Religions.—The chief religions are Hinduism (218,000,000 in 1911), Mohammedans (66,000,000), Buddhists (11,000,000), Animists (10,000,000), and Christians (4,000,000).
Government.—India is a dependency of Great Britain, consisting partly of territory under the direct administration of British officials, and partly of native states, all subordinate, in varying degrees of relationship, to British authority.
The nine great provinces are Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, the Punjab, Burma, Eastern Bengal and Assam, the Central Provinces, and the Northwestern Frontier Province.
In accordance with the Royal Titles Act of 1876 the King of Great Britain and Ireland assumes the additional title of Emperor of India. The Parliament of the United Kingdom is supreme over India; but all the statutes relating to India are in the nature of either constitutional enactments or financial provisions.
In India the supreme authority, both executive and legislative, is vested in the governor-general in council. The governor-general, or viceroy, who generally holds office for five years, receives a salary of eighty-five thousand dollars a year, and has power to overrule his council in cases of emergency. The council is composed of six ordinary members, all appointed, like the governor-general himself, by the crown for a period of five years. Since 1909 one of the members has been a native of India.
The work of the council is distributed among the departments of finance, commerce, home and foreign affairs, revenue and agriculture, army, legislation, education, and public works. The foreign department is under the special care of the viceroy.
The seat of the supreme government of India is Delhi, with an annual migration to the hill-station of Simla for the hot season.
Cities.—The capital, Delhi, has a population (1911) of 391,828. The other chief cities are: Calcutta (1,216,514), Bombay (972,930), Madras (517,335), Hyberabad (499,840), Rangoon (293,316), Lucknow (260,621), Lahore (228,318), Ahmedabad (215,448), Benares (204,222). In addition there are twenty cities with populations exceeding 100,000.
Delhi (Del´lee), since 1912 the capital of the Indian Empire is located on the right bank of the Jumna, nine hundred and fifty-four miles northwest of Calcutta. It was the capital of the Afghan or Pathan, and afterwards of the Mogul, empire. It is the terminus of the East Indian and Rajputana railways, the former crossing the Jumna by a fine iron bridge.
Delhi is walled on three sides, has ten gates, and stands on high ground, the famous palace of Shah Jehan, now the fort, looking out over the river and a wide stretch of wooded and cultivated country. To the north, about a mile distant, rises the historic “ridge,” crowned with memorials of the Indian mutiny, and commanding a fine view of the city, the domes and minarets of which overtop the encircling groves.