India

**India** (Hindi: भारत, Bhaarat), officially the **Republic of India**, is a large and powerful country located in the continent of Asia, on the planet Earth in the Sol System. It is the second-most populous country on Earth, and the most populous democracy in that planet.

The country of India had a long history that dates back to thousands of years, like China and Egypt. It is the birthplace of Hinduism, a very ancient religion.

 Factfile

* Official name: Republic of India
* Anthem: Jana Gana Mana
* Official motto: Truth Alone Triumphs
* Capital city: New Delhi
* Official languages: Hindi, English
	+ Recognised regional languages: Assamese, Punjabi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Odia, Sindhi, Mizo, Kokborok, Sanskrit, etc.
* State religion: N/A, secular
	+ Major religions: Hinduism (native), Buddhism (native, also in Nepal), Sikhism (native), Jainism (native), Islam, Christianity
* Government: Federal constitutional republic
* President: Ramnath Kovind
* Vice President: Venkaiah Naidu
* Prime Minister: Narendra Modi
* Climate: Desert in the west; mountainous in the north; subtropical at the centre; tropical in the south and east,
* Population: 1,400,050,000
* Currency: Rupee
* National Day: August 15

## In the *Collectionverse*

Two of Ludvig's classmates, Gupta and Adeeti, are of Marathi descent.

In the Collectionverse's alternate timeline, India was the birthplace of a worldwide social revolution after the United Dharma Party wrested power from three other factions: a communist faction, an Islamist faction, and a Hindu racialist faction. Its mixture of Hindu teachings and modernism inspired many people across the world to attempt to replicate its efficient system, resulting in the Indigo Revolution.

## In the *Rinnarverse*

See also: India (Rinnarverse), India (19-canon)

In the Rinnarverse, India takes a more active role in international relations, forming its own alliance known as the Samudravarman Campaign to protect its allies from Arabian, Chinese, and American dominance. Centuries later, it was divided in a civil war, and then reunified under a religious dictatorship known as Akhand Bharat. India became part of an alliance against the Four Powers, with its allies including Kheya Wita, Australia, Gotaland, and Mexico.

The Vetarbroitar, a race of clones that live in the northern Milky Way, regard the Indians as their brothers. Hinduism is regarded by the Vetarbroitar as a "brother faith", on equal footing with their Norse religion. The Rinnarits regard India as one of five holy lands, the others being Greece, Scandinavia, Cambodia, and Iraq.

Trunduk, a fictional country popular among the Vetarbroitar, was influenced by Indian culture. Although it is isolated from the rest of the world, India is its biggest ally. Some of its leaders were politicians from India, but this led to conflict between its two Hindu nationalist factions: the native Trundukis, and the north Indian arrivals.

The native Trundukis, who practiced a fanatical version of Hinduism out of hatred against Britain and Arabia, denounced the Indian politicians as "Delhians", who sought to erase Trunduk's native Hinduism with their North Indian variant, while the "Delhians" condemned the Trundukis as "wayward, treasonous rebels". Trunduki Hinduism before the British invasion was very syncretic.

## In the *Rabydosverse*

Although India did not exist in the Rabydosverse, equivalent countries on Jerde would be Prisapura, Dashadesh, and Mucchiri. Prisapura became the homeland of the Sandharmin (Hindu) and Buddhist religions of that world, and its language of Sanskrit is used by many nearby cultures for classical literature.

### Porashon, Paradise of the Dharma

One character from the Sanskrit work known as the "Ramayana" -- Ravana -- became popular in the faraway land of Porashon. The Porasonids revere him as an enlightened king of an army of monsters to play with Vozonid insults against them: by identifying themselves with the "monsters", they make themselves seem more civilised than the Vozonids who sought to exterminate them. They also worship Kubera, the northerly god of wealth, as the lord of the yakshas (earth wights) and treasures, and therefore the guardian of their entire nation; and Surya, the sun god, as the bringer of life and healer of their wounds. Most importantly, they also revere Shiva and Kali as greater rulers of their country and guides to spiritual salvation.

As a result of their polytheistic form of Hinduism, Porashon became one of three nations on Palkyras that practice a Dharmic religion -- the other being Siangwaan and Ajoltar, which practice Buddhism. Both Siangwaan and Porashon maintain friendly relations as both of them use similar technology, and some Siangwaanians go to Porashon to study about Buddhism and the Sanskrit language. Some of the Ontemazei slaves who aided the Siangwaanian revolution also introduced Hinduism to parts of Siangwaan.

### Adharmaloka, the World of Injustice

The dystopian world of Adhamaloka ("World of Injustice") was torn between the decaying Holy Davjanid Empire (the former superpower of that world) and various rebels. Their armies were summoned by several warlords during the Third World War, mostly to carve their own empires.

Four notorious armies that entered Jerde were the Pompadours, the Black Pillars, the Saffron Front, and the Enlightened Party.

The Pompadours were the armies of the Holy Davjanid Empire, enslaving the locals to build lavish palaces.

The Black Pillars were driven by their torment by foreign invaders to become horrific and brutal, murdering thousands to earn their way to their warrior god's palace in the heavens. Not even their pleas for mercy and cries about oppression moved the horrified, enraged Jerdiskar, cementing the latter's fears of monotheism as a "brutal death cult". After their destruction and defeat, surviving members of the Black Pillars joined the Lords of Power, seeking to destroy the world in vengeance.

The Saffron Front were the natives who revolted against the Davjanid emperors, but they fled from another group of tyrants, the Enlightened Party. They wanted to survive and continue their form of Hinduism, but their hostile attitude towards people who insulted them led to other Jerdiskar isolating them. They did survive to the southwest of Rabydos, but over time, as they followed Prisapura's Hinduism, they became less violent.

The Enlightened Party revolted against the Davjanid emperors, seeking to replace their forceful imperial cult with their own futurist fanaticism. These, along with various antitheist armies, contributed to the Denlotia's hatred of atheism, branding all atheists as no different from the Enlightened Party's hatred of religion. Yet the Enlightened Party actually followed its own version of monotheism, with its god being named "Progress" or "Providence": its hatred of (other) religious beliefs made other people mistakenly view it as atheistic.

## Trivia

* Indian culture and art also influenced the cultures of Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. To a lesser extent, it also influenced the arts and spirituality of China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, and Tibet.
* On December 2020, the author renounced Christianity and converted to Hinduism, in spite of his Chinese descent. His patron deity is Shiva.
	+ To be fair, Chinese Buddhism (the religion of the author's family) also practices syncretism of Indian deities, which has also been extended to Chinese folk religion. For example, Indra, known as Sakra in Buddhism, is considered as the same person as the Jade Emperor, one of the highest deities in Chinese folk religion.

### Aesthetic influences

* The movie Baahubali, especially the parade and coronation scenes at the palace of Mahishmati, was one of the inspirations for the Sarmelonid civilisation.
* The Sanskrit language was one of several influences for the structure of some languages that the author created, such as Sarmelonid and Novantirna.

### Dystopian influences

* The tyrannies of Adharmaloka, and Akhand Bharat/the Ramrajya in the Rinnarverse, were inspired by various extremists in India.
	+ The Pompadours were based on the Mughals, and other Arab and Turkic invaders of India.
	+ The Black Pillars was based on Taliban and similar militant groups, with elements of Christian extremism and Gnostic mysticism.
	+ The Saffron Front was based on Hindutva extremists.
	+ The Enlightened Party was based on elitism and hatred of religion in general, or Social Darwinism, or natural evolution being wrongly used to justify cruelty.
	+ The government of Rinnarverse's "New India" (Akhand Bharat or Ramrajya), and the Hindu extremists who oppose it for not being fanatical enough, were based on Hindutva movements in India.
		- On the other hand, the government of "New India" had (reformist or modernised) elements of Hindu scriptures mixed with Malaysian and Thai society, the former being the society where he grew up in.
		- To the author, this not-so-tolerant system supposedly protects the Hindu religion as the state religion, while allowing minorities to freely practice their faiths as loyal subjects who are turned away from waging war against Hinduism. It also refuses to purge minorities (only extremists and *all* extremists, regardless of their beliefs), so the elimination of all forms of persecution will impose cooperation between the majority and minority. Just as Malaysian law prohibits any attacks on Islam, so did the "New India" use similar penalties to prevent attacks against Hinduism. Therefore, groups that propose the total destruction of certain religions and peoples were discouraged, whether they are Hindu or (especially) Abrahamist.
		- The Ramrajya's founder was a Malaysian Indian, so he used his former homeland's norms to influence his Hindu state. As a result, there were Christian, Muslim, and atheist members among his ranks during his reunification of India: although they were known as "Bramiki", and they were given certain prohibitions, they no longer had to fear mob violence and harrassment under the founder's laws. Just as he fought Pakistani and American invaders, he also had to fight against some of his fellow members who accused him of treason, for allowing his "Bramiki" members to remain undisturbed (though with some restrictions to put an end to militarism).
	+ The "Delhians", north Indians in Trunduk who fought with nativist Hindu nationalists, were based on alleged attempts by Hindutva groups against indigenous cultures such as the Gondis and adivasis.
		- Trunduk was originally an attempt to see what would a non-Indic country be like if it adopted Hindutva, Hindu nationalism, or something similar. Yet in some ways it opposes Hindutva by its insistence to remain independent, rejection of elite members from a political party in north India, and attempts to avoid certain social ills (like casteism, mob violence, and party politics).
* In the author's works, Aurangzeb was used as an example of tyranny and cruelty, because the Hindus regarded him as a fanatical tyrant who sought to destroy Hinduism.
	+ The Vetarbroitar banned people from naming their children "aura" or "aur", just as they refuse to use "Charles" or "Olaf", as they also regarded Aurangzeb as their enemy.
	+ Ilumshair, the 555th emperor of the Holy Davjanid Empire, was inspired by Aurangzeb. The zealous, ill-tempered Arangumbazid dynasty that followed him was also named after him.
	+ Many names used for historical tyrants in India were also used for the Novantirna language for various bad things or acts of cruelty and wickedness, from the Mughals to the British, and even a few wicked Hindu kings too. From Aurangzeb, "roñzib" became the Novantirna word for "a slaughterer", and "roñ" means "murder" or "kill".
* "Akhand Bharat" is a proposed superstate by Hindutva supporters, where all of South Asia and several other nations end up under the rule of a Hindu empire, on the basis that all of these nations formerly adopted Indian or Hindu culture, making them Hindus. This also includes Myanmar (a former colony of Britain under the same territory as India) and Afghanistan (for the lost Hindus and Buddhist temples of the land), whose people will most likely resist any attempt by foreigners to rule over them.
	+ The question of Myanmar's reception to it being part of Akhand Bharat was the inspiration for the Yandabo War in Rinnarverse lore.

* The opposite of Akhand Bharat is "Ghazwa-e-Hind", a prophecy in some Islamic hadiths that suggested a future conquest by a Muslim empire that will lead to a creation of an Indian caliphate, the extermination and/or enslavement of all nonbelievers, will lead to the apocalypse. Some Muslim extremists supported this destructive idea as their revenge against persecution of Muslims in India.