Visiting India

When visiting India, you will be met with clamor, diversity, and vastness. Although most people have a vision of what they expect India to be, remember that this country comes in many different forms. In other words, some tourists come who are only too eager to return home while other tourists embrace the country, taking time to learn about its fascinating past but more importantly, its amazing people. Without doubt, you will probably agree that India is an exciting and rewarding drama just waiting to be experienced.

Keep in mind that recently, several warnings about travel have been issued specific to the ongoing and mounting dispute over Kashmir, as well as failing relationships between this country and Pakistan. Therefore, travel experts and most governments recommend that when going to India, you avoid the regions of Kashmir and Jammu. In addition, it is recommended that regardless of the region visiting, take time to register with the Indian embassy. An additional warning should be heeded for the state of Gujarat, which has been experiencing religious violence between the Muslims and Hindus.

However, like many countries, the majority of the country is safe. Therefore, if you want to travel to India, simply work with a reputable travel agent who can steer you to the safe regions along with any other information needed. Today, India has more than one billion people living there with the capital city being New Delhi. Although most of the population is Hindu, you will also find a blend of Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jains.

The first major civilization in this country arrived sometime around 2500 BC, landing along the Indus River valley. However, from 1500 and 200 BC, Aryan invaders from Central Asia came, taking control of India while forcing the original inhabitants known as Dravidians, to the south. With the Aryans came gods, along with meat-eating traditions. Around 500 BC, Buddhism arose, which condemned the established caste system. Throughout the years, India had many empires to include Gupta.

From 40 to 600 AD, Hinduism began to build while Buddhism declined. At that time the northern parts of India also separated into a number of Hindu kingdoms after the Huns invasion. Even with this unrest, the region to the far south that depended heavily on trading connections with the Romans, Egyptians, and Southeast Asia for its economy went unscathed. Then the Muslims arrived in 1192, coming from the Middle East. Within 20 years, all of Ganges basin was under their control although they were unable to conquer the south. From this, two great kingdoms were born, one being Hindu called Vijayanagar and the other Muslim, Bahmani.

By 1525, the Mughal emperors came from Afghanistan from Punjab, defeating the Sultan of Delhi. With this, a new golden age was born. However, during the 17th century, the Maratha Empire was formed, slowly taking over the Mughal domain. Soon, the Marathas consolidated all their control of the central regions of India but they too fell, this time to the power of the British. Keep in mind that the British were not the only European power in India. In addition, Goa had been controlled by the Portuguese since 1510 and trading posts existed belonging to the Dutch, Danes, and French. Even so, the British overpowered the Marathas in 1803, putting the majority of the country under the control of the British East India Company, which had already established a trading post in Gujarat in 1612.

The British saw India as a moneymaking machine, which meant the beliefs, religions, and culture of the people were left alone. During British’s reign, coal, and iron mining expanded, coffee and tea plantations were built, and construction on the rail network began. However, in 1857, the mutiny in northern India lead to the end of the East India Company whereby administration of the country was handed to the British government.

By the 20th century, the British rule was seeing significant opposition and in 1915, Gandhi came back from South Africa where he had been practicing law. With this, he was able to adopt a policy of passive resistance, also known as Satyagraha. Unfortunately, World War II hit everyone hard, dealing a serious blow to colonialism and independence for the Indian people. Because of this, the few Muslims in the country soon realized that once India was independent, it would be dominated by the Hindu.

Communalism grew with the Muslim League reaching out to the large number of Muslims. Interestingly, the only thing stopping Britain from granting India independence was the Muslim’s bid for their own separate nation. However, an impasse was reached, resulting in the country being divided so independence could be granted. Once the division was announced, the largest exodus in the history of man occurred, as Muslims moved out of Pakistan, and the Hindus and Sikhs moved to India. In all, more than 10 million people switched sides of the line with some 250,000 being killed. Gandhi was saddened by this division and all the bloodshed that had taken place. Then in 1948, a Hindu fanatic assassinated him.

After that, the next prime minister was a woman, Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, but in 1984, she too was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards for using her army to remove Sikh radicals from the Golden Temple. Clashes with Pakistan continued until 1971, new policies were introduced to the country, Hindu mobs stormed and destroyed a mosque in 1992, and in then 1998, the country was tested for nuclear weapons.

Today, Indian is not completely at rest but again, there are many areas safe for tourist travel where you can learn more about the passionate people, their beliefs, and their culture. As you can tell, religion plays a huge role in the lives of the Indian people with Hinduism being the most practiced and one of the oldest extant faiths. Even so, Buddhism was founded in the northern regions around 500 BC. Today, the Hindus believe Buddha is an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu but just 6.6 million are practicing Hindus in this country. As far as Muslims, experts estimate that more than 100 million exist, making this the largest Muslim nation in the world.

As far as language, English is spoken all over the country and while there is no “official” Indian language, you will find there to be 18 languages with more than 1,600 minor languages and dialects. Additionally, Indian art typically covers religious developments and themes, such as classical Indian dance, religious gods and sculptures, and Hindu temple architecture. The people of India also love the theater and film. Although most films produced are exaggerated melodramas, they are based on music, romance, and violence.

Most Hindus are vegetarians although not all are. For this reason, you will find a variety of foods while in India. However, true vegetarianism is found more in the southern regions while to the north, there are more meat-eaters with cuisine in the Mughal style. Regardless, you will discover that food in India relies heavily on spices, with breads and grains being consumed more than rice. Another fascinating aspect of the Indian cuisine is that in the south where the vegetarian food is found, the curry is hotter. This type of southern food is served in a bowl whereby your fingers are used as eating utensils to scoop the food up, carrying it to your mouth.

The country itself is triangular shaped, starting at the Himalaya to the north, and reaching to the Indian Ocean to the south. On the northwest you have Pakistan, to the north is China, Bhutan, and Nepal, to the east, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and on the very southern tip is Sri Lanka. The vastness of the land is what is so impressive, stretching out over more than one million square miles!

The topography is also interesting since you can head to northern India and be looking at snow-capped mountains or to the east and west where fertile coastal strips are found. Because of religious beliefs, much of the wildlife in the country is untouched. Even so, only 10% of the country still has forest coverage and just 4% of the land is within the protected confines of national parks and forests. Because of that, animal population is declining.

However, you will still see a huge variety of species to include elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, leopards, panthers, and lions. However, the most commonly seen animals include Indian bison, deer, antelope, wild buffalo, monkeys, sloth, wild pigs, hyenas, jackals, and wild dogs. In addition to wildlife, India also offers an abundance of reptiles that would include lizards, crocodiles, pythons, the king cobra, tortoises, and then plenty of bird life as well.

If you want to experience India, you have to go with the right mindset, prepared to see a culture that has had to fight ever step of the way, but also a culture of people with huge hearts and strong beliefs. The country features a number of fun and exciting festivals, great restaurants, beautiful sites, and so much more.


Last Updated: 10/19/2006 3:14:00 PM

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