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Did you know ...

• the Bangalore based SELCO company, which promotes solar power in rural India, has twice won an Ashden Award?
• the Cretaceous Malagasy mammal Lavanify is most closely related to a species from India?
• the fisheries of Chilka Lake in India sustain more than 150,000 fisherfolk living in 132 villages?
• the 2006 visit by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to India was officially described as "heralding a new era in Indo-Saudi Arabian relations"?
• the 1st century Greek historian Nicolaus of Damascus reported the embassy of holy men from India to the Levant, Athens and Rome during the time of Jesus?
• the 1459 Fra Mauro map reports that "a junk from India" rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1420, around 70 years before the navigations of Vasco da Gama?
• the 1959 court case K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra was the last jury trial ever held in India?
• the Halmidi inscription, an Indian inscription, found near the tiny village of Halmidi, in Karnataka, India, is the oldest known inscription in the Kannada language?
• the Indian Defence Intelligence Agency was established because of intelligence lapses during the Kargil War?
• the Indian poet and philosopher Dwijendranath Tagore wrote the book Boxometry about the construction of boxes?
• the Indian politician Jamuna Nishad was dropped as cabinet minister after being named in the murder case of a police constable?
• the Indian novelist M. K. Indira started writing novels only after the age of forty-five?
• the Indian national flag is called Tiranga?
• the Indian Economic Intelligence Council is chaired by the Finance Minister?
• the Indian mobster turned Congress politician Pappu Kalani won two elections while in jail?
• the 9th century Navalinga temple in Karnataka, India, is a cluster of nine Hindu temples, each containing a Shiva linga?
• the 6th century Mahakuta group of temples in Karnataka, India, exhibit pan-Indian architectural forms?
• rock edicts of Emperor Ashoka, found at Brahmagiri in the present-day Karnataka state of India, indicated the southernmost extent of the Mauryan Empire?
• scientists believe construction of the Rengali Dam and barrier in Orissa, India, negatively impacts plant species in the Bhitarkanika Mangroves?
• public hangings used to take place near the site of the Municipal Corporation Building, Mumbai (pictured), India?
• poet, film producer and journalist Pritish Nandy is credited with opening India's first cyber cafe in 1996?
• one of the largest rainwater harvesting projects in the world is being implemented in the rural areas of the state of Karnataka, India?
• parts of Karnataka gained independence after its Unification, a year later than most of India?
• several thousand bauls, a community of wandering minstrels who sing devotional songs, assemble annually for the fair at Jaydev Kenduli (temple sculpture pictured) in West Bengal, India?
• since 1967 the state of Tamil Nadu in India has been ruled by Dravidian parties?
• the 2000-seater laser auditorium at Hyderabad's Lumbini Park is the first of its kind in India?
• the 33 Edicts of Ashoka in north India and Pakistan are the first tangible historical evidence of Buddhism?
  
• the 12th century Doddabasappa Temple (pictured) in Karnataka state, India, has a 24-pointed star-shaped plan?
• the 10th century reservoir Surajkund (pictured) and the 8th century dam Anagpur are both located in Haryana, India?
• six idols from the Sivagurunathaswamy temple in Sivapuram, India, were secretly smuggled out of the country in the 1950s?
• students from National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research in Orissa, India, attacked its Director during a protest about living conditions in the hostel?
• the Indian state of Maharashtra has started a project for the location of suitable sites for Jatropha plantations?
• the Indian Coast Guard estimates more than 100 fishing boats and an unknown number of fishermen annually stray across the territorial waters of India and Pakistan?
• the Bhutanatha temples (pictured) in India have a pillared hall extending into a lake?
• the famine of 1873–74 in Bihar, India was less severe than had originally been anticipated, and 100,000 tons of grain was left unused at the end of the relief efforts?
• the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union, an Indian farm labourers movement, claims a membership of over 2.5 million?
• the Best Bakery case is a legal case involving the killing of 14 people in Vadodara, India, during the 2002 Gujarat violence?
• the Battle of Asal Uttar fought between India and Pakistan was the largest tank battle in the history of the Indian subcontinent?
• the Battle of Garibpur fought between India and Pakistan preceded the official start of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and was the first battle where dog fighting occurred over East Pakistan?
• the Birhor people are a tribal forest people, traditionally nomadic, living primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand?
• the Buner reliefs depict scenes of ancient Greeks in India during the 1st century?
• the Cheraman Juma Masjid, the oldest mosque in India, was originally constructed in traditional Hindu architectural style?
• the Chicken's Neck is a narrow strip of land 24 km in width connecting India to its north-eastern states?
• the Chennai Book Fair is an annual event in Chennai, India, which takes place between the last week of December and the third week of January?
• the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau serves as the secretariat of the Economic Intelligence Council of India?
• the Casino Goa in Goa is the only legal casino in India?
• the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands in India had a forked structure and derived its name from the fact that it comprised only of isolated cells?
• the Bangalore Palace in India, which was built to resemble Windsor Castle in England, has hosted music concerts of bands like Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and Deep Purple?
• the Bandra Fair in Mumbai, India was established to commemorate finding a statue of Mary in the Arabian Sea?
• the railcar that ran on the Shimoga-Talaguppa railway in India had to be reversed on a turntable, so that it could start its return journey?
• the tamburi, the principal drone instrument in Carnatic music to this day, was introduced during the Vijayanagara era in India?
• the photographer duo of Krupakar-Senani were kidnapped by the bandit Veerappan, while filming the movie Wild Dog Diaries in India?
• the lyrics of the debut song of Indian rock musician Rabbi Shergill were written by the 18th century Punjabi poet Bulleh Shah?
• the nationalist activities of India House in the early 1900s led Valentine Chirol to describe it as the "most dangerous organisation outside India"?
• the Late Cretaceous madtsoiid snake Sanajeh preyed on hatchling sauropod dinosaurs at nesting sites in India?
• the world's tallest statue of Hindu God Lord Shiva (pictured) is located in Murudeshwara, a coastal town in Karnataka, India?
• the World Wide Fund for Nature rates the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests bordering India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar (Burma) as "Globally Outstanding" in biological distinctiveness?
• the Amar Mahal Palace (pictured) in Jammu, India, built by a French architect on the lines of a chateau for Raja Amar Singh, is now run as a museum by the Hari-Tara charitable trust?
• the Ashtamudi Lake is the second largest and deepest wetland ecosystem in Kerala, India?
• the All India Sikh Students Federation was a major part of the movement for a Sikh-majority state of Punjab in India?
• the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange is the second oldest stock exchange in India, and first functioned under a banyan tree?
• the 1989 Valvettiturai massacre was called "India's My Lai" by the Indian politician George Fernandes?
• the 1999 Chamoli earthquake in India, in which 103 people died, was also felt in the Baitadi, Dadeldhura and Kanchanpur districts in Nepal?
• one of the first discoveries of atmospheric neutrinos was made at India's Kolar Gold Fields?
• one of the first actions of India's Desai government was to formally end the state of emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi?
• due to its numerous attractions such as Lal Bagh (pictured), Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, is known as the "Garden City of India"?
• during his Eastern journey Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovitch of Russia visited Egypt, India, China and Japan travelling a distance of more than 51,000 km (31,500 mi)?
• despite what its scientific name implies, the perennial garden plant Salvia indica is not naturally found in India?
• despite operating a charity that has set up four clinics in the city of Kolkata, British doctor Jack Preger has been ordered to leave India on at least one occasion?
• brightly colored leheria turbans were male business attire in Rajasthan, India during the 19th and early 20th centuries?
• construction of Mughal Road in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was opposed because it impeded the movement of the Markhor goat?
• during the 1927 Nagpur riots in India, in which 22 people were killed, the house of Hindu nationalist leader K. B. Hedgewar (pictured) was stoned?
• during the Agra famine of 1837–38 in the North-Western Provinces of India, approximately 800,000 people died of starvation and an even larger number of livestock perished?
• every year 70,000 to 80,000 migratory birds visit Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary, an artificially created forest in West Bengal, India?
• following the invasion of Tibet in 1959, the fifth Keutsang incarnation of the Keutsang Hermitage was incarcerated and later sought asylum in India in the 1980s?
• every household in the Dhaniakhali bloc of West Bengal, India, has at least one loom, where handloom saris are made?
• erotic sculptures (example pictured) found in the 11th century Tripurantaka Temple in Karnataka state, India, are miniatures?
• during the Great Bombay Textile Strike of 1982, nearly 250,000 workers and more than 50 textile mills went on strike in Mumbai, India?
• early Indian Christians were Nestorians until the arrival of Portuguese in the 16th century introducing Roman Catholicism to the country?
• bridges carrying India's Grand Trunk Road over the Barakar River were washed away in 1913 and 1946?
• boats crammed with people from both India and Bangladesh, flying the flags of their respective countries, converge on the Ichamati River, the international border, to immerse the idols after Durga Puja?
• although the Ishvara temple (pictured) in Karnataka, India, seems modest in construction, it is in fact the most complicated Hoysala monument?
• although the Siddhesvara Temple (pictured) in Karnataka, India is currently a temple of Shiva, historians are unsure of its original faith?
• although the Nationalist Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party belong to opposing alliances in national Indian politics, they are both partners in the governing coalition in Meghalaya?
• although in present-day India the former princely states and their princes have lost that status, the Raja of Rajnagar still wears his ancestors' tattered royal attire twice a year?
• after Indian domino cockroaches copulate, a female does not permit males to approach, kicking them away with her hind legs?
• although building India's first overseas military base in Tajikistan strengthened Indo-Tajik relations, bilateral trade remained low at USD 12.09 million in 2005?
• although the torpedo scad (pictured) is of major importance to Indian fisheries and extensively studied in that country, worldwide catch statistics for the species do not include India?
• as Governor of Madras, John Sinclair, 1st Baron Pentland, had Annie Besant arrested in 1917 for advocating home rule for India?
• because of differences in the demands for a separate nation called Dravida Nadu, India's DMK party split in 1962 and a short-lived Tamil National Party was formed?
• between the 10th and 14th centuries, the Indian state of Karnataka was ruled by the Hoysala Empire?
• bandmates of Beverley O'Sullivan, recently killed in India, found out the true extent of her hearing difficulties when she developed a sore ear during a Westlife performance?
• at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Indian freestyle wrestler Sushil Kumar won his country's second medal in the sport since the 1952 Games?
• at 4,595 m above sea level, the fields at Korzok Monastery (pictured) in India have been called the highest cultivated land in the world?
• at least 37 people have died in the ongoing caste violence in Rajasthan, India?
• from November to April every year Jammu is the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost Indian state, and that during the summer Srinagar is the capital?
• houses in the Indian village Shani Shingnapur do not have doors?
• innovative Indian film director Ritwik Ghatak's first feature film Nagarik premiered after his death, twenty-four years after it was made?
• inscriptions found on a stone pillar in the village of Talagunda in India describe the rise of the Kadamba dynasty?
• in the year 2004, both the Tamil and Telugu language versions of the Kannada novel Parva won the Sahitya Akademi of India's translation award?
• in the Siege of Diu in 1538 an Ottoman fleet equipped with 130 cannons attempted to eliminate the Portuguese from the harbour of Diu in India?
• in the Indian Gaarudi Gombe ceremonial dance, dancers are required to wear full-body doll-suits made of bamboo sticks?
• in the siege of Cannanore (1507) in India, a Portuguese garrison of 150 resisted for four months against 60,000 attackers?
• legend has it that Nainital Lake in Uttarakhand, India, was created when three pilgrims dug a hole which filled from the sacred Tibetan Lake Manasarovar?
• many government-planted trees in the Banni grasslands in India were legally cut down to make charcoal for profits from 2004 to 2008 even though the area has been a protected forest since 1955?
• on November 22, 2006, at least ten people were killed in a burning leather factory in India after being trapped behind locked emergency exits?
• one of the earliest known references to Karnataka, the name of an Indian state, is found in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata?
• on May 3, 2002 a military MiG-21bis aircraft crashed into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight?
• on December 12, 1996, India and Bangladesh signed a 30-year treaty resolving the long-standing dispute over the sharing of Ganges Waters?
• multiple-award winning Indian film Vanaja, which could not be screened in India because it found no takers, was the Master of Fine Arts thesis of its director, Rajnesh Domalpalli?
• nine workers died at India's Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited due to a blast that occurred when leaking water was accidentally mixed with molten steel?
• in the 1972 census there were an estimated 580,000 Jamnapari goats in India?
• in the 1930s the Indian girl Shanti Devi related details of an alleged former life, and a commission set up by Gandhi deemed her claims to be accurate?
• in 1969, a world record number of 15 million people attended the funeral of C.N.Annadurai, the first non Congress Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India?
• in 1998 Vishnu Bhagwat became the first service chief in independent India to be fired?
• in 1938, the Raja of Aundh voluntarily handed over rule of his Indian state to the people in what became known as the Aundh Experiment?
• in 1915, T. V. Seshagiri Iyer founded the Indian Boat Club at Kodaikanal in response to discrimination against Indians at the English Boat Club?
• improving Indo-Taiwanese relations have led to bilateral trade rising to USD 2.26 billion by 2005, even though India has not accorded diplomatic recognition to Taiwan?
• in 1844 Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty established the Crescent, the first Indian-owned newspaper in Madras Presidency?
• in 2005, Ghatam player Ghatam Udupa became the first Indian to perform at the Krakow International Percussion Festival?
• in Test cricket, Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, with 39 centuries, leads the list of batsmen making centuries?
• in response to the Hajong communist peasants' uprising, Pakistani authorities forced the majority of the Hajong people into exile in India?
• in the 1508 Battle of Chaul in India, a Mamluk-Gujarati fleet defeated a Portuguese fleet under Lourenço de Almeida?
• in modern India, the ethos of the old religious order is retained by worship of computers during the Ayudha Puja (pictured), as practised in the past for other implements?
• in his later years, Indian journalist C. Karunakara Menon was detested by the extremists of the Indian independence movement as well as the Government of British India?
• in December 1955, India became the first country outside the Eastern bloc to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia?
• in a few of the international cricket matches played by India in the 1990s, more than half of the players in the Indian team belonged to the state of Karnataka?
• the Church of Our Lady of Light in Chennai, India was built in 1516 by Portuguese missionaries?
• the Church of the East, originally the Christian church of Sassanid Persia, eventually established churches throughout Asia, including in Mesopotamia, India, Central Asia, and China?
• the meaning and significance of kingship changed dramatically over time in India between the 2nd millennium BCE and ca. 500 BCE?
• the monkey Ramu from the Indian state of Orissa was kept behind bars for five years on the charge of disturbing communal harmony?
• the main theme of Indian novelist V.J.P. Saldanha's writings was the 18th-century captivity of 60,000 Mangalorean Roman Catholics at Seringapatam?
• the legendary Tamil stage and film artiste K. B. Sundarambal was also a political activist, and the first film personality to enter an Indian state legislature?
• the killers of Aladi Aruna, former Law Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, were sentenced to death?
• the land snail Indrella ampulla (pictured) lives only in the rainforests of the Western Ghats, in India?
• the mother of Jamila Massey, an Indian actress and writer, refused to allow her to attend drama school, after the death of her father?
• the name of the Karmanasa River in India means "destroyer of religious merit"?
• the original images of Lord Swaminarayan (pictured) at the Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Karachi, Pakistan were removed and taken to India during the turbulent times of its partition?
• the people of Khichan, India have a tradition of offering five quintals of grain per day to Demoiselle Cranes (pictured)?
• the only known population of Irrawaddy dolphins in India is along the coast of Orissa?
• the only active volcano in South Asia is on Barren Island, one of India's Andaman Islands?
• the new Puzhal Central Prison is the largest prison in India and provides relatively more facilities to inmates?
• the non-profit Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association is the largest association for textile research and allied industries in India?
• the founders of the Indian spice manufacturing company MDH were popularly known as Deggi Mirch Wale, the "Pot Chilli People"?
• the first temple to be built in soapstone was constructed in Western Chalukya architecture (pictured), in Karnataka, India?
• the day that British East India Company acquired a sliver of land to build Fort St. George is celebrated as Madras Day in Madras, India?
• the dispute regarding the distribution of the Zira and Firozpur administrative districts to India was settled as part of an agreement between the governments of India and Pakistan in 1960, thirteen years after partition?
• the comic series Bahadur focused on rehabilitation of dacoits at a time when dacoity was prevalent in many parts of rural India?
• the city of Mysore, in the Indian state of Karnataka, has been called the "Cultural Capital of Karnataka"?
• the birth place of Tipu Sultan, also known as the Tiger of Mysore, is located 150 metres (490 ft) south-west of Devanahalli Fort in Karnataka, India?
• the cast for the Academy Award-nominated movie Little Terrorist had never acted in a movie before and that the crew worked for the movie free of charge, and even travelled to India at their own expense?
• the entire Kannada film industry lead by Dr.Rajkumar participated in the Gokak agitation to demand the first language status of Kannada in the Indian state of Karnataka?
• the fact that no one has been arrested for the murder of Indian ex-parliamentarian Ehsan Jafri is seen as evidence of government complicity?
• the first recorded owner of the Spanish Inquisition Necklace (pictured) was an Indian Maharaja?
• the first session of the Legislative Council of Mysore State in India was held in the Jaganmohan Palace (pictured) in July 1907?
• the first private radio station in India was Akashvani which was set up in 1935 in Mysore, Karnataka?
• the first organized postal system in India was established between the British East India Company factories at Madras and Calcutta during the tenure of Edward Harrison?
• the film The Cloud Door, by Indian director Mani Kaul, features a parrot telling erotic stories?
• the first public interest litigation case to be heard in the Karnataka High Court in India was to prevent the demolition of the very building from which it was functioning?
• the residents of Basanti and other deltaic islands in the Indian part of the Sundarbans thanked the French author Dominique Lapierre for the floating dispensaries he had provided?
• the shores of Dal Lake in India (pictured) contain Mughal gardens Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh known as "the jewel of Kashmir valley"?
• though the origin of the Western Ganga Dynasty of Talakad (in modern Karnataka, India) is debated, they made rich contributions to the polity, culture and literature of the region?
• thousands of people at Deekshabhoomi, a pilgrimage center in Nagpur, India, embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956?
• there is no statutory body in India to investigate academic misconducts such as scientific plagiarism?
• there is a form of mental calculation called Vedic mathematics which is based on the ancient Indian Vedas?
• there are significant breeding populations of 35 mammalian species in Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India, out of which 15 are threatened mammals according to the IUCN Red List?
• there has been a demand for a separate Tulu Nadu state from Karnataka, India since the 1990s?
• to combat illegal entry by foreign nationals, India and China are currently building security barriers at their borders with Bangladesh and North Korea respectively?
• tradition has it that Warren Hastings hunted with elephants in the jungle in Chowringhee, now a business district in Kolkata, India?
• while the rest of India worships the Hindu wealth-goddess Lakshmi, Bengalis venerate the fearsome goddess Kali (pictured) today on Kali Puja?
• with the testing of the PAD missile, India became the fourth country to have successfully demonstrated an anti-ballistic missile system?
• when a fifteen-year-old girl garlanded Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the inauguration of India's Panchet Dam, she was considered to have "married" him?
• when Shiv Chowrasia, a former caddie, won the 2008 Indian Masters golf tournament, he became the third Indian to win a European Tour event?
• when LeT militants barged into her home in Rajouri, Rukhsana Kausar started a counter-attack wielding an axe, and later drew praise from the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister of India?
• when Indrajit Gupta, a Communist, became India's Union Minister for Home Affairs in 1996, he became head of a ministry "which once policed the Commies"?
• there are only 0.5–1.5 tigers per 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) in India's Palamau Tiger Reserve?
• there are hints of political opposition to the land acquisition for the Special Economic Zone and industrial hub at Saltora in the "neglected" Bankura district in India?
• the town of Channapatna in India is known as the "toy-town of Karnataka" due to the popularity of the wooden toys manufactured there?
• the town of Melattur in Tamil Nadu, India is famous for its Bharatanatyam, a classic South Indian dance?
• the term Rashtrapati, the native word in India to refer the nation's President, was first suggested by the Kannada poet, scholar T.N. Srikantaiah?
• the suppression of a protest in Nagpur and Jabalpur caused the Flag Satyagraha to erupt in 1923, bringing thousands of nationalists from across India to the rebellion?
• the slang term brass razoo is speculated to have originated from Egyptian or Indian currency?
• the state of Karnataka, particularly the region belonging to the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, is known as the cradle of banking in India?
• the town of Rawalsar in Himachal Pradesh, India is sacred to three major religions -- Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism?
• the unsolved murder of Miss Garnett-Orme at Savoy Hotel, Mussoorie, India in 1911, inspired Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1916)?
• the winners of the Twenty20 Champions League, a tournament between Twenty20 cricket champions from Australia, England, India and South Africa, will collect a prize estimated at £2.5 million?
• the world's first birth control clinic was set up in 1930 in the Mandya district of the state of Karnataka, India?
• the wild zebrafish is the first vertebrate to have its entire genome sequenced in India, a task carried out by the scientists at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology?
• the wide variety of people who have been deported from the United States includes Jamaican boxer Trevor Berbick, political activist Emma Goldman, and Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh?
• the village of Kodinji in Kerala, India, where multiple birth is a regular phenomenon, is home to over 204 pairs of twins?
• the village of Naluvedapathy in Tamil Nadu, India remained unscathed by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because of a record 80,244 casuarina saplings planted on the coast two years earlier?
• the biggest walk-through aviary in India is located on the shore of the Karanji Lake in Mysore?
• the appearance of a dog named Cheeka in a Hutch ad campaign doubled sales of pugs in India in 2003?
• the practice of agriculture in India had started by 9000 BCE?
• the Hyderabad State Congress led a non-violent civil disobedience campaign for the union of Hyderabad State with India, declaring August 7, 1947, as "Join Indian Union Day"?
• the Hindu Munnani is a Hindu nationalist organization based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu?
• the Higginbotham's, based in Chennai, is India's oldest bookstore in existence?
• the Haryana Tourism Corporation names its tourist complexes after local birds in the Indian state of Haryana?
• the Hawa Mahal (pictured) in Jaipur, India, has 953 small windows (jharokhas) which were built with the intention to allow royal ladies to view the street below without being seen?
• the Indo-Burma barrier, a 1,624 kilometer-long barrier between India and Burma, is being built to curtail gunrunning and illicit drug trafficking?
• the Kandariya Mahadeva (pictured) is one of the best examples of Hindu temples preserved from the medieval period in India?
• the Mahé River in India was nicknamed the "English Channel" because it separated British-ruled Thalassery from French-ruled Mahé?
• the Mahabaleshwar Temple (pictured) in Gokarna is one of the seven sacred Muktikshetras (places of salvation) in India and is said to bestow immense blessings upon devotees who even glimpse it?
• the Lakshminarayana Temple in Hosaholalu, Karnataka state, India is mounted on a platform (jagati), a style unique to Hoysala architecture?
• the Ladakh Ecological Development and Environmental Group has been responsible for solar energy development in Ladakh in northern India?
• the Khooni Darwaza (literally Gateway of Blood) is a 16th century monument in Delhi, India that was named for the various incidents of bloodshed associated with it?
• the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan organised India's first May Day celebrations in 1923?
• the Harihareshwara temple in Karnataka, India, was consecrated in 1224 CE, in dedication to Harihara (pictured), a fusion of the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu?
• the HMS Finisterre replaced her sister-ship the Hogue in Far Eastern service after the latter was destroyed by a collision with an Indian cruiser?
• the Delhi-Lahore Bus, a symbol of Indo-Pakistani friendship, continued running during the 1999 Kargil War?
• the Diu Fort (pictured) in India was voted one of seven wonders of Portuguese colonialism in an opinion poll in Portugal?
• the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was given the unusual name at the request of India?
• the Carolina dayflower (pictured) is actually from India and was named in the United States nearly a century before it was described in its native country?
• the City Palace of Jaipur in Rajasthan, India, holds the world's two largest silver objects (one pictured)?
• the Cochin Jews have had a settlement in India since the 16th century?
• the Durga Vahini, the women's wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, have been accused of instigating violence against religious minorities in India?
• the energy elasticity of India in 2005 was 0.80?
• the Gujarat Vidyapith was founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi as a means to establish an education system for all Indians free of British rule?
• the Gurgaon Metro will be India's first privately owned and operated metro?
• the Goa Opinion Poll was the only referendum to have been held in Independent India?
• the Gangavaram Port is the deepest port in India?
• the Eparchaean Unconformity in India is a major discontinuity between Proterozoic Nagari Quartzites and Archaean granite with a time gap of at least 500 million years between the two formations?
• the Fodder Scam involved the alleged embezzlement of about Rs. 950 crore (US$ 199 million) from the treasury of the Indian state of Bihar?
• the Kashi Vidyapeeth university in Varanasi was founded on Mahatma Gandhi's principle of Indian self-reliance through the boycott of colonial institutions?
• the Mahishya caste is one of the predominant Hindu castes in West Bengal, India?
• the Sidrapong Hydel Power Station is the oldest hydroelectric power station in India?
• the St. Philomena's Church (pictured) in the city of Mysore in India was built in Neo-Gothic style drawing inspiration from the Cologne Cathedral in Germany?
• the Shahi Bridge across the Gomti River in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, was built in 1569 without the chhatris (pictured), which were added almost three centuries later?
• the Satyashodhak Communist Party was founded in Maharastra, India, in 1978, seeking to combine the philosophies of Karl Marx, B.R. Ambedkar and Jyotirao Phule?
• the Royal Opera House in Mumbai is India's only surviving opera house?
• the Sannyasi Rebellion was a series of clashes between Indian ascetics and the British East India Company during the eighteenth century in Bengal?
• the Thikse Monastery in India is called Mini-Potala because of its structural similarity to the former residence of the Dalai Lama, the Potala Palace in Tibet?
• the Valluvars are the hereditary priests of the Pallars and Paraiyars of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu?
• the Presidential office of India operates from The Retreat at Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh, India at least once every year?
• the Roman merchants who traded with ancient Tamil country, used the monsoon winds to reduce the travel time between Egypt and India to forty days?
• the Madras Bank, India's oldest Western-style banking institution, was established in 1683 by William Gyfford, the Agent of Madras at the time?
• the Workers and Peasants Party leader K.N. Joglekar successfully moved a resolution that the Indian National Congress should demand full independence for India?
• the Wat Phra Kaew, a Buddhist temple (temple complex pictured) in Bangkok, Thailand, has an idol of Emerald Buddha with a legend linked to India, five centuries after Buddha attained Nirvana?
• the Wild Ass Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat, home to the endangered Asian Wild Ass, is the largest wildlife sanctuary of India?
• the Rangit Dam project in Sikkim in northeastern India cost more than $109 million?
• the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is India's highest sporting honour?
• the Mayurakshi river in India wreaks havoc with its floods even after the construction of a dam?
• the milk shark is so named because of a belief in India that eating its meat improves lactation?
• the Mattancherry Palace, known popularly as Dutch Palace, in Kochi, India, was built by the Portuguese and renovated by the Dutch?
• the Maratha Ditch was excavated around Calcutta, India, as a protection against attacks by Marathas, who, however, never attacked?
• the Maitreyi Express was launched on Pohela Baisakh in 2008 to revive the railway link between India and Bangladesh that had been closed for 43 years?
• the Malankara Rite, a local Indian variant of the West Syrian Rite, contains some elements archaic in the wider West Syrian tradition, such as use of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in Lent?
• the Nano Ganesh mobile application allows farmers in India to control irrigation pumps in remote fields with mobile phones?
• the Narikuravas who reside in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu speak an Indo-Aryan language called Vagriboli?
• the premiership of Lal Bahadur Shastri of India lasted only 19 months due to his sudden death in 1966?
• the police shooting of Rahul Raj, a BEST bus hijacker in Mumbai, India, sparked nationwide protests and discussions?
• the Plaza film theatre in Bangalore, India was modelled after the Piccadilly Circus in London?
• the Peninsular Gneiss rock exposure in the Lalbagh botanical gardens in Bangalore, India, is a National Geological Monument?
• the National Policy on Education of 1968 called for education spending to increase to six percent of India's national income?
• the Orang National Park in Assam, India, is the only stronghold of rhinoceros (pictured) on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river?
• according to rumour, an Englishman was murdered and a fire ruined Metcalfe's testimonials during a Christmas Eve party in 1895 at the Metcalfe House in Delhi, India?
• according to legend, any immigrant to the city of Agroha, established by Emperor Agrasen in ancient India, would receive a hundred thousand bricks to build a home, and a hundred thousand rupees to start a business of his own?
• Abraham Barak Salem was the first Black Jewish lawyer in India?
• Agathokleia was an Indo-Greek queen who ruled parts of Northern India from 135 to 125 BC?
• A. P. Patro inaugurated the Loyola College in Chennai, India, in 1925?
• more than 130 people died in July 2009 after consuming adulterated bootleg liquor in Gujarat, India, where alcohol consumption is prohibited?
• Tamil devotional song "Kurai Onrum Illai" was composed by Indian statesman and Governor-General, C. Rajagopalachari?
• Tejashwini Sreeramesh, an Indian Member of Parliament from the Kanakapura constituency of Karnataka, was previously an anchor of a talk show on Udaya TV?
• Ajit Wadekar was the first Indian to represent the country as Test Cricket player, captain, coach/manager and Chairman of Selectors?
• Akkamma Cherian, an Indian freedom fighter, was popularly known as the "Jhansi Rani of Travancore?"
• Ashta Pradhan, a council formed by Shivaji in 1674 to help him in administration, was one of the first instances of ministerial delegation in India?
• Asit Kumar Haldar was the first Indian fellow at the Royal Society of Arts?
• Ananda Ranga Pillai (pictured), famous for his diaries which portray life in 18th-century India, was a dubash in the service of the French East India Company?
• Amrutanjan Healthcare Limited, an Indian pharmaceutical company specializing in Ayurvedic balm for headaches and cold, was founded by freedom fighter Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao?
• Allama Prabhu, the mystic-saint of 12th century Karnataka, India, was also an accomplished Vachana poet?
• Amar Kutir in West Bengal, India, once a place of refuge for independence movement activists, has been turned into a society for the promotion of arts and crafts?
• Somerset cricket captain Jack Meyer was entrusted with the education of seven Indian boys, six of them princes, and founded the Millfield School to do so?
• Romulus Whitaker won the Whitley Award for establishing a rainforest research station at Agumbe, India to conserve King Cobras?
• Kolkota, India is called the City of Palaces because of its abundance of European-style buildings?
• Lesser Whistling Ducks are the most prominent species among the migratory birds that visit the lake in the Santragachhi area of Howrah, India, during winter?
• Keremane Shivarama Heggade, the founder of folk-art troupe Idagunji Mahaganapathi Yakshagana Mandali was the first Yakshagana artist in India to receive the Rashtrapati Award?
• Karnataka is home to the largest concentration of Siddhis (a tribe of African descent) in India?
• international airport project MIHAN in Nagpur is the biggest economic development project currently underway in India in terms of investment?
• Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations in April 1952, one of the first such treaties by Japan after World War II?
• London-born actress Sarah Badel made her acting debut in India?
• Marathi film Shwaas was India's official entry to the 2004 Oscars but faced financial problems to showcase and promote the film?
• paleolithic implements and a variety of speleothems have been found in the Borra Caves located in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh?
• Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was buried in St. Francis Church in India?
• nationalists seek a Greater Nepal that extends into Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim in India?
• Mysore Palace (pictured), a tourist attraction in the city of Mysore, is one of the most visited monuments in India, even more than the Taj Mahal?
• bishop David of Basra was one of the first Christian missionaries to India, circa 300 CE?
• Morarji Desai is India's only Finance Minister to have tabled the Union budget twice on his birthday?
• A. V. Meiyappan produced India's first dubbed film, Harischandra, in 1944?
• Ayya Nadar along with Shanmuga Nadar is credited for transforming the small village of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, India, into a thriving industrial town?
• Dravidar Kazhagam formed in 1944 was the first fully Dravidian party in India?
• Dwarkin developed the hand-held harmonium, a western instrument, to make it suitable for use with Indian music?
• Diskit Monastery (pictured) is the oldest and largest Buddhist monastery in the Nubra Valley of Ladakh, northern India?
• Dipor Bil reportedly provides its natural resources for the livelihood of 14 indigenous villages (1,200 families) located in its wetland ecosystem in Assam, India?
• dhabawallahs are Indian lunch carriers that make, on average, only one mistake in every 6000 deliveries, even though they do all their work manually?
• diamonds have been known in India for at least 3000 years, but most likely 6000 years?
• Entally was home to the poor and the depressed, and a neighbourhood where Mother Teresa started her active life in Kolkata, India?
• Farkhor Air Base in Tajikistan is India's only extraterritorial military base?
• Ghum is the highest railway station in India at 2,225 m (7,407 ft)?
• Gingee Fort in Tamil Nadu, India was called the "Troy of the East" by the British for its inaccessibility and is one of the few forts still surviving in the state?
• Gautam Adani, a school dropout, is the 13th richest person in India?
• G. S. Khaparde earned the moniker "Nawab of Berar" because of his personal and political influence in the central Indian province?
• Frank Morse once outsourced the research for a speech on globalization to a company in India?
• Frederick Booth-Tucker of The Salvation Army was awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind medal in 1913 for his work among the poor of India?
• dabbawalas are Indian lunch carriers that make, on average, only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries, even though they do all their work manually?
• Cubbon Park in Bangalore, India, has indigenous and exotic botanical species of 68 genera and 96 species with about 6,000 plants?
• Bhushan Steel, the largest manufacturer of auto-grade steel in India, is expanding its capacity to 12 million tonnes annually?
• Bidhannagar College, a government college in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, had to move out of its old premises because of student overpopulation?
• Bengaluru Pete, established by Kempegowda I in 1537 with roads laid in cardinal directions with entrance gates at the end of each road, is an integral part of the present-day Bangalore, India?
• Banga Mahila Vidyalaya (Bengali Women’s College) was the first women’s liberal arts college in India?
• Bahu Fort in Jammu, India, originally built by Raja Bahulochan some 3,000 years ago, was refurbished by the Dogra rulers in the 19th century?
• Banduan and Manbazar in West Bengal, India, are located in an area of violent political activities by Maoists?
• Binaca Geetmala was a Radio Ceylon countdown program of hit Indian film songs that was the most listened to radio program in India for portions of its 42-year run?
• booth capturing is a kind of electoral fraud that is seen mainly in India, where armed gangs belonging to political parties try to "capture" a polling booth and indulge in bogus voting?
• Churumuri.com, one of the most popular blogs on WordPress.com, is named after a snack made of puffed rice that is a speciality of Mysore, Karnataka in India?
• Coronation Park was the site of the 1911 Delhi Durbar that marked the shifting of the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi?
• Cherrapunji in India is the wettest place in the world?
• Charles Grant of the British East India Company wanted it to promote Christianity as well as trade in India?
• Bugle Rock in Bangalore, India, is a peninsular gneiss formation from which warning bugle calls were made to alert citizens of intruders?
• Camling is an ancient and endangered Kiranti language, spoken by only about 10,000 people in eastern Nepal, Bhutan and India?
• Indian Test cricketer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was previously a national break dancing champion of India?
• Indo-Guyanese lawyer and civil rights activist Rudy Narayan could, Michael Mansfield has written, have been the great black barrister of his generation?
• India and Vietnam plan to sign a free trade agreement to bolster bilateral relations and further expand trade, which is expected to reach US$2 billion in 2008?
• India established its diplomatic representation in Nigeria in 1958, two years before Nigeria's independence from British rule?
• India and Pakistan have expanded cross-border road and rail transport links, including across the disputed region of Kashmir?
• India's Operation Meghdoot to capture the Siachen Glacier in 1984 was the first assault launched in the world's highest battlefield?
• Hindu pilgrims to Pushkar Lake in Rajasthan, India, considered it lucky to be devoured by the crocodiles there?
• Iceland and India established diplomatic relations in 1972?
• India has developed close bilateral relations with Burma with the aim of countering China's growing influence and to elevate itself as a regional power?
• India's Defence Attaché Brigadier Ravi Datt Mehta was killed in the suicide bombing on the Indian Embassy in Kabul and is being considered for the Kirti Chakra?
• India's "Look East" policy aims to establish extensive relations with Asian countries to project its influence as a counterweight to that of the People's Republic of China?
• India's Kanjli Wetland, a manmade wetland created in 1870, has been recognised by the Ramsar Convention for its rich biodiversity?
• India's Harike Wetland has a concentration of migratory waterfowl with a number of globally threatened species?
• India's Sir Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar was the first President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council?
• India's imports fell by 47% and exports by 49% between 1929 and 1932 due to the Great Depression?
• India's USD 650–750 million aid for Afghanistan has bolstered bilateral relations and made it the largest regional provider of aid since overthrow of the Taliban?
• Gandhi biographer Dinanath Gopal Tendulkar, a student of Eisenstein, is considered to be one of the pioneers of documentary film making in India?
• Dravidian parties rose to power in Tamil Nadu after the 1967 general election in India, in which they won all the seats they competed for?
• Rani Abbakka, who fought the Portuguese in the 16th century, is regarded as the 'first woman freedom fighter of India'?
• Arya Samaj spearheaded the 19th-century cow protection movement, Hindu opposition to Muslim cow sacrifice, leading to violent riots spreading all across India?
• 70% of the population of Tamil Nadu is engaged in the Indian state's agricultural sector and related industries for their livelihood?
• 22-year-old Indian cricketer Vikram Singh, regarded by many as the fastest bowler in India, played only 5 matches for his state before being selected for the national squad against Sri Lanka?
• 16th century Indian musician-composer Miyan Tansen laid the foundations of Hindustani classical music by mixing Sufi and Bhakti musical traditions ?
• 18th-century professional portrait painter Tilly Kettle was the first British painter to work in India?
• footballer Bud Houghton was born in Madras to an Anglo-Indian family who migrated to England in 1947 when India gained independence from British rule?
• Australian Test cricketers Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were fined after accepting money from an Indian bookmaker known only as "John" in return for pitch and weather reports?
• Colombia and India established diplomatic relations on January 19, 1959?
• communist politician K. Ramani became the speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Indian state Tamil Nadu in 1989?
• centenarian Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, was the first chief of the Central Vigilance Commission of India and also the first to translate Mahatama Gandhi's autobiography to Kannada?
• Chinese Buddhist monk Song Yun and companions traveled to northwest India at the request of Empress Hu during the Northern Wei dynasty?
• Bollywood actress Shenaz Treasurywala was discovered while stuck in India when Kuwait Airways lost her luggage, including travel documents she needed to return to school in New York?
• Brahmo social reformer Dwarkanath Ganguly served a girls' boarding school in Kolkata, India as headmaster, teacher, dietician, guard, and janitor?
• India's Mafia Raj, or "mafia regime," first emerged around the state-owned coal mines of Jharkhand?
• India's Narcotics Control Bureau was created in 1986 to enforce the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act?
• Indian poet Gopalakrishna Adiga is known as the pioneer of Navya literature?
• Indian politician Erasmo de Sequeira rejected Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's offer to make him a Deputy Minister, stating that he wanted her post?
• Indian musician Ram Narayan's album Rāg Lalit was recorded in a single unedited take of over 73 minutes?
• Indian leader Syed Mahmud was released from prison after writing a letter of apology to the British Viceroy for participating in the Quit India movement?
• Indian indigenous tribal journalist and activist Dayamani Barla once worked as a maid to pay her way through University?
• Indian labour leader J. Hemachandran called for a ban on sales of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state of Tamil Nadu?
• Indian revolutionary poet Jwalamukhi was arrested for his writings in 1971?
• Indian scholar Śāntarakṣita is believed to have been instrumental in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet?
• Indian-born English cricketer Hugh Bartlett died whilst watching a cricket match at Hove in 1988?
• Indians perform the second most Google searches for Ayn Rand after Americans?
• Indian youth Meraj Khalid Noor was used for political campaigning in Muslim-dominated areas of Bihar as he resembled Osama Bin Laden?
• Indian women's activist Moturu Udayam is said to have been the first woman to ride a bicycle in the state of Andhra Pradesh?
• Indian schoolteacher D. R. Kaprekar discovered properties in number theory including a number and a constant named after him?
• Indian singer Master Saleem released his first album when he was 10 years old?
• Indian film actors M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and N. S. Krishnan spent 30 months in jail in connection with the Lakshmikanthan Murder Case before being acquitted?
• Indian classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai was married to Vikram Sarabhai, considered the Father of the Indian space program?
• Indian historian V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar believed that ancient South Indians may have known of Australia and Polynesia before their discovery by Europeans?
• Indian historian and Dravidologist K. A. Nilakanta Sastri served as the Director of UNESCO's Institute of Traditional Culture?
• Indian historian V. Kanakasabhai, who was the first to attempt a systematic chronology of Tamils, was of Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry?
• Indian communist politician K.P. Prabhakaran was in the forefront of a trade union of toddy tappers in Kerala for 55 years?
• India's Red and White Bravery Awards were renamed the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards after protests claimed it provided surrogate advertising for Red and White brand cigarettes?
• Indian communist politician and six-time Tripura Legislative Assembly member Bidya Debbarma never lost any election he contested?
• Indian nobleman Anup Rai was known as "Singh Dalan" (Lion Crusher) because he stopped a lion from attacking Mughal emperor Jahangir during a royal hunt?
• Indian sarod player Brij Narayan composed music for the 1988 movie The Bengali Night?
• Indian author and journalist Peary Chand Mitra played a leading role in the Bengal renaissance in the 19th century and became known as the "Dickens of Bengal" due to his clear Bengali prose?
• Indian businessman Ness Wadia, a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kings XI Punjab, is the great-grandson of Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah?
• Indian anthropologist Nirmal Kumar Bose, also a scholar on Mahatma Gandhi, did not agree with Gandhi's practice of active sexual celibacy?
• Indian trade unionist Dutta Samant led an estimated 200,000 workers on a year-long strike in 1982, causing the exodus of the textile mill industry from Mumbai?
• Indian serial killer Raman Raghav targeted street urchins and beggars sleeping in the open on roadsides and slums in Mumbai?
• Indian social worker and 2009 Padma Bhushan awardee, Sarojini Varadappan is a daughter of former Chief Minister of Madras, M. Bhaktavatsalam?
• Gubbi Veeranna's theatre company was the first one in the state of Karnataka, India to employ female artists to portray female characters on the stage?
• H. Vasanthakumar is a MLA in India, owner of an entertainment channel, Vasanth TV, and of Vasanth & Co, one of the largest electronics retail chains in Tamil Nadu?
• Kochi in Kerala, India is the only place where Chinese fishing nets are used outside of China?
• Tsomoriri (pictured), with an altitude of 4,595 metres (15,075 ft) in Ladakh, is the largest of the High Altitude Lakes in the Trans-Himalayan biogeographic region entirely within India?
• Tibbia College, with 84 patents in herbal medicine, is the only medical institution in India to offer education and training in two ancient systems of medicine, Ayurveda and Unaani?
• Tawang Monastery in northeastern India is said to be the largest Buddhist monastery in the world outside of Lhasa, Tibet?
• Dr. T. M. Nair founded India's Justice Party along with Theagaroya Chetty?
• T. Muthuswamy Iyer was the first Indian judge of the Madras High Court?
• Ujjayanta Palace was rebuilt in downtown Agartala, India after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1897?
• V. Ramaswami was the first Justice of the Supreme Court of India to face impeachment proceedings in independent India?
• Y. G. Parameshwara was the first blind Indian to qualify as a doctor?
• Yana in Karnataka, India, offers treks to two rock outcrops of black crystalline limestone (pictured) that house a cave temple where a "self-manifest" Shiva Linga is venerated?
• William Hamilton, a surgeon of British East India Company, cured the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar from recurrent illness, thereby hastening the process of achieving the grant that allowed the company to legally trade in India?
• Webb Miller, whose reporting of the Salt Satyagraha raid on the Dharasana Salt Works was credited for helping turn world opinion against British colonial rule in India, was kidnapped by Morton Salt co-founder Mark Morton?
• Walchand Hirachand established India’s first shipyard, first aircraft factory and its first car factory?
• Watson's Hotel is India's oldest cast iron building and is among the "100 Most Endangered Sites"?
• Surendranath Banerjea founded the Indian National Association, the first Indian political organization in British-ruled 19th-century India?
• Suraj Tal (pictured), the highest lake in India, may be reached by National Highway NH-21, the highest mountain road in the world?
• Sahu Mewalal scored the only goal in the final of the first Asian Games football competition held at Delhi, India, in 1951?
• Sardarji jokes are the most popular ethnic jokes in India?
• Saddam Beach in the Indian state of Kerala was given its name by local Muslim villagers after the Gulf War of 1991 in solidarity with former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein?
• Sabeena Saleem is the first mother to compete alongside her daughter at the Asian Games in Indian bowling history?
• Most Rev. S. Arulappa, Archbishop of Hyderabad, was the youngest to be consecrated as a Roman Catholic Archbishop in India?
• Saalumarada Thimmakka was awarded the National Citizen's award for planting and nurturing 284 banyan trees along an Indian highway?
• Sathyavani Muthu was one of the first two non-Congress members from Tamil Nadu to serve as a Union Minister in India?
• Satyendranath Tagore, the first Indian to join the elite Indian Civil Service, played a pioneering role in freeing women from being imprisoned in their homes?
• St. Paul’s Church, Diu is considered to be one of the best examples of baroque architecture in India?
• Subramanian Swamy worked towards normalizing Sino-Indian relations and persuaded Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to open the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet to Hindu pilgrims from India?
• Skeleton Lake in India is named after the remains of approximately 600 people who died there in a sudden hailstorm?
• Shruti Haasan, the daughter of Indian actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika, is a singer turned model who is now also venturing into acting?
• Shaukat Usmani was a candidate for the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1929 UK general election while imprisoned in India?
• Shivappa Nayaka, a king in 17th century Karnataka, India, introduced a unique and variable tax system called Sist?
• Yogendra Singh Yadav of the Indian army was awarded India's highest military honour posthumously in error, until it was realized that he was still alive recovering from injuries from the Kargil War?
• Annette Akroyd, an orientalist, is remembered primarily for her early efforts at women’s education in India?
• a tornado that hit Dantan in India on March 24, 1998 killed over 250 people?
• a Sub Inspector or S.I. is the rank of an Indian police officer who is in command of a police station?
• a lithograph (pictured) of Captain Stephen Ponsonby Peacocke's painting of the new bungalow at Sispara in India was published nine years after the Sispara ghat mountain trail was completed in 1838?
• a 2007 treaty significantly modified Indo-Bhutanese relations by reducing India's guiding role over Bhutan's foreign policy?
• Scottish actor J. Grant Anderson served in both World Wars, founded a theatre in India, and played a clown in a Burmese circus?
• a 12th-century epigraph styles the Mahadeva temple (pictured) in Karnataka, India, as "the emperor among temples"?
• a Vihara is an Indian Buddhist cave monastery that takes its name from the Sanskrit word for "a secluded place in which to walk"?
• a raga in Indian musician Ram Narayan's album Rag Shankara, Rag Mala in Jogia was named for an incarnation of Shiva?
• a year after conducting rival nuclear tests, India and Pakistan issued the 1999 Lahore Declaration, committing to develop safeguards to prevent nuclear conflict?
• about one million people were affected by floods in the Kamala and other rivers in northern Bihar in India in 2003?
• a split in India's Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party in 1988 resulted in a split in the Congress party in Tamil Nadu, leading to the birth of the new party Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani?
• a special kind of soil from Bidar fort is an essential ingredient in making Bidriware, a metal handicraft of Karnataka, India?
• a fire that broke out a few days before Hiralal Sen (pictured) died destroyed all his films including India's first political film?
• a proposed strategic road link through Bangladesh and its capital Dhaka will reduce the travel distance between the Indian cities of Agartala and Kolkata from 1,700 kms to 400 kms?
• Russian Indologist Gerasim Lebedev was the founder of the first European-style drama theatre in India and also the first printing house in Europe equipped with Indic scripts of Bengali and Devanagari?
• Reynier van Vlissingen, the Dutch Governor of Negapatam in India, surrendered to British forces in the 1781 Siege of Negapatam because the garrison had only one day of gunpowder remaining?
• São Gabriel was one of the two ships of Vasco da Gama's armada that returned from the trip to India?
• Shabdamanidarpana, a comprehensive and authoritative work on the grammar of the Kannada language, was written in the 13th century by the Indian linguist and poet Kesiraja?
• Kisan Kanya made by Ardeshir Irani in 1937 is India's first indigenously made color film?
• Epigraphia Carnatica, compiled by Benjamin L. Rice, contains a study of about 9000 inscriptions found in the Old Mysore region of India?
• Justice Leila Seth was the first woman judge on the Delhi High Court and the first woman to become Chief Justice in India?
• The Atlantic Monthly ran an article titled "Mother Doesn't Do Much" by Catherine Galbraith about her role as an ambassador's wife in India after her son wrote a school essay using those words?
• Strobilanthes callosus, a shrub found in the hill forests of India used in folk medicines, flowers only once in eight years before dying off, exhibiting a once in a lifetime mass flowering and mass seeding life cycle?
• Yuktibhasa, written by Indian astronomer Jyeshtadeva, is considered to be the first mathematical treatise on calculus?
• King Narasaraja Wodeyar II, who ruled over the Indian Kingdom of Mysore for a decade in the 18th century, was either mute or preferred to remain silent throughout his rule?
• Queen Chennabhairadevi, who ruled for 54 years from Gersoppa under the Vijayanagara Empire in Uttara Kannada, India, was credited with building the Mirjan Fort in the 16th century?
• Justice Hans Raj Khanna was the lone dissenter when the Supreme Court of India ruled that those arrested during India's repressive Emergency period from 1975 to 1977 would have no rights to habeas corpus?
• Indian company Reliance Power attracted US$27.5 billion of bids on the first day of its initial public offering (IPO), equivalent to 10.5 times the stock on offer, thereby creating India's IPO record?
• Batasio sharavatiensis, a species of bagrid catfish discovered near Jog Falls in India, is named after the Sharavathi river in which it was found?
• Iranshah Âtash Bahrâm in Udvada, a town in Gujarat, India, is the holiest fire temple for the Parsi community?
• Rush Limbaugh was a U.S. ambassador to India?
• Ruparel College in Mumbai, India boasts nuclear physicist Anil Kakodkar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai among its alumni?
• Kolachal, India was the location of a battle in 1741 where an Indian kingdom defeated a European naval force for possibly the first time in Indian history?
• Kolkata West International City has one of the largest foreign direct investments in township projects in India?
• Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is India's richest woman?
• Kinkri Devi waged a war on illegal mining and quarrying in her native Indian state of Himachal Pradesh despite her illiteracy?
• Kashmir Singh, an Indian spy, was released last week after 35 years of captivity in Pakistan?
• Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav was independent India's first individual Olympic medalist when he won the wrestling bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki games?
• Kongara Jaggayya was the first Indian film actor to be elected directly to the Parliament?
• Koradi Thermal Power Station, near Nagpur, India, was commissioned in 1974 and currently operates seven units with a total capacity of 1,080 MW?
• La Martiniere Boys' College in Lucknow, India is the only school in the world to be awarded a battle honour?
  
• M. C. Rajah was the first member of the Dalit community to be elected to the Madras Legislative Council in India?
• L. V. Prasad had the unique distinction of acting in the first talkies in three different Indian languages: Hindi, Telugu and Tamil?
• Kuttanad in Kerala, India, is the country's only region below sea level?
• Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary in Kerala, India, receives migratory birds from far away Siberia?
• Kursha Monastery is the largest Buddhist monastery in the Zanskar region of eastern Jammu and Kashmir, India?
• Karl Graul, former director of Leipzig Lutheran mission and a Tamil scholar, believed that Christian missionaries in India should not interfere with the local traditions including the caste system?
• K. Chidananda Gowda, the former Vice-chancellor of the Kuvempu University in India, is the son-in-law of the Kannada playwright Kuvempu, the university's namesake?
• Hexaware Technologies Limited is ranked as India’s 11th top IT service provider by NASSCOM since 2005?
• Ho people, in Jharkhand, India, have a literacy rate of 39.2%, lower than the state average which is amongst the lowest literacy rates in India?
• Hema Sardesai is the only Indian singer to have won the Grand Prix award at the International Pop Song Festival in Germany?
• Hedley Howarth helped lead New Zealand to its first ever test cricket win on the Indian subcontinent with a five-wicket bag against India in 1969?
• Handigodu Syndrome is an osteoarthritic disorder endemic to the Malnad region in Karnataka, India?
• Haridas Mundhra got the Indian government in 1956 to invest $10 million in his sinking firms, a scandal which further exposed the rift between Feroze Gandhi and his wife Indira Gandhi, daughter of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru?
• Indian copper plate inscriptions play an important role in the reconstruction of India's elusive history?
• Indo-Iraqi relations improved considerably after Iraq supported India's 1998 nuclear tests and its stand on the Kashmir dispute?
• Jatin Das, an Indian freedom fighter, died after sixty three days of hunger strike demanding rights for prisoners and undertrials in Lahore jail in 1929?
• Joint Forest Management between villagers and the government of India was started to prevent theft of forest resources at Arabari, but now accounts for the management of at least 14 million hectares in 27 states?
• Jangipara, a block in the Indian state of West Bengal, includes a mosque built in 1375?
• Iyothee Thass was a Dalit Buddhist leader from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu after whom a hospital was named?
• Indo-Maldivian relations grew stronger after India responded to Maldives' request for help and thwarted a militant plot to overthrow the government in 1988?
• Indra Lal Roy of the Royal Air Force became India's first flying ace after he achieved 10 victories in thirteen days during World War I?
• MGM Group of Companies is the master franchisee of Marrybrown fast food chain for Southern India?
• Maharajbagh zoo in Nagpur, India, has been built on the garden of Bhonsle, Maratha rulers of the Nagpur kingdom?
• Pisharoth Rama Pisharoty was an Indian meteorologist who was a pioneer of remote sensing technologies in India?
• Pulicat Lake, a 450 km² (174 sq mi) bird sanctuary, adjoins the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, launch site of India's successful first lunar space mission, the Chandrayaan-1?
• phumdis (example pictured), exclusive to Loktak Lake, are masses of decaying vegetation forming Keibul Lamjao National Park, the world’s only floating park and a preservation area for endangered Eld's Deer, in Manipur, India?
• Peter de Noronha was the first Indian to become an envoy of the Legion of Mary and was later knighted by Pope Paul VI?
• Papa II, an Indian detention centre once infamous for reports of torture, is now the official residence of senior state politician Mehbooba Mufti?
• Patacara, who became a Buddhist while disconsolately wandering naked through the Indian city of Savatthi, rose to become the foremost bhikkhuni of Gautama Buddha in her mastery of the Vinaya?
• R. G. Chandramogan, an entrepreneur from Sivakasi, is the head of Hatsun Agro Product Ltd, the largest private dairy in India?
• Raj Ghat and other memorials are sometimes considered India's modern day equivalent of Westminster Abbey?
• Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel became the first Indians to sign Major League Baseball contracts after throwing a baseball for the first time a year earlier?
• Robert Bristow, the British harbour engineer credited for the development of the Indian port of Kochi, also founded the first non white-exclusive club in the state?
• Red Corridor is a term used to describe an impoverished region in the east of India that experiences considerable Naxalite communist militant activity?
• Ram Shastri, a celebrated 18th-century judge in the Maratha Empire, created judicial history in India by sentencing the incumbent Peshwa (de facto ruler) to death on a charge of murder?
• Raja Chelliah, a public finance expert in India, received the Padma Vibushan award in year 2007?
• Rajpath, which runs from the presidential residence Rashtrapati Bhavan to the war memorial India Gate, is probably the most important ceremonial avenue in India?
• Pankaj Gupta was one of the earliest Indian sports administrators involved in football, hockey and cricket?
• Palwankar Shivram, brother of the Dalit cricketers Baloo and Vithal, was a spin bowling all-rounder who represented the All-India cricket team that toured England in 1911?
• Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the king of the Kingdom of Mysore in India, was also a collector and an inventor of board games?
• Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited is the only company in India authorised to manufacture the indelible ink which is used in elections to prevent fraudulent voting?
• Mayurasharma was the founder of the Kadamba Kingdom of Banavasi, the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today Karnataka state, India?
• Maulana Mehmud Hasan organised an armed rebellion against the British Raj with Turkish support but was arrested just before his return to India?
• Maharana Pratap Sagar or Pong Dam Lake, created by the highest earthfill dam in India on the Beas River (pictured), intercepts migratory birds on their trans-Himalayan fly path during each migration season?
• Mahesh Rangarajan is a researcher, author and historian who analysed present-day conservation conflicts in India and found their roots in India's colonial past?
• Mysore mallige (pictured), a variety of Jasmine flower endemic to Karnataka state of India, is patented for its unique quality, attribution and reputation?
• Nagesh Kukunoor made Hyderabad Blues, the most successful independent film from India in just 17 days?
• Operation Gibraltar was the name given to the failed plan by Pakistan to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir, India and start a rebellion and that it eventually sparked the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965?
• Palwankar Baloo was a Dalit (also called Untouchable) who helped break down the Indian caste system with his prowess at cricket?
• Operation Barga helped improve the social status of bargadars (sharecroppers) in West Bengal, India?
• Ninasam, a cultural organization in Karnataka, India, had a project sponsored by the Ford Foundation of the United States?
• Nagpur Improvement Trust, a local civic government body of Nagpur, India established in 1936, is not an elected body and continues to work along side Nagpur Municipal Corporation?
• Narmada Bachao Andolan, a NGO in India, was the main reason for World Bank to conduct its first-ever independent review of any of its projects?
• 10,000 people protested against construction of a dam across the Subarnarekha River in India?