INCREDIBLE INDIA

We all are Indians, but do we know everything about our country. I am talking about minor but interesting things about our country that everyone doesn’t know. These are small things but really very important to know being an Indian. So in this article we will discuss about those things.

Origin of the Name “India”

You must have heard about different names of India but do you know how India got those names?

• Hindustan – This name became very popular at the time of independence. This name has come from the name of Sindhu River. The Persians used to pronounce ‘Sindhu’ as ‘Hindu’ and this became as ‘The land of Hindus’ means ‘Hindustan’ and how this name arrived.

• Bharat – In our Constitution ‘Bharat and India’ are official names. Bharat name derived from the name of the Bharat who was a great king and his land known as “Bharatversha”.

• India – This name came from a great book ’Indica’ which was written by Megasthenes. He visited India at the period of Chandragupta Maurya, he described about India in his book.

The National Flag

Every country is identified by its flag. Before the revolution of 1857, there were plans to make a flag for India too. But this plan got stuck in the middle because of the revolution was failing.

After that, first flag made by Swami Vivekananda’s student Bhagini nivedita in 1906. This flag had three colors which were red, yellow and green and wrote vande mataram in center.

The Tricolor flag was accepted by the congress in 1931, having charkha in the center.

And present national flag adopted on  22 July 1947,with Ashoka Chakra in center. And it is called “Tiranga”. Ashoka Chakra has twenty four sticks that means – ‘ Life is moving twenty four hours day and night and stopping means death’.

The National Song

• The National song ‘Vande Mataram’ was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee originally in Sanskrit.

• This song has taken from his novel ‘Ananda math’ Published in 1882. Its english translation was done by Aurobindo Ghosh 

• It was sung for the first time at the session of congress in 1896 at Calcutta by Rabindranath Tagore.

• Adopted as The National Song on 22 July 1950.

The National Anthem

• ‘Jana gana mana’ was composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911, originally in Bengali.

• Firstly published in January 1912 under the title ‘Bharat Bhagya Vidhata’ in Tatva Bodhini Patrika.

• Its english translation was done in February 1919 by Tagore with title ‘The Morning song of India’.

• Adopted as The National Anthem on 24 January 1950.

The National Emblem

• Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka adopted as The National Emblem on 26 January 1950.

• It has four lions which faces are in all four directions (E, W, N, and S). Three lions are visible but fourth lion is being hidden.

• Motto written on this Emblem is ‘Satyameva Jayate’ which means Truth alone triumphs adopted from ‘Mundaka Upanishad’.

Was the constitution written?

• The Constitution of India was not typed or printed but it was hand written in Hindi and English both languages.

• Prem Bihari Narayan Raizada wrote the entire constitution in Italic style. This work was completed in six month.

• He refused to take any cost for this work but he wanted to write his name on every page of the Constitution and on the last page wanted to write his grand father’s name along with his name and Constituent Assembly was agreed for the same.

Hand crafting on the Constitution

• Each page of the Constitution was decorated by the artists of Shantiniketan mostly Ram Manohar Sinha and Nandlal Bose.

• They used different styles for this work like- Vedic Gurukul, Harappa, Himalayas, ocean, Desert etc.

Where the original Constitution kept?

The original Indian Constitution is kept in special helium filled cases in the library of the Parliament of India.

You must be wondering why only helium gas? 

Because helium gas is inert and non reactive and keeps document safe and unharmed.