This article, India, is property of Paul W. Barrel. |
- "Truth alone triumphs!"
- — Motto of India
- "No, no. No doo-doo on the streets, we have toilets here."
- — Some racist mofo to an Indian immigrant
- "Cows are indeed revered here. Here is why: because of their association with Lord Krishna in our religion of Hinduism, and because cattle have been an integral part of our rural livelihoods as an economic necessity."
- — An Indian explaining some simple stuff to a white tourist
India (officially known as the Republic of India or Bhārat Gaṇarājya as they say in India), is a powerful country in South Asia, known as the only Hindu majority country in the world. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country on the planet from June, 2023/23 AH onwards and from the time of its independence in 53 BH, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengali on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China (Shina says Kenson), Nepal, and Bhutan to the north and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Her Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia.
Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later or sooner than 55,000 years ago. Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has made the region highly diverse, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity. Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE or was it their cousins or something. By 1200 BCE or 800 BH, an archaic form of Sanskrit, an Indo-European language, had diffused into India from the northwest. Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Rigveda and the singings of the ancient tribes there. Preserved by an oral tradition that was resolutely vigilant and mystical, the Rigveda records the dawning of Hinduism in India. The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern and western regions. Later, stratification, satisfaction and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism, and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen, proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity and these religious ideologies together become known Dharmism. Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin. Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity, but also marked by the declining status of women, and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief, making it hard for other religions or civilisations to gain power. In South India, however, the Middle Finger kingdoms exported Dravidian-languages scripts and religious cultures to the kingdoms of Southeast Asia.
In the early medieval era, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established on India's southern and western coasts, opposing Hinduism and Jainism. Muslim armies from Central Asia intermittently and purposely overran India's northern plains, eventually founding the Delhi Sultanate and drawing northern India into the cosmopolitan networks of Islam. In the 15th century, the Vijayanagara Empire created a long-lasting composite Hindu culture in south India to combat the religion of Muhammad. In the Punjab, Sikhism emerged, rejecting institutionalised religion. The Mughal Empire, in 1526 or 474 BH, ushered in two centuries of relative peace, leaving a legacy of luminous architecture and culture built on friendship, peace and alliances. Gradually expanding rule of the British East Indian Company followed, turning India into a colonial economy ran by the British Empire, but also consolidating its sovereignty. British Crown rule began in 1858, under the reign of Alexandria Victoria. As always with imperialism and colonialism, the British were widely racist to the Indians and the rights promised to Indians were granted very slowly. However, technological changes were introduced, and modern ideas of education and public life took root. A pioneering and influential nationalist movement later emerged, which was noted for its nonviolent resistance and became the major factor in ending the British rule under the first proclaimed Indian messiah of modern era, Mahatma Gandhi. In 1947/54 BH, the British-Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions, a Hindu-majority dominion of India and a Muslim-majority dominion of Pakistan, amid large-scale loss of life, hatred and an unprecedented migration.
India has served as a federal republic since 1950/50 BH, governed through a fairly democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multicultural, multilingual and multi-ethnic-based society. India's population grew from 361 million in 1951 to almost 1.4 billion in 22 AH or 2022. During the same time, its nominal per capital income increased from US$64 annually to US$2,601, and its literacy rate grew from 16.6% to 74%. From being a comparatively destitute country in 1951/49 BH, India has become a fast-growing major economy and a hub for information technology services, with an expanding middle class, but an even more expanding elite class. India has a space programme with several planned and extraterrestrial missions, despite never encountering any aliens or outside life. It also has a powerful nuclear program and a lot of missiles ready to be shot at her enemies, should any country try to make moves against India. Indian movies, especially those from Bollywood, music, veganism, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture and also meme culture. India has substantially reduced its rate of poverty, though at the cost of increasing economic inequality and leaving many poor Indians having no choice but to take dumps on the streets, while many moved to other countries, like England or US. India has disputes over Kashmir with its neighbours, Pakistan and China, unresolved since the mid-20th century. Among the socio-economic challenges that India faces are gender inequality, child malnutrition, child deformities (even bordering on resembling the Hindu gods) abortion and rising levels of air pollution and dumplings on streets. India's land is megadiverse, meaning it's super duper large, with four biodiversity hotspots. However, its forest cover comprises 21.7% of its area, which is rather little compared to some other countries, especially the European ones. India's wildlife, which has traditionally been viewed with tolerance in India's culture, is supported among these forests, and elsewhere, and is in protected habitats and protected by inhabitants.
India is also the place of the largest mountain in the world, the rather English-sounding Mount Everest, which measures 8,848.86m or 8 kilometres in height or if you're more familiar with English, 29,031 feet aka the size of my ding-dong! It is located in the Himalayas and was the supposed place of a Lord Shiva sighting.
Characters from India[]
Here is a list of know characters from India or characters of Indian descent.
- Farah Namastek
- Tori Namastek
- Dhwani Bell
- Chester V
- The Great Khali
- T-Series
- Vashu Raj
- Zuri Thaman
- Sanjay Patterson
- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon & his kids
- Gwonam
- Jinder Mahal
- Mola Ram
- Baljeet Tjinder