• CYC:LOfAlO I A THE Britannica- G U IDE T 0 INDIA A comprehensive introduction to the world's [ ' CT~LUr UIA Britannica Encyclopxdia Britannica, Inc. is a leader in reference and education publishing whose products can be found in many media, from the Internet to mobile phones to books. A pioneer in electronic publishing since the early 1980s, Britannica launched the first encyclopedia on the Internet in 1994. It also continues to publish and revise its famed print set, first released in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. Encyclopxdia Britannica's contributors include many of the greatest writers and scholars in the world, and more than 110 Nobel Prize winners have written for Britannica. A professional editorial staff ensures that Britannica's content is clear, current, and correct. This book is principally based on content from the encyclopedia and its contributors. Introducer Dr Maria Misra lectures in Modern History and is a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. She is the author of Vishnu's Crowded Temple: India since the Great Rebellion (2007) and Business, Race and Politics in British India (1999) . In 2001 she presented the Channel 4 documentary An Indian Affair and has contributed to the Guardian, the New Statesman, and The Times . Also available The Britannica Guide to the 100 Most Influential Americans The Britannica Guide to the 100 Most Influential Scientists The Britannica Guide to the Brain The Britannica Guide to Climate Change The Britannica Guide to the Ideas that Made the Modern World The Britannica Guide to Modern China E YCLQP JE O I A THE Britannica GUIDE TO INDIA A comprehensive introduction to the world's fastest growing country Introduction by Maria Misra Encyclopxdia Britannica, Inc. www.britannica.com First print edition published in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2009 Text © 2009 Encyclop",dia Britannica, Inc. Introduction © 2009 Maria Misra The right of Encyclop",dia Britannica, Inc. and Maria Misra to be identi fi ed as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act, 1988. Britannica, Encyclopxdia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopxdia Britannica, Inc. This eBook edition published by Encyclop",dia Britannica, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59339-847-7 No part of this work may be produced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. CONTENTS List of Illustrations and Maps Vll Introduction IX Part 1 Overview India - Facts and Figures 3 Political Map of India 13 Physical Map of India 14 1 The Place and the People 15 Part 2 History 2 Early Civilizations to the Fall of the Mughal Empire (8000 BCE-1800) 45 3 European Expansion and British Imperial Power (1750-1947) 84 4 The Republic of India (1947-2007) 127 VI CONTENTS Part 3 Religion, the Arts, and Philosophy 5 Religion 163 6 Music and Dance 209 7 Literature 222 8 Architecture 246 9 Visual Arts 265 10 Philosophy 287 Part 4 India Today 11 Government and Society 313 12 The Economy 323 13 Everyday Life in Modern India 337 Part 5 The Major Sites to Visit Dclhl 373 Agra 382 Fatehpur Sikri 386 Varanasi 388 Mumbai (Bombay) 391 Kolkata (Calcutta) 398 Darjeeling (Darjiling) 406 Rajasthan 407 Punjab and Amritsar 414 Tamil Nadu, Chennai (Madras), and Madurai 418 Kerala and Kochi (Cochin) 423 Goa 428 Hampi 431 Index 433 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS III ustrations 1. Gateway of India monument near the entrance to Mumbai (Bombay) Harbour, western India, on the east coast of the Arabian Sea. © Chris Haigh - Stone/Getty Images, cour- tesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. 2. Hindu pilgrims gathering at Pushkar in the Great Indian Desert (Thar Desert), Rajasthan, India. © Brian A. Vikan- deriWest Light, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. 3. Ghats (steps) along the Ganges River, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. David Sutherland - Stone/Getty Images, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. 4. Picking tea leaves near Darjeeling (Darjiling), West Ben- gal, India. Gerald Cubitt, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. 5. Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet, short-story wri- ter, song composer, playwright, essayist, and painter who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. VII I LIST OF ILLUSTRATI O NS AND MAPS 6. Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1946. Margaret Bourke-White, LIFE MAGAZINE © TIME INC., courtesy of Ency- clopcedia Britannica, Inc. 7. Ravi Shankar (1920-). Indian musician, player of the sitar, composer, and founder of the National Orchestra of India. Express Newspapers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. 8. Indian classical kathakali dancers in Kerala. Foto Features 9. Humayun's tomb, Delhi. Anders Blomqvist - Lonely Planet Images/Getty Images, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. 10. The Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. Brand X Pictures/JupiterImages, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Brit- annica, Inc. 11. The Golden Temple (Harimandir), Amritsar, Punjab. G. Reitz - De Wys Inc., courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britan- nica, Inc. 12. Boat traffic on the coastal waterways of Kerala. Gerald Cubitt, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica, Inc. Maps Political Map of India 13 Physical Map of India 14 Maps © Encyclopxdia Britannica Inc. INTRODUCTION MARIA MISRA What's in a name? The subcontinent has so many; and all contentious. In ancient cosmography India was located in Jam- budvipa - Rose-apple island - named after the Jambu tree at its centre. For the ancient Persians and Arabs it was, less romanti- cally, simply the land beyond the river Sindu: AI-Hind or Hindu- stan. Later nationalists considered this too blandly physical an appellation, a name, moreover, humiliatingly coined by foreign- ers. Bipin Pal, one such critic, insisted instead on Bharatavarsha, after the ancient king Bharat, a name as richly evocative and as redolent of great power as Rome. For Gandhi, a less conventional nation-maker, it was another ancient monarch, the mythical Ram, who provided the preferred eponym - Ram's Rajya was the epitome of moral not geopolitical grandeur. Others - more preoccupied with race and ethnos than history and morality - preferred Aryavarata: the land of the Aryans. And for the British, downright dismissive ofIndian national pretensions, both ancient and modern, India was merely a geographical expression. It is perhaps hardly surprising that a country so dazzling in its diversity, from its geology to its ethnicity, from its languages to its politics, should have so many names. But this very diversity,