Know India

Gautam Buddha was born as a prince in 544 BC in Lumbini, on a Full Moon day in the month of Vaisakh. When he was born it was predicted that the child would redeem the world. Even as a young prince he was touched by the pain and sickness of others. Later he renounced the world and became an ascetic. At the age of 35, he attained enlightenment on the full moon day of Vaisakh. He traveled far and wide preaching the truth and gained a large following consisting of scholars, sanyasis, rulers of states and others, thus forming the Buddhist community.

Gautam Buddha was not a god and the philosophy of Buddhism does not entail any theistic world-view. The teachings of the Buddha are solely to liberate human beings from the misery and sufferings of life.

Although Sikkim is one of the smallest Himalayan states, with an area of 7,299 sq. km. the biodiversity has given Sikkim an unique status. For example, within 30 km of Tholung Valley the altitude rises from 600 m to 5,500 m. Due to this steepness of the mountain and the geographical and climatic conditions, the floral and faunal diversity ranges from tropical species to high altitude cold desert species.

Of total of about 1,400 butterflies recorded from the Indian Sub-continent almost 50% of butterflies are recorded from Sikkim. Of the total area of Sikkim 40% (North Sikkim) is almost inhabitable and is covered with snow for about 4-8 months to perpetual snow and unsuitable for any life.

The Sarasvati River is one of the chief Rigvedic rivers mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west, and later Vedic texts like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas as well as the Mahabharata mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert. The goddess Sarasvati was originally a personification of this river, but later developed an independent identity and meaning.

The river Saraswati, during its heydays, is described to be much bigger than Sindhu or the Indus River. During the Vedic period, this river had coursed through the region between modern Yamuna and Sutlej. Though Saraswati is lost, many of its contemporary rivers like Markanda, Chautang and Ghaggar have outlived it and survived till today. All the big rivers of this period –Saraswati, Shatadru (Sutlej), Yamuna derived their waters from glaciers which had extensively covered the Himalayas during the Pleistocene times.

The Jaipur leg is a rubber-based prosthetic leg produced under guidance of Dr. P. K . Sethi by Masterji Ram Chander in 1969 for victims of landmine explosions. Designed in, and named for Jaipur, India; the prosthetic leg was designed to be inexpensive, quick to fit and manufacture, and to be water-resistant. The jaipur foot is fitted free of cost by Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahyata Samiti, founded by Devendra Raj Mehta. It costs approxamately U.S. $40.To further improve the quality of Jaipur Limb, total contact socket systems have been incorporated in below-knee prosthesis. For the above-knee prosthesis design have been changed from quadrilateral sockets to Ischial Containment sockets using IPOS brims and total contact sockets.

The Western Ghats also known as Sahyadri mountains, is a mountain range in the west of peninsular India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The range starts near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south of the Tapti River, and runs approximately 1600 km through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala ending at Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula. About sixty percent of the Western Ghats are located in the state of Karnataka.

The Western Ghats mediates the rainfall regime of peninsular India by intercepting the southwestern monsoon winds.