This article is about the Republic of India. For other uses, see India (disambiguation).

Republic of India
Bhrat Ga arjya

Flag State Emblem

Motto: "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit)

"Truth Alone Triumphs"[1]

Anthem: "Jana Gana Mana" (Hindi)[2]

"Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People"[3][2]

MENU

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National song
Vande Mataram
"I Bow to Thee, Mother"[a][1][2]

Area controlled by India shown in dark green;

claimed but uncontrolled regions shown in light green.

Capital New Delhi

 2836.8N 7712.5E

Largest city Mumbai

185830N 724933E

Official language Hindi

s English[b][6]
Recognised
State level and
regional languages
Eighth Schedule[7][show]

National None[8][9]
language

Religion 79.8% Hinduism

14.2% Islam
2.3% Christianity
1.7% Sikhism
0.7% Buddhism
0.4% Jainism
0.9% others[c][10]

Demonym Indian

Government Federal parliamentary

constitutional republic[1]

President Pranab Mukherjee

Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar[11]
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan

Legislature Parliament of India

Upper house Rajya Sabha

Lower house Lok Sabha

Independence from United Kingdom

Dominion 15 August 1947
Republic 26 January 1950

Area
Total 3,287,263[5] km2(1,269,219 sq mi)[d] (7th)
Water (%) 9.6

Population
 2017 estimate 1,326,572,000[12] (2nd)
2011 census 1,210,854,977[13][14](2nd)
Density 391.9/km2 (1,015.0/sq mi) (31st)

GDP (PPP) 2017 estimate

Total $9.489 trillion[15] (3rd)
Per capita $7,153[15] (122nd)

GDP (nominal) 2017 estimate

Total $2.454 trillion[15] (6th)
Per capita $1,850[15] (141st)

Gini (2013) 33.9[16]

medium 79th

HDI (2015) 0.624[17]

medium 131st

Currency Indian rupee () (INR)

Time zone IST (UTC+05:30)

DST is not observed

Date format DD-MM-YYYY

Drives on the left

Calling code +91

ISO 3166 code IN

Internet TLD
.in

other TLDs[show]

India, officially the Republic of India (Bhrat Gan arjya),[e] is a country in South Asia. It is
the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people),
and the most populous democracy in the world. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south,
the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders
with Pakistan to the west;[f] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Myanmar
(Burma) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and
the Maldives. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border
with Thailand and Indonesia.
The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE.
In the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed.
Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE,
and Buddhism and Jainism arose. Early political consolidations took place under
the Maurya and Gupta empires; the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as
southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived,
and Sikhism emerged, all adding to the region's diverse culture. Much of the north fell to the Delhi
sultanate; the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th
century in the Mughal Empire. In the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East
India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged
in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent
resistance and led to India's independence in 1947.
In 2015, the Indian economy was the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP and third
largest by purchasing power parity.[15] Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India
became one of the fastest-growing major economies and is considered a newly industrialised
country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition,
and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third
largest standing army in the world and ranks fifth in military expenditure among nations. India is
a federal republic governed under a parliamentary system and consists of 29 states and 7 union
territories. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is also home to a diversity
of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

History
Main articles: History of India and History of the Republic of India

Ancient India
The earliest authenticated human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[30] Nearly
contemporaneous Mesolithic rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian
subcontinent, including at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh.[31] Around 7000 BCE, the
first known Neolithic settlements appeared on the subcontinent in Mehrgarh and other sites in
western Pakistan.[32] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[33] the first urban
culture in South Asia;[34] it flourished during 25001900 BCE in Pakistan and western India.[35] Centred
around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied
forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade. [34]
During the period 2000500 BCE, in terms of culture, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned
from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age.[36] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism,
[37]
were composed during this period,[38] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in
the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.[36] Most historians also consider this period to have
encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent.[39][37] The caste
system arose during this period, creating a hierarchy of priests, warriors, free peasants and traders,
and lastly the indigenous peoples who were regarded as impure; and small tribal units gradually
coalesced into monarchical, state-level polities.[40][41] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence
from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation. [36] In southern
India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments
dating from this period,[42] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft
traditions.[42]
Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, 6th century

In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of
the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and
monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas.[43][44] The emerging urbanisation gave rise to
non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism came into
prominence during the life of its exemplar, Mahavira.[45] Buddhism, based on the teachings
of Gautama Buddha attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class;
chronicling the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India. [46][47][48] In
an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,[49] and both
established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom
of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire.[50] The empire
was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent excepting the far south, but its core
regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas. [51][52] The Mauryan kings
are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as
for Ashoka's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma.[53][54]
The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the
southern peninsula was being ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas, and the Pandyas, dynasties that
traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with West and South-East Asia.[55][56] In North India,
Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.
[57][50]
By the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created in the greater Ganges Plain a
complex system of administration and taxation that became a model for later Indian kingdoms. [58]
[59]
Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion rather than the management of ritual
began to assert itself.[60] The renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which
found patrons among an urban elite.[59] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian
science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[59]

Medieval India
The granite tower of Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur was completed in 1010 CE by Raja Raja Chola I.

The Indian early medieval age, 600 CE to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural
diversity.[61] When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647
CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.[62] When
his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[62] When
the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by the Pallavas from farther
south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and the Cholas from still farther south.[62] No ruler of
this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region.
[61]
During this time, pastoral peoples whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing
agricultural economy were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling
classes.[63] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[63]
In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[64] They
were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of
all modern languages of the subcontinent.[64] Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they
patronised, drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as
well.[65] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another
urbanisation.[65] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian
culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-
day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Java.[66]Indian
merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians
took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and
Hindu texts into their languages.[66]
After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising
vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains,
leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[67] The sultanate was
to control much of North India, and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive
for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws
and customs.[68][69] By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved
India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries
of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region
into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. [70][71] The
sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the
indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[72] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the
military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, [73] and was
to influence South Indian society for long afterwards. [72]

Early modern India

Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 15901595

In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers, [74] fell again to the
superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. [75] The resulting Mughal
Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but rather balanced and pacified them
through new administrative practices[76][77] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[78] leading to more
systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[79] Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially
under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a
Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.[78] The Mughal state's economic
policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[80] and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-
regulated silver currency,[81]caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[79] The relative
peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic
expansion,[79] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture.
[82]
Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, the Rajputs,
and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through
collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience. [83] Expanding
commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the
coasts of southern and eastern India.[83] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were
able to seek and control their own affairs.[84]
By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being
increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the English East India
Company, had established coastal outposts.[85][86] The East India Company's control of the seas,
greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly flex its
military muscle and caused it to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were
crucial in allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline the other
European companies.[87][85][88][89] Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent
increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s.
[90]
India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying
the British Empire with raw materials, and many historians consider this to be the onset of India's
colonial period.[85] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament
and itself effectively made an arm of British administration, the company began to more consciously
enter non-economic arenas such as education, social reform, and culture. [91]

Modern India
The British Indian Empire, from the 1909 edition of The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Areas directly governed by
the British are shaded pink; the princely states under British suzerainty are in yellow.

Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The
appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East India Company set the
stage for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of
sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes
among them, railways, canals, and the telegraphwere introduced not long after their introduction
in Europe.[92][93][94][95] However, disaffection with the company also grew during this time, and set off
the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions, including invasive British-
style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes,
the rebellion rocked many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of
Company rule.[96][97] Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the
East India Company and to the direct administration of India by the British government. Proclaiming
a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also
protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest. [98][99] In the decades
following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian
National Congress in 1885.[100][101][102][103]

Jawaharlal Nehru (left) became India's first prime minister in 1947. Mahatma Gandhi (right) led the
independence movement.

The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th
century was marked by economic setbacksmany small farmers became dependent on the whims
of far-away markets.[104] There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines,[105]and, despite
the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was
generated for Indians.[106] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the
newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption. [107] The railway
network provided critical famine relief,[108] notably reduced the cost of moving goods,[108] and helped
nascent Indian-owned industry.[107]
After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[109] a new period began. It was
marked by British reforms but also repressive legislations, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule,
and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of non-co-operation, of which Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.[110] During the 1930s, slow
legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the
resulting elections.[111] The next decade was beset with crises: Indian participation in World War II, the
Congress's final push for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism. All were capped
by the advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by the partition of India into two states: India
and Pakistan.[112]
Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which
put in place a secular and democratic republic.[113] In the 60 years since, India has had a mixed
record of successes and failures.[114] It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active
Supreme Court, and a largely independent press.[114] Economic liberalisation, which was begun in the
1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-
growing economies,[115] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual
teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[114] Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly
unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;[114] by religious and caste-related violence;[116] by Maoist-
inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[117]and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India.
[118]
It has unresolved territorial disputes with China[119] and with Pakistan.[119] The IndiaPakistan
nuclear rivalry came to a head in 1998.[120] India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among
the world's newer nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom from want for
its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be achieved. [121]

Geography
Main article: Geography of India

A topographic map of India

India comprises the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic plate, and part of
the Indo-Australian Plate.[122] India's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when
the Indian plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-
eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.
[122]
Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under
the Eurasian plate.[122] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both
created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia
and to uplift the Himalayas.[122] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement
created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[123] and now constitutes the Indo-
Gangetic Plain.[124] Cut off from the plain by the ancient Aravalli Range lies the Thar Desert.[125]
The original Indian plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of
India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel
chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur
Plateau in Jharkhand in the east.[126] To the south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan
Plateau, is flanked on the west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern
Ghats;[127] the plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years old.
Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6 44' and 35 30' north
latitude[g] and 68 7' and 97 25' east longitude.[128]

The Kedar Range of the Greater Himalayas rises behind Kedarnath Temple (Indian state of Uttarakhand),
which is one of the twelve jyotirlinga shrines.

India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres
(3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres (1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and
Lakshadweep island chains.[129] According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland
coastline consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and
46% mudflats or marshy shores.[129]
Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and
the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[130] Important tributaries of the Ganges
include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's extremely low gradient often leads to severe floods and
course changes.[131] Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from
flooding, include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the
Bay of Bengal;[132] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[133]Coastal
features include the marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of
eastern India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh. [134] India has two archipelagos:
the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.[135]
The Indian climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive
the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons.[136] The Himalayas prevent cold
Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer
than most locations at similar latitudes.[137][138] The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the
moisture-laden south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the
majority of India's rainfall.[136] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical
dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[139]