INDIA

FACTS:

• World’s second most populous nation

• Seventh largest in area, 3,000 km wide

• Shoreline of about 7,000 km

• India and Bharat are both official names.

(1,200,000,000 population)

INDIA’S NATIONAL FLAG

FACTS:

• Early settlers called their land “Bharat Varsha” or “Bharat”.

• During medieval times, it was known as “Hind.”

FACTS:• Earliest Indian civilization grew up in

the Indus Valley from 4000 to 2500 BC.• 1500 BC --- Aryan invaders entered

India.• Hinduism and the Caste system were

the foundations of the Indian society.

CASTE

System

BUDDHISM

Strive to know the

truthResolve to resist evil.

Say nothing to

hurt others.

Respect life,

morality, and

property.

Engage in a job that does not

injure others.

Practice proper

forms of concentratio

n

Strive to free their mind of

evil.

Control their

feelings and

thoughts.

Main topographic

regions

Himalayan Mountain

System

Northern Plains

Peninsular India

-Form parts of India’s borders• WEST --- Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tibet• EAST --- Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet• Topographically complex and divided into

prominent elongated valleys and mountain ranges

• Highest mountain --- Karakoram Range

HIMALAYAS

• Part of a vast lowland extending across the subcontinent from Pakistan in the west to Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) in the east

• Bordered on the north by foothills of the Himalayas, south of the Bramaputra basin, south of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, east of the Brahmaputra, and in the rest of India by the Ganges.

NORTHERN PLAINS

LANGUAGES

• More than 200 languages are spoken

• Linguistic diversity provides an important

key to understanding Indian civilization.

• Most important are the Indo-Arab branch of

the Indo-European group and the Dravidian

language group.

• 4th most widely spoken language in the world

• Language of 30% of the population

HINDI(official

language)

RELIGIONS IN INDIA

HINDUISM

BUDDHISM

JAINISMSIKHISM

GREAT PEOPLE :

MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI

• Leader of the Indian Nationalist movement

• Known as Mahatma (great soul)

• Pioneered on civil disobedience or the

philosophy of nonviolent confrontation

• Born on October 2, 1869, Porbandar

FACTS:

•Mostly written in Sanskrit (oldest extant Aryan language)• A small portion was written in

Prakrit (vernacular form of Sanskrit)

PERIODS OF LITERATURE

VEDIC• 1500 BC-200BC• Principally religious

and lyric

SANSKRIT• 200 BC-present• Many types of literature

achieved distinction

RELIGIOUS WORKS

• Oldest sacred literature is found in the four Vedas.

RIG VEDA

SAMA VEDA

ATHARVA VEDA

YAJUR VEDA

• RIG VEDA --- an anthology of 1028 hymns to various gods

• SAMA VEDA --- (Book of Chants) liturgies, mostly repetitions of hymns in the Rig Veda

• ATHARVA VEDA --- (Prayer Book) additional many prose formulas

• YAJUR VEDA --- (Book of Spells) incantations, notions about demonology and witchcraft

PROSE• Commentaries on the Vedic

hymnsBRAHMANAS

• Collection of 108 discourses on the Brahman religionUPANISHADS

• Often unintelligible treatises concerning ritualsSUTRAS

EPICS• Mahabharata --- written by Vyasa• Longest poem in the world• About 200,000 lines, nearly 8 times as

long as the Iliad and the Odyssey• Greatest epic of India• Circa 500 BC

EPICS

• Ramayana --- written by Valmiki• Circa 500 BC to 200 AD• About 96,000 lines, in seven

books

DRAMAS

• The Toy Clay Cart --- attributed to King Sundra; has three acts; a courtesan saves the life of a merchant because of his former kindness and generosity

• Sakuntala or the Fatal Ring --- attributed to Kalidasa (the Hindu Shakespeare)

TALES• The Jatakas --- imaginative legends concerning

the 550 births of Buddha and his early life• The Panchanatantra --- (Five Books); probably

intended as a manual of instruction for kings’ sons

• The Hitopdesa --- (Book of Good Counsels), forty-three tales

• The Sukasaptati --- (Seventy Stories of a Parrot) fairy tales

POETS• Kalidasa --- leading lyricist famous for

a large number of poems of sentiment; India’s foremost Sanskrit dramatist and poet• Javadeva --- author of the

Gitagovinda (love-making of Krishna)

• Rabindranath Tagore --- Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913• Famous collection--- Song

Offerings (Gitanjali)• Wrote 3,000 poems, 2,000 songs,

8 novels, 40 volume essays and short stories, and 50 plays

Thank you…