Independent States, Commonwealth of See Commonwealth of Independent States
indeterminacy principle See uncertainty principle
Index librorum prohibitorum y'in-deks-ll-'bro-ram-pro-.hi-ba-'to- rom\ Latin Index of Forbidden Books List of books considered dangerous to the faith or morals of Catholics. Compiled by official Roman Catholic censors, the Index was never a complete catalog of forbidden reading; it contained only works that the ecclesiastical authority was asked to act on. Though the church’s concern over books is much older, the first catalog of banned books to be called an index was published in 1559. Publication of the list ceased in 1966, and it was relegated to the status of a historic document.
indexation Comparison of price levels over time. In fiscal policy, index¬ ation is used as a means of offsetting the effect of inflation or deflation on social security payments and taxes by measuring the real value of money from a fixed point of reference, usually a price index. Without indexing, recipients of social security benefits, for example, would suffer during times of inflation if their benefits remained at a fixed rate. Indexation is used in some countries to offset “bracket creep,” which occurs in any pro¬ gressive tax system when inflation pushes taxpayers into higher tax brack¬ ets. Indexation may also refer to the linking of wage rates and financial instruments to a price index.
India officially Republic of India Country, South Asia. It fronts the Bay of Bengal on the southeast and the Arabian Sea on the southwest. Area: 1,222,559 sq mi (3,166,414 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 1,103,371,000. Capitaclass="underline" New Delhi. The peoples of India comprise widely
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934 I India rubber plant ► Indian Ocean
varying mixtures of ethnic strains drawn from peoples settled in the subcontinent before the dawn of his¬ tory or from invaders. Languages:
Hindi, English (both official), and other Indo-European languages, including Bengali, Kashmiri, Mar¬ athi, and Urdu; Dravidian languages; hundreds from several other lan¬ guage families. Religions: Hindu¬ ism; also Islam, Christianity,
Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism. Cur¬ rency: rupee. India has three major geographic regions: the Himalayas, along its northern border; the Indo- Gangetic Plain, formed by the allu¬ vial deposits of three great river systems, including the Ganges (Ganga); and the southern region, noted for the Deccan plateau. Agri¬ cultural products include rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, coconut, spices, jute, tobacco, tea, coffee, and rubber.
The manufacturing sector is highly diversified and includes both heavy and high-technology industries.
India is a republic with two legisla¬ tive houses; its chief of state is the president, and the head of govern¬ ment is the prime minister. India has been inhabited for thousands of years. Agriculture in India dates to the 7th millennium bc, and an urban civilization, that of the Indus valley, was established by 2600 bc. Buddhism and Jainism arose in the 6th century bc in reaction to the caste-based soci¬ ety created by the Vedic religion and its successor, Hinduism. Muslim invasions began c. ad 1000, estab¬ lishing the long-lived Delhi sultanate in 1206 and the Mughal dynasty in 1526. Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India in 1498 initiated several centuries of commercial rivalry between the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French. British conquests in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the rule of the British East India Co., and direct administration by the British Empire began in 1858. After Mohandas K. Gandhi helped end British rule in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru became India’s first prime minister, and Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi, and his grand¬ son Rajiv Gandhi guided the nation’s destiny for all but a few years until 1991. The subcontinent was partitioned into two countries—India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority—in 1947. A later clash with Pakistan resulted in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. In the 1980s and ’90s, Sikhs sought to establish an independent state in Punjab, and ethnic and religious conflicts took place in other parts of the country as well. The Kashmir region in the northwest has been a source of con¬ stant tension.
vice of the English East India Company. The mutiny began when sepoys refused to use new rifle cartridges (which were thought to be lubricated with grease containing a mix¬ ture of pigs’ and cows’ lard and thus reli¬ giously impure). They were shackled and imprisoned, but their outraged comrades shot their British officers and marched on Delhi. The ensuing fighting was ferocious on both sides and ended in defeat for the muti¬ neers. Its immediate result was that the East India Company was abol¬ ished in favour of direct rule of India by the British government; in addition, the British government began a policy of consultation with Indi¬ ans. British-imposed social measures that had antagonized Hindu society (e.g., a proposed bill that would remove legal obstacles to the remarriage of Hindu women) were also halted.
India rubber plant See rubber plant Indian buffalo See water buffalo
Indian law Legal practices and institutions of India. Indian law draws on a number of sources, beginning with the customs of the ancient Vedas and later accretions of Hindu law, which largely concern social matters such as marriage and succession. After the Arab invasions of the 8th cen¬ tury, Islamic law (see Shari'ah) was introduced in some areas, particularly in the north. English common law became the residual law in jurisdictions under British colonial control, while the Portuguese and French used their own laws in their colonies. Since independence (1947), India has aimed at developing a unified civil code and updating its criminal code.
Indian licorice See rosary pea
Indian Mutiny or Sepoy Mutiny (1857-58) Widespread rebellion against British rule in India begun by Indian troops (sepoys) in the ser¬
Indian National Congress or Congress Party Broadly based political party of India, founded in 1885. The Congress Party was a mod¬ erate reform party until 1917, when it was taken over by its “extremist” Home Rule wing (see Bal Gangadhar Tilak). In the 1920s and ’30s, under Mohandas K. Gandhi, it promoted noncooperation to protest the feeble¬ ness of the constitutional reforms of 1919. During World War II, the party announced that India would not support the war until granted complete independence. In 1947 an Indian independence bill became law, and in 1950 the constitution took effect. Jawaharlal Nehru dominated the party from 1951 to 1964. The Indian National Congress formed most of India’s governments from 1947 to 1996, but at the end of the 20th century, its support plummeted. After several years out of power, it returned to gov¬ ernment in 2004.
Indian Ocean Body of salt water stretching between Africa in the west, Australia in the east, Asia in the north, and Antarctica in the south. With an area of 28,360,000 sq mi (73,440,000 sq km), it covers approximately
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Indian paintbrush ► Indies I 935
one-seventh of the Earth’s surface, and it is the smallest of the world’s three major oceans (see Atlantic Ocean; Pacific Ocean). Its greatest depth (24,442 ft [7,450 m]) is in the Java Trench. Its chief marginal seas include the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, Andaman Sea, Bay of Bengal, and the Great Australian Bight. Its major islands and island groups include Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and the Mascarenes.
Indian paintbrush or paintbrush Any plant of the genus Castilleja (snapdragon family), which contains about 200 species of partially or wholly parasitic wildflowers that obtain nourishment from the roots of other plants. The small, tubular, two-lipped flowers are surrounded by brightly coloured upper leaves, giving the plant the appearance of having been dipped in a pot of red, orange, yellow, pink, or white paint.
Indian philosophy Any of the numerous philosophical systems developed on the Indian subcontinent, including both orthodox ( astika ) systems, namely, the Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta schools of philosophy, and unorthodox ( nastika ) systems, such as Buddhism and Jainism. The history of Indian philosophy may be divided into three periods: the prelogical (to the beginning of the Christian era), the logical (lst-llth century), and the ultralogical (11th—18th century). What Dasgupta calls the prelogical stage covers the pre-Mauryan and the Mauryan periods (c. 321-185 bc) in Indian history. The logical period begins roughly with the Kusanas (1 st-2nd century ad) and was developed most fully in the Gupta era (3rd-5th century) and in the age of imperial Kanauj (7th century). In the 19th century, newly founded universities introduced Indian intellectuals to Western thought, particularly British empiricism and utilitarianism. Indian philosophy in the early 20th century was influenced by German idealism. Later Indian philosophers made significant contributions to analytic philosophy.