108 Fun Facts About India

What is the capital of India?

New Delhi, a planned city beside old Delhi, was inaugurated as the imperial capital in 1931, replacing Calcutta; Mumbai is the larger city by population.

India ranks where among the world's countries by land area?

Seventh: only Russia, Canada, China, the USA, Brazil and Australia are larger by area. By population India overtook China in 2023 to become the largest.

On what date did India gain independence from Britain?

India became independent on 15 August 1947, the midnight Nehru marked with his 'Tryst with Destiny' speech; 26 January 1950, when the constitution took effect, became Republic Day.

Which river gives India its name?

The Greeks called the river Indos; ironically most of the Indus now flows through Pakistan. The constitution's other name for the country is Bharat.

Which ancient urban culture flourished in the subcontinent around 2500-1900 BCE?

The Indus Valley Civilisation: its cities Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had grid streets and covered drains, and its script has never been deciphered.

How many states does India have?

India has 28 states since Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into union territories in 2019; the newest state before that, Telangana, was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.

Which is India's most populous state, with almost 200 million people at the 2011 census?

Uttar Pradesh had 199.8 million people at the 2011 census, about a sixth of India; Sikkim, with about 610,000, was the least populous state.

How many languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule of India's constitution?

The Eighth Schedule lists 22 languages, from Assamese to Urdu. Hindi is the most spoken first language at about 44%, and the constitution names no single national language.

India's founding legal charter, in force since 26 January 1950, holds which world record?

The longest written national constitution: it originally ran to 395 articles and 22 parts, took nearly three years to draft, and was hand-lettered by calligrapher Prem Behari Narain Raizada.

How many spokes does the Ashoka Chakra at the centre of the Indian flag have?

The Ashoka Chakra has 24 spokes. The navy-blue wheel is taken from the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, which is also India's national emblem.

Who designed the Indian national flag?

Pingali Venkayya, a freedom fighter from Andhra, presented the tricolour design to Gandhi in 1921. For decades every flag had to be made of khadi; the rule was relaxed in 2021.

What is the national animal of India?

The Bengal tiger replaced the Asiatic lion as India's national animal in the early 1970s, when Project Tiger launched; the 2022 census counted about 3,680 wild tigers in India, roughly three quarters of the world's total.

Which bird is India's national bird?

The peacock got the job in 1963; the elephant is separately the 'national heritage animal' and the Ganges river dolphin the national aquatic animal.

India's national anthem, 'Jana Gana Mana', was composed by whom?

Rabindranath Tagore wrote 'Jana Gana Mana' in 1911; his 'Amar Shonar Bangla' later became Bangladesh's anthem. The separate national song is Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's 'Vande Mataram'.

In 1913 the poet of Gitanjali became the first non-European to win which honour?

Rabindranath Tagore won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature for Gitanjali, the first non-European laureate in that category; he renounced his British knighthood after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for whom?

More than 20,000 workers laboured on the white-marble mausoleum in Agra from 1632; Shah Jahan was eventually buried beside her.

On the bank of which river does the Taj Mahal stand?

The Taj Mahal stands on the south bank of the Yamuna at Agra; it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and was voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007.

Who founded the Mughal Empire after defeating the Sultan of Delhi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526?

Babur, a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan, founded the dynasty in 1526 and wrote a candid memoir, the Baburnama; the Mughal court language was Persian.

Which Mughal emperor pushed the empire to its greatest territorial extent?

Aurangzeb's Deccan conquests took the Mughal Empire to its greatest extent by his death in 1707, covering almost the whole subcontinent; the last emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was exiled to Burma after the 1857 uprising.

Emperor Ashoka embraced Buddhism and non-violence after the brutal conquest of which region?

Kalinga, on the Odisha coast, fell to Ashoka around 261 BCE with enormous slaughter; his remorse is recorded in his rock edicts. He ruled the Mauryan Empire from Pataliputra around 268-232 BCE.

Gandhi's 1930 Salt March covered about 388 km from Ahmedabad to which coastal village?

Dandi, on the Gujarat coast, where on 6 April 1930 he picked up a lump of natural salt to defy the British monopoly; the march from Sabarmati Ashram took 24 days and drew worldwide coverage.

Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is observed worldwide as what?

The UN declared 2 October the International Day of Non-Violence in 2007. In India it is Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday; the honorific Mahatma means 'great-souled'.

Before returning to India, Gandhi spent 21 years practising law and organising protest in which country?

South Africa, from 1893 to 1914: he was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg for sitting in a first-class carriage, an episode he called a turning point.

Who was India's first prime minister?

Jawaharlal Nehru served from independence in 1947 until his death in May 1964, 16 years and 286 days; his birthday, 14 November, is celebrated in India as Children's Day.

Diwali, the festival of lights, is traditionally linked to the homecoming of which figure to Ayodhya?

Rama's return to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and his defeat of Ravana is the story behind the lamps; celebrants light diyas, draw rangoli and set off fireworks, and many honour Lakshmi, goddess of wealth.

Holi, the festival of colours, marks the arrival of which season?

Spring: Holi falls on the full moon of Phalguna, usually in March, as winter ends; the night before, bonfires called Holika Dahan burn to mark good over evil.

Holi's association with Radha and Krishna makes which region its spiritual heartland?

Braj, the region around Mathura and Vrindavan where Krishna is said to have grown up; in its town of Barsana women famously chase men with sticks in the 'Lathmar Holi'.

Roughly how many free meals does the Golden Temple's community kitchen in Amritsar serve each day?

Over 100,000: the langar feeds anyone regardless of faith, about 100,000 meals on an ordinary day and more on festivals; the shrine's four entrances symbolise that openness, and its gold leaf was donated by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1830.

Which gathering, rotating among Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain, is the world's largest?

About 660 million people attended in 2025; UNESCO added it to its intangible heritage list in 2017.

What is Bollywood?

The Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai; the name blends the city's former name with Hollywood and covers only Hindi cinema. India as a whole makes more films than any other country.

Raja Harishchandra, India's first feature-length film, was made in which year by Dadasaheb Phalke?

Raja Harishchandra premiered in 1913 as a silent film; the first Indian talkie, Alam Ara, followed in 1931, and India's top film honour is named after Phalke.

Satyajit Ray's 1955 debut Pather Panchali was the first film of which celebrated series?

The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) follow Apu from village childhood to adulthood. Ray received an honorary Oscar in 1992, 24 days before his death, and the Bharat Ratna the same year.

India won its first Cricket World Cup in 1983 under which captain?

Kapil Dev captained the side that beat the mighty West Indies in the 1983 final in London; the next title came in 2011 under MS Dhoni, on home soil in Mumbai.

Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013 with how many international centuries?

100: 51 in Tests and 49 in one-day internationals, the last coming against Bangladesh in March 2012. He debuted for India at 16 and in 2014 became the youngest recipient of the Bharat Ratna.

At which London ground did India play its first Test match, in June 1932?

Lord's, where in June 1932 India lost its inaugural Test to England by 158 runs; cricket had reached India with British traders in the early 1700s.

In August 2023 Chandrayaan-3 made India the first country to land a spacecraft where?

Near the Moon's south pole, a region no craft had reached before; the 23 August 2023 touchdown also made India only the fourth nation to soft-land on the Moon at all.

What did ISRO's 2014 Mangalyaan mission achieve that no other nation had?

Mangalyaan reached Mars orbit at the first attempt on 24 September 2014, a first for any nation; it was also the first Asian craft to orbit Mars, built for less than the film Gravity cost.

India's first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1975, was named after which ancient astronomer?

Aryabhata, the 5th-century astronomer who computed pi to four decimals; the satellite lifted off on a Soviet rocket on 19 April 1975. ISRO, headquartered in Bengaluru, launched its first solar probe, Aditya-L1, in 2023.

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the country's 11th president, was popularly known by which nickname?

The Missile Man of India, for leading the Agni and Prithvi programmes: he spent four decades at DRDO and ISRO, helped run the 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear tests, and died giving a lecture at IIM Shillong in 2015.

Which 'taxicab number' linked to Ramanujan is the smallest expressible as the sum of two cubes in two ways?

1729 = 1³ + 12³ = 9³ + 10³. When G. H. Hardy called his taxi's number dull on a hospital visit, Ramanujan corrected him instantly; he was elected to the Royal Society in 1918.

The rules for arithmetic with zero were first set out in the 7th century by which Indian mathematician?

Brahmagupta's Brahmasphutasiddhanta of 628 CE gave rules for adding, subtracting and multiplying with zero; the decimal place-value system spread from India through the Arab world to Europe.

Chess descends from which game that emerged in ancient India?

Chaturanga, whose name means 'four divisions' of the army - infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots - which became pawn, knight, bishop and rook; it reached Persia as chatrang.

Which peak is the highest point in India?

Kangchenjunga, at 8,586 m the world's third-highest peak, straddles the Sikkim-Nepal border; Nanda Devi, 7,816 m, is the highest mountain lying entirely within India.

Which village in Meghalaya is often cited as the wettest place on Earth?

Mawsynram, averaging about 11,870 mm of rain a year, on the windward side of the Khasi Hills; nearby Cherrapunji held the title for decades and holds the record for a single year, 26,461 mm in 1860-61.

The Sundarbans delta, shared with Bangladesh, is home to the world's largest what?

The world's largest mangrove forest, about 10,000 km² across India and Bangladesh and a UNESCO site; it is also one of the last strongholds of the swimming Bengal tiger.

India's financial capital and Bollywood's home officially dropped which former name in 1995?

Bombay became Mumbai in 1995, after the Marathi name for the city; it was built on seven islands and hosts the Bombay Stock Exchange. Madras and Calcutta later became Chennai and Kolkata.

India's first passenger train in 1853 ran 34 km from Mumbai to which town?

Thane: the Great Indian Peninsula Railway ran the 34 km from Bori Bunder on 16 April 1853 with 14 carriages and some 400 passengers; Indian Railways grew into one of the world's largest employers.

The world's tallest statue, the 182-metre Statue of Unity in Gujarat, depicts whom?

Patel, who stitched 500-plus princely states into the new India, is honoured facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam; Narendra Modi unveiled it in 2018.

Which Indian city is nicknamed the 'Pink City' for its terracotta-coloured old town?

Jaipur: its old city was painted pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales, and the colour was kept by civic rule. Jodhpur is the Blue City and Jaisalmer the Golden City.

Which staples of Indian cooking today only reached India after the Portuguese arrived?

Chilli, potato and tomato are all New World crops that Portuguese traders brought after 1498; before then Indian heat came from black pepper and long pepper.

Chicken tikka masala has been famously described as what?

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook called it 'a true British national dish' in a 2001 speech on multiculturalism; its origins are usually placed in Britain's curry houses, where chicken tikka gained its creamy sauce.

Which state is India's largest by area?

Rajasthan, about 342,000 square kilometres, holds most of the Thar Desert; Goa, at 3,702 square kilometres, is the smallest state.

Which of these countries does NOT share a land border with India?

India's neighbours by land are Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar; Sri Lanka lies across the Palk Strait.

What is the southernmost tip of mainland India called?

Kanyakumari, formerly Cape Comorin, where the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean meet; the Vivekananda Rock Memorial stands on a rock just offshore.

Which Indian state markets itself to tourists as 'God's Own Country'?

Kerala: the 'God's Own Country' tagline promotes its backwaters and Ayurveda resorts; the state also recorded India's highest literacy rate, about 94%, at the 2011 census.

In which year did India conduct its first nuclear weapons test?

1974: the 'Smiling Buddha' device was detonated underground at Pokhran on 18 May 1974, billed as a peaceful nuclear explosion; China's 1964 test had pushed India toward the bomb, and five more tests followed in 1998.

Which Indian city is nicknamed the 'Silicon Valley of India' for its IT industry?

Bengaluru, Karnataka's capital, is home to the headquarters of Infosys and Wipro and earned the 'Silicon Valley of India' tag as software exports boomed in the 1990s.

How many high courts sit below the Supreme Court in India's judiciary?

25, the 25th being the Andhra Pradesh High Court created in 2019; the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, has original jurisdiction over disputes between states and the union.

Which everyday English word comes from a Hindi instruction to press and knead the muscles?

Shampoo meant a massage when it entered English in 1762. The word only came to mean washing the hair about a century later.

Which board game began in ancient India as Moksha Patam, a lesson in virtue and vice?

Snakes and Ladders used ladders for virtues and snakes for vices on a journey through life. It reached Britain in the 1890s, and Milton Bradley later sold it as Chutes and Ladders.

Operation Flood, the 'White Revolution' launched in 1970, made India the world's largest producer of which food?

Milk production rose until India passed the United States as the world's top producer in 1998. A national grid linked village dairies to more than 700 towns and cities.

Which diamond, surrendered to Queen Victoria in 1849 by Punjab's boy maharaja, is displayed at the Tower of London?

Koh-i-Noor is Persian for 'Mountain of Light'. India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have all claimed ownership, while Britain maintains it was acquired legally by treaty.

Which isolated tribe on an Andaman island is shielded by an Indian law banning travel within five kilometres?

The Sentinelese have had minimal contact with outsiders and are usually hostile to anyone who lands. India keeps a constant armed patrol in the surrounding waters to prevent intrusions.

Ravi Shankar, a major influence on Beatles guitarist George Harrison, was a virtuoso of which stringed instrument?

Sitar sounds entered Western pop when Harrison bought one and played it on the Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood'. Shankar went on to perform at Woodstock in 1969.

In which sport did India's men win six consecutive Olympic gold medals between 1928 and 1956?

Field hockey has brought India a record eight Olympic golds in the men's event. Pakistan ended the streak by beating India in the 1960 final in Rome.

Gir National Park in Gujarat shelters the world's only wild population of which big cat?

The Asiatic lion ranged from Saudi Arabia and Turkey to central India until the 19th century. Its numbers have climbed steadily since a count of just 411 animals in 2010.

Which ancient Indian practice has been honoured with its own United Nations international day every 21 June since 2015?

Yoga got its day after 177 nations co-sponsored India's proposal, a record for a resolution of its kind. The date was picked as the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Which planned city, designed by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, serves as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana?

Chandigarh belongs to neither state: it is a union territory in its own right. It was built after Partition left Punjab's old capital, Lahore, in Pakistan.

Which river, the most sacred to Hindus, was declared India's 'National River' in 2008?

The Ganges, alone among India's rivers, holds the title. It came with a basin authority given greater powers to protect the water from pollution.

Which mountain range along India's northern edge takes its name from the Sanskrit for 'abode of snow'?

Himalayas joins the Sanskrit hima, 'frost' or 'cold', with alaya, 'dwelling'. The range was pushed up when the Indian tectonic plate collided with Eurasia.

Which Indian state, the country's smallest by area, was ruled by Portugal for about 450 years until 1961?

Goa stayed Portuguese for fourteen years after the British left, until India annexed it in December 1961. Its Bom Jesus Basilica and old churches are a World Heritage Site.

Which Hindu holy city, long known as Benares, is famed for riverside ghats where the dead are cremated?

Varanasi is one of seven holy cities said to grant moksha. In Hindu tradition, a person who dies there is freed from the cycle of death and rebirth.

Which port city on the Hooghly River served as the capital of British India until 1911?

Kolkata was spelled Calcutta in English until 2001, when the official name changed to match Bengali pronunciation. It is the capital of West Bengal.

Which desert, straddling the border of India and Pakistan, is the most densely populated in the world?

The Thar, also called the Great Indian Desert, holds about 83 people per square kilometre. Most of its people live by herding animals, limited farming and handicrafts.

At which Mughal-era landmark does India's prime minister raise the flag and address the nation every Independence Day?

The Red Fort was commissioned by Shah Jahan when he moved the Mughal capital from Agra. The prime minister raises the tricolour at its main gate, then speaks from the ramparts.

Who was the last British Viceroy of India, overseeing the 1947 handover of power and Partition?

Louis Mountbatten brought the date of partition forward from June 1948 by ten months. He then stayed on as independent India's first governor-general.

Who became India's first female prime minister in 1966 and later ruled by decree during the 1975 Emergency?

Indira Gandhi was no relation to Mahatma Gandhi: the surname came from her husband, Feroze. Two of her own bodyguards assassinated her in 1984.

Which Mughal emperor founded the city of Fatehpur Sikri and hosted debates there among scholars of many faiths?

Akbar opened his Ibadat Khana, or House of Worship, to people of all religions and even atheists. He ended the debates in 1582 after they turned bitter.

Which Portuguese explorer opened the first sea route from Europe to India, landing near Calicut in 1498?

Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, then crossed the Indian Ocean from Malindi in Kenya. His violence towards local traders later brought commerce on the Malabar Coast to a standstill.

Robert Clive's 1757 victory over the Nawab of Bengal at which battle began East India Company rule in India?

Plassey was won by bribery as much as by fighting: Clive paid off Mir Jafar, the Nawab's commander-in-chief, and promised to make him Nawab instead.

In which public garden in Amritsar did troops under Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer fire on a peaceful crowd in 1919?

Jallianwala Bagh was full of protesters and pilgrims at the annual Baisakhi fair. Dyer blocked the exit and kept his troops firing even as people tried to flee.

Gandhi's 'Do or Die' speech of 1942 launched which mass campaign demanding an immediate end to British rule?

Quit India was met with mass arrests: the colonial government jailed tens of thousands of leaders and kept them imprisoned until 1945.

Which nationalist leader, known as Netaji, revived the Indian National Army with Japanese support during World War II?

Subhas Chandra Bose built the force from Indian prisoners of war captured by Japan at Singapore. He died of burns after his plane crashed in Taiwan in 1945.

Which queen of Jhansi became a leading figure of the 1857 rebellion and died in battle at Gwalior?

Lakshmibai had seen the East India Company annex Jhansi under its Doctrine of Lapse, after it refused to recognise her adopted son as heir.

Which ruler, nicknamed the Tiger of Mysore, pioneered iron-cased rocket artillery against British forces?

Tipu Sultan adopted the tiger as the emblem of his rule. His rockets flew against the British at the Battle of Pollilur and the Siege of Srirangapatna.

Chandragupta founded which empire around 320 BCE, later ruled by his grandson Ashoka?

The Maurya Empire lasted until 185 BCE. Under Ashoka it briefly controlled the major cities and trade arteries of the whole subcontinent except the deep south.

Which ancient Buddhist monastery-university in Bihar taught pilgrims like China's Xuanzang before it burned around 1200?

Nalanda had a renowned library, a key source of the Sanskrit texts that pilgrims carried to East Asia. A fire blamed on the troops of Bakhtiyar Khalji is cited as the leading cause of its demise.

At which pilgrimage site in Bihar is the Buddha said to have attained enlightenment under a tree?

Bodh Gaya grew up around the Mahabodhi Temple complex, which holds the Bodhi Tree and the Vajrasana, or 'diamond throne'.

Which Sanskrit epic, about ten times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined, contains the Bhagavad Gita?

The Mahabharata runs to about 1.8 million words. It is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyasa, who also appears in the story as a major figure.

Hindi, Marathi and Nepali are all written in which script, recognisable by the line running along the top?

Devanagari is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, used for more than 120 languages. Its 48 primary characters are written from left to right.

Which Dravidian language, attested since about 300 BCE, was the first to be declared a classical language of India?

Tamil won the status in 2004 after a political campaign backed by several Tamil associations. It is also an official language of Singapore.

Which composer, nicknamed the 'Mozart of Madras', won two Academy Awards for his Slumdog Millionaire music?

A. R. Rahman took Best Original Score and Best Original Song, for 'Jai Ho', at the 81st Academy Awards. He has also won two Grammys, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

'Naatu Naatu', the first song from an Indian film to win the Best Original Song Oscar, comes from which Telugu film?

RRR filmed the dance number at Kyiv's Mariinskyi Palace, the official residence of Ukraine's president, a few months before the Russian invasion.

Which Hindu god's festival, revived by Tilak to sidestep British bans on gatherings, ends with idols immersed in water?

Ganesha's idols are carried in procession on the tenth day and immersed in a river or the sea. Mumbai alone immerses around 150,000 of them a year.

At which Hindu festival do sisters tie a protective amulet around their brothers' wrists?

Raksha Bandhan has brothers give a gift in return. Rakhis tied between people who are not blood relatives have created voluntary kinships across caste, class and religion.

Which thin, crêpe-like South Indian staple is made from a fermented batter of ground black gram and rice?

Dosa's precise origins are unknown, though popular tradition links it to Udupi in Karnataka, probably because Udupi restaurants made the dish famous.

Which hill region grows a tea marketed as the 'Champagne of teas' and protected by a geographical indication since 2004?

Darjeeling tea comes from the Chinese variety of the tea plant, first planted in the region in the mid-1800s. Its leaves are picked in four seasonal flushes.

Which goddess's victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura is celebrated in eastern India's great autumn festival?

Durga is worshipped in temporary structures called pandals, put up in community squares and by roadsides. UNESCO added the festival to its intangible heritage list in 2021.

In which contact sport, codified in India in the 1920s, must a lone raider tag opponents on a single breath?

Kabaddi is also the word the raider must keep chanting, to show the referees that no fresh breath is drawn. It is the national sport of Bangladesh.

Who captained India to the 2007 World Twenty20, the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy?

MS Dhoni spent 2001 to 2003 as a travelling ticket examiner for Indian Railways at Kharagpur before breaking into the national team.

Neeraj Chopra won India's first Olympic athletics gold medal at the Tokyo Games in which event?

Javelin throw gold came with Chopra's second attempt in the final, a mark of 87.58 metres. No Asian javelin thrower had won the Olympic title before him.

Which physicist became the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in science for work on the scattering of light?

C. V. Raman won the 1930 physics prize for the effect that bears his name. He had expected it sooner and was disappointed when the 1928 and 1929 prizes went to others.

Who became the first Indian in space, flying aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 mission in 1984?

Rakesh Sharma, asked by the prime minister how India looked from orbit, replied 'Sare Jahan Se Accha', a line of poetry meaning better than the whole world.

India's floating post office, inaugurated in 2011, is moored on which stretch of water in Srinagar?

Dal Lake owes its lavish houseboats to the British, who commissioned them to get around a ruler's restriction on building houses in the Kashmir valley.

Majuli in Assam, recognised by Guinness as the world's largest inland river island, lies in which great river?

Brahmaputra waters surround an island big enough to be run as its own district: in 2016 Majuli became the first island in India given that status.

Which British lawyer, who had never been east of Paris, was given five weeks to draw the India–Pakistan border?

Cyril Radcliffe chaired both boundary committees, and the frontier still bears his name. He had to leave as many Sikhs and Hindus in India, and Muslims in Pakistan, as he could.

Which 13th-century temple in Odisha is built as a giant stone chariot, complete with carved wheels and horses?

Konark's temple honours the sun god Surya. European sailors called it the Black Pagoda because its great tiered tower looked black.

Which ruined city in Karnataka was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire until armies destroyed it in 1565?

Hampi is estimated to have been the world's second-largest city around 1500, after Beijing, and drew traders from Persia and Portugal.