religion

Dams are sometimes referred to as the temples of modern India. This epithet stems from a speech delivered by Nehru during the opening ceremony of the Bhakra Dam where he said, "This dam has been built with the unrelenting toil of man for the benefit of mankind and therefore is worthy of worship. May you call it a Temple or a Gurdwara or a Mosque, it inspires our admiration and reverence".

Rabindranath Tagore's family name was actually Banerjee. Being Brahmins, the Tagore family's ancestors were referred to as 'Thakurmashai' or 'Holy Sir'. During the British rule, this name stuck and they began to be recognised as Thakur and eventually the family name got anglicised to Tagore.

In 1984, Indira Gandhi was not allowed to enter the temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri because she had married a Parsi, Feroze Gandhi.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a lapsed Hindu, who never entered a temple in adult life.

The 1998 series of Indonesian 20000 rupiah notes contain an image of Ganesha on the left along with that of former president, Sukarno.

The Baba in The Who's Baba O'Riley comes from Meher Baba, an Indian mystic whose followers included guitarist, Pete Townshend.

Adam Lanza, the man who murdered 20 children and 7 adults in Sandy Hook, Newton, Connecticut, lived at 36, Yogananda Street.