standards, grow to a length of 60 to 115 cm (24 to 45 in). The cow is considerably lighter in colour than the bull. Her horns are more slender and upright, with more inward curvature, and the frontal ridge is scarcely perceptible. In young animals,
17538-417: The island chains of Maldives, features large Muslim populations, while the heartland, including most of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, are overwhelmingly Hindu or Buddhist. Since most of these countries are located on the Indian Plate, a continuous landmass , the borders between countries are often either a river or a no man's land . The precise definition of an "Indian subcontinent" in a geopolitical context
17696-574: The jungle at a surprising speed. However, in Southeast Asia and South India , where they are used to the presence of humans, gaur are said by locals to be very bold and aggressive. They are frequently known to go into fields and graze alongside domestic cattle, sometimes killing them in fights. Gaur bulls may charge without provocation, especially during summer, when the intense heat and parasitic insects make them more short-tempered than usual. To warn other members of its herd of approaching danger,
17854-628: The landmass of Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, forming the Himalayas. It is one of the most populated regions in the world, holding roughly 20–25 percent of the global population. Geographically, the peninsular region in Southern Asia is located below the Third Pole , delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Indo-Burman Ranges in the east. The neighboring geographical regions around
18012-494: 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 ,
18170-425: The last three generations (generation length estimated at 8–10 years), and is extirpated from Sri Lanka . Populations in well-protected areas appeared to be stable. Where gaur have not been disturbed, they are basically diurnal . In other areas, they have become largely nocturnal due to human impact on the forest. In central India, they are most active at night, and are rarely seen in the open after 8 o'clock in
18328-855: The late 1960s to the early 1990s. The most substantial population of the country remained in Mondulkiri Province , where up to 1000 individuals may have survived up to 2010 in a forested landscape of over 15,000 km (5,800 sq mi). Results of camera trapping carried out in 2009 suggested a globally significant population of gaur in Sre Pok Wildlife Sanctuary and the contiguous Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary , and line transect distance sampling from Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary showed around 500 individuals in 2010. Since then, there has been rapid decline of these populations, and likely all populations across Cambodia. Updated figures for Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary show
18486-478: 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
18644-526: 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
18802-402: The major factor in determining dominance. Males make a mating call of clear, resonant tones which may carry for more than 1.6 km (1 mi). Gaur have also been known to make a whistling snort as an alarm call, and a low, cow-like moo. In some regions in India where human disturbance is minor, the gaur is very timid and shy despite their great size and power. When alarmed, gaur crash into
18960-471: 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
19118-549: The mid-1990s, with the majority in Chitwan National Park and the adjacent Parsa National Park . These two parks are connected by a chain of forested hills. Population trends appeared to be relatively stable. The Chitwan population has increased from 188 to 368 animals in the years 1997 to 2016. Census conducted in Parsa National Park confirmed the presence of 112 gaur in the same period. In India,
19276-484: The morning. During the dry season, herds congregate and remain in small areas, dispersing into the hills with the arrival of the monsoon . While gaur depend on water for drinking, they do not seem to bathe or wallow. In January and February, gaur live in small herds of eight to 11 individuals, one of which is a bull. In April or May, more bulls may join the herd for mating, and individual bulls may move from herd to herd, each mating with many cows. In May or June, they leave
19434-420: 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
19592-445: 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
19750-975: The population was estimated to be 12,000–22,000 in the mid-1990s. The Western Ghats and their outflanking hills in southern India constitute one of the most extensive extant strongholds of gaur, in particular in the Wayanad – Nagarhole – Mudumalai – Bandipur complex. The populations in India, Bhutan and Bangladesh are estimated to comprise 23,000–34,000 individuals. Major populations of about 2,000 individuals have been reported in both Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks, over 1,000 individuals in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Project , 500–1000 individuals in both Periyar Tiger Reserve and Silent Valley and adjoining forest complexes, and over 800 individuals in Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary . Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Tripura
19908-546: 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
20066-431: The region, the geopolitical term of South Asia frequently includes Afghanistan , which is not considered a part of the subcontinent, while excluding the British Indian Ocean Territory which is geologically associated with the subcontinent. Geologically, the subcontinent originates from Insular India , an isolated landmass that rifted from the supercontinent of Gondwana during the Cretaceous and merged with
20224-548: 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
20382-463: 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,
20540-513: 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
20698-416: 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
20856-513: 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
21014-766: The subcontinent include the Tibetan Plateau to the north, the Indochinese Peninsula to the east, the Iranian Plateau to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south. Apart from Maritime Southeast Asia (the Malay Archipelago ), the maritime region of the subcontinent ( littoral South Asia ) is the only subregion of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere : the British Indian Ocean Territory two of
21172-526: 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
21330-441: 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
21488-414: 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 ,
21646-483: The term. As such it is being increasingly less used in those countries. Meanwhile, many Indian analysts prefer to use the term because of the socio-cultural commonalities of the region. The region has also been called the "Asian subcontinent", the "South Asian subcontinent", as well as "India" or " Greater India " in the classical and pre-modern sense. The sport of cricket is notably popular in India , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , Nepal and Bangladesh . Within
21804-447: The throat and chest. Both sexes have horns, which grow from the sides of the head, curving upwards. Between the horns is a high convex ridge on the forehead. At their bases they present an elliptical cross-section, a characteristic that is more strongly marked in bulls than in cows. The horns are decidedly flattened at the base and regularly curved throughout their length, and are bent inward and slightly backward at their tips. The colour of
21962-454: The tigers, and they are capable of killing tigers in self-defence. In Laos, the gaur is highly threatened by poaching for trade to supply international markets, but also by opportunistic hunting, and specific hunting for home consumption. In the 1990s, gaurs were particularly sought by Vietnamese poachers for their commercial value. In Thailand, the gaur is severely threatened by poaching for commercial trade in meat and trophies . The gaur
22120-677: 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,
22278-529: The top of its muscular hump just behind its shoulder, an average adult male is just under 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) tall and the male's girth at its midsection (behind its shoulders) averages about 277 cm (9 ft 1 in). Males are about one-fourth larger and heavier than females. Body mass ranges widely from 440 to 1,000 kg (970 to 2,200 lb) in adult females and 588 to 1,500 kg (1,296 to 3,307 lb) in adult males. In general, measurements are derived from gaurs surveyed in India . In
22436-478: The turn of the century, with an estimated total of about 150 individuals. In Vietnam, several areas in Đắk Lắk Province were known to contain gaur in 1997. Several herds persist in Cát Tiên National Park and in adjacent state forest enterprises. The current status of the gaur population is poorly known; they may be in serious decline. In Cambodia, gaur declined considerably in the period from
22594-518: 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
22752-639: 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
22910-457: The valleys of Manipur in its east, and by maritime routes . More difficult but historically important interaction has also occurred through passages pioneered by the Tibetans . These routes and interactions have led to the spread of Buddhism out of the subcontinent into other parts of Asia. The Islamic expansion arrived into the subcontinent in two ways: through Afghanistan on land, and to
23068-726: The west it is bounded by parts of the mountain ranges of Hindu Kush , Spīn Ghar (Safed Koh), Sulaiman Mountains , Kirthar Mountains , Brahui range, and Pab range among others, with the Western Fold Belt along the border (between the Sulaiman Range and the Chaman Fault) is the western boundary of the Indian Plate, where, along the Eastern Hindu Kush, lies the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. In
23226-495: 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
23384-444: 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
23542-437: 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
23700-476: 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
23858-513: 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
24016-457: 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
24174-426: 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
24332-516: 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
24490-528: 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
24648-532: 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,
24806-411: 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
24964-912: 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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