India is not just a country with 330 million gods; Here you can cheer on a bull race or walk like Tarzan on the root bridges. India has a lot to offer, and here is the fact to support it.
Here is the list of most incredible and strangest fact that show India still hides secrets you didn’t know.
1. The Third Sex, The Hijras
In India, the term Hijra is used to refer to people who consider themselves transgender or transsexual. The Hijras have a recorded history on the Indian subcontinent since ancient times, as also suggested by Kāma Sūtra. In April 2014, the Supreme Court of India recognized trans people as a ‘third sex’ in a special law also regarding passports and other official documents.
2. A Pilgrimage Of 130 Million People
The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage that is repeated every 12 years, is the largest human gathering in the world and is also visible from space. This year, the Kumbh Mela was held in Ardh, Allahabad, from January 15 to March 4, 2019, and it is estimated that the participation of 130 million people.
3. The First Plastic Surgery Book
Sushruta Samhita is an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine that is considered one of the first and most important texts on the detailed study of medicine and surgery. Written by Sushruta, it dates from the 6th century BC. It is from this text that modern plastic surgery seems to have originated. The book describes the reconstruction of the lips (labiaplasty) and the nose (rhinoplasty), using a skin flap on the cheeks.
4. Bull Surfing
Bull surfing is a harvest sports race that takes place in the village of Anandapally, in southern Kerala, during the post-harvest season. A pair of yoked bulls are used to plow a soccer field-sized rice field, in ankle-deep water, while its handlers surf on a wooden board and hang it on the tails of the bulls or onto their harnesses.
5. Unusual Post Offices
In India, the post office can be really different from what we are used to. Like a floating post office built on a sculpted houseboat or the Highest post office in the world, at 15,500 feet above sea level, in Himachal Pradesh. In the 1970s, some cities in Rajasthan even had a mobile camel post office, while mules were used in the mountainous areas of Darjeeling, Bengal.
6. The Largest Consumption Of Gold Per Year
India is among the largest gold consumers in the world. Average Indian demand of 838 tons per year over the past 10 years. In 2018, 760.4 tons of gold were consumed, most of which was used to make jewelry for weddings and festivals.
7. Bridges Made Entirely With Roots
The bridges in the Meghalaya state, the rainiest in the world, are made entirely of roots to prevent them from rotting due to moisture. The bridge-building process takes years to complete, but bridges built this way are much stronger than wooden bridges.
8. The Richest Hindu Temple In The World
The Padmanabhaswamy temple in the capital of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, is not only the richest Hindu temple in the world but also the richest place of worship ever. In 2011, the archeology department opened the temple’s secret compartments to inspect items stored within it and found hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold, silver, and gemstones.
9. 16 Adornments Of A Married Woman
Only after marriage do women wear their 16 adornments, called Sola Shringar. Among these are the Bindi, the colored dot placed in the center of the forehead, and the Nath, or nasal ring.
10. 330 Million Gods
In India 80% of the population is Hindu. Hinduism has 330 million gods, some unknown to Hindus themselves, but who are revered in the same way without knowing their names. The most revered are the Trimurti, better known as the Hindu Trinity: Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. Among these gods, they are all exactly the same level of importance.
11. A Fast For 80 Years
Prahlad Jani is an Indian breatharian monk who claims to have lived without food and water since 1940. He says that the goddess Amba supports him. Two observational studies of Jani were conducted, one in 2003 and the other in 2010. In both cases, the researchers confirmed Jani’s ability to survive healthily without food or water during trial periods, although neither study was submitted to a scientific journal.
12. The Tallest Statue In The World
India holds the record for having the largest statue in the world, at 182 m high and is known as “statue of unity”. The statue represents the leader of the Indian independence movement Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, popularly known as Sardar Patel.
13. The Color Of Mourning Is Not Black
Unlike the rest of the world, mourning, after the death of a loved one, is represented by white, a symbol of purity, and not by black. When a woman loses her husband, even years later, she wears a white sari, while a widowed husband, especially in the state of Rajasthan, wears a turban of that color.
14. Magnetic Hill Of Ladakh
Magnet Hill is a “Cyclops Hill” located near Leh in Ladakh, India. In fact, the famous hill has caused Indian Air Force planes to drift off course in the past to avoid magnetic interference. Objects and cars on the hill may appear to roll upward, defying gravity, when they are actually rolling downhill, as the road is actually downhill.
15. The 9 Unknown Men
The 9 Unknown Men is a secret society founded by the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, around 270 BC. to preserve and develop the knowledge that would be dangerous for humanity if it fell into the wrong hands. Each of the 9 is supposed to be responsible for protecting and improving a single book. Each book deals with a different branch of potentially hazardous knowledge.
16. The Largest Film Industry In The World
Bollywood is the Hindi-language Indian film industry based in Mumbai and produced 1,813 movies in 2018 alone. In 2012, it far exceeded those produced by Hollywood. The term “Bollywood” derives from the merger of 2 other famous names, Bombay and Hollywood.
17. Tower of Silence
In the Zoroastrian religion, Earth and Fire are considered sacred. For this reason, they built the Dakhma, also called the Tower of Silence. The Torre del Silencio is an elevated circular structure, built for excarnation, that is so that the corpses are exposed to scavengers, generally vultures. Although present in Iran, the Towers of Silence are currently used only in India.
18. Wedding Rings On The Feet
In Tamil Nadu, the wedding ring is placed on the “index” toe of the foot. The 2 silver rings, placed by the groom at the feet of his beloved, could, according to tradition, inspire a healthy pregnancy. Gold rings should be avoided in this case, since gold for Hindus is the symbol of the goddess of abundance – Lakshmi. Putting it on the feet, which are considered the humblest part of the body, could be seen as outrageous.
Have you ever traveled to India? How many of these events did you know about? We look forward to hearing from you!
