Essays

India is the seventh largest country in the world. It has the world's second largest population. Located entirely in the northern hemisphere it is bound by Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal,

Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal border its coastline.

The mainland has three well-defined geographical regions, the mountain zone of the Himalayas, the Indo-gangetic plain,(formed by the basins of three great rivers Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra) and the southern peninsula of the Deccan Plateau. The main river systems are the Himalayan rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra which are snow-fed; the peninsular rivers like Godavari, Krishna and Mahanadi, and the coastal rivers.

India has a rich variety of vegetation and animal life, wi.th special types of flora and fauna. The climate of the country varies from region to region. In some places, including the coastal areas, the climate is almost uniform throughout the year. There are quite a few places in the country which have a moderate climate, such as towns in the North of the country or Bangalore in the South. On the other hand most areas are very hot in summer.

The Indian seasons can be divided as follows: March to June: Summer; July to October: Monsoon; November to February: Winter. In terms of agriculture, a wide variety of crops and vegetables are grown that has made it a surplus food producing country. Animal husbandry, dairy, poultry and fishery industry are also well developed.

Present-day India has made significant headway in large-scale industrialisation. As a result, India has become one of the top five industrialised nations of the world. It produces every conceivable industrial item and consumer goods, and has achieved significant success in frontier scientific research including peaceful application of nuclear energy, space and satellite research, communication technology and biotechnology. India also has the third largest reservoir of scientific and technological manpower. Pioneering scientists such as Nobel laureate C. V. Raman, Homi Bhaba, J.C.Bose, Satyen Bose, Nobel laureates Hargovind Khorana and S. Chandrasekhar have won laurels for India both at home and abroad.

Historically India is an ancient land with a continuous civilization of 5000 years. The Indus valley civilisation (3000 BC to 1500 BC) was followed by the Sanskrit-speaking Vedic period (1500 BC to 500 BC). The first of the Indian empires, the Mauryan empire began shortly after with Chandragupta Maurya (274-237 BC) as King. The post-Asoka "empires were followed by empires

ofthe Gupta, Pratihara, Pala, Chalukya, Chola, Pandya dynasties. Subsequently, around the 9th century, the Muslim period was established followed by the arrival of the Europeans, mostly British in the 17th century.

On August 15, 1947 India attained independence. It adopted a parliamentary system of government with a union of states proclaiming itself to be a Sovereign Democratic Republic.

The country has been divided into 28 States and 7 Union Territories. The States have considerable autonomy of their own while the Union Territories are governed by the President through appointed administrators. At the village level one finds the system of Panchayati Raj. It is a pattern of self-government that oversees the planning and execution of projects in district, block and village levels. Adult suffrage is universal.

India's national flag is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. In the center of the white band is a wheel, which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion seal of Asoka.

The song, Jana-gana-mana, composed by the great poet Rabindranath Tagore was adopted by the' constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24January, 1950. Hindi is the official language with English as the associate and link language. Numerous other languages and dialects are used in various parts of the country of which 18 languages are recognised in the Constitution.

India's cultural and social diversity is all-pervading and yet a harmonious balance permeates throughout the social fabric. Social attitudes are often based on traditional beliefs, religious adherence and through interaction with modern social and political concepts.

India is a secular country. Hindus form the largest community followed by the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis. Seventy percent of the Indian people live in villages with agriculture or agro-based small industry providing the major occupation. With the large industrial cities and urban centres coming up, a new middle class and a new working class have emerged where the social and cultural order is different and pluralistic.

In creative arts, India's sculpture, architecture and painting have had a rich history. The cave architecture of Ajanta and the cavewall paintings of Ajanta and Ellora, the temples of Khajuraho, the Mughal and Rajasthani paintings and the Taj Mahal are but a few examples of India's cultural heritage. The history of accomplishments in dance, drama and music is equally formidable and impressive. The classical dances still thrive in India, especially in its major forms-the Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kathak and Manipuri.

Traditional crafts and textiles have been equally famous from times ancient. They also served to carry forward myths, legends, motifs and other aspects of a culture peculiar to a region. Some famous examples of the craft and art are the warp-weft type of dyeing as seen in textiles from Orissa (Ikkat), embroidery from Bengal (Baluchari), Banarasi silk-brocade from Varanasi.

The literary tradition of India consists of the greet body of Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali literature. The Samhitas and Upanishads represent great works of literature, sociology, philosophy and religion. The treatises on medicine, science, mathematics etc. of this period are also significant. Of the epic literature, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are the foremost examples. Descendants of Sanskrit language like Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi have also produced great literary works during mediaeval period.

The Dravidian group of languages, like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have had their share of outstanding literary works of the past, like t e Kurals, the Kaviraja-marga, Ramacharitram and Mahabharata of Nannaya.

Much of ancient Indian fiction consists of folk tales, which have been narrated from generation to generation. These represent myths, legends, and stories of adventure, anecdotes and jokes and are often intended for moral edification. There is a rich reservoir of literature which grew up during the Muslim period, mostly on royal dynasties, history, travelogue, legal systems and mystical philosophy. With the introduction of Western and English education in India, many Indians started to write in English. Their literary work covered wide areas, from fiction to poetry, philosophy, sociology, history, drama, biography and art. Great works written in different Indian languages have been highly acclaimed and have won laurels all over the world, including award of the Nobel Prize in literature for the famous book of poems, Geetanjali by Rabindranath Tagore.