The stores of exoticism in this endlessly absorbing land extend from the Himalaya in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south. • India, Mark Twain once said, is "the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the world combined." • The result of the 1947 British partition of the subcontinent, India is today the world's largest democracy and has more millionaires than the United States. • Bollywood, Slumdog Millionaire, the Bangalore call centers—all obscure the "real" India, with its unique wildlife, culture, crafts, and skills.

Two women in Jaipur hold candles to celebrate Diwali, or the Festival of Lights. Observed over five days throughout India, it marks, among other things, the start of the new business year and the victory of light over dark.

Photograph by Joe McNally/National Geographic Stock

In the spring, Hindis celebrate Holi, or the festival of color, by taking to the streets and throwing colored powder or colored water at each other. The result: throngs of people covered in bright colors.

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During the ten-day Ganesh festival in Mumbai, devotees carry a statue of the elephant-headed Hindu god into the sea. Across India, worshippers carry hundreds of the statues into rivers and lakes as well as the sea.

Photograph by Gautam Singh/Associated Press

Hindu pilgrims bathe in the Ganges hoping to wash away their sins. Every 12 years millions take part in the 45-day Kumbh Mela, or Grand Pitcher Festival, which includes ritual bathing in this and other rivers.

Photograph by David Lazar, My Shot

The Taj Mahal, one of the most enduring symbols of India, is popular with tourists, drawing more than two million each year. Cricket is the most popular sport in India.

Photograph by Adrian Pope/Getty Images

The Mogul emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in Agra as a tribute to his favorite wife, who died in childbirth in 1630. The white marble monument, with its sprawling gardens, took 20 years to build. A red sandstone mosque stands on one side.

Photograph by Apratim Saha, My Shot

Decorated elephants carry tourists past the Jaigarh and Amber Forts in Jaipur, Rajasthan, constructed beginning in the 15th century. The marble-and-sandstone Amber Fort has intricate carvings; the immense Jaigarh Fort once served as a center of artillery production.

Photograph by Patitucci/Aurora Photos

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji train station, formerly the Victoria Terminus, is notable for its mix of traditional Indian and Victorian Gothic Revival architecture; it has turrets, pointed arches, and a ground plan that resembles an Indian palace.

Photograph by Aji Lal, My Shot

Bangalore’s Brigade Road hums, a reflection of how quickly India’s industries have grown in response to globalization. Along with Commercial Street and the MG Road, Brigade Road appeals to young, savvy shoppers.

Photograph by Walter Bibikow/photolibrary.com

Melocanna baccifera flowers every 50 years in India’s Mizoram state – and its blooming brings tens of millions of hungry rats. After they devour the bamboo fruit, the rats demolish precious crops like rice. The last outbreak began in late 2006 and continued through 2008.

Picture found at www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2371

The rolling hills near Munnar, Kerala, are covered with tea plantations that were originally planted by a Scotsman in the late 19th century.

Photograph by Subhrojyoti Banerjee, My Shot

To honor the dead, lanterns are hung from poles stuck into the banks of the Ganges during Akash Deep Puja, the sky lantern festival.

Photograph by John Henry Claude Wilson/Getty Images

Fishing is an important source of income in Kerala. People in the southwestern state also have the highest literacy rate in India and enjoy the best health.

Photograph by Vikram Singh, My Shot

The Ladakh region, culturally Tibetan, is home to Buddhist temples and gompas, or monasteries, including Lamayuru. This arid Himalaya land was closed to visitors until the 1970s, and it remains sparsely populated.

Photograph by Robert Harding/Masterfile

Snow leopards live up to their reputation for being impossible to find. Secretive, well camouflaged, and usually solitary, the cats are most active at night and in the twilight hours of dusk and dawn, prowling amid the most formidable tumult of mountains on Earth, including the Himalaya.

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Hyenas get a bad wrap worldwide – even in Hollywood, think back to The Lion King. In Tanzania and India the much maligned animals are believed to carry witches.

Picture found at scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/2009/09/friday_we...

Cows, such as these two in Varanasi, are a common sight on India’s congested streets. Hindus revere cows, believing that they offer sustenance and ask nothing in return.

Photograph by Mark Henley/photolibrary.com

A cow lies in the middle of the Golden Quadrilateral, a superhighway that opened in 1998 linking India's four main cities: Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata (Calcutta), and Delhi. It’s part of a $30 billion-plus National Highways Development Project—the most ambitious building spree in India since Britain created the railway system in the 1800s.

Photograph by Ed Kashi

Kolkata’s omnipresent rickshaws are part of its image—something it would like to change. City officials have debated banning the hand-pulled vehicles, citing traffic jams as well as humanitarian issues.

Photograph by Ed Kashi

Dabbawallahs, sometimes called tiffin wallahs, fetch freshly cooked meals or snacks from the homes of office workers and deliver it to them at their workplaces. Literally, translated, “dabbawallah” means “one who carries a box.”

Picture found at www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/dabbawalla-mumbai-...

A young girl walks through Mumbai's Dharavi slum, home to about a million people. Many Indians live in modern suburbs and work in gleaming skyscrapers, but many more—a large majority—remain impoverished and trapped by tradition.

Until the late 19th Century, this area of Mumbai was mangrove swamp, inhabited by Koli fishermen. When the swamp filled in (with coconut leaves, rotten fish, and human waste), the Kolis left – and others moved in. The result is the most diverse slum in India’s most diverse city.

Photograph by Jonas Bendiksen/National Geographic Stock

The percentage of Indians living in poverty continues to drop – thanks largely to the creation of a robust internal market for Indian goods – and it’s projected that in 2025 the number of Indians living in poverty will have dipped by 22 percent.

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India’s strict caste system dictates occupations of all Hindus. Untouchables are shunned by the rest of society and usually relegated to tasks defined by Hindu law as unclean – physical work dealing with blood, excrements, and bodily functions.

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The Parsis of India – whose Zoroastrian faith prohibits them from tainting earth, wind, or fire with their corpses – have for centuries exposed their dead to scavenging birds. Recently, diminishing numbers of vultures in India have pushed the Parsis to rely on the gradual effects of the elements to claim their dead.

Picture found at flickr.com/photos/23429778@N07/3292617292

Two men wrestle during a festival in Himachal Pradesh, which means “region of snowy mountains.” This resort area in the foothills of the Himalaya is an Indian favorite.

Photograph by Himanshu Khagta, My Shot

Women in bright saris crowd together as they walk in a bridal procession in Mandawa, Rajasthan. Rajasthan is the largest state in India—a land of extremes—encompassing steamy forests, dry plains, and the snowy Himalaya.

Photograph by Antonino Puppi, My Shot

In Mumbai, a bride feeds the groom at a Jain wedding, which requires a series of rituals thanking deities. Some tenets of Jainism are similar to those of Hinduism, but the religion hasn’t spread far beyond India.

Photograph by Kris Pannecoucke/Aurora Photos

The hands of a woman in Jaipur are covered with mehndi patterns painted with henna. Trendy in recent years, the lacework decorations are part of a 5,000-year-old tradition of creating designs to ward off evil or declare one’s happiness.

Photograph by Petra Warner, My Shot

A man steps through a doorway at the Varadarajaswamy Temple in Kanchipuram, “city of a thousand temples.” Kanchipuram is also known for silk saris—a thriving business here.

Photograph by Dinodia Dinodia/photolibrary.com

A woman in Deshnoke, Rajasthan, stands outside the Karni Mata Temple, a monument to the rat goddess. More than 20,000 rats live in the temple, including a handful of white ones, which are thought to be direct descendents of Karni Mata and therefore considered especially sacred.

Photograph by Rachael Williams, My Shot

Passengers peer out the windows of a train in a station in Varanasi, a 3,000-year-old holy city filled with religious statues and temples. Many Hindus journey here to walk down the ghats, or steps, into the Ganges River to be purified.

Photograph by Thomas Holton/Getty Images

The Baha’i House of Worship in New Delhi is better known as the Lotus Temple, thanks to its lotus-shaped concrete petals. The complex covers 26 acres (nearly 11 hectares).

Photograph by Ed Freeman/Getty Images

Sikhs reach to touch a chest containing a copy of their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, as it’s carried into Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib, a temple in Nanded, during the 300th-anniversary celebration of the book’s consecration. Sikhs also mark the anniversaries of the passing of their religion’s gurus.

Photograph by Charles Meacham, My Shot

Tourists flock to Agra to see the world-famous Taj Mahal, only to realize that the area is home to many other astonishing buildings, among them the 16th-century Red Fort, which once surrounded a Mogul imperial city.

Photograph by Martin Bauer, My Shot

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