The most popular tour with the travellers (both domestic and inbound) in India is the Delhi Jaipur Agra tour or the Golden Triangle tour. This glimpses of this tour include a peek into the mughal history , visiting the monuments dating back 100s of years , a look at the modern Indian culture , visit to the temples and mosques , a gastronomical trail - tastes of british , mughlai ,indian , irani fusions .Some of the interesting facts about Delhi , Jaipur ,Agra tour are as below : Establishing a Democracy with Delhi as Capital On 26 January 1950 the Constitution came into force; the event is celebrated annually and magnificently in New Delhi as Republic Day (see page 207). Broadly, the Constitution outlines a democracy with a President as Head of State, a Prime Minister as Head of Government and a two-house Parliament elected by universal suffrage: Lok Sabha (House of the People, 545 seats) and Rajya Sabha (Council of States, 250 seats). Based on Westminster's Parliament, the political structure also draws on the 1935 Government of India Act and on the US system, and incorporates a Bill of Rights. The infant democracy inherited its capital, New Delhi, from the British. Two years after Nehru's death in 1964, his daughter Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister. When the Congress party divided in 1969, she led Congress (I). She remained in power until her authoritarian ways led to the Emergency of 1975, and to her being ousted in 1977. But she won a landslide victory back into power in 1980. There she remained until her assassination on 31 October 1984. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi (assassinated 21 May 1991), was immediately sworn in as Prime Minister, and then confirmed in a general election. In the 1989 election he lost power to V P Singh whose Janata Dal Party allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a government. In November 1990 Chandra Shekhar replaced V P Singh. Then, in India's 10th General Election in May-June 1991, a mid-term poll again produced a hung parliament and P V Narasimha Rao of the Congress (I) party formed a minority government. After the May 1996 election, the BJP briefly formed the government, to be followed by the United Front (June 1996) with Deve Gowda as Prime Minister. In April 1997 he was replaced by I K Gujral. The World's Largest Democracy: Size and Population Independent India absorbed all the former princely states. A new map was drawn. There are now 26 states and six Union Territories and Special Areas. Its population of 300 million at Independence has shot up to around 900 million, 40 percent of it under 15 years old. After 40 years of rampant urban expansion, which has attracted 25 percent of the population, Delhi and Jaipur are in grave danger of being throttled by too much growth too quick. Delhi, India's newest state, currently has a population of over 9.52 million, the third largest city after Mumbai and Calcutta. By comparison, Agra, in Uttar Pradesh state, has a manageable 2.5 inhabitants. Jaipur is India's thirteenth largest city, with a population of almost 1.6 million. It is the capital of Rajasthan (land of the Rajputs) state, a parched land of 44 million people. Previously there were 23 princely states in Rajputana, whose acknowledged head was Udaipur's Maharana of Mewar. Jaipur's position today fulfills Jai Singh II's dream 250 years ago that his new city should be the capital of a united Rajputana, a centre for government, trade and worship. Indeed, Maharaja Man Singh II became Rajpramukh (head) of the newly formed Rajasthan Union in 1948, when Jaipur became the administrative centre for a collection of democratized, formerly princely, states. The next year it became Rajasthan state. Literacy, Illiteracy and Marriage India's literacy rate is around 52 percent. While 64 percent of men are literate, only 40 percent of women can read. As expected, Delhi's literacy is a high 76 percent. So in the run-up for state and national political elections, canvassing is a colourful mixture of rousing rallies attended by film stars and the promotion of party symbols by daubing them on any available wall. The Congress (I)'s symbol is a raised hand. Those who do read are voracious newspaper consumers. India prints 1,802 daily newspapers, with the 114 principal dailies totting up a 13-million circulation. English language papers provide the visitor with national and local news, and an insight into Indian values. In all three cities, The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Patriot and The Statesman are available. And the magazine India Today provides the best perky round-ups of all current issues. Sunday papers carry the no-nonsense, serious marriage advertisements listed under classifieds: 'Wanted, convent educated, fair girl from good family for Jat boy age 25 years working in reputed paint company at, Jabalpur. Covenanted post four figure salary plus perks. Early man tag, thoroughly practical: he knows what he wants, and she can see what she will get. It is a system still favoured by even the university-educated urban middle-class who claims that such frankness is a major reason for the low divorce rate. But the marriage deal for poorer women is usually not good: the average marriage age is only 18.3 years, around 60 percent of women are illiterate and the pernicious dowry system (with demands for a fridge, TV and motor bike besides the traditional silks and jewellery) means parents pray for a baby to be a boy (abandoned ones are usually girls). Furthermore, dowry deaths, so-called accidents after a girl's in-laws demand extra post-marriage dowry, are back on the increase. So are incidents of sati, the practice of a widow's self-immolation on her husband's funeral pyre that was outlawed by the British in 1829. Language: A Foreign Tongue still Dominates Despite all efforts, English is still the lingua franca. It is even spoken by taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers. But Indian English, like American English, has its own particular accent and idioms, many of them highly imaginative. In 1965 Hindi was proclaimed the national language. This is not fine classical Hindi, a Sanskrit-based language, but a less attractive, simplified version created for administration. It has failed to find approval, and it is used it is peppered with English words where it lacks Hindi equivalents. Official languages are now both Hindi and English: India's official name is both Bharat and Republic of India. But an erudite Delhi family receiving a wedding invitation in Hindi may still call on their son's schooling to help translate. There are also 18 recognized national regional languages (Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added to the official 15 in 1992) and another 1,650 or so languages and dialects. Delhi has mainly Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi speakers, whereas Jaipur has Rajasthani and Hindi speakers. However, the visitor to North India, where the nation's 38 percent of Hindi speakers are concentrated, needs English for most occasions and a few Hindi words and phrases do make the exploration of back streets and villages easier. Religion: A Tolerance for Gods of Every Kind India has no official religion. But the breakdown of followers of the six principal religions is revealing: 82.6 percent Hindu, 11.4 percent Muslim, 2.4 percent Christian, 2 percent Sikh, 0.7 percent Buddhist, 0.5 percent Jain and 0.3 percent Parsee. Two of the world's great religions have Indian roots. First Hinduism and then Buddhism which developed from it. The Jain and Sikh movements also grew out of Hinduism. Hinduism: The astonishing number of Hindu gods and the length and complexity of the great epics can be approached by the first-time visitor by starting with the Trinity—Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver) and Shiva (Destroyer)—and by reading a good short version of two of the sacred texts, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana (see bibliography). The religion's roots are in the Indus Valley. Disseminated by the Aryan invaders who arrived in North India around 1500 BC, this early form was given structure by the Vedic scriptures. Put very simply, Hindus believe that the spirit endures a series of rebirths ending in moksha, when it is freed from the rebirth cycle. The concept of karma is that each person's deeds lead to lower, or higher, reincarnation. (See also Glossary, page 216). Jaipur has an all-pervading Hindu atmosphere, especially during puja (worship) time at the Govinda Deva Temple, at Amber Fort's Kali TeMple and at Hanuman Temple near Sisodia Rani ka Bagh. For a more intense experience, Vrindaban and the other villages north of Agra are where the young Krishna played. Islam: Islam came to northern India with the succession of invaders pouring down over the Hindu Kush, and was consolidated by the long Mughal rule. Since the area covered by this book includes two Mughal capitals, Delhi and Agra, their legacy of Islamic buildings, religious shrines, cultural traditions and, indeed, numbers of the faithful are disproportionate to other regions of India. Muslim means 'he who has submitted'. The submission is to the will of Allah (God) and is total. The Prophet Muhammad (c 570-632) preached that there was one God and that a believer's sacred duty was to spread the word of Islam (submission to God). The Qur'an, Islam's sacred book which records the Prophet's revelations, says God is the creator of the universe, rewards the faithful and punishes the wicked, can bestow renewed life after death, and all men are equal in life and in death. This last tenet was particularly attractive to India's lower social classes trapped at the bottom of caste ridden Hinduism, hence Islam's initial success. A Muslim has five duties or pillars—belief in the one true God with Muhammad as his Prophet; remembering this by praying humbly five times a day; charitable work; fasting during Ramazan (Ramadan), the month Muhammad received his revelation; and going on haj (pilgrimage) to Mecca (Muhammad's birthplace) at least once in a lifetime. To balance a Muslim's total submission and fatalistic acceptance of God's will, idolatry is an unforgivable sin. Also, a Muslim may not drink wine or eat pork; he may not display pride, arrogance or ostentation; and (which the Mughals often forgot) tomb-building and the veneration of graves was not approved. Sufism, the mystical thread in Islam (followed by many Muslims in India including the Mughal rulers), can assimilate local religious customs such as singing, dancing and a more individual relationship with God. Arising in the tenth century in Sindh, the Saint Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti brought the Chishti order of Sufism to Delhi in 1192, and was buried at Ajmer in Rajasthan. The Muslim atmosphere is best seen around mosques on Friday, the holy day, especially around Old Delhi's Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque), Agra's Jama Masjid, and at three smaller but intensely Muslim places: Nizamuddin, a medieval Sufi village that is the oldest living area of Delhi; Ajmer, an important pilgrimage centre south-west of Jaipur; and Fatehpur Sikri's Jama Masjid where Sheikh Salim Chishti is buried. Christianity: Although Christianity came to South India very early, possibly brought by St Thomas the Apostle, it was first brought to the Mughal court at Agra by the Jesuits in the late sixteenth century. The Agra cantonment was serviced by the fine St George's Cathedral, St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral and an overflowing Roman Catholic Cemetery, all still used by the town's 30,000 faithful. In Delhi, the old cantonment area has the Greek Revival St James's Church, and New Delhi has a clutch of grand churches built for the empire's subjects. Sikhism: Many Sikhs came from the Punjab to settle in Delhi. Most wear their distinctive turbans over their uncut hair—although some have now shorn their locks—and are known for their hard work. They follow a fairly new religion founded by Guru Nanak in the fifteenth century. Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) introduced five symbols or hahhars by which they could recognize each other: hesha (uncut hair), hangha (comb), hachha (shorts), Kara (steel bracelet) and hirpan (sword). Their temples are called gurdwaras and the Sisganj Gurdwara in Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk is usually bustling with activity. Buddhism: There are few Buddhists in this area of India. This more contemplative religion, breaking away from rigid Hinduism dominated by the priests, was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, a prince who received enlightenment late in the sixth century BC at Bodh Gaya in Bihar. As the Buddha (Enlightened One), he preached his first sermon at Sarnath near Varanasi and emphasized dharma (religious teachings), sangha (monasticism) and buddhi (intellectual enlightenment). Bodhisattvas, his close followers, are those who have postponed nirvana (release from the cycle of birth) to "show others the way. Jainism: This has similarities with Buddhism. Developed early in the sixth century BC and for the same reasons, another prince, Mahavira, the 24th and last Tirthankara (saint), rejected his worldly life and went to live as an ascetic and attain the highest spiritual knowledge. He then became a jina (conqueror), and his followers are called Jains. Emphasizing the monastic life, Jains believe the universe was not created but is infinite so they have no god. But they do believe in reincarnation and salvation, found through such deeds as temple building and ahimsa (reverence for life), which demands strict vegetarianism. There are two sects: Digambaras (sky-clad) who possess nothing, not even clothes; and Shvetambaras (white-robed), who are less strict. Jains are concentrated in Gujarat in West India, and go in pilgrimage on foot to their sacred hills. In Delhi, the Jains visit the Digamber Jain Temple and Charity Bird Hospital, at the top of Chandni Chowk, facing the Red Fort in Old Delhi. Zoroastrianism: The tiny but exceptional community of Parsees, as the followers of Zoroastrianism are known, has produced some of India's greatest industrialists and scientists, notably the Tata family. Migrating from Muslim persecution in Persia, they arrived in Gujarat in 745 AD and later came to British Bombay as traders, shipbuilders and bankers. Following their prophet, Zarathustra (golden light), they seek knowledge and illumination through worship, fire and sun and follow the path of Asha—good thoughts, words and deeds. As worshippers of fire, they lay their dead in towers of silence for vultures to avoid polluting fire or earth. To explore Golden triangle tour packages one needs to have a minimum of 4-5 nights , Golden Triangle holiday package can also be combined with Amritsar , Shimla , Varanasi , Goa and many more exotic destinations in India . For customised requirements on this tour contact Swan Tours - one of the leading travel agents in India. The most popular tours promoted by Swan Tours related to Delhi, Jaipur and Agra are as below: Delhi Jaipur and Agra with Fatehpur Sikri Tour, Golden Triangle Travel Package , Golden Triangle with Shimla Tour , Golden Triangle Tour with Mathura Vrindavan, Golden Triangle Tour With Varanasi.
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January 2018
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