7 unique facts about India

There are 22 separate official languages spoken across India, including Assamese and Nepali in the far north at Assam and in the Himalayas and Tamil and Malayalam in the far south at Tamil Nadu and Kerala, along with Bangla, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Telugu, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, and Urdu.

As well as the official languages, you’ll find hundreds of others spoken across the country – more than 700 according to some counts, putting India in second place (after Papua New Guinea) for the highest number of different languages spoken in a single country.

That includes some of the oldest languages in the world too, with Sanskrit, Tamil and Hindi among them. around 30% of people speak some English too.

India’s national bird is the peacock. Symbolising beauty, grace and pride, they’re also associated with the goddess Lakshmi. You can spot them across the country, including reserves like Thattekad Forest and the Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary in Kerala, the Viralimalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu and the Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan.

The country’s national animal is, unsurprisingly, the Bengal tiger, also symbolising beauty, as well as power and strength. India is the tiger capital of the world, with 70% of the world’s tigers living somewhere in the country, from dense forests to grasslands. Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan is one of the most popular places to see these majestic big cats, although you can also spot them in Bandhavgarh National Park, not far from Varanasi.

With around 38% of the population identifying as vegetarian, India is the country with the highest proportion of veggies in the world. With various dietary restrictions and traditions associated with most of India’s main religions, around 80% say they limit the amount of meat they eat.

The states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab (home to Amritsar), Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have the highest numbers of vegetarians. Taking a cooking class is a great way to discover more about the variety of different dishes and cuisines found across the country – multicultural Mumbai is a perfect place to start, but you can also get a taste of southern India in Kerala, or whip up a vegetarian curry in a fort in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.

While the majority of the country gained its independence from the British in 1947, a few areas only became part of the official union later – India is currently made up of 28 states and 9 Union Territories, created from a patchwork of 562 historic princely states.

The tropical Andaman Islands joined in 1950, and became a union territory in 1956, while Goa only became part of India in 1961 when the area gained its own independence from Portugal.

A lot of the states still have their own traditions, decades on. Did you know that in Madhya Pradesh, police officers get a pay rise for growing a moustache, because it’s thought to command more respect?

We can thank India for some of our favourite classic board games. The country is famously the home of chess, invented during the 6th century in the Maukhari kingdom – now Uttar Pradesh, home to currently-day Varanasi and Lucknow.

But the country is also responsible for Snakes and Ladders, which is even older at more than 2,000 years old – some historians say over 3,000 years. Known as Mokshapat or Moksha Patamu, it’s thought to have been invented by Hindi spiritual leaders to teach about virtues and vices – the ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith and humility, while the snakes were vices including anger, murder, theft and lust. It was brought to the UK in the 1890s.

Another children’s classic, Ludo (or parcheesi) also has its roots in the ancient Indian game of chaupar or pachisi, which uses cowrie shells instead of dice. There are different variations across the country, but the game itself is thought to be around 5,000 years old.

Hinduism is practised by nearly 80% of the population in India, part of a tradition dating back more than 4,000 years, which means its considered to be one of the oldest in the world.

Scholars are still arguing about what counts to make a religion the oldest, with Zoroastrianism and Judaism also staking a claim, as well as pointing out the fact that Hinduism covers a variety of beliefs and practices. But there’s no denying that’s a long, long history.

India’s spiritual capital is Varanasi, on the banks of the sacred Ganges River, also the country’s oldest continuously inhabited city with its own history dating back to at least 1200 BCE. Or you could follow in the footsteps of The Beatles, who discovered more about Hindu philosophy, as well as Transcendental Meditation, yoga and meditation during a visit to Rishikesh – it’s easy to combine that with Haridwar, one the holiest places of pilgrimage in India.

Or look to the south for some of India’s most eye-catching temples, including ‘city of temples’ Madurai, Trichy and Tanjore across Tamil Nadu. It’s also easy to discover more about some of India’s other religions during a visit to the country, including Sikhism at Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple, as well as Buddhism in Sikkim and elsewhere in the Himalayas

Move over Hollywood. India is the largest producer of films in the world, with not only a keen domestic audience but also large numbers of fans across the world.

The best-known face of Indian cinema is Bollywood in Mumbai. If you’re in the city, you could take a tour of the SJ Studios, as well as catching one of the latest releases. Or why not see one of the most popular filming locations in real life? The Amber Fort near Jaipur in Rajasthan is one favourite, along with the Udaipur City Palace and the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Or in the south, the Athirappilly Waterfalls in Kerala have appeared on film more than once, as well as various locations across Goa.