INDIAN CIVILIZATION

India has one of the oldest and the richest civilizations in the world. It has been around for many years, dating back to 3000 BC.The two important cities, Harangue and Mohenjo-Daro each held perhaps 35,000 people at their height.Spanning an area of 3,287,263 square kilometers, India is a vast country and includes  dry desert areas, evergreen forests, snowy Himalayas, a long coast, and fertile plains. Religion is an integral part of Indian civilization.Religion is an integral part of Indian civilization. They have many religions,languages,food habits,culture.

Virtually every major religion

has a strong connection with India (including Christianity

-- some people claim Jesus Christ meditated in India in his early years). Buddhism was born in India (not China), so were Sikhism, Jainism, and of course Hinduism.  The Zoroastrians, the Jews (living in India since 600 B.C.), the people of Bahai faith, all are found in India in substantial numbers.  There is no such thing as the Indian language. By some counts there are over 200 languages in India (almost 1600, if you include dialects), with about twenty of them being very prominent ones. Imagine a nation where the population does not understand their national anthem or the President's address to the nation. That is India for you.
The Indian currency is printed in 15 languages.
Most forms (like job application, tax forms) in India are hence printed in three languages -- English, Hindi, and a prominent local language.
to view 200 language goto:http://www.kamat.com/indica/diversity/languages.htm




Diversity in Food Habits:
The food habits of the one billion Indians varies by the availability of raw materials, cooking traditions, local spices, and interestingly their religious faiths. For instance, some Jain communities do not kill life to feed themselves -- including plants! This means they only consume fruits, milk and leaves only. Many communities do not eat meats respecting the life on the animals.
Some communities define meat as "anything that moves" -- thus they consume muscles, but not fish!
Besides the staples, the spices play an important role in Indian food. There are so many spices to appeal to different parts of the body that the English language does not have adequate adjectives to describe them. For example, the hotness that touches the taste-buds is different than the hotness that makes your gums swell !
India also has a number of sweet dishes, mostly based on sugar, milk, and unbleached sugar (called jaggery in India). The Bengal is famous for its milk-based sweets.
In general Indian food is rich in oil and in spices. Rice and wheat are the primary bases for Indian food. The coastal areas fashion seafood delicacies, while the desert areas have mastered cooking with minimal use of water.

SOUTH INDIAN FOOD

India - Political Developments

        Party        Prime Minister

1947    1964    Congress    Jawaharlal Nehru

1964    1966    Congress    Lal Bahadur Shastri

1966    1977    Congress    Indira Gandhi

1977    1979    Janata        Morarji Desai

1979    1980    Janata        Charan Singh

1980    1984    Congress    Indira Gandhi

1984    1989    Congress    Rajiv Gandhi

1989    1990    Janata Dal    V.P. Singh

1990    1991    Janata Dal    Chandra Shekhar

1991    1996    Congress    P.V. Narasimha Rao

1996    1996    Bharatiya JanataAtal Bihari Vajpayee

1996    1997    Janata Dal    H.D. Deve Gowda

1996    1997    Janata Dal    Inder Kumar Gujral

1997    2004    Bharatiya JanataAtal Bihari Vajpayee

2004        Congress    Manmohan Singh

ANCIENT INDIAN ART and ROCK CUT ART

Indian architecture is as old as the history of the civilization. The earliest remains of recognizable building activity in the India dates back to the Indus Valley cities. Among India's ancient architectural remains, the most characteristic are the temples, Chaityas, Viharas, Stupas and other religious structures. In ancient India, temple architecture of high standard developed in almost all regions. The distinct architectural style of temple construction in different parts was a result of geographical, climatic, ethnic, racial, historical and linguistic diversities.

The Rock-cut structures present the most spectacular piece of ancient Indian art specimen. Most of the rock-cut structures were related to various religious communities. In the beginning, remarkable Buddhist and Jain monuments were produced in areas such as Bihar in the east and Maharashtra in the west. Chaityas and Viharas are those rock-cut structures that were hewn out for Buddhist and Jain monks. Chaityas were places of worship whereas Viharas were residence of monks. The Rathas at Mahabalipuram are yet another great specimen of rock-cut architecture in ancient India.