Indian General Knowledge

The term 'Hindustan' originated from Persian, meaning 'Land of the Hindus'. It was coined by Persian travelers and rulers who used it to refer to the Indian subcontinent. The word combines 'Hindu' (from the Sindhu/Indus River) with the Persian suffix '-stan' meaning 'land of'. Neither Hindi, Urdu, nor Arabic is the original source.

Rajasthan is the largest state in India by area, covering approximately 342,239 square kilometers. It is located in northwestern India and is known for its Thar Desert. Maharashtra is the second-largest (307,713 sq km), followed by Madhya Pradesh (308,245 sq km). Andhra Pradesh is much smaller after bifurcation (approximately 160,000 sq km).

The Godavari River is often called 'Vriddha Ganga' or 'Dakshina Ganga' (Old Ganga or South Ganga) because it is the longest peninsular river in India (1,465 km) and has religious significance similar to the Ganga. It flows through Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. Krishna, Narmada, and Kaveri are major rivers but do not carry this epithet.

Ronald Ross, born in Almora, India in 1857, was the first India-born Nobel laureate when he won the Medicine prize in 1902 for discovering malaria transmission. Rabindranath Tagore (born Calcutta) won in 1913, CV Raman in 1930. Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay but won in 1907 - however, Ross's 1902 prize predates Kipling's.