Ø Much of India forms a peninsula that extends southward into the Indian Ocean. India is bordered on the west by the Arabian Sea and Pakistan; on the north by China, Nepal, and Bhutan; and on the east by Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the Bay of Bengal. India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan are sometimes said to make up a region called the Indian subcontinent.
Ø India is a land of great variety and contrast. The mighty snow-capped Himalaya, the world's tallest mountain system, rises along its northern border. A vast, scorching desert lies in the west, but parts of eastern India receive some of the highest rainfall in the world. The country also has broad plains, winding rivers, lush rain forests, and tropical lowlands.
Ø The people of India belong to a variety of ethnic groups and speak hundreds of dialects and languages. Hindi is the national language and is widely spoken in north and central India.
Ø Most Indians are farmers, and they depend on seasonal rains to grow their crops. These farmers live in villages throughout the land. On the other hand, a growing number of Indians work in offices and factories in the country's cities. The urban centers of Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai are among the largest in the world.
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Literature
Ø All of India's major languages have written literatures, many of which are at least 1,000 years old. The earliest Indian written works—the Vedas—are about 3,000 years old. Composed in an early form of Sanskrit, these Hindu scriptures are poetical compositions that discuss God, the universe, and the nature of life.
Ø India's two great epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, were also composed in Sanskrit. Parts of the Mahabharata, which includes the Bhagavad-Gita, are probably more than 2,500 years old. The Ramayana was likely begun about the same time. These poems have inspired Indian literature through the centuries. Today, they are generally read not in Sanskrit but in other Indian languages and English.
Ø Many of the world's fables and folk tales come from India. The oldest collection of fables in India, the Panchatantra, may date from as early as the 200's B.C.
Ø From about A.D. 500 to 1600, a social and religious movement called bhakti swept across India. Bhakti influenced the development of regional languages because it emphasized people's everyday speech. Many bhakti poets, including Jnanadeva, Kabir, Mira Bai, Surdas, and Tulsidas, are still among the most widely read authors in India. Their hymns are also set to music.
Ø Later Indian literature continued to be written in all the major Indian languages and English. For example, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, sometimes called the father of the Indian novel, wrote in Bengali. His historical novels about Indian heroes helped spread Indian nationalism in the 1800's. Bengali-language writers of the early 1900's include Rabindranath Tagore, whose spiritual poetry won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1913, and Saratchandra Chatterji (also spelled Saratcandra Chattopadhyaya), whose novels emphasize social issues. Several well-known Indian-born writers in the late 1900's wrote in English. These included R. K. Narayan, whose novels depict Indian village life, and Salman Rushdie, whose writings combine fantasy, satire, and Hindu and Islamic lore.
