India is a nation of extraordinary contrasts, where ancient traditions exist alongside cutting-edge science, and everyday life is shaped by both deep history and rapid change. 25 Remarkable Facts From India brings together stories of brilliance, resilience, tragedy, innovation, and compassion that reflect the country’s complex character. From human calculators and space missions to environmental movements and forgotten heroes, these facts reveal how India continues to surprise, challenge, and inspire the world.
Mumbai Rail Tragedy Reminder
1. India was attacked on 7/11 when bombs were set off on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai, killing 209 people and injuring over 700.
2. A woman named Shakuntala Devi in India once correctly calculated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers, 7,686,369,774,870 and 2,465,099,745,779, in just 28 seconds.
3. A pigeon was detained in India and kept under police guard on an allegation that it was spying for Pakistan.
4. A poor and illiterate Irishman called George Thomas traveled to India, worked as a mercenary for Indian kings and eventually became a king himself, ruling his own kingdom for a number of years in the Rohtak and Hisar districts.
5. There is a tribe in India that has learned to train the roots of fig trees to create natural suspension bridges that can span over 100 feet and last 500-600 years.
6. More than 30% of pharmaceuticals sold in developing countries are counterfeit. About 50% of malaria drugs and up to 30% of antibiotics are counterfeit, mostly originating from India. More than 700,000 people die every year from consuming counterfeit drugs.
7. Only roughly 1% of India’s 1.25 billion people pay taxes.
8. There are more tigers in Texas than in their native land of India.
9. During World War II, India produced the largest volunteer Army in world history, over 2.5 million men. Winston Churchill called their bravery “Unsurpassed”, with at least 38 Indians awarded the Victoria Cross or the George Cross.
10. In India there is a Guardian Angels-style vigilante group that protects young couples who fall in love across different castes; they are called the Love Commandos.
Secret Mission For Tea Seeds
11. In 1848 the British East India Company dispatched botanist Robert Fortune into China’s interior, an area closed to foreigners, to steal tea seeds and transport them to India. He succeeded, and within his lifetime India overtook China as the world’s largest tea grower.
12. India’s Mars mission cost less than the Hollywood film Gravity.
13. If you are 27, half of India’s population is younger than you. If you are 30, half of the world’s population is already younger than you.
14. When five-year-old Saroo Brierly in India fell asleep on a train he became lost and alone in Calcutta. He was adopted by an Australian couple and, 25 years later, reunited with his biological mother using Google Maps.
15. The bird Americans call a ‘turkey’ is called ‘India’ in Turkey, and ‘Peru’ in Portuguese.
16. In ancient India, diabetes was known as ‘madhumeha’ or ‘honey urine’ because ants were attracted to the urine. The Indian physicians Sushruta and Charaka were the first to distinguish Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes around 400 to 500 CE.
17. The term ‘thug’ comes from the Thuggees, who were professional robbers and murderers that terrorized India for 600 years. They were eventually destroyed by the British.
18. Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku was accused of blasphemy and forced to leave the country after demonstrating that the ‘miracle’ tears from a Jesus statue actually came from clogged drainage pipes.
19. A 2009 paper found that the widespread introduction of television across India was associated with reduced acceptability of domestic violence against women, increased women’s autonomy, and an overall decline in the country’s fertility rate.
20. A male tiger in India adopted a litter of orphaned cubs and took on the role of a ‘mother’. Wildlife officials said such behavior had never been observed before.
111 Trees For Every Girl
21. In Piplantri, a village in Rajasthan, India, 111 trees are planted every time a girl is born and those trees are maintained over the years; the village has planted over 250,000 trees.
22. A man named Kalyanasundaram in India took on odd part-time jobs so he could donate all his savings and his regular income to people in need every month for 30 years; after he retired as a librarian he even donated his pension.
23. Queen Elizabeth still keeps a diamond stolen from India in her crown, and it is one of the largest diamonds in the world.
24. A gypsy tribe in India celebrates death as one of the happiest events in their lives while treating births as occasions of great grief.
25. When the British introduced golf to India, monkeys ran onto the course and played with the balls; when all attempts to stop the monkeys failed, the British adapted the game by introducing a new rule: “Play the ball where the monkey drops it.”
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