Stare at the underbelly of Asia and behold the Indian behemoth: 950 million people—one-sixth of the world's population—who live in a country one-third the size of the U.S., who speak more than a thousand languages and dialects, and who support more than 20 political parties in the world's biggest and perhaps boldest experiment in democracy.

Memories of maharajas past loom large in Jodhpur, where, on its outskirts, green chilies spice dinner.

—From "India: Fifty Years of Independence," May 1997, National Geographic magazine