India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia[1] Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Burma (Myanmar) to the east. India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Indonesia in the Indian Ocean. Home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated there, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread nonviolent resistance.
Miscellaneous facts
- River Ganges
The whitewater river rafting capital of India is the stretch of the Ganges between Kaudiyala and Rishikesh in Madhya Pradesh [2].
- Caves of Kaliya
Kaliya, in Hindu mythology, was the name of a poisonous Nāga living in the Yamuna River, in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India[3], and therefore the "Caves of Kaliya" seems an appropriate name for some caverns chock full of cobras.
- Key of Ganesha
Ganesha or Ganesh is one of the best known Hindu dieties, easily identified by his elephant head[4].
- Indra Key
Indra is the god of war and weather, the King of the Gods or Devas, and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hinduism[5].
- "Shiva" Statues
Shiva is the supreme God in the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism. In the Smartha tradition, he is one of the five primary forms of God. One temple dedicated to Shiva that is on the banks of the Ganges (in a former part of Uttar Pradesh called Uttarakhand) is the Rudreshwar Mahadev Temple[6]. The Tomb Raider movies came under fire for an alleged disrespect of Shiva and other Hindu deities [7]
- Infada Stone
"Infada" is a word that only really occurs in Tomb Raider 3, but may have its origins in the Arabic word "intifada", meaning "shudder, awakening, uprising" [8].
- Piranhas
Piranhas are generally found in South America and not usually in India [9]. However the piranhas found in Tomb Raider 3 may have escaped from a private aquarium.
- Baboons
Baboons are generally found in Africa and not usually in India [10]. However the baboons found in Tomb Raider 3 may have escaped from a travelling circus.
