While it is common knowledge that India is a populous country (it is the second most populous country, only China has a larger population) the scale of it might be difficult to imagine. To put things into perspective, just imagine that the number of people who travel by rail in India every day is equal to the population of Australia. The Indian subcontinent was home to the Indus Valley Civilisation of the bronze age. In India’s iron age, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism were composed, social stratification based on caste emerged, and Buddhism and Jainism arose.
