Interesting Facts about Incredible India !

• India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
• When many cultures were still only nomadic forest dwellers over 5,000 years ago,  Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley  Civilization).
• The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the  valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshipers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu  and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
• Chess was invented in India.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus all originated in India.
• The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
• The  World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur,  Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years,  (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the world, and  of the most ancient civilizations.
• The  game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint  Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several  modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil deeds to an endless cycle of re-births.
• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893  after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea  level.
• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
• The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
• The  world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More  than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60  subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of  the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• Ayurveda  is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of  Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
• India was  one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early  17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's tales of wealth, set out looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by  mistake.
• The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river  Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the  Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
• Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken  by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer  Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to  orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
• The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the  concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this  in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
• Quadratic Equations  were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century.
•  The largest numbers the  Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big  as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as  5000 B.C.during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number in our civilization is Terra: 10*12 (10 to the power of 12).
• Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
• The  Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan  mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982. 
•  Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over 2,600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery  and brain surgeries.
• Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient  Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in  many ancient Indian texts.
• India exports software to 90 countries.
• Four major religions were born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and  Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
• Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
• Islam is India's and the world's second largest  religion.
• There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
• The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in  1503 and 1568respectively.
• Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
• The largest religious  building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at  the end of the 11th century.
• The Vishnu Temple in the city of  Tirupathibuilt in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious  pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of  30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
• Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing  the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
• Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called the Ancient City when the Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
• India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally  from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped  to flee religious and political persecution.
• His Holiness, the Dalai  Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his  government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
• Martial Arts  were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist  missionaries.
• Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over  5,000 years.
• The largest bank in the world (in terms of branches) is government run State Bank of India. With over 22,500 branches and 59,000ATMs, it has 198 offices in 37 countries. 

TRULY INCREDIBLE INDIA! :)