The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation. The white, is meant for purity and truth. The green is for faith and fertility. The navy blue wheel denotes the continuity of the nation's progress which is deemed to be as boundless as the blue sky and as fathomless as the deep blue sea.

5,000 year old civilization 325 languages spoken – 1,652 dialects 18 official languages 29 states, 5 union territories 3.28 million sq. kilometers - Area 7,516 kilometers - Coastline 1,000,000,000 people in 2000

Parliamentary form of Government Secular democratic constitution Worlds largest democracy since 55 years 4 th largest economy Fastest growing IT super power Indian Railways,the biggest employer in the world.

Mythology

AUM or OM The first sound of the Almighty Oneness with the supreme

G enerates- Brahma O bserves- Vishnu D estroys- Shiva Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva The Trinity

The Great Indian Epics RamayanaMahabharata Longest Epic in world literature with 100,000 two-line stanzas The first Indian epic

Indus Valley Civilization- one of the worlds first great urban civilizations. Harappa Civilization- 2700BC

Worlds first university in Takshila –700 B.C Sanskrit Language –most suitable for computer software Ayurveda- earliest school of medicine known to humans

Yoga - Made in India Origin –5000 BC Documented by 200 BC – 300 AD

Origin of Martial arts – 200 BC Kalarippayat

1700s – British invasion

15 th August, 1947 Indian Independence 26 th January, 1950 Republic-India

National Emblem Truth alone triumphs

National Animal - Tiger

National Bird - Peacock

National Flower - Lotus

Great Indian Personalities

Invented the Zero Aryabhatta

Mahatma Gandhi Father of the nation Embodiment of Non- Violence

Swami Vivekananda Champion of humanitarianism

Great Indian Mathematician Postulated and proved 3,542 theorems Ramanujam

Rabindranath Tagore 1913 – Nobel Prize in Literature

Nobel Laureate in Physics Work on scattering of light and Raman effect C.V Raman

1979 – Nobel Prize in Peace Mother Teresa

Nobel Laureate in Medicine Work on interpretation of the genetic code Har Gobind Khorana

Subramanyan Chandrasekhar Nobel Laureate in Physics Work on structure and evolution of stars

Dance forms

More than 45 folk dances

7 Classical Dance forms

Bharata Natyam

Kathak

Kathakali

Kuchipudi

Manipuri

Mohini Attam

Odissi

More than 15 vocal forms More than 60 music instruments

India - Gods own country Celebrates more than 65 festivals

Places of historic importance

Tirumala - Tirupati Worlds richest temple

Saint Thomas Cathedral Statue of Virgin Mary brought from Portugal in 1543

The Golden Temple

Jamma Masjid The biggest mosque in India

Thousand pillar temple

Gateway of India

Jantar Mantar – 1716 Modernistic structures to observe the movement of stars

Mysore Palace Illuminated by 97,000 light bulbs

Buddha Statue Largest monolithic statue in Asia

Dal Lake Jewel in the crown of Kashmir

The Taj Mahal

Calcutta – City of joy

Cherrapunji Wettest place on earth

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. -Albert Einstein 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.Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. -Mark Twain