North India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India. Geographically, North India traditionally includes the entire Indian Peninsula north of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges and Narmada River. The dominant feature geographic feature is the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. ... The Vindhya Range is a range of hills in central India, which geographically separates The Indian subcontinent into northern India and Southern India. ... The Narmada or Nerbudda is a river in central India. ... The Indo-Gangetic Plain is a rich, fertile and ancient land encompassing most of northern and eastern India, the most populous parts of Pakistan, and virtually all of Bangladesh. ...

As a linguistic-cultural and political region, North India consists of fourteen Indian states Maharastra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and Bihar. These are states with very strong Aryan influence, and generally, inhabitants of these states have lighter skin than those of their southern counterparts. Their languages are preponderantly Indo-Aryan, and it is in this region that Sanskrit and the various Prakrits are thought to have first flourished. Maharashtra (महाराष्ट्र) is a state in west-central India. ... Jump to: navigation, search Gujarat (ગુજરાત in Gujarati) is the most industrialized state in India after Maharashtra and is located in western India, bordered by Pakistan to the northwest and Rajasthan to the north. ... Madhya Pradesh (मध्य प्रदेश) is a state in central India. ... Jharkhand (झारखंड in Devanagari) is a state in eastern India. ... Jump to: navigation, search West Bengal (পশ্চিম বঙ্গ, Pościm Bôngo) is a state in the eastern region of India. ... Rajasthan (राजस्थान) is the geographically largest state in northwestern India. ... Himachal Pradesh, formally the Punjab Hill States, is a state in northwest India. ... Haryana (हरयाणा) is a state in north India. ... Punjab (ਪੰਜਾਬ, पंजाब) is a state in northwest India, part of a larger Punjab region. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article deals with the city of Delhi. ... Jump to: navigation, search Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, Urdu: اتر پردیش), also popularly known by its acronym UP, is the fifth largest and the most populous state in India. ... Uttaranchal (उत्तरांचल) became the 27th state of the Republic of India on November 9, 2000 after a relatively short and peaceful struggle by its people in the 1990s, having previously comprised part of Uttar Pradesh. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jammu and Kashmir is the northern-most state of the Republic of India, with Srinagar as its summer capital and Jammu as its winter capital. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bihar ( बिहार in Devanagri) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. ... Jump to: navigation, search Aryan is an English word derived from the Indo-Aryan Vedic Sanskrit and Iranian Avestan terms ari-, arya-, ārya-, and/or the extended form aryāna-. The Old Persian (Iranian) ariya- is a cognate as well. ... The Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup of the Indo-Iranian languages, thus belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... Prakrit (Sanskrit prakrta: natural, usual) refers to the broad family of the Indic languages and dialects spoken in ancient India. ...

North India remains primarily rural, but it is the location of the great metropolises of Delhi and Kolkata, and Mumbai, as well as many other important cities, including Allahabad, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Patna, Jodhpur, Nagpur, and Bhopal. Jump to: navigation, search This article deals with the city of Delhi. ... Kolkata (Bangla: কলকাতা, Hindi: कोलकता), is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal and was capital of British India until 1912. ... Jump to: navigation, search Mumbai (Marathi: मुंबई ) (pronounced in Marathi, and in English), formerly known as Bombay is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and is the most populous Indian city with a 2005 estimated population of about 13 million. ... Map of India. ... (L to R) The Ganga at Bithoor, IIT Kanpur, Radhakrishna Temple Kānpur (known as Cawnpore before 1948) is the most populous city in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Jump to: navigation, search Ahmedabad (અમદાવાદ in Gujarati) or Ahmadābād is the largest city in Gujarat and the sixth largest city in India with a population of almost 5 million. ... Patna (पटना)is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. ... Jodhpur seen from Mehrangarh Fort. ... Nāgpur (meaning City of the Snakes) is a city located near the geographical center of India, in the state of Maharashtra. ... Jump to: navigation, search On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal leaked 40 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate gas, which killed more than 3 thousand people outright and injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others. ...

People

Anthropologists often associate regional affinities with racial differences. So called "Dravidian" states usually have people with darker skin. People in the states of Eastern Kashmir, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and other Northeastern Indians states tend to look more "Mongoloid" than "Caucasoid". Those in North India, however, are more likely to have the lighter skin. As in many parts of the world, this feature has become highly prized as a sign of beauty. In part these phenotypic variations may owe something to the history of Central Asian invaders (including Hunas or Huns, Kushanas, Sakas, and Turks) who have been able to advance rapidly across the Indo-Gangetic plain. The anthropologist Eric Wolf once characterized anthropology as the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the social sciences. ... The Dravidian Race is the name sometimes still given to the peoples of southern and central India and northern Sri Lanka who speak Dravidian languages, the best known of which are Tamil (தமிழ்), Telugu (తెలుగు), Kannada and Malayalam. ... Representation of Genghis Khan and soldiers; this portrayal depicts steppe riders who have Northern Asiatic physical features, resembling that of North or Central Asians, and Koreans. ... Typical Caucasoid Skull Caucasoid describes some anthropological traits associated with humans indigenous to an area roughly similar to Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, and South Asia. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Billon drachm of the Hephthalite King Napki Malka (Afghanistan/ Gandhara, c. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ... The Indo-Scythian King of Kings Azes II (c. ...

North India shows a fuller range of caste (varna) variation than does South India – there are proportionately more brahmans here, as well as kshatriya and vaishya castes which are not present over all of South India. Jump to: navigation, search A caste system is a rigid system of social stratification, which divides members of a society into different castes and sub-castes or Varnas and jatis. ... Here the underlined vowels carry the Vedic Sanskrit udātta pitch accent. ... According to the code of Manu, a Kshatriya is a member of the military or reigning order, one of four varna within the Vedic system of four groups or castes. ... In the Hindu caste system, a Vaishya (Sanskrit वैश्य vaiÅ›ya, female वैश्या vaiÅ›yā) is a member of the third of the four major castes of the varna system of traditional Indian society, comprising farmers, herders, merchants,artisans. ...

In terms of religion, North India is generally a stronghold of Vaishnava varieties of Hinduism, as well as being the main centre of Islam in India. Shaktism is also well-established, particularly in Bengal, while Shaivism has a very strong minority following in North India. Vaishnavism is the branch of Hinduism in which Vishnu or one of his avatars (i. ... Jump to: navigation, search Hinduism (सनातन धर्म; also known as Sanātana Dharma, and Vaidika-Dharma) is a worldwide religious tradition that is based on the revealed knowledge of the Veda scriptures and the direct descendent of the Vedic Indo-Aryan religion. ... The gate of the Jami mosque built in 1571 in Fatehpur Sikri, a city built by the Mughal emperor Akbar. ... Shaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that worships Shakti, or Devi -- the Hindu name for the Great Mother -- in all of her forms whilst not rejecting the importance of masculine and neuter divinity. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in Bangla (Bengali), is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ... Śaivism, also transliterated Shaivism and Saivism, is a branch of Hinduism that worships Siva as the Supreme God. ...

North India is, on the whole, poorer and less literate than South India. There is also a generally higher level of inequality between male and female literacy rates. The four BIMARUstates of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, collectively have the highest population growth rates in India, as well as lower than average literacy rates and economic growth rates than India as a whole. BIMARU is an acronym for the four large states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh in northern India. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bihar ( बिहार in Devanagri) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. ... Madhya Pradesh (मध्य प्रदेश) is a state in central India. ... Rajasthan (राजस्थान) is the geographically largest state in northwestern India. ... Jump to: navigation, search Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, Urdu: اتر پردیش), also popularly known by its acronym UP, is the fifth largest and the most populous state in India. ...

There are also differences in the rural economy; North India has a higher preponderance of tenant farmers than Southern India. Some of these diferences stem from the later Mughal emperors' practice of relying on zamindars, or 'tax farmers', who collected taxes from rural communities in return for a percentage of the proceeds, and were granted certain administrative powers. The Zamindari system was never as prevalent in the south, as Mughal rule did not extend to much of the South. Zamindar, also know as Zamindari, or the Zamindari System, is a variant on the feudal system, introduced by the Mughals to collect taxes from peasants. ...

The British administrators of the Bengal Presidency inherited and expanded upon the Zamindari system, while the Madras Presidency, which governed much of south India, relied on village panchayats, or councils, for rural administration and tax collection. Although the zamindari system was formally abolished after India's independence, a rural economy dominated by landlords is still prevalent across much of northern India. Tensions between landlords and their tenant farmers are widespread in northern India, notably in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; these tensions have given rise to landlord-tenant strife in several northern states, and has fueled Naxalite movements. Bengal, known as Bango ( Bengali:বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bangodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in Bengali, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ... Madras Presidency, also known as Madras Province and known officially as Presidency of Fort St. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bihar ( बिहार in Devanagri) is a state of the Indian union situated in the eastern part of the country. ... Jump to: navigation, search Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, Urdu: اتر پردیش), also popularly known by its acronym UP, is the fifth largest and the most populous state in India. ... CPI(ML) poster in Kolkata Naxalite or Naxalism is an informal name given to revolutionary communist groups that were born out of the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement. ...

The Economy

Maharastra

Maharastra is most famous for the port of Mumbai. Agriculture and tourism represent a large portion of the state's economy. The state's vast cultural assets include the Ellora and Ajanta caves. Jump to: navigation, search Mumbai (Marathi: मुंबई ) (pronounced in Marathi, and in English), formerly known as Bombay is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and is the most populous Indian city with a 2005 estimated population of about 13 million. ... Kailasanatha Temple Ellora is an ancient village 30 km from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra famous for its magnificent rock cut architecture comprising of Buddhist, Hindu and Jaina cave temples and monasteries built between the 6th and 10th century A.D. These structures were excavated... Ajanta (more properly Ajujnthi), a village in the erstwhile dominions of the Nizam of Hyderabad in India and now in Buldhana district in the state of Maharashtra(N. lat. ...

See also

• South India
• North-East India