Category:India



Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under Ashoka - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkic in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru brought independence in 1947 A.D.. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 A.D. resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons testing in 1998 A.D. caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. The dispute between the countries over the state of Kashmir is ongoing, but discussions and confidence-building measures have led to decreased tensions since 2002 A.D..

English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language.

In"di*a, n. Etym: [See Indian.]

Defn: A country in Southern Asia; the two peninsulas of Hither and Farther India; in a restricted sense, Hither India, or Hindostan. India ink, a nearly black pigment brought chiefly from China, used for water colors. It is in rolls, or in square, and consists of lampblack or ivory black and animal glue. Called also China ink. The true India ink is sepia. See Sepia. -- India matting, floor matting made in China, India, etc., from grass and reeds; -- also called Canton, or China, matting. -- India paper, a variety of Chinese paper, of smooth but not glossy surface, used for printing from engravings, woodcuts, etc. -- India proof (Engraving), a proof impression from an engraved plate, taken on India paper. -- India rubber. See Caoutchouc. -- India-rubber tree (Bot.), any tree yielding caoutchouc, but especially the East Indian Ficus elastica, often cultivated for its large, shining, elliptical leaves.

Illustrated Bible Dictionary
---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

India - Occurs only in Esther 1:1 and Esther 8:9, where the extent of the dominion of the Persian king is described. The country so designated here is not the peninsula of Hindustan, but the country surrounding the Indus, the Punjab. The people and the products of India were well known to the Jews, who seem to have carried on an active trade with that country (Ezekiel 27:15, Ezekiel 27:24).