INDIA

EYUP CAN ASLANBAY

India Flag

India officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area the second population country with over 1,2 billion people and the most populous democracy in the world.

India’s Neighbors

Bounded by the Indian Ocean on south, the Arabian Sea on the west and Bay of Bengal on the South East, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west China, Nepal and Bhutan.

Mumbai is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, most populous metropolitan area in India, and the eighth most populous city in the world, with an estimated city population of 18.4 million and metropolitan area population of 20.7 million as of 2011.

Indian Culture

Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years During the Vedic period the foundations of Hindu philasophy, mythology, theology and literature were laid and many beliefs and practices which still exist today such as karma, dkarma, yoga and moksa were established.

India is notable for its religions diversity with Hinduism, Sikhisim, Islam, Christianity and Jainism among the nation major religions.

Art and architecture in India mush of Indian architecture, including the TajMahal. Ohter works of Mughal architecture and South Indian architecture blends ancient local traditions with imported styles.

Indian music ranges over various tradition and regional styles. Classical music encomposes two genres and their various folk offshoots the northern Hindustani and Southern Cornotic Schools.

Bollywood is sobriquet of the Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian Cinema. Bollywood is the one of the largest film producers in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world.

Cotton was domesticated in India by 4000 B.C.E. Traditional Indian dress varies in colour and style across regions and depends on various factors, including climate and faith. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as the sarii for women and the dhoti or lungii for men. Stitched clothes, such as the shalwar kameez for women and kurta–pyjama combinations or European-style trousers and shirts for men, are also popular. Use of delicate jewellery, modelled on real flowers worn in ancient India, is part of a tradition dating back some 5,000 years; gemstones are also worn in India as talismans.

Indian cuisine encompasses a wide variety of regional cuisines native to India. Given the range of diversity in soil type, climate and occupations, these cuisines vary significantly from each other and use locally available spices, herbs, vegetables and fruits. Indian food is also heavily influenced by religious and cultural choices and traditions.

In India, several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, such as kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda. Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as kalarippayattu, musti yuddha, silambam, and marma adi, originated in India. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as chatura gaṅ , is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indiangrandmasters. Pachisi, from which parcheesi derives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar.

Mens play kabaddi

India, being a culturally diverse and fervent society, celebrates various holidays and festivals. There are three national holidays in India: Independence Day on 15 August, Mahatma Gandhi's birthday on 2 October and Republic Day on 26 January. States and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic demographics. Popular religious festivals include the Sikh festivals like Guru Nanak Jayanti, Hindu festivals of Makar Sankranti, Maha Shivaratri, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Dussehra, Islamic festivals of Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Mawlid an-Nabī and Christian festivals of Christmas and days of observances such as Good Friday are observed throughout the country.

A Holi Festival

Indian Map