In ‧ di ‧ a /ˈɪndiə/ BrE AmE
a large country in southern Asia. Population: 1,147,995,898 (2008). Capital: New Delhi. India was ruled by the British from 1757 until 1947, and is now the largest ↑ democracy in the world. The official languages are Hindi and English, and most people belong to the Hindu religion, although there are also large populations of Muslims and Sikhs. Because of the long connection between India and the UK, the two countries have had a great influence on each other's ↑ culture . Many British people are of Indian ↑ origin (=they were born in India or their parents, grandparents etc were born in India) , and Indian food is very popular in the UK. There have also been many well-known books, films, TV programmes etc about the British in India.
⇨ ↑ Gandhi, Mahatma