What is India famous for in the world?

The first thing you must mention on a “What is India known for?” list, is the Taj Mahal. It´s not only one of the 7 wonders in the world, but it´s also an incredible place that more than 8 million people visit every year.

The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in the city of Agra. Since 1983, it´s considered one of the UNESCO world heritage sites and it´s a symbol that represents the whole country of India.

This time we are going to the capital of India to find another UNESCO world heritage known as Qutub Minar.

The Qutub Minar of India is popular for being one of the highest minarets in the world, and the highest built by bricks. Although the Qutub Minar has been replaced many times through its history, the last version was made in 1369 and repaired a few times after that.

We got the chance to see it last year, and although it´s a little bit far from the center of Delhi, it was worth visiting it.

The Ganges river of India, also named “The Ganga” in Hindi, is known as the holy river of Hinduism. Surprisingly, the river´s length is only 2500km (1560 miles), which is way shorter than many other not so important rivers in Asia, so…why is it one of the most famous things in India?

The Ganges river goes all the way from the Himalayas’ Gangotri Glacier to the Bay of Bengal and it is used to drain one fourth of the territory of India.

Other than that, the Ganges River is famous for being a sacred river, and Hindus and Buddhists go there to purify themselves as they believe bathing in the river will forgive your sins. It´s something very impressive to see.

We are still not sure if Indian food is as spicy as the one in Indonesia, but we can guarantee you that you will still find many hot and spicy dishes in India

If you like spicy food you will love it, as they have many hot meals, even teas can be spicy in India! We recommend you trying the Phaal Curry, made with Bhut jolokia (Known for being the hottest chillies in the world)

On another hand, if you are not such a big fan…well, good luck! The good news are that they always compensate their plates, for example, if they are eating spicy, they mix it with sweet sauces to lower that intense flavour.

If you are trying to become vegetarian, we would advice you to travel to India and don´t eat any meat during your trip, we can almost guarantee you that you won´t miss it.

That´s at least what happened to us in Gujarat (The state with more vegetarian people in India), they have so many different foods that we didn´t have the need of eating meat.

Just so you can have an idea, it is said that more than 20% of India´s population are vegetarians

The spices are one of the most popular things in India. As soon as you arrive to the country and start walking through any of their markets, you will realise by the smell of the streets, why India is known for being the king of the spices

There are many of them that are native to the country, but others were imported and now are cultivated locally. Cardamom, black pepper, and cumin are some of the most common spices on Indian dishes.

One thing no one can deny about Indian people is that there are many of them. India is the second most populated country in the world right after China, there are about 1.3 BILLION people in India, which is absolutely crazy.

Indians are generally proud of their government, as they understand it´s very difficult to govern over so many people.

Although it´s true that everywhere you go in big cities, you will be able to find huge crowds and queues for everything, it´s also true that the country is enormous and you can also see many empty natural areas with a very peaceful atmosphere area.

The official language of India and the one everyone knows is Hindi, but other than that, it is said that there are around 780 different idioms in India, and just 22 of them are considered official.

Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu are the 6 most important languages, and each of them is spoken at least by about 50 million people.

English is also an official language, plus, India is considered the second largest English-speaking country in the world. About 125 million people can speak English, which is only about 10% of the total, but don´t worry because you will always find someone to communicate.

It may not be one of those things everyone knows about India, but as soon as you get to meet Indian locals, you will realise about how important are their families for them.

Sometimes there are more than 4 generations living under the same roof, which is something quite impressive, plus they will do everything needed to help each other.

The Holi festival is the most popular event in all India and people from different countries travel to India to celebrate it with Indian locals. It´s known for being the most colourful festival in the world.

For this cultural event, there are only two things needed: water and colours. The Holi festival is celebrated during two days in the month of March, the first day friends and family get together to commemorate the sacrifice of Holika with a bonfire, and the second day is where everyone play with the colours and the water.

Some of the most popular places for this celebration are Mathura, Vrindavan and Dwarka.

The Diwali festival is also very famous in Inida, it´s also known as the festival of lights, is celebrated through many regions with a large Hindu population, like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and of course, India.

The festival of lights represents the victory of the good against the evil and the light against the darkness. During the time the Diwali is celebrated, you will see many fireworks, clay lamps, and candles.

There is no official date for the Diwali, it´s a five-day festival that can occur from the 21^st of October to the 18^th of November.

If you are talking about “Why is India famous?”, you just can´t miss cricket. Cricket is by far the most popular sport in India, it´s compared to football in Europe and South America or American football in the United States. Absolutely everyone loves cricket in India.

Nowadays, India is considered one of the best national teams in cricket. They have won the world cup 2 times, but since it´s the most played sport in the country, they may be an even better team in a near future.

Another thing is very famous about India is the Hockey, as it´s the national sport in India. Unfortunately, nowadays is not as common as it used to be. It´s true that there are still many people who play it and watch it, but it´s losing popularity every year.

India had their golden years in hockey when absolutely no one could ever win against them. They won eight Olympic gold medals, and they had some of the best players in the world. Although they keep trying to get to that level, people are forgetting about this sport and focussing on different ones.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or also known as Bāpu, or the Mahatma, was one of the greatest politicians and spiritual leaders of the 20^th century.

Gandhi is famous for being an Indian leader who lead his country to the independence of India from Great Britain, and the best of all is that he did with a non-violence attitude.

After winning his country´s freedom in 1947, Gandhi started to be considered the father of the Indian nation.

Sardar Patel was also another influential leader who fought for the freedom of India and later became India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister.

His main contribution was the unification of India. He was the one who unify the 565 states into a single nation called India.

His acts were so important for the country of India, that they built a statue for him, “The Statue of Unity” and it´s not only one of those Indian famous things, but the biggest statue in the world, but also

If you are planning a trip to India, make sure you don´t forget to visit their street markets. They sell all kind of things, from food and spices to their traditional Indian clothes. It can be a little bit stressing as there are too many people, but it´s a must going to one of them.

For us, visiting their markets is the best way to discover the real India and to get to know the people and their way of living. Some of the best-known markets in India are: Sarojini Market, in Delhi; Baapu Bazaar in Jaipur and the famous Arpora Saturday Night Market in Goa.

There are two reasons why animals are one of those famous things of India. First of all, you should know that there are many national parks with a lot of wildlife and a huge diversity. Tigers are for sure iconic from India, but you can also see snakes, Asian black bears, black panthers, and many other animals. The best of all is that they are living in the wild!

On another hand, in many places of India you will see caged animals or abused animals, so be careful when choosing the place to see animals, and please do not pay to see shows were animals are involved.

Although it may not be one of the most popular facts, India is also known for their products. Some of the products made in India are:

We are pretty sure many of you have heard about Bollywood. Bollywood is how the film industry of India is known, it began in 1930 and now is one of the biggest empires on the movie industry in the world!

It´s based in Mumbai, where you can take a tour through the city and admire different sceneries.

Sholay and Dangal are good examples of some of the most famous Indian movies.

Last of all, another of the things India is known for is its train system. You should know that the number of people who takes the train in India is equal to the number of people living in Australia. Its train system is one of the oldest in the world, but it still connects all the major cities of India.