The story of India is not a story of a nation which is just 60 years young.

The story of India is a history of an ancient civilization thousands of years young. In fact, the only ancient civilization in the world whose ancient culture and science still exists and thrives in the world.

The World’s Largest Democracy – Nearly a billion people vote in the ballot boxes

The World’s Oldest Democracy – Dating back to 300 BCE

The World’s Youngest Country – More than half of its population is below the age of 25!

Welcome to an Art called India.

A land where all invading forces from outside simply got absorbed into it and became one with its unique culture.

A culture which no invading forces or colonial forces were able to destroy.

A country which taught the world how to count and there by laid the foundation for the entire modern science and technology! To quote Einstein We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made!

The spiritual capital of the world. Where most of the world’s religions were born including Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and of course the Hindu Culture. More muslims live in India than in any other Islamic country on this planet (except for probably Indonesia).

The world’s oldest universities of Nalanda and Takshashila where over 10000 students from all over the world studied 64 different subjects, existed in ancient India. Even Jesus is said to have studied in one of these universities.

A land of diversities. The Snow clad mountains of the Himalayas. The dry desert of Rajasthan. The wettest place on Earth in Meghalaya. The beautiful hill stations of Shimla, Darjeeling. The long coast line with hundreds and hundreds of beaches. One of the largest wild life diversities in the world at the western ghats. The backwaters of Kerala. The tribal areas of Andaman and Nicobar. The mighty waterfalls like Jog. In fact, 41 of world’s top 100 water falls are from India ! The mighty rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, etc from the Himalayas. The relatively calm rivers like Kaveri, Tunga Bhadra, etc of South. Beauty of lakes like Dal in the North and Periyar in the South. A mini earth exists in India.

The art capital of the world. The beautiful carvings in the ajanta and ellora cave temples. The khajuraho temples, belur halebid sculptures. World’s tallest monolithic statue at Shravanabelagola. Dozens of dance forms like Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Bharathnatyam, Dandya, etc. Classical carnatic music, the most ancient and the most scientific music system in the world. The Kamasutra – the greatest text on sex ever written is from India and is authored by a bachelor! Every art form has its roots in India, a land which is home to 1/6 of humanity.

The birth place of Sanskrit, the only human spoken language eligible to become a software programming language due to its scientific accuracy. Sanskrit, the mother of all Indo-European languages including Greek, Latin and English. To quote Mark Twain, India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition

The birth place of the mother of all martial arts – Kalari Payattu.

An ancient land of science and technology. A thousand years before Galileo was prosecuted in the west by the church for saying Earth moves around the sun, Aryabhatta in India had said that Earth indeed moves around the sun and Sun is the center of the solar system. See Modern Science and Ancient India.

Well, I just realized that it is simply not possible to cover thousands of years in a single blog article. So I will conclude here on the eve of this 60th anniversary of the Indian Independence, this is one day in the year which we never miss to celebrate – prepare sweets at home, enjoy and salute the spirit of India. Proud to be fortunate enough to be born in this land of wonders.

Wish all the Indians all over the world – A very happy Independence Day

Dharma Samsthapanarthaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge – Bhagavadgita

India is on the rise once again, to restore world order and peace.