The India course
Facts about India, for your next trip
Ten topics, two timed rounds each, played straight down this page. Finish a round and the next one starts itself, carrying you from the Himalayas and the Indus cities to film, food, wildlife and the largest electorate on Earth.
Capital New Delhi · Asia · 10 topics · 20 rounds · 80 questions · 20 seconds each
India is the most populous country in the world and the largest democracy ever attempted. It holds a civilisation stretching back more than four thousand years, hundreds of living languages and the birthplaces of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, all inside a single federal union.
India is a union of 28 states and eight union territories, and the states were drawn largely along linguistic lines, so crossing a state border often means crossing into a different script, cuisine and film industry. The Himalayas wall off the north, the Indo-Gangetic Plain below them is among the most densely populated farmland on Earth, and the southern peninsula is the older, drier Deccan Plateau, edged by the Western and Eastern Ghats and a long tropical coastline. The southwest monsoon arriving in June sets the rhythm of the year for hundreds of millions of people.
Delhi is the capital and Mumbai the financial and film center, while Bengaluru and Hyderabad built the technology industry and Kolkata and Chennai anchor the east and south. Rajasthan holds the desert forts and palaces, Kerala the backwaters, and Varanasi on the Ganges is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities anywhere. Visitors most often start with the Golden Triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, then choose between the Himalayan north, the beaches of Goa and the temple towns of the south.
- Population
- About 1.46 billion
- Area
- 3,287,263 km²
- Currency
- Rupee (₹)
- Union languages
- Hindi and English
- States
- 28 states, 8 union territories
- Highest point
- Kangchenjunga, 8,586 m
India · Geography
Geography of India
The Himalayas wall off the north, the rivers below them feed one of the most crowded plains on Earth, and the old Deccan Plateau fills the peninsula. Across all three, the southwest monsoon arriving in June decides the agricultural year.
Commonly asked
- How big is India, and what are its main geographic regions?
- India covers 3,287,263 km². The Himalayas form its northern wall, the fertile Indo-Gangetic Plain runs below them, and the older, drier Deccan Plateau fills most of the southern peninsula between the Western and Eastern Ghats.
- What does the monsoon do in India?
- The southwest monsoon brings most of the year’s rain between June and September. Its timing and strength decide harvests, reservoir levels and water supplies for hundreds of millions of people.
- What is the capital of India, and which are its biggest cities?
- New Delhi is the capital, inside the much larger Delhi urban area. Mumbai is the financial and film center, while Bengaluru and Hyderabad lead the technology industry and Kolkata and Chennai anchor the east and south.
India · History
History of India
Planned Indus cities, Ashoka’s empire, the Delhi sultanates and the Mughals all came before British rule. Independence arrived in 1947 beside partition, one of the largest and most violent migrations in modern history.
Commonly asked
- How old is Indian civilisation?
- The cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation flourished from about 2600 BCE, with planned streets and drainage systems. Later Vedic traditions shaped Hinduism and Sanskrit literature, while Buddhism and Jainism also began on the subcontinent.
- Who was Ashoka, and why is he important?
- Ashoka ruled most of the subcontinent in the 3rd century BCE as emperor of the Maurya dynasty. After the Kalinga war he embraced Buddhism and spread its ideas through rock and pillar edicts across his empire.
- When did India become independent, and what was partition?
- British rule ended in August 1947. The colony was divided into India and Pakistan along religious lines, displacing roughly 15 million people and causing communal violence that killed hundreds of thousands.
India · Language
The languages of India
India recognizes 22 scheduled languages written in many scripts, with Indo-Aryan languages dominant in the north and Dravidian ones in the south. Hindi has the most speakers; English often supplies the bridge between regions.
Commonly asked
- What is the national language of India?
- India has no national language. Hindi in Devanagari is an official language of the Union, English continues in official use, and the constitution recognizes 22 scheduled languages while states choose their own official languages.
- How many languages are spoken in India?
- The constitution recognizes 22 scheduled languages, the census counts more than 120 major languages, and people reported over 1,600 mother-tongue names. The boundaries between language and dialect are often political as well as linguistic.
- Why is English so widely used in India?
- English remained an associate official language after independence and became common ground for higher education, national courts, business and communication between states whose own languages are unrelated.
India · Culture
Culture of India
No single film industry, festival calendar or religious tradition can stand for a country this large. India produces films in dozens of languages, celebrates Diwali and Holi at national scale, and is the birthplace of four major religions.
Commonly asked
- What are the major festivals of India?
- Diwali, the festival of lights, and Holi, the spring festival of color, are the most visible nationwide. Eid, Christmas, Durga Puja, Onam, Pongal, Vaisakhi and many other festivals are just as central in particular faiths and regions.
- Is Bollywood the whole Indian film industry?
- No. Bollywood is the Hindi-language industry based in Mumbai. India also has enormous Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali cinemas, and together they produce more feature films than any other country.
- Which religions began in India?
- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism all began on the subcontinent. India is also home to one of the world’s largest Muslim populations and long-established Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian and Baháʼí communities.
India · Economy
Economy of India
Economic liberalisation in 1991 opened the way for a services and technology boom, while agriculture still employs far more people than its share of output suggests. UPI then made instant digital payment ordinary from malls to roadside stalls.
Commonly asked
- What is India’s economy known for?
- Information technology and business services lead the modern export economy, alongside pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering and a vast domestic market. India is also the world’s largest milk producer and a major grower of rice, wheat and sugarcane.
- What changed in India’s economy in 1991?
- A balance-of-payments crisis pushed the government to cut import barriers, loosen industrial licensing and open more of the economy to private and foreign investment. The reforms helped launch three decades of faster growth.
- Why are digital payments so common in India?
- The Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, lets bank accounts exchange money instantly by phone or QR code. Built as public infrastructure, it made even very small cashless transactions cheap and simple.
India · Politics
Politics of India
A federal parliamentary republic governed by the longest written national constitution, with 28 states, eight union territories and close to a billion eligible voters taking part in elections staged over several weeks.
Commonly asked
- How does the government of India work?
- India is a federal parliamentary republic. The president is head of state with mostly ceremonial duties, while the prime minister leads the government and must command support in the Lok Sabha, the directly elected lower house.
- Why are Indian elections held in phases?
- The electorate is close to a billion people spread across difficult terrain, so staff, voting machines and security are moved through the country in stages. A general election takes several weeks and is the largest polling exercise on Earth.
- How much power do India’s states have?
- The 28 states have elected governments and control major areas including policing, public health and much of education. The eight union territories are administered more directly by the national government, though some have elected assemblies.
India · Nature & Wildlife
Nature and wildlife of India
India holds Himalayan snow leopard country, the mangrove delta of the Sundarbans, most of the world’s wild tigers and the last Asiatic lions, all within a little over two percent of Earth’s land.
Commonly asked
- What famous wild animals live in India?
- Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, one-horned rhinoceroses, snow leopards and sloth bears all have important populations here. Gujarat’s Gir Forest holds the last wild Asiatic lions.
- Where can you see tigers in India?
- Major tiger reserves include Corbett, Ranthambore, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Tadoba and the Sundarbans. Project Tiger, begun in 1973, helped India retain roughly three quarters of the world’s wild tigers.
- Why is India so biodiverse?
- Its habitats run from high Himalaya and desert to tropical rainforest, grassland, coral islands and mangrove coast. Four global biodiversity hotspots reach Indian territory: the Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats–Sri Lanka and Sundaland.
India · Food & Cuisine
Food of India
There is no single Indian cuisine: wheat, dairy and Mughal techniques shape much of the north, while rice, coconut, tamarind and fermented batters run through the south. What joins them is the building of flavor through a masala rather than one fixed curry powder.
Commonly asked
- What food is India famous for?
- Names known abroad include biryani, dosa, idli, butter chicken, dal, samosa and chaat, but every state has a distinct repertoire. A thali makes the variety visible by serving several small dishes around rice or bread.
- Is most Indian food vegetarian?
- India has the highest share of vegetarians in the world, shaped by Hindu, Jain and other traditions, but the country as a whole is not majority vegetarian by every survey. Meat and fish are central to many regional cuisines.
- What is masala, and is curry powder Indian?
- Masala simply means a mixture of spices, which may be dry, toasted or ground into a paste for a particular dish. Standardized curry powder was developed for British tastes; Indian cooks use many different blends instead.
India · Landmarks
Landmarks of India
The Taj Mahal is only the opening image: beyond it are the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the ghats of Varanasi, rock-cut caves at Ajanta and Ellora, Mughal forts, stepwells and temple cities built across two thousand years.
Commonly asked
- Why was the Taj Mahal built?
- The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built it at Agra as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. The marble complex rose beside the Yamuna over the following two decades and later became Shah Jahan’s own tomb as well.
- What is the Golden Temple?
- Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar is the most important shrine in Sikhism. Its four entrances signal that it is open to everyone, and its community kitchen serves free meals to tens of thousands of visitors on an ordinary day.
- What should you see in India beyond Delhi and Agra?
- Varanasi on the Ganges, Jaipur and the desert forts of Rajasthan, Kerala’s backwaters, the cave temples at Ajanta and Ellora, the temples of Tamil Nadu and the Himalayan regions all reveal a different India.
India · People & Society
People and society of India
The world’s most populous country is also unusually young: more than 1.4 billion people with a median age around 28, hundreds of languages, enormous regional differences and most of the population still living outside cities.
Commonly asked
- How many people live in India?
- About 1.46 billion. India passed China in 2023 to become the world’s most populous country, although fertility has already fallen to around replacement level and population growth is slowing.
- Is India mostly urban or rural?
- Most Indians still live outside cities: the urban share is a little over one third and rising. Delhi and Mumbai are among the largest urban areas on Earth, while Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata each count millions.
- What is the caste system in India today?
- The constitution abolished untouchability and bans caste discrimination, while reserved places in education, public employment and legislatures address historic exclusion. Caste nevertheless still shapes marriage, social networks and politics.