Demographics
Main article: Demographics of India
With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report,[8] India is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% during 2001–2011,[243]compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).[243] The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.[8] The median age was 24.9 in the 2001 census.[197] The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361.1 million people.[244] Medical advances made in the last 50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "Green Revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly.[245] India continues to face several public health-related challenges.[246][247] Life expectancy in India is at 68 years with life expectancy for women being 69.6 years and for men being 67.3.[248] There are around 50 physicians per 100,000 Indians.[249] The number of Indians living in urban areas has grown by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001.[250] Yet, in 2001, over 70% lived in rural areas.[251][252] The level of urbanization increased from 27.81% in 2001 Census to 31.16% in 2011 Census. The slowing down of the overall growth rate of population was due to the sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991.[253] According to the 2011 census, there are 53 million-plus cities in India; among them Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Kolkata are in order of the most populous metropolitan areas. The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.[254] The rural urban literacy gap which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The improvement in literacy rate in rural area is two times that in urban areas.[253] Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[254] India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman language families. India has no national language.[255] Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.[256][257] English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";[258] it is important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Each state and union territory has one or more official languages, and the constitution recognises in particular 22 "scheduled languages". The Constitution of India recognises 212 scheduled tribalgroups which together constitute about 7.5% of the country's population.[259] The 2001 census reported that Hinduism, with over 800 million adherents (80.5% of the population), was the largest religion in India; it is followed byIslam (13.4%), Christianity (2.3%), Sikhism (1.9%), Buddhism (0.8%), Jainism (0.4%), Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and the Bahá'í Faith.[260] India has the world's largest Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Zoroastrian, and Bahá'í populations, and has the third-largest Muslim population and the largest Muslim population for a non-Muslim majority country.[261][262]
Culture
Main article: Culture of India
Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years.[263] During the Vedic period (c. 1700 – 500 BCE), the foundations of Hindu philosophy, mythology, theology and literature were laid, and many beliefs and practices which still exist today, such as dhárma, kárma, yóga, and mokṣa, were established.[16] India is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the nation's major religions.[264]The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[265] the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[264] and by Buddhist philosophy.[266]
Art and architecture
Much of Indian architecture, including the Taj Mahal, other works of Mughal architecture, and South Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions with imported styles.[267] Vernacular architecture is also highly regional in it flavours. Vastu shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to Mamuni Mayan,[268] explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings;[269] it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.[270] As applied in Hindu temple architecture, it is influenced by the Shilpa Shastras, a series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is the Vastu-Purusha mandala, a square that embodied the "absolute".[271] The Taj Mahal, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by orders of Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, has been described in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."[272] Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[273]
Literature
The earliest literary writings in India, composed between 1700 BCE and 1200 CE, were in the Sanskrit language.[274][275] Prominent works of this Sanskrit literature include epics such as the Mahābhārata and the Ramayana, the dramas of Kālidāsa such as theAbhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of Śakuntalā), and poetry such as the Mahākāvya.[276][277][278] Kamasutra, the famous book about sexual intercourse also originated in India. Developed between 600 BCE and 300 CE in South India, the Sangam literature, consisting of 2,381 poems, is regarded as a predecessor of Tamil literature.[279][280][281][282] From the 14th to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic change because of the emergence of devotional poets such as Kabīr, Tulsīdās, and Guru Nānak. This period was characterised by a varied and wide spectrum of thought and expression; as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly from classical traditions.[283] In the 19th century, Indian writers took a new interest in social questions and psychological descriptions. In the 20th century, Indian literature was influenced by the works of Bengali poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore.[284]
Performing arts
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Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles. Classical music encompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots: the northern Hindustani and southern Carnatic schools.[285] Regionalised popular forms include filmi and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a well-known form of the latter. Indian dance also features diverse folk and classical forms. Among the better-known folk dances are the bhangra of Punjab, thebihu of Assam, the chhau of Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand, garba and dandiya of Gujarat, ghoomar of Rajasthan, and the lavani of Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil Nadu, kathak of Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohiniyattam of Kerala,kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, manipuri of Manipur, odissi of Odisha, and the sattriya of Assam.[286] Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.[287] Often based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances or social and political events, Indian theatre includes the bhavai of Gujarat, the jatra of West Bengal, the nautanki and ramlila of North India, tamasha of Maharashtra, burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh, terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu, and the yakshagana of Karnataka.[288]
Motion pictures, television
The Indian film industry produces the world's most-watched cinema.[289] Established regional cinematic traditions exist in the Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[290] South Indian cinema attracts more than 75% of national film revenue.[291]
Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication, and had slow expansion for more than two decades.[292][293] The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s and, since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped popular culture of Indian society.[294] Today, television is the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012 there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite and/or cable connections, compared to other forms of mass media such as press (350 million), radio (156 million) or internet (37 million).[295]
Society
Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Indian caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found in the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes".[296] India declared untouchability to be illegal[297] in 1947 and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace in urban India and in international or leading Indian companies, the caste related identification has pretty much lost its importance.[298][299] Family values are important in the Indian tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas.[300] An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family members.[301] Marriage is thought to be for life,[301] and the divorce rate is extremely low.[302] Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women in India wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.[303] Female infanticide in India and female foeticide in India have caused a discrepancy in the sex ratio, as of 2005 it was estimated that there were 50 million more males than females in the nation.[304][305] However the recent report from 2011 shown improvement among the gender ratio.[306] The payment of Dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines.[307] Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise.[308]
Many Indian festivals are religious in origin; among them are Chhath, Christmas, Diwali, Durga Puja, Bakr-Id, Eid ul-Fitr, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan, Navratri, Thai Pongal, and Vaisakhi. India hasthree national holidays which are observed in all states and union territories: Republic Day, Independence Day, and Gandhi Jayanti. Other sets of holidays, varying between nine and twelve, are officially observed in individual states.
Throughout India, many people practice customs and religious rituals, such as "Saṃskāra," which is a series of "personal sacraments and rites conducted at various stages throughout life."[309]
Clothing
Main article: Clothing in India
Cotton was domesticated in India by 4000 B.C.E. Traditional Indian dress varies in colour and style across regions and depends on various factors, including climate and faith. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as the sari for women and the dhoti or lungi for men. Stitched clothes, such as the shalwar kameez for women and kurta–pyjama combinations or European-style trousers and shirts for men, are also popular.[310] Use of delicate jewellery, modelled on real flowers worn in ancient India, is part of a tradition dating back some 5,000 years; gemstones are also worn in India as talismans.[311]
Sport
Main article: Sport in India
In India, several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, such as kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda. Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as kalarippayattu, musti yuddha, silambam, andmarma adi, originated in India. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga, is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indian grandmasters.[312][313] Pachisi, from which parcheesiderives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar.[314]
The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis Cup team and other Indian tennis players in the early 2010s have made tennis increasingly popular in the country.[315] India has acomparatively strong presence in shooting sports, and has won several medals at the Olympics, the World Shooting Championships, and the Commonwealth Games.[316][317] Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton,[318] boxing,[319] and wrestling.[320] Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-eastern states.[321]
Field hockey in India is administered by Hockey India. The Indian national hockey team won the 1975 Hockey World Cup and have, as of 2012, taken eight gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, making it the sport's most successful team in the Olympics.
India has also played a major role in popularising cricket. Thus, cricket is, by far, the most popular sport of India. The Indian national cricket team won the 1983 and 2011 Cricket World Cupevents, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, and won 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. Cricket in India is administered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI); the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy, and the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy are domestic competitions. The BCCI is also responsible for conducting an annual Twenty20 competition known as the Indian Premier League.
India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events: the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games; the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World Cup tournaments; the 2003 Afro-Asian Games; the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy; the 2010 Hockey World Cup; and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Major international sporting events held annually in India include theChennai Open, the Mumbai Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon, and the Indian Masters. The first Indian Grand Prix featured in late 2011.[322]
India has traditionally been the dominant country at the South Asian Games. An example of this dominance is the basketball competition where Team India won three out of four tournaments to date.[323] The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award are the highest forms of government recognition for athletic achievement; the Dronacharya Award is awarded for excellence in coaching.
Jana Gana Mana
This article is about the national anthem of India. For the song from which the anthem was excerpted, see Jana Gana Mana (hymn). For the 2012 film, see Jana Gana Mana (film). For the 2000 video, see Jana Gana Mana Video.
| English: Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People | |
|---|---|
| Jônô Gônô Mônô | |
Sheet music for "Jana Gana Mana".
| |
National anthem of  India | |
| Lyrics | Rabindranath Tagore, 1911 |
| Music | Rabindranath Tagore, 1911 |
| Adopted | 24 January 1950 |
The original poem written by Rabindranath Tagore was translated into Hindi-Urdu by Abid Ali. The original Hindi version of the song Jana Gana Mana, translated by Ali and based on the poem by Tagore, was a little different. It was "Subh Sukh Chain Ki Barkha Barse, Bharat Bhaag Hai Jaaga...."."Jana Gana Mana"[α] is the national anthem of India. Written in highly Sanskritised (Tatsama) Bengali, the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn composed and scored by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. It was falsely propagated by colonial authorities that the song was written and first sung to praise and felicitate King George V and Queen Mary on their visit to India in 1911. The rumors gave way when Tagore wrote a letter to the Emperor, stating the mentor and creator of Bharath(India) mentioned in the song is not King George V but God himself. The copy of the letter can be found in his autobiography and Jana Gana Mana (hymn) .[1] "Jana Gana Mana" was officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the Indian national anthem on 24 January 1950.[2]
A formal rendition of the national anthem takes fifty-two seconds. A shortened version consisting of the first and last lines (and taking about 20 seconds to play) is also staged occasionally.[3] Tagore wrote down the English translation[4] of the song and along with Margaret Cousins (an expert in European music and wife of Irish poet James Cousins), set down the notation at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh, which is followed only when the song is sung in the original slow rendition style of singing. However, when the National Anthem version of the song is sung, it is often performed in the orchestral/choral adaptation made by the English composer Herbert Murrill at the behest of Nehru. An earlier poem by Tagore (Amar Sonar Bangla) was later selected as the national anthem of Bangladesh.
Contents
[hide]Lyrics[edit]
The text, though Bengali, is highly sanskritised (written in a literary register called Sadhu bhasa). The song has been written almost entirely using nouns that also can function as verbs. Most of the nouns of the song are in use in all major languages in India. Therefore, the original song is quite clearly understandable, and in fact, remains almost unchanged in several widely different Indian languages. Also as quasi-Sanskrit text, it is acceptable in many modern Indic languages, but the pronunciation varies considerably across India. This is primarily because most Indic languages are abugidas in that certain unmarked consonants are assumed to have an inherent vowel, but conventions for this differ among the languages of India. The transcription below reflects the Bengali pronunciation, in both the Bengali script and romanization. The following are officially recognized versions of the national anthem by the Indian government, in some of the officially recognized languages.
| জন গণ মন (Bengali) | Bengali romanization |
|---|---|
জনগণমন-অধিনায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
পঞ্জাব সিন্ধু গুজরাট মরাঠা দ্রাবিড় উৎকল বঙ্গ বিন্ধ্য হিমাচল যমুনা গঙ্গা উচ্ছলজলধিতরঙ্গ তব শুভ নামে জাগে, তব শুভ আশিষ মাগে, গাহে তব জয়গাথা। জনগণমঙ্গলদায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা! জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয় জয় হে।। |
Janagaṇamana-adhināẏaka jaẏa hē bhāratabhāgyabidhātā!
Pañjāba sindhu gujarāṭa marāṭhā drābiṛa uṯkala baṅga bindhya himācala yamunā gaṅgā ucchalajaladhitaraṅga taba śubha nāmē jāgē, taba śubha āśiṣa māgē, gāhē taba jaẏagāthā. Janagaṇamaṅgaladāẏaka jaẏa hē bhāratabhāgyabidhātā! Jaẏa hē, jaẏa hē, jaẏa hē, jaẏa jaẏa jaẏa jaẏa hē.. |
Devanagari script[edit]
जनगणमन-अधिनायक जय हे भारतभाग्यविधाता!
पंजाब सिंधु गुजरात मराठा द्राविड़ उत्कल बंग
विंध्य हिमाचल यमुना गंगा उच्छलजलधितरंग
तव शुभ नामे जागे, तव शुभ आशिष मागे,
गाहे तव जयगाथा।
जनगणमंगलदायक जय हे भारतभाग्यविधाता!
जय हे, जय हे, जय हे, जय जय जय जय हे।।
पंजाब सिंधु गुजरात मराठा द्राविड़ उत्कल बंग
विंध्य हिमाचल यमुना गंगा उच्छलजलधितरंग
तव शुभ नामे जागे, तव शुभ आशिष मागे,
गाहे तव जयगाथा।
जनगणमंगलदायक जय हे भारतभाग्यविधाता!
जय हे, जय हे, जय हे, जय जय जय जय हे।।
English translation[edit]
The following translation (edited in 1950 to replace Sindh with Sindhu as Sindh after partition was allocated to Pakistan), attributed to Tagore, is provided by the Government of India's national portal: [5]
Victory to the ruler of people's mind and dispenser of India's destiny. Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat,Maratha,Dravida,Odisha and Bengal; It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas, mingles in the music of Yamuna and Ganges and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Ocean. They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise. Victory to the saviour of the people and dispenser of India's destiny. Victory, victory, victory to thee.
Musical composition and English translation[edit]
Rabindranath Tagore translated "Jana Gana Mana" from Bengali to English and also set it to music in Madanapalle,[6] a town located in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh state, India. Though the Bengali song had been written in 1911, it was largely unknown except to the readers of the Brahmo Samaj journal, Tatva Bodha Prakasika, of which Tagore was the editor.
During 1919, Tagore accepted an invitation from friend and controversial Irish poet James H. Cousins to spend a few days at the Besant Theosophical College situated at Madanapalle of which Cousins was the principal. On the evening of 28 February 1919 he joined a gathering of students and upon Cousins' request, sang the Jana Gana Mana in Bengali. The college authorities, greatly impressed by the lofty ideals of the song and the praise to God, selected it as their prayer song. In the days that followed, enchanted by the dreamy hills of Madanapalle, Tagore wrote down the English translation of the song and along with Cousins' wife, Margaret (an expert in Western music), set down the notation which is followed till this day. The song was carried beyond the borders of India by the college students and became The Morning Song of India[4] and subsequently the national anthem.
Today, in the library of Theosophical College in Madanapalle, the framed original English translation of Jana gana Mana, titled as The Morning Song of India in Tagore's handwriting, is displayed.[7]
Code of conduct[edit]
The National Anthem of India is played or sung on various occasions. Instructions have been issued from time to time about the correct versions of the Anthem, the occasions on which these are to be played or sung, and about the need for paying respect to the anthem by observance of proper decorum on such occasions. The substance of these instructions has been embodied in the information sheet issued by the government of India for general information and guidance. The official duration of the National Anthem of India is 52 seconds.[3]
Controversy shadowed Jana Gana Mana from the day of its first rendition in 1911 at the Congress session in Calcutta. King George V was scheduled to arrive in the city on 30 December and a section of the Anglo-Indian English press in Calcutta thought – and duly reported – that Tagore's hymn was a homage to the emperor.[8]
The poet claims in a letter written in 1939: "I should only insult myself if I cared to answer those who consider me capable of such unbounded stupidity."[8] In another letter to Pulin Behari Sen, Tagore later wrote, "A certain high official in His Majesty's service, who was also my friend, had requested that I write a song of felicitation towards the Emperor. The request simply amazed me. It caused a great stir in my heart. In response to that great mental turmoil, I pronounced the victory in Jana Gana Mana of that Bhagya Vidhata (ed. God of Destiny) of India who has from age after age held steadfast the reins of India's chariot through rise and fall, through the straight path and the curved. That Lord of Destiny, that Reader of the Collective Mind of India, that Perennial Guide, could never be George V, George VI, or any other George. Even my official friend understood this about the song. After all, even if his admiration for the crown was excessive, he was not lacking in simple common sense."[9]
In Kerala, students belonging to the Jehovah's Witnesses religious denomination were expelled by school authorities for their refusal to sing the national anthem on religious grounds, although they stood up respectfully when the anthem was sung. The Kerala High Court concluded that there was nothing in it which could offend anyone's religious susceptibilities, and upheld their expulsion. The Supreme Court reversed the High Court and ruled that the High Court had misdirected itself because the question is not whether a particular religious belief or practice appeals to our reason or sentiment but whether the belief is genuinely and conscientiously held as part of the profession or practice of a religion. "Our personal views and reactions are irrelevant" The Supreme Court affirmed the principle that it is not for a secular judge to sit in judgment on the correctness of a religious belief.[10]
Supreme Court observed in its ruling[11]
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