India

GENDER * There are 3 genders: male, female, and hermaphrodite/intersex.

• INTERSEX * While the ways in which Countryhumans are "born" are varied and don't always involve biological reproduction but rather a more asexual method, the same is true for their gender. There is male, female, and Intersex (which is certainly rarer). Intersex individuals, while possessing female genitalia, lack breasts or any other feminine characteristics, so they most often pass as male. The most easily noticeable difference is the absence of an Adam's apple. This last gender is often coveted, though not exactly for positive reasons. They suffer from the same idea as female Countryhumans that if a catastrophe were to occur, they should have children immediately.

• UNIFICATION * The union between two or more nations, where all maintain consciousness and one governs the body, and upon separation all parts retain the exact same memories. They may separate in vulnerable situations to ensure survival, just as they may unite in vulnerable situations to become stronger. Examples: United Kingdom, Gran Colombia, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, United States.

• LINK When two Countryhumans fall in love, they often call themselves a bond rather than a couple. There is a greater predisposition for peace among their people who have already been treated as such.

India is plagued by caste and religious divisions; by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies; and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in northeastern India. It has unresolved territorial disputes with China and Pakistan. India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newer nations; however, despite its recent economic successes, the liberation of its disadvantaged population from poverty remains an unfulfilled goal.

described as "indolent" or "unfit for work," newspapers in areas unaffected by the famine were instructed to report on it as little as possible. According to Mike Davis, Lord Lytton was guided by the idea that "by adhering to liberal economics, he was obscurely helping the Indian people." After the First World War, in which approximately one million Indians served, a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-government, and by the beginnings of a nonviolent non-cooperation movement, of which Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the enduring leader and symbol. During the 1930s, the British enacted slow legislative reform; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. The following decade was fraught with crises: India's involvement in the Second World War, the Congress's final push for non-cooperation, and a resurgence of Muslim nationalism. All of these achievements culminated in the advent of independence in 1947, but were tempered by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan. Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which established a secular and democratic republic. It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent press. Economic liberalization, which began in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing economies, and increased its geopolitical influence. Indian films, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasingly important role in world culture. Yet India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban; by violence; and by the violence of the past.

But limited to the British style, the new rulers also protected the princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest. In the following decades, public life gradually emerged across India, eventually leading to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885. The surge of technology and the commercialization of agriculture in the latter half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks, and many small farmers became dependent on the whims of distant markets. There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines, and despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians. There were also positive effects: cash crops, especially in the newly canalized Punjab, led to increased food production for domestic consumption. The railway network provided critical famine relief, markedly reduced the cost of transporting goods, and aided the nascent Indian-owned industry. Between the 1870s and 1890s, nearly forty million Indians died from successive famines. According to historian Niall Ferguson, "there is clear evidence of incompetence, negligence, and indifference to the plight of the starving," but no direct responsibility, as the colonial administration simply remained passive. Conversely, journalist Johann Hari argues that "far from doing nothing during the famine, the British did much to make matters worse. The authorities would have continued to promote exports to the mother country without concern for the millions who died on Indian soil." Historian Mike Davis also supports the idea that "London was eating India's bread" during the famine. Furthermore, Viceroy Robert Lytton prohibited assistance to the starving, who were sometimes...

other European companies. Its greater access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increase in the strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subjugate most of India in the 1820s. India no longer exported manufactured goods as it had for so long, but instead supplied the British Empire with raw materials. Many historians consider this to be the beginning of India's colonial period. At this time, with its economic power severely restricted by the British Parliament and having effectively become an arm of the British administration, the company began more consciously to enter non-economic areas such as education, social reform, and culture. Historians consider India's Modern Age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor-General of the East India Company laid the groundwork for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the policing of the population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—including railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced shortly after their introduction in Europe. However, discontent with the company also grew during this time and sparked the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fueled by various grievances and perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, heavy land taxes, and the peremptory treatment of some wealthy landowners and princes, the rebellion shook many regions of northern and central India and undermined the foundations of the Company's rule. Although the rebellion was suppressed in 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and the direct administration of India by the British government, which proclaimed a unitary state and a gradual but parliamentary system.

to a more systematic, centralized, and uniform government. Avoiding tribal ties and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their distant kingdoms through loyalty, expressed through a perianized culture, to an emperor who held a near-divine status. The economic policies of the Mughal state, which derived most revenue from agriculture and mandated that taxes be paid in well-regulated silver coinage, brought peasants and artisans into larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire for much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion, resulting in increased patronage of painting, literature, textiles, and architecture. Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, Rajputs, and Sikhs, gained military and governmental ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, brought them both recognition and military experience. The expansion of trade during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the southern and eastern coasts of India. As the empire disintegrated, many of these elites were able to pursue and control their own affairs. By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political power becoming increasingly blurred, several European trading companies, including the English East India Company, had established outposts along the coast. The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology allowed it to increasingly assert its military strength and made it attractive to a segment of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in enabling the company to gain control of the Bengal region in 1765 and sideline the other European trading companies.

Southeast Asians also took the initiative, with many residing in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages. After the 10th century, nomadic Muslim clans from Central Asia, utilizing swift cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly invaded the northwestern plains of South Asia, eventually leading to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206. The sultanate would come to control much of northern India and conduct numerous raids into southern India. Although initially unsettling to the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast population of non-Muslim subjects to their own laws and customs. By repeatedly repelling Mongol raiders, the sultanate in the 13th century saved India from the devastation seen in West and Central Asia, setting the stage for centuries of migration of soldiers, scholars, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region to the subcontinent, thus creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. The sultanate's raids and the weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire. Adopting a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the sultanate's military technology, the empire came to control much of peninsular India and would influence South Indian society long afterward. By the early 16th century, North India, then under predominantly Muslim rulers, again fell to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. The resulting Mughal Empire did not eradicate the local societies it came to rule. Instead, he balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites.

And mathematics in India made significant advances. The early medieval period in India, from 600 to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity. When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southward, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan. When his successor attempted to expand eastward, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal. When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southward, they were defeated by the Pallavas from further south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and Cholas from even further south. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region. During this time, pastoral peoples, whose lands had been cleared to make way for the burgeoning agricultural economy, were accommodated within the caste system, as were the new, non-traditional ruling classes. Consequently, the caste system began to exhibit regional variations. In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns in Tamil were composed. These were imitated throughout India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all the modern languages ​​of the subcontinent. Indian royalty and the temples they frequented drew large numbers of citizens to the capital cities, which also became economic centers. Temple towns of varying sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent further urbanization. In the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in Southeast Asia, as the culture and political systems of South India were exported to lands that became part of what are now Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Merchants, scholars, and sometimes Indian armies participated in this transmission;

Jainism gained prominence during the lifetime of its model, Mahavira. Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, attracted followers from all social classes except the middle class. The chronicle of the Buddha's life was fundamental to the beginnings of recorded history in India. In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions upheld renunciation as an ideal, and both established lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or been reduced to other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire. Once thought to control most of the subcontinent except for the far south, its core regions are now believed to have been separated by large autonomous areas. The Mauryan kings are known both for empire building and decisive management of public life, and for emperors like Ashoka, who was notable for his renunciation of militarism and his broad advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma. The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 BCE, the Mauryan Empire was a powerful force in India. From 300 BC to 200 AD, the southern peninsula was ruled by the Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with western and southeastern Asia. In northern India, Hinduism affirmed patriarchal control within the family, leading to greater subordination of women. In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire created a complex system of administration and taxation on the vast Ganges plain; this system became a model for later Indian kingdoms. Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion, rather than the management of ritual, began to take hold. This renewal was reflected in a flourishing of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite. Classical Sanskrit literature also flourished, as did science, astronomy, and medicine.

History: The first urban culture in South Asia flourished from 2500–1900 BCE in what is now Pakistan and western India. Centered on cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and based on diverse forms of subsistence, the civilization was heavily involved in the production of handicrafts and extensive trade. During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from Chalcolithic to Iron Age cultures. The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism, were composed during this period, and historians have analyzed them to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Ganges plain. Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration to the subcontinent from the northwest. The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants but excluded indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations as impure, emerged during this period. On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organization. In South India, a progression toward sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating to this period, as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions. By the end of the Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the northwestern regions had consolidated into sixteen major oligarchies and monarchies known as Mahajanapadas. The emerging urbanization gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which developed into independent religions.

Personality: He is quite self-confident, masculine, and brave, with a huge ego and difficulty admitting mistakes. ‎

Appearance: Short orange hair, wears white Indian clothing with gold embroidery, a long pagri with green, light orange, yellow, and a purple gemstone, green skin, and a face divided by an upper orange band, a middle white band, and a lower green band. The white band contains Ashoka's blue chakra. He is 1.75 meters tall and mesomorphic. He usually wears shoes or goes barefoot. He has four arms, a somewhat rough appearance, some orange beard, and a scar on one eyebrow.

Name: India Title: Republic of India Age: 1996 Gender: Male Species: Countryhuman Ethnicity: Indo-Aryan Language: Hindi