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India,
 officially Republic of India (Hindi Bharat), country in southern Asia, located on the subcontinent of India. It is bounded on the north by Afghanistan, China, Nepal, and Bhutan; on the east by Bangladesh, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), and the Bay of Bengal; on the south by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannār (which separates it from Sri Lanka) and the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Arabian Sea and Pakistan. India is divided into 28 states and 7 union territories (including the National Capital Territory of Delhi). New Delhi is the country’s capital.

The world’s seventh largest country in area, India occupies more than 3 million sq km (1 million sq mi), encompassing a varied landscape rich in natural resources. The Indian Peninsula forms a rough triangle framed on the north by the world’s highest mountains, the Himalayas, and on the east, south, and west by oceans. Its topography varies from the barren dunes of the Thar Desert to the dense tropical forests of rain-drenched Assam state. Much of India, however, consists of fertile river plains and high plateaus. Several major rivers, including the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Indus, flow through India. Arising in the northern mountains and carrying rich alluvial soil to the plains below, these mighty rivers have supported agriculture-based civilizations for thousands of years.

With more than 1 billion inhabitants, India ranks second only to China among the world’s most populous countries. Its people are culturally diverse, and religion plays an important role in the life of the country. About 83 percent of the people practice Hinduism, a religion that originated in India. Another 12 percent are Muslims, and millions of others are Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains. Eighteen major languages and more than 1,000 minor languages and dialects are spoken in India.

India’s long history stretches back to the Indus Valley civilization of about 2500-1700 bc. For hundreds of years, India was home to massive empires and regional kingdoms. British rule in India began in the ad 1700s. Foreign domination engendered Indian nationalism, which eventually led to India winning its independence in 1947. Split from Pakistan at independence, India struggled with its Muslim neighbor over border differences and Hindu-Muslim relations. India and Pakistan fought two wars over the Jammu and Kashmīr region, and the status of the territory remains in dispute. India’s federal political system, a democracy for more than 50 years, has demonstrated a remarkable resilience in resolving domestic and international crises. India has grown since independence to have great influence on Asia and a massive world presence. The country is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of political entities that once gave or currently give allegiance to the British monarchy.

The Indian economy has also evolved since independence. Once heavily dependent on agriculture, it has expanded in recent years into the realms of industry and services. Economic reforms in 1991 dramatically altered economic policy to privatize state-owned enterprises and to promote competition and investment. The economic focus of the country has since changed from one based on self-sufficiency to one based on trade with other countries.


 LAND AND RESOURCES
India consists geographically of the entire Indian Peninsula and portions of the Asian mainland. The length of India from north to south is 3,050 km (1,900 mi); from east to west it is 2,950 km (1,830 mi). India also has two island chains, each forming its own union territory. The Andaman and Nicobar island chain lies east of the mainland between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Its southernmost island is only 200 km (120 mi) from the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Lakshadweep island group is located off India’s southwest coast. Excluding the portions of Jammu and Kashmīr claimed by India but occupied by Pakistan or China, India has an area of 3,165,596 sq km (1,222,243 sq mi). India’s land frontier—the length of its border with other countries—measures more than 15,200 km (9,400 mi). It also has 7,000 km (4,300 mi) of coastline, including the island territories, or 5,600 km (3,500 mi) of coastline without the islands.

A  Natural Regions
India can be divided into three main regions: the Himalayas, the Gangetic Plain, and peninsular India.

The Himalayan mountain system is 160 to 320 km (100 to 200 mi) wide and extends 2,400 km (1,500 mi) along the northern and eastern borders of India. It includes the mountains surrounding the Vale of Kashmīr in the Karakoram Range, and the central and eastern Himalayas. Ancient geological forces molded the Himalayas as the Indian plate of the Earth’s crust burrowed under the Eurasian landmass, creating an uplift that continues to push this northernmost boundary of India ever higher. The Himalayan Range is the highest mountain system in the world. Among its towering summits, wholly or partly within India or within territory claimed by India and administered by Pakistan, are K2 (8,611 m/28,251 ft) and Kānchenjunga (8,598 m/28,209 ft), which are the second and third highest peaks in the world, after Mount Everest. Other prominent Indian peaks include Nanga Parbat (8,125 m/26,657 ft), Nanda Devi (7,817 m/25,646 ft), Rakaposhi (7,788 m/25,551 ft), and Kāmet peak (7,756 m/25,446 ft). The Himalayas region, including the foothills, is sparsely settled. Agriculture and animal herding are the main economic activities.

South and parallel to the Himalayas lies the Gangetic Plain, a belt of flat, alluvial lowlands 280 to 400 km (175 to 250 mi) wide. This area includes some of the most agriculturally productive land in India. The Indian portion of the broad Gangetic Plain encompasses several river systems, and stretches from Punjab state in the west, through the Gangetic Plain, to the Assam Valley in the east. Marking the western end of the Gangetic Plain are the Indus River and its tributaries, including the Sutlej and Chenāb rivers, which flow through Punjab in India’s northwest corner. The Gangetic Plain is formed by the Ganges River and its tributaries, which drain the southern slopes of the Himalayas. Assam Valley is separated from the Gangetic Plain by a narrow corridor of land near the city of Dārjiling (Darjeeling). The valley is watered by the Brahmaputra River, which rises in Tibet and crosses into India at its northeast corner, then flows north of the Khāsi Hills into Bangladesh. The Thar Desert, a huge, dry, sandy region extending into Pakistan, lies at the southwestern end of the Gangetic Plain.

South of the plains region lies peninsular India. The northern peninsula features a series of mountain ranges and plateaus. The Arāvalli Range runs in a north-south direction on the eastern edge of the Thar Desert, and low hills cut by valleys lie along the border between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in central India. The Narmada River flows southwest between the Vindhya Range and an associated plateau on the north, and the Sātpura Range on the south. The plains of the Chota Nāgpur Plateau in the eastern states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand also lie within this region. The rocky and uneven lands of the northern peninsula are sparsely populated. Herding is a major occupation in the west, and farming of coarse grains such as millet is common in the central part.

In the southern part of peninsular India lies the vast Deccan Plateau, a tableland lying within a triangle formed by the Sātpura Range, the steep mountain slopes of the Western Ghats, and the gentler slopes of the Eastern Ghats. Elevations in the plateau region average 600 m (2,000 ft), although outcroppings as high as 1,200 m (4,000 ft) occur. At their northern end, the Western Ghats vary in height from 900 to 1,200 m (3,000 to 4,000 ft), but the Nīlgiri Hills of the extreme south reach a height of 2,637 m (8,652 ft) at Doda Betta, their highest peak. The Eastern Ghats lie along the eastern flank of the Deccan Plateau, interrupted by the Krishna and Godāvari river basins. Elevations of the Eastern Ghats are much lower, averaging 600 m (2,000 ft). The plateau itself, even rockier than the northern extension of peninsular India, supports a sparse agricultural population and is also home to industrial enterprises.

The Indian Peninsula is bordered by a mostly fertile seashore. The west coast, including the extensive Gujarāt Plain in the north, the thin Konkan shore in Mahārāshtra state, and the Malabar Coast in the south, support substantial populations of farmers and fishermen. Ancient trade routes to the west helped make the cities and towns of this region into market centers for textiles and spices. The east coast’s broad alluvial plains, stretching from the Kāveri River delta in the south to the Mahānadī River delta in the north, are intensely farmed.

B  Rivers and Lakes
The rivers of India can be divided into three groups: the great Himalayan rivers of the north, the westward-flowing rivers of central India, and the eastward-flowing rivers of the Deccan Plateau and the rest of peninsular India. Only small portions of India’s rivers are navigable because of silting and the wide seasonal variation in water flow (due to the monsoon climate). Water transport is thus of little importance in India. Barrages, structures that redirect water flow, have been erected on many of the rivers for irrigation, diverting water into some of the oldest and most extensive canal systems in the world.

The Indian subcontinent’s three great northern rivers, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, and the Ganges, flow through India. The Indus, about 2,900 km (1,800 mi) long, originates in the Himalayas of western Tibet, flows through the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmīr state, then enters Pakistan. The waters of three of its tributaries, the Sutlej, Rāvi, and Chenāb, have been diverted, under the Indus Water Treaty, for use in India. The Brahmaputra is about 2,900 km (1,800 mi) long and likewise rises in the Tibetan Himalayas. It flows through Assam state and then south through Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal. The 2,510-km (1,560-mi) Ganges, known as Ganga in India, rises in the Indian Himalayas and enters the Gangetic Plain northeast of Delhi. At Allahābād it is joined by its major tributary, the Yamuna. The main branch of the Ganges flows through Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal, while a second branch meets the bay in India, near Kolkata. Both the Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers discharge enormous amounts of water, almost all of it during the monsoon season.

The Narmada, at 1,289 km (801 mi) long, is India’s major west-flowing river; it flows mainly in the state of Madhya Pradesh, emptying into the Arabian Sea in Gujarāt state. Its annual runoff is less than one-tenth that of the Ganges system. Its basin consists of about 5 million cultivable hectares (about 12 million acres). A series of large dams are being constructed on the river as part of a massive development scheme to increase irrigation of the basin. One of the largest dams of the project, the Sardar Sarovar Dam, was designed to divert large amounts of water to an irrigation canal through the state of Gujarāt.

Three major rivers flow east into the Bay of Bengal, rising from the western hills of the Deccan Plateau. The northernmost is the Godāvari, about 1,400 km (900 mi) long. It has a basin (the area drained by a river) one-third the size of the Ganges, and carries one-tenth of the amount of water the Ganges carries. Emptying into the sea not far south of the Godāvari is the Krishna (about 1,300 km/800 mi), with a basin equal to the Godāvari but carrying only two-thirds of the amount of water. The smallest of the three rivers is the Kāveri (760 km/470 mi), with a basin less than one-third the size of the other two rivers.

India has a number of other significant rivers. Tributaries of the Ganges from the north include the Kosi, Gandak, Ghāghara, Gumti, and Sarda rivers. Joining the Ganges from the south are the Betwa, Chambal, and Son rivers. The Mahi, Sābarmatī, and Tāpi flow west into the Arabian Sea in Gujarāt. Flowing west to join the Indus River in Pakistan are the Beās, Chenāb, Jhelum, Rāvi, and Sutlej, all rivers of the Punjab (Hindi for “five rivers”) region of India and Pakistan. The Mahānadī and Brāhmani rivers rise in Chhattisgarh and Orissa states, respectively, and flow east to empty into the Bay of Bengal. The waters of all these rivers are used to irrigate crops, but the amount stored for purposes of irrigation and power generation varies enormously from river to river depending, among other things, on the number of dams on the river.

There are only a few natural lakes in India of any size. Chilika Lake on the coast of Orissa varies seasonally in volume and is alternately fresh and salty. Other lakes, such as Sāmbhar in Rājasthān state and Colair in Orissa state, typically dry out completely before the monsoon begins. Small, artificially created ponds called tanks are a feature of virtually every village, serving as sources of water for drinking, bathing, and irrigation.

C  Plant and Animal Life
India is home to abundant plant and animal life and has a wide range of climates that accommodate a diversity of species throughout the country. Broadly classified, there are seven major regions for plant and animal life in India: the arid Indus Plain, the Gangetic Plain, the Himalayas, Assam Valley, the Malabar Coast, the peninsular plateau, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

India has an estimated 45,000 species of plants, 33 percent of which are native. There are 15,000 flowering plant species, 6 percent of the world’s total. About 3,000 to 4,000 of the total number of plant species are believed to be in danger of extinction.

In the arid areas that adjoin Pakistan, the eastern part of the Indus Plain, most plant life is sparse and herblike. Various thorny species, including capers (spiny shrubs with pale flowers) and jujubes (fruit-producing trees with veined leaves and yellowish flowers), are common. Bamboo grows in some areas, and among the few varieties of trees is the palm. The Gangetic Plain, which has more moisture, supports many types of plant life. Vegetation is especially luxuriant in the southeastern part of the plains region, where the mangrove and the sal, a hardwood timber tree, flourish.

In the Himalayas many varieties of arctic flora are found on the higher slopes. The lower levels of the mountain range support many types of subtropical plant life, notably the orchid. Dense forests remain in the few areas where agriculture and commercial forestry have had little effect. Coniferous trees, including cedar and pine, predominate in the northwestern Himalayan region. On the Himalayas’ eastern slopes, tropical and subtropical types of vegetation abound. Here rhododendrons grow to tree height. Among the predominant trees are oak and magnolia.

The Assam Valley features evergreen forests, bamboo, and areas of tall grasses. The Malabar Coast, which receives a large amount of rainfall, is thickly wooded. Evergreens, bamboo, and several varieties of valuable timber trees, including teak, predominate in this region. Extensive tracts of impenetrable jungle are found in the swampy lowlands and along the lower elevations of the Western Ghats. The vegetation of the peninsular plateau is less luxuriant, but thickets of bamboo, palm, and deciduous trees grow throughout the Deccan Plateau. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have tropical forests, both evergreen and semievergreen.

India is inhabited by a wide variety of animal life, including almost 5,000 species of larger animals. Several species of the cat family—including the tiger, panther, Asiatic lion, Asiatic cheetah, snow leopard, jungle cat, and clouded leopard—live in some areas of India. Most of these species are under threat of extinction. Elephants roam the lower slopes of the central and eastern Himalayan foothills and the remote forests of the southern Deccan Plateau. Other large quadrupeds (four-footed animals) native to India include rhinoceros (under threat of extinction), black bear, wolf, jackal, dhole (wild Asian dog), wild buffalo, wild hog, antelope, and deer. Several species of monkeys live throughout the country.

Various species of wild goats and sheep, including ibexes and serows, are found in the Himalayas and other mountainous areas. The pygmy hog, bandicoot rat, and tree mouse are typical types of smaller native quadrupeds; bats are also abundant. Venomous reptiles, including the cobra, krait, and saltwater snake, are especially numerous in India, and pythons and crocodiles are also found. Tropical birds of India include the parrot, peacock, kingfisher, and heron. The rivers and coastal waters of India teem with fish, including many edible varieties.

D  Natural Resources
India’s most important natural resources are land and water. About 54 percent of the land area is arable, and groundwater resources are considerable. The Gangetic Plain is one of India’s most fertile regions. The soils of this region were formed by the alluvial deposits of the Ganges and its tributaries. In this area, as well as in the peninsular deltas, groundwater is plentiful and close to the surface, making year-round irrigation possible. These regions may produce two or three harvests a year. Most of India’s wheat and rice are grown here.

The black and red soils of the Deccan Plateau, although not as thick as the Gangetic Plain alluvium, are also fertile. The groundwater resources of the Deccan are significant but more difficult to reach, so most farmers rely on the monsoons for water. Farmers typically grow a single crop, including coarse grains such as sorghum, maize (corn), millet, and cotton.

Forests constitute another natural resource for India, with woodlands covering 22 percent of its land area. India’s highly varied climate and land produce diverse forests. The majority are deciduous forests, which are either tropical-dry, experiencing a significant dry season, or tropical-moist, receiving relatively uniform rainfall year-round. The remainder of forests range in type from tropical evergreen to Himalayan temperate and alpine. Major commercial tree species include teak, rosewood, and sal. Bamboo is a widely used construction material. Despite significant overuse of forest resources in the past, government and private efforts have reduced the rate of deforestation in natural forests and increased new plantations of trees, creating a modest net gain in forest cover since 1990.

The mineral resources of India include a vast belt of coal reserves stretching from the eastern part of Mahārāshtra state through Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand states to West Bengal state. The same geographical area, with the addition of Orissa state, contains major deposits of bauxite. Iron ore is also found here, as well as in the Western Ghats in and around Goa. Other mineral deposits include manganese (found mainly in central India), copper, and chromite. There are significant oil and natural gas reserves in Assam and Gujarāt states, and on the continental shelf off Mahārāshtra and Gujarāt. India also has ample reserves of phosphate rock, apatite, gypsum, limestone, and mica.

E  Climate
India’s shape, unusual topography, and geographical position give it a diverse climate. Most of India has a tropical or subtropical climate, with little variation in temperature between seasons. The northern plains, however, have a greater temperature range, with cooler winters and hotter summers. The mountain areas have cold winters and cool summers. As elevations increase sharply in the mountains, climate type can change from subtropical to polar within a few miles.

India’s seasonal cycle includes three main phases: the cool, dry winter from October to March; the hot, dry summer from April to June; and the southwest monsoon season of warm, torrential rains from mid-June to September. India’s winter season brings cold temperatures to the mountain slopes and northern plains; temperatures in the Thar Desert reach freezing at night. Farther south, temperatures are mild. Average daily temperatures in January range from 13° to 27°C (55° to 81°F) in the northeastern city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta); from 8° to 21°C (46° to 70°F) in the north central city of New Delhi; from 19° to 30°C (67° to 85°F) in the west central coast city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay); and from 19° to 29°C (67° to 85°F) in the vicinity of Chennai (formerly Madras) on the southeastern coast. Dry weather generally accompanies the cool winter season, although severe storms sometimes traverse the country, yielding slight precipitation on the northern plains and heavy snowfall in the Himalayas.

India’s hot and dry season reaches its peak during May, when temperatures as high as 49°C (120°F) are commonly recorded in the northern plains. Temperatures in the southern peninsula are somewhat lower, averaging 35° to 40°C (95° to 104°F). At higher altitudes, as in the Western Ghats and the Himalayas, temperatures are considerably cooler.

The intense heat breaks when the summer monsoon season arrives in June. For most of the year the monsoons, or seasonal winds, blow from the northeast. In the summer months, however, they begin to blow from the southwest, absorbing moisture as they cross the Indian Ocean. This warm, moist air creates heavy rains as it rises over the Indian Peninsula and is finally forced up the slopes of the Himalayas. The rains start in early June on a strip of coast lying between the Arabian Sea and the foot of the Western Ghats. A second “arm” of the monsoon starts from the Bay of Bengal in the northeast and gradually extends up the Gangetic Plain, where it meets the Arabian Sea “arm” in the Delhi region around July 1. In July the average daily temperature range is 26° to 32°C (79° to 89°F) in Kolkata; 27° to 35°C (80° to 94°F) in New Delhi; 25° to 30°C (78° to 86°F) in Mumbai; and 26° to 36°C (79° to 96°F) in Chennai.

The monsoon season is critical to India. Farming depends heavily on the monsoon, even though artificial sources of irrigation are also commonly used. The economy prospers when the monsoon season is normal and plummets when it is not. In the past a failure of the monsoon has brought abnormally low rains in crucial food-growing regions, leading to famine. A failed monsoon season in the dryland areas of the Deccan Plateau can mean poor or nonexistent harvests for that year’s crop. In the Gangetic Plain, the groundwater needed for irrigating the winter crop depends on the monsoon for replenishing. However, an excessive monsoon may also spell disaster, especially in the Gangetic Plain of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihār, where rivers can flood and wash away homes and fields.

The average annual rainfall for India as a whole is 1,250 mm (49 in). The heaviest rainfall occurs along the Western Ghats, often more than 3,175 mm (125 in), and on the slopes of the eastern Himalayas and the Khāsi Hills (of Meghalaya), where the town of Cherrapunji receives 10,900 mm (430 in) annually. The entire northeast region averages more than 2,000 mm (80 in) annually, with Jharkhand, Orissa, and the Bengal region receiving nearly as much. Rain and snow fall in abundance on the entire Himalayan range. New Delhi receives an annual average of 800 to 1,000 mm (32 to 40 in) of rain, and the broad swath of land extending to the south, much of it in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats, receives about the same or a little more.

F  Environmental Issues
India’s main environmental concern is its growing population, which is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by the year 2050. In order to feed so large a population, more groundwater will be needed to irrigate crops, increasing the risk of poor soil quality due to salinization (increased salt levels). More artificial fertilizer will likely be applied to crop fields, posing threats to drinking water. The demand for meat has increased with greater levels of prosperity, resulting in overgrazing and increasing wasteland. The demand for fuelwood has grown with rural populations, leading to the loss of trees and forests. To decrease reliance on fuelwood, the government has promoted the use of biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by decomposing organic matter) for cooking fuel.

Expanding agrarian population has also affected wildlife. Farmers and herders have encroached on national park and other wildlife sanctuary land, and the spread of cultivation has limited the range of animals such as tigers and elephants outside of parks as well. Poaching is also a problem. Up to 10 percent of India’s plant species are critically endangered, mainly because of the population-related pressures of deforestation and agriculture. Wetlands cover about 18 percent of the land, but most of them are under rice-paddy cultivation. To help combat these problems, the Indian government has enacted strong laws for forest conservation, wetland preservation, and wildlife protection. The Ministry of Environment and Forests was established in 1985.

India has a severe air pollution problem generated by industrial effluents and vehicle emissions. Water-treatment facilities have not kept pace with the increase in urban populations, and pollution of rivers and groundwater is a significant and worsening problem. Another major problem is toxic waste, generated by industry and deposited in rivers and oceans and on low-lying land within factory boundaries. The large number of small industrial workshops makes it difficult to enforce laws against industrial waste pollution.

A National Wildlife Action Plan provides a framework for species protection and directs the establishment of a protected areas network covering all the major habitat types for at least 4 percent of the total land area of the country. About 4 percent of the land is under protection, including 88 national parks and 490 wildlife sanctuaries established by 2003. India has a national goal of covering one-third of its land area with existing or planted forests. India has had tremendous success with species conservation. World-renowned programs include Project Tiger, which has established nine special tiger reserves, and the Crocodile Breeding and Management Project. Many nongovernmental organizations aid India’s conservation efforts.

III  THE PEOPLE OF INDIA
India’s people inherited a civilization that began more than 4,500 years ago, one that has proven capable of absorbing and transforming the peoples and cultures that over the centuries have come to the subcontinent. India has long supported a large population of great diversity. The people in India’s intricate network of communities speak literally thousands of languages, practice all of the world’s great religions, and participate in a complex social structure that incorporates the caste system, a rigid system of social hierarchy.

India is one of the world’s most populous countries. In 2004 it had a population of 1,065,070,607, yielding an average population density of 358 persons per sq km (928 per sq mi). An estimated 72 percent of India’s inhabitants live in rural areas. The population grew by 21.3 percent between 1990 and 2000, down from 24 percent growth between 1981 and 1991. It is estimated that the rate of growth will slow even further in the coming decades, but India’s population nevertheless is expected to continue to increase. The annual growth rate in 2004 was 1.4 percent.

A  Principal Cities
The largest city of India as well as eastern India’s chief commercial, financial, and manufacturing center is Kolkata, which at the 2001 census had a population of 13.2 million. Twenty-seven cities had populations of more than 1 million in 2001. The largest metropolitan areas of India are Mumbai (population, 11.9 million), India’s premier port; Delhi (12.8 million), a historical city as well as a major transportation, commercial, and industrial center; and Chennai (6.42 million), one of India’s principal ports. Other important cities with more than 1 million people are Bangalore, rapidly growing as a center of high-technology industry; Hyderābād, Nāgpur, Lucknow, and Jaipur, all centers of government and service industries; and Kānpur, Ahmadābād, Pune, and Surat, which are known for their industrial economies.

B  Ethnic and Cultural Groups 

India’s population is rich with diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Ethnic groups are those based on a sense of common ancestry, while cultural groups can be either made up of people of different ethnic origins who share a common language, or of ethnic groups with some customs and beliefs in common, such as castes of a particular locality. The diverse ethnic and cultural origins of the people of India are shared by the other peoples of the Indian subcontinent, including the inhabitants of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. 

The government identifies some groups of people in India as tribal, meaning they belong to one of the more than 300 officially designated “scheduled tribes.” The tribal people are sometimes called hill tribes or adivasis (“original inhabitants”) and in 1991 made up about 8 percent (more than 65 million people) of India’s population. For the purpose of affirmative action, the Indian government publishes “schedules” (lists) of the tribes, as well as of some other disadvantaged groups, such as the former Untouchables (see the Castes section of this article). Members of India’s various hill tribes are thought to be indigenous and tend to be ethnically distinct. These groups typically marry within their community and often live in large, adjoining areas, which are preserved by government policies restricting the sale of land to tribe members.

Major tribes include the Gond and the Bhil. Each has millions of members and encompasses a number of subtribes. Most other tribes are much smaller, with tens of thousands of members. Very few tribal communities now support themselves with traditional methods of hunting and gathering or with shifting cultivation (also known as slash-and-burn agriculture) because of government restrictions aimed at protecting the environment. Instead, they generally practice settled agriculture. Tribal groups tend to live in rural areas, mainly in hilly and less fertile regions of the country. Less than 5 percent practice traditional tribal religious beliefs and customs exclusively; most now combine traditional religions and customs with Hinduism or Christianity. A large majority identify themselves as Hindus; a small percentage, mainly in the northeast, identify themselves as Christians.

Most tribal groups live in a belt of communities that stretches across central India, from the eastern part of Gujarāt (the westernmost state); eastward along the Madhya Pradesh-Mahārāshtra border; through Chhattisgarh, parts of northern Andhra Pradesh, most of interior Orissa, and Jharkhand; and to the western part of West Bengal. The western tribes speak a dialect of Hindi, the central tribes use a form of the Dravidian language, and the eastern tribes speak Austro-Asiatic languages.

The other major concentration of tribal people is in the northeastern hills. Tribe members make up the majority of the population in the states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Arunāchal Pradesh. These people, many of them Christian, speak languages of the Sino-Tibetan family. Sino-Tibetan languages are also spoken by the Buddhists who live along the Himalayan ridge, including the states of Arunāchal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttaranchal, and Jammu and Kashmīr (specifically, the region of Ladakh). In the Himalayas particularly, isolation on the mountain flanks has led to languages so distinct that ethnic groups living within sight of each other may not understand each other. Other tribes live in southern India and on India’s island territories, but their numbers are not large.

C  Religion 

Religion is very important in India, with deep historical roots; Hinduism and Buddhism both originated here. Most people in India practice Hinduism with Islam a distant second. Other important religions include Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

About 75 percent of Indians are Hindus. Significant differences exist within this Hindu majority, arising not only out of divisions of caste, but also out of differing religious beliefs. One great divide is between devotees of the god Vishnu and devotees of the god Shiva. There are also Hindus who are members of reform movements that began in the 19th century. The most significant of these is perhaps the Arya Samaj, which rejects divisions of caste and idol worship. Hindus may come together also as devotees of a guru. Despite its differences, the Hindu community shares many things in common. All Hindus who go to Brahman priests for the rituals connected with birth, marriage, and death will hear the same Sanskrit verses that have been memorized and repeated for hundreds of generations. Hindus also come from all parts of the country to visit pilgrimage sites. Four of the most sacred are at the four corners of India: Badrinath in the Himalayas; Rāmeswaram in Tamil Nādu state; Dwarka on the Gujarāt coast; and Puri in Orissa. Vārānasi is also a significant holy city for Hindus.

About 12 percent of the Indian population practices Islam, which also is divided into several different communities. The major division in the Muslim population is between Sunni and Shia branches. The Shia community has a significant presence in several areas, most notably in the cities of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Hyderābād in Andhra Pradesh. 

Muslim communities in India are generally more urban than rural. In many towns and cities in northern India, Muslims are one-third or more of the population. In addition to Jammu and Kashmīr and the Lakshadweep islands, where more than two-thirds of the population is Muslim, major concentrations of Muslims live in Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala states. About one-quarter of all Muslims living in India live in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

India’s other major religious groups include Christians (6 percent of the population), Sikhs (2 percent), Buddhists (0.7 percent), Jains (0.4 percent), a small number of Zoroastrians (or Parsis), and a few thousand Jews. Christians live primarily in urban areas throughout India, with major concentrations in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nādu, and Goa. Christians are a majority in three small states in the northeast: Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. Most Sikhs live in Punjab, generally in rural areas.

Buddhists live in small numbers in the Himalayas from Ladakh to Arunāchal Pradesh; many converts also live in Mahārāshtra. The Jains live mainly in the belt of western states, from Rājasthān through Gujarāt and Mahārāshtra to Karnātaka. This region has many magnificent Jain temples, supported substantially by prosperous Jain traders. Parsis live mainly in Mumbai and in cities in Gujarāt, and Jews have small communities in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Cochin.

Local communities of all these religions maintain institutions such as places of worship, schools, clubs, and charitable trusts that bring them together. Larger associations of religious groups also exist, including political parties. Such groups sometimes lobby the government in regard to legislation touching religious or social issues, such as the inheritance rights of women.

D  Castes
The caste system is pervasive in India. Although it is entwined in Hindu beliefs, it encompasses non-Hindus as well. A caste (jati in Sanskrit) is a social class to which a person belongs at birth and which is ranked against other castes, typically on a continuum of perceived purity and pollution. People generally marry within their own caste. In rural areas, caste may also govern where people live or what occupations they engage in. The particular features of the caste system vary considerably from community to community and across regions. Small geographical areas have their own group-specific caste hierarchies. There are thus thousands of castes in India. In traditional Hindu law texts, all castes are loosely grouped into four varnas, or classes. In order of hierarchy, these varnas are the Brahmans (priests and scholars), the Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), the Vaisyas (merchants, farmers, and traders), and the Sudras (laborers, including artisans, servants, and serfs). The varnas no longer strictly correspond to traditional professions. For example, most Brahmans today are not priests, but farmers, cooks, or other professionals. 

Ranked below the lowest caste were the people of no caste, the Untouchables or Harijans (“People of God,” a term first used by Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi). Untouchables traditionally performed tasks considered “polluting,” such as slaughtering animals or leatherworking. Physical contact with these people was viewed as defiling. The practice of labeling people Untouchable was outlawed by India’s constitution, although Harijans continue to face discrimination in getting work and housing. Today many former Untouchables prefer to be called dalits (Hindi for “oppressed ones”). 

Since independence the importance of caste has declined somewhat in India. Modern travel has brought people of every caste in contact with one another, since it is impossible to avoid physical contact with a former Untouchable in a crowded bus or train. Although caste is intimately linked with the giving and taking of food, no one can be certain of the caste of a person who cooks food in the restaurants and food stalls of towns and cities. There are no particular castes linked to the modern professions of bank clerk, postal worker, teacher, and lawyer. Many people have also been influenced by the nationalist movement’s ideological commitment to the equality of men and women, and lower castes have increasingly used the power of their numbers and their right to vote to gain social status in their local community. Yet castes have shown no sign of disappearing altogether, mainly because of the system of marriage. Almost all Hindu marriages in India are arranged, and almost all arranged marriages occur between people of the same caste. Only a handful of young people make “love marriages” across caste lines, and many suffer socially when they do so.

Muslims are often treated as just another caste, particularly in India’s villages. There are castelike categories among the Muslims as well. These are called brotherhoods in northern India, and they identify Muslims with their traditional occupations, such as butchers or leatherworkers. As with Hindus, Muslims marry within their brotherhood. Among Christians as well, in the 19th century and to a much less significant extent more recently, converts and their descendants continued to be identified by their Hindu caste of origin.

E  Language 

There are two great language families on the Indian subcontinent: the Indo-Iranian (or Indo-Aryan) branch of the Indo-European language family, most of which are spoken in the north, and the Dravidian languages, most of which are spoken in the south. The other major language groups are the Sino-Tibetan languages along the Himalayan ridge, with many languages spoken by few people, and the Austro-Asiatic languages of some tribal peoples. All these language families stretch far back in history and have influenced one another over centuries.

Indo-European languages stem originally from Sanskrit. Present-day languages in this family formed in the 14th and 15th centuries. These include Hindi and Urdu, which are similar as spoken languages. Hindi, spoken mainly by Hindus, is written in script called Devanagari and draws on Sanskrit vocabulary. Urdu is spoken mostly by Muslims and uses Persian Arabic script. Tamil is the oldest of the four main Dravidian languages, with a literary history that begins in the 1st century ad.

According to the national census of India, 114 languages and 216 dialects are spoken in the country. Eighteen Indian languages, plus English, have been given official status by the federal or state governments. Hindi is the main language of more than 40 percent of the population. No single language other than Hindi can claim speakers among even 10 percent of the total population. Hindi was therefore made India’s official language in 1965. English, which was associated with British rule, was retained as an option for official use because some non-Hindi speakers, particularly in Tamil Nādu, opposed the official use of Hindi. English is spoken by as many as 5 percent of Indians, and various Dravidian languages are spoken by about 25 percent. Many Indians speak more than one language, especially those who live in cities or near state borders, which were redrawn in 1956 in part to conform to linguistic boundaries. Because the languages of both northern and southern families are internally related, much like the Romance and Germanic languages of Europe, learning a second language is not difficult.

The many local languages and dialects in India are politically and socially significant. A politician, for example, may use the local dialect when campaigning in a village, switch to the official state language when speaking in a town, and then use Hindi or English to address parliament. The language one speaks can also limit one’s opportunities. People who use a local dialect are often identified as rustics or lower class, and they suffer discrimination. The spread of primary education, cinema, radio, and television is likely to enhance the standing of the state languages. India’s growing number of links to the global community are also likely to preserve English as the preferred language of elite education.

F  Education
India’s official goal for education since independence in 1947 has been to ensure free and compulsory education for all children up to age 14. A lack of money and effort put into primary education, however, has hampered the achievement of that goal. At independence 25 percent of males and 8 percent of females were literate. In 2004 those figures had been raised to 69 percent of males and 42 percent of females—56 percent of the overall population. The government invests comparatively more in secondary schools and institutions of higher education. There was no serious political demand for primary education until the 1990s, when a grassroots movement arose to organize volunteers and conduct campaigns for universal adult literacy.

Education for the elite has been a tradition in India since the beginnings of its civilization. Great Buddhist universities at Nalanda and Taxila were famous far beyond India’s borders. Withholding education from the nonelite, including women, has also been a tradition. The lowest caste members, including the Harijans and non-Hindu tribal groups, were denied the right even to hear the Vedas, sacred Hindu texts, recited.

State governments control their own school systems, with some assistance from the central government. The federal Ministry of Education directs the school systems of centrally administered areas, provides financial help for the nation’s institutions of higher learning, and handles tasks such as commissioning textbooks. The Indian education system is based on 12 years of schooling, which generally begins at age 6 and includes 5 years of primary school, 3 years of middle school, 2 years of secondary school, and 2 years of higher secondary school. Completion of higher secondary education is required for entry to institutions of higher education, which include universities and institutes of technology. While most students enroll in government schools, the number of private institutions is increasing at all educational levels. Indians have a right to establish institutions to provide education in their native language and with a religious or cultural emphasis, although the schools must conform to state regulation of teaching standards. Students begin specializing in subjects at the level of higher secondary school. A university typically has one or more colleges of law, medicine, engineering, and commerce, and many have colleges of agriculture. Prestigious and highly selective institutes of management have been established. The educational establishment also includes a number of high-level scientific and social science institutes, as well as academies devoted to the arts.

In 1998–1999 elementary and middle level schools enrolled about 135 million pupils, and secondary schools 51 million. Total yearly enrollment in institutions of higher education was 9.4 million. India has some 581,300 primary and upper primary schools, many of them one-room (or even open-air) operations with poorly paid teachers. There are approximately 117,000 secondary schools, 11,400 colleges, and 230 universities and institutions with university status. The universities of Kolkata, Madras, and Bombay, founded in 1857, are the oldest still operating in India, although colleges existed in those cities before that date. Other major universities in India include Banaras Hindu University, in Vārānasi; Alīgarh Muslim University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi; Āgra University; the University of Bihār; the University of Delhi; Gauhati University; Gorakhpur University; Gujarāt University; Kānpur University; the University of Kerala, in Thiruvananthapuram (also known as Trivandrum); the University of Mysore; the University of Pune; and the University of Rājasthān, in Jaipur. 

G  Way of Life 

The life of Indians is centered in the family. Extended families often live together, with two or more adult generations, or brothers, sharing a house. In much of the countryside, neighboring houses share a wall, so from the street one sees a continuous wall pierced by doorways. In other areas, in the south for example, the main house will have a veranda on the street, with an open courtyard behind. As farmers prosper, they change from adobe construction to brick plastered with cement, and from a tile or thatch roof to a flat concrete or corrugated metal one. Most home activity is outside in the compound courtyard or on the verandas of the house.

Only in a few parts of India, such as Kerala and Bengal, do people live on their farmland. The village is thus a settlement area, or a set of settlement areas, surrounded by unbroken fields, with farms frequently made up of separated plots. A large village will have a primary school, perhaps a temple or mosque, and a small shop or two. Some artisans have workshops in their houses. Most villages and settlement areas are fairly small, with about 100 to 200 families and a land area of about 250 hectares (about 620 acres) in regions where the land is irrigated, or three or four times that in dry areas. Paved roads and electricity have been extended to the majority of villages, making them less isolated. Many villagers now work for part of the day or part of the year in nearby towns or cities, while continuing to farm or to work as day laborers in agriculture or construction.

Men work mainly in the fields, although where rice is grown, women transplant the seedlings. The entire family will pitch in at harvest time because most agricultural work is still done by hand. Women fetch water, prepare meals, clean, and care for milking animals that are stabled in or near the house compound. Among Hindus particularly, most worship is done in the home, where a room or an alcove is devoted to images of a god or gods. Young girls are expected to help with the women’s work, and girls care for their younger siblings. Boys have fewer responsibilities, although they often herd goats and bring cattle to and from the fields.

In most cases a woman who marries moves to her husband’s village from her home village. Visits to her birth family, who may live a day’s journey or more away, are generally rare, especially as the woman grows older. Senior men (and their wives) exercise power in the family. Disputes within the family, which can be common, may result in partitioning of land or even of the house compound.

In the cities families still remain the center of social life. Different families (of the same or similar caste) may occupy different floors of the same house. Newer housing is in the form of apartment blocks for the poor and lower middle class, and separate two- and three-story houses on very small plots for the rich and upper middle class. Most women in cities work in the home, although some may supplement the family income through craft work such as embroidery. Poor women may work as house servants, laborers on construction sites, or street vendors. Increasingly among the educated, however, women have their own jobs as teachers, clerks or secretaries, or professionals.

Meals in village India consist mainly of the staple grain—rice, or wheat in the form of unleavened bread baked on a griddle—with stir-fried vegetables, cooked lentils, and yogurt. Each part of the country has its own cuisine, with differences in the kinds and mix of spices, in the cooking oil used (mustard oil in the north, coconut oil in the south), and in favored vegetables or meats. In seasons of scarcity, such as the months before the harvest, the poor may be reduced to having just a chili pepper or salt to flavor their rice or bread. Vegetables are those in season, and cooked food is generally not stored. Food at weddings or other celebrations can be very elaborate.

In urban areas meals are still organized around a staple grain, but the variety and amount of vegetables and meat are greater. Food is bought and consumed on the same day, and even those families with refrigerators typically use them only to keep water, soft drinks, or milk cool. Social visiting in cities is also mainly with relatives or among students with their classmates. The upper classes will entertain friends or business acquaintances at home, but men of other classes will more often meet at restaurants or tea stalls to socialize.

The basic traditional clothing for most Indians, men and women, is a simple draped cloth. For women this is the sari, which is wrapped as an ankle-length skirt and draped over one shoulder, with a fitted shirt underneath. Styles of tying the sari vary among regions and communities. Except for widows, who wear plain white, saris are generally colorful and can be made of cotton or the finest embroidered silks. Village men and men in some urban areas such as Kerala wear a cloth called a dhoti in its full-length form. In north India it is typically tied with one or both ends brought between the legs and tucked in, to form loose “pant” legs. In the south, the full cloth or a half-sized one is wrapped as a cylinder, an ankle-length skirt that can be pulled up and tucked in itself to form a short skirt when work requiring movement is done. Muslims tend to wear the half-cloth in colored cottons rather than the white with thin colored border favored by Hindus.

In Punjab, women, especially Sikh women, wear a baggy pants-and-shirt outfit known as the salwar-kameez. In Rājasthān and elsewhere long skirts and bodices are worn. This is also a common dress among young girls throughout the country. Men in northern India may also wear a pants-and-shirt outfit called the pajama-kurta. The pajama, which originated in India, is made of white cloth and can be loose or form-fitting. The tight-fitting style is often worn with a long closed-collar coat (the sherwani) made famous in the West when India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wore it. Also called the Nehru jacket, it is the most formal dress for men. Turbans are worn by a broad range of men, especially Sikhs and Hindus. Muslims can often be identified by their embroidered caps.

Western-style clothing has virtually replaced traditional dress for men, especially in northern India. Most women continue to wear the sari or other Indian dress. In major urban areas such as Mumbai, Western-style clothing is increasingly popular among the emerging middle class. Many Indians are familiar with images of Western popular culture, including styles of dress, from television, magazines, and other mass media. The younger urban generation tends to emulate Western styles. Fashionable Indian clothing often incorporates some elements of Western wear with traditional textiles and forms. 

Cricket and soccer have been popular sports in India since the colonial period. India’s national cricket team competes at the highest international level. Soccer is popular in eastern India. In central India men play a traditional Indian team sport, kabaddi, that requires quickness and strength. The oldest sport, one that goes back to the time of the Hindu epics, is freestyle wrestling. Wrestling clubs, presided over by a guru, feature a regimen of Hindu religious ritual and practice.

There are a number of traditional games played mainly by men. These include chess, which originated in India, and pachisi, which literally means “twenty-five,” after the number of spaces moved in one throw of the dice in the original Indian game. Card games also are common as is gambling.

Indians with leisure time and money, such as the middle class, go to the cinema, or increasingly watch television. During school holidays families may visit relatives or go briefly to hill resorts where it is cooler. In rural areas, slack times in the agricultural cycle allow families to go on pilgrimage or attend weddings, which include much feasting. India has many religious festivals, which provide occasions for even more feasting and conversation, perhaps accompanied by music or a dance or folk theater performance.

H  Social Issues 

Social problems in India center on the connected issues of poverty and inequality. Particularly in rural areas lower castes and marginal social groups, such as tribal people and Muslims, are generally poor. India’s poor face disease, scarce educational opportunities, and often physical abuse by those who control their livelihood. It is difficult or impossible for the poor to escape and enter the modernizing sector of society, where discrimination on the basis of caste or community is less prevalent. In all classes and in urban as well as rural areas, discrimination and at times violence against women is almost taken for granted.

Poverty has been reduced in India since independence, although in 2000, 28.60 percent of the population still lived below the poverty line. Industrialization has created jobs in the cities, and rural workers have been able to diversify their sources of income. Urban workers at entry level, however, are usually forced to live in appalling conditions in slums.

Modern water supply and sanitation arrangements are rare in the poor areas of most towns and cities and are lacking entirely in most villages. As a result, many Indians suffer and even die from diarrhea, malaria, typhoid, and cholera. India has succeeded in eradicating smallpox and has brought down the overall death rate, in significant part by investing in a health-care system that includes hospitals, clinics, and drug manufacture and distribution. By the mid-1990s acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) emerged as a serious problem. To combat the disease, the Indian government, with help from volunteer groups, established a vigorous AIDS-awareness program.

Part of the problem of disease and poverty in villages is that poor people cannot afford the money and time it takes to provide treatment for their children, many of whom are already weakened by an inadequate diet. Girls of all classes are given less medical care than their brothers and so die in greater numbers. Many parents prefer sons, who remain with them and provide security for them in old age. Because daughters often require a dowry at marriage and are unlikely to earn an income that could raise a family’s economic position, they are seen as a liability. The spread of family planning facilities and the increase in confidence that children would survive to adulthood has helped reduce the preferred family size to just three children: two sons and a daughter. Second- and third-born daughters, especially in families without sons, continue to die at rates greater than average.

Discrimination against women does not end with childhood, nor is it confined to the countryside. Although India has had a woman as prime minister, the percentage of women serving in political or administrative office still remains very low. Some women are major leaders of grassroots movements, and women play an active role in India’s vigorous press. Yet women are rare in senior business positions and in the legal and medical professions. Women’s movements to combat violence against women have had considerable success in raising awareness of the issue and stimulating government action.

Discrimination against lower caste members, including the Harijans or former Untouchables, is still a problem in India. As a result violence between castes sometimes breaks out. Since independence, many lower caste groups have mobilized politically and have achieved positions of power or leverage in several states. More than 50 percent of the positions in the national civil service are reserved for members of lower castes. Efforts to organize the landless and the homeless, however, have not enjoyed the same success. In rural areas, men of lower caste traditionally serve those of higher caste. This situation has aggravated caste conflict and has helped to keep the poor politically and socially weak. 

Relations between Hindus and Muslims have also been problematic. After the partition of British India into India and Pakistan, Muslims of the northern provinces who stayed in India—where they were a minority—became vulnerable. Riots between Hindus and Muslims have occurred on occasion since the mid-1960s. Muslims in rural areas remain largely untouched by the conflict. Riots tend not to occur in areas where there are structures of mutual social or economic advantage—for example, in towns with a large industry owned by Hindus and employing Muslims. Also, at the personal level, there are many examples of friendships and mutual respect. Muslim leaders have served as presidents of India, and Muslims have held positions of great prominence in all fields, including the military.

IV  ARTS 

The arts in India date back thousands of years. India’s earliest known civilization, the Indus Valley civilization (about 2500-1700 bc) produced fine sculpted figures and seals. The basis for Indian music may well be traced to the chanting of the Vedas, the Hindu sacred texts composed between about 1500 and 1000 bc. Architecture from the time of the Buddha (563?-483? bc) includes stone structures called stupas that resemble earlier wooden ones. Much of Indian literature has its roots in the great Sanskrit epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana, which date from 400 bc. Secular literature in the form of story and drama has been important since the classical age of the 4th century ad. Royal patronage of these art forms continued throughout history, and the government of independent India also supports the arts with national academies for music, art, drama, literature, and other programs. There are yearly prizes for work in all the Indian languages, and in the several musical, dramatic, and art traditions. The government’s national radio network is a major employer of musicians.

As India has incorporated different peoples, so, too, has its culture absorbed outside influences. Sculpture derived from the Greeks developed a uniquely Indian style over time (the Gandhara school). Musical instruments brought by the Muslims in the 15th century were incorporated into existing musical methods in Hindu devotional poetry and song. Similar patterns are found in painting and architecture in the period of Mughal rule and patronage. British rule had no influence on classical music, but popular music was changed, particularly in the 20th century. Prose literature, and to a lesser extent poetry, was transformed by the model of the English novel, short story, and romantic poem. The British adapted Indian domestic architecture (the bungalow) and blended Mughal, Hindu, and European forms into a distinctive monumental architecture, visible most significantly in New Delhi.

Folk culture varies among regional and ethnic groups. Street magic shows and episodes from religious texts are dramatically staged in urban and rural areas. India is known for artistry in jewelry, textiles, paintings on the walls of mud houses, and images cast in metal through the lost-wax method (a process using wax to form a mold). Music and dance are performed in temples, at festivals, and at ceremonial functions at home.