Portal:India/Did you know 8

This is a selection of articles on Wikipedia that appeared on the India Portal's Did you know section. (Archives are in sets of approximately 50 items each)

Did you know...

 * 1) ...that Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the king of the Mysore kingdom in India, was also a collector and an inventor of board games?
 * 2) ...that the Indo-Burma barrier, a 1,624 kilometer-long barrier between India and Burma, is being built to curtail gunrunning and illicit drug trafficking?
 * 3) ...that the first ever Representative Assembly in 19th century British India was formed in the Kingdom of Mysore?
 * 4) ...that Rizwanur Rahman was charged with abducting his wife by West Bengal police after her father disapproved of the marriage?
 * 5) ..that the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health (pictured) is one of the most frequented religious sites in India, drawing nearly 2 million pilgrims annually?
 * 6) ...that the first ever Ranji Trophy cricket match, played in the year 1933 between Mysore and Madras teams, is the only game in the history of the Ranji Trophy to have been completed in a single day?
 * 7) ...that 16th century Indian musician-composer Miyan Tansen laid the foundations of Hindustani classical music by mixing Sufi and Bhakti musical traditions ?
 * 8) ...that Lord Canning wanted to build a port at Canning, now in West Bengal, that could rival Singapore but gave up when the Matla River surged its fury on the new port town in 1867?
 * 9) ...that the tamburi, the principal drone instrument in Carnatic music to this day, was introduced during the Vijayanagara era in India?
 * 10) ...that the legislator from Kultali was sentenced by the Kolkata High Court, in 2005, to life imprisonment in a case where a mob dragged two persons out of their house, and tortured and killed them?
 * 11) ...that King Narasaraja Wodeyar II, who ruled over the Indian Kingdom of Mysore for a decade in the 18th century, was either mute or preferred to remain silent throughout his rule?
 * 12) ...that the residents of Basanti and other deltaic islands in the Indian part of the Sundarbans thanked the French author Dominique Lapierre for the floating dispensaries he had provided?
 * 13) ...that from 1985 through 2004, about seventy-five honey collectors from Gosaba and the surrounding areas of West Bengal were killed by tigers in the forests of Sundarbans, but none since?
 * 14) ...that in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal more than 100 women get trafficked to red-light areas in Mumbai and Pune each year?
 * 15) ...that the founders of the Kingdom of Mysore may have been descendents of the Hoysala Dynasty or fugitives from the Vijayanagara Empire court?
 * 16) ...that the first session of the Legislative Council of Mysore State in India was held in the Jaganmohan Palace (pictured) in July 1907?
 * 17) ...that the photographer duo of Krupakar-Senani were kidnapped by the bandit Veerappan, while filming the movie Wild Dog Diaries in India?
 * 18) ...that although in present-day India the former Princely states and their princes have lost that status, the Raja of Rajnagar still wears his ancestors' tattered royal attire twice a year?
 * 19) ...that the Baroque-style palace Dilkusha Kothi (pictured) was once a summer retreat for the nawabs of Oudh but was heavily shelled during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and is today in ruins?
 * 20) ...that the success of the Lifeline Express in providing medical services to remote places in India has seen similar projects being initiated in other countries including China, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh?
 * 21) ...that Justice Hans Raj Khanna was the lone dissenter when the Supreme Court of India ruled that those arrested during India's repressive Emergency period from 1975 to 1977 would have no rights to habeas corpus?
 * 22) ...that the hearing for the Nanoor massacre case has stalled because of the defendants' repeated failure to appear in court?
 * 23) ...that Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited is the only firm in India authorised to manufacture the indelible ink used to prevent fraudulent voting?
 * 24) ...that poet, film producer and journalist Pritish Nandy is credited with opening India's first cyber cafe in 1996?
 * 25) ...that the Ghurni clay dolls of West Bengal have been inaugurated by Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev?
 * 26) ...that Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, was the first member of the Sikh diaspora?
 * 27) ...that in 2006, nearly 50,000 people were marooned in Labhpur and surrounding areas of Birbhum district in West Bengal because of floods?
 * 28) ...that the Plaza film theatre in Bangalore, India was modelled after the Piccadilly Circus in London?
 * 29) ...that the first public interest litigation case to be heard in the Karnataka High Court in India was to prevent the demolition of the very building from which it was functioning?
 * 30) ...that the neighbourhood of Bowbazar was the site of Calcutta's first horse drawn tram line (model pictured), opened in 1873?
 * 31) ...that Keremane Shivarama Heggade, the founder of folk-art troupe Idagunji Mahaganapathi Yakshagana Mandali was the first Yakshagana artist in India to receive the Rashtrapati Award?
 * 32) ...that Deganga, in West Bengal, where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination, will have to wait until 2009 for a supply of piped arsenic-free water?
 * 33) ...that Nayachar Island in the Hooghly River was chosen as the location for a major chemical hub based on experience in developing Jurong Island in Singapore?
 * 34) ...that centenarian Nittoor Srinivasa Rau, was the first chief of the Central Vigilance Commission of India and also the first to translate Mahatama Gandhi's autobiography to Kannada?
 * 35) ...that Jiffs was a derogatory propaganda term employed by military intelligence of British India to denote soldiers of the Indian Army in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II?
 * 36) ...that many of the carnatic musicians of the Mysore Kingdom were also trained in Western classical music?
 * 37) ...that the Markonahalli Dam across the River Shimsha in India had to be partly demolished in order to prevent excess water from flooding the villages?
 * 38) ...that Shakadvipi (Bhojaka) is the only division of brahmins whose origins are said to be outside India?
 * 39) ...that Utkala Brahmins are the historical caretakers of the Jagannath Temple in Puri?
 * 40) ...that after the British took control of the Mysore Kingdom in the 19th century, they had a strong influence on Kannada literature?
 * 41) ...the oldest stud farm in India, Kunigal stud farm, was used by Tipu Sultan for breeding horses for cavalry regiments to fight the British?
 * 42) ...that a ditch excavated to fend off marauding Maratha soldiers, was filled up when the city was never attacked, to form a road from Shyambazar's five-point crossing?
 * 43) ...that while Sanskrit is the liturgical language for many Indian religions, only one daily newspaper, the Sudharma, uses it?
 * 44) ...that 62 people died in a fire on the sets of the TV serial The Sword of Tipu Sultan in Mysore, India?
 * 45) ...that St. Mary's Basilica is the oldest church in Bangalore and the only basilica in the Indian state of Karnataka?
 * 46) ...that with Calcutta developing in the 18th century, the Janbazar neighbourhood was gradually taken over by the Portuguese, Armenians, half-castes and others, to become a grey area between Black and White Towns?
 * 47) ...that Vasanta Habba, an annual cultural event organised by Nrityagram in Bangalore, is considered to be the classical Woodstock of India?
 * 48) ...that Rangayana is the only repertory in India that is sponsored by the government?
 * 49) ...that Prabhat Kalavidaru, a theatre group based in Bangalore has performed the fairytale, Cinderella over 1000 times since 1977 and that few artists have acted in each of those performances?
 * 50) ...that the social reform organization Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz has been labeled "un-Islamic" by upper caste Muslims?