User:MarSch/Main page
We are collaborating to create the best and most comprehensive encyclopedia ever and in this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on 6,865,474 articles. This page is also available with simple layout.
Today's featured articlePhoolan Devi (1963–2001) was an Indian dacoit (bandit) who later became a member of parliament (MP). She was a woman of the Mallah subcaste who grew up in poverty in the state of Uttar Pradesh. After marrying aged eleven and being sexually abused, she joined a gang of dacoits who robbed higher-caste villages and held up trains. When she became its leader, she evaded capture by the authorities, making her a heroine for the Other Backward Classes. She was charged in absentia for the 1981 Behmai massacre, in which twenty Thakur men were executed, allegedly on her command. Afterwards, calls to apprehend her were amplified. She surrendered two years later and spent eleven years in Gwalior prison awaiting trial. She was released in 1994 after the charges against her were set aside and she became an MP for the Samajwadi Party. Her global fame had grown after the release of the controversial film Bandit Queen, which she did not approve of. In 2001, she was assassinated outside her home in New Delhi. (Full article...)
Recently featured:
Selected anniversariesAugust 10: Qixi Festival in China (2024)
|
In the news
Did you know...
Today's featured pictureThe chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti) is a bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae, which is distributed in an area ranging from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka across Southeast Asia to Indonesia. It is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) in overall length and weighs 26–33 g (0.92–1.16 oz), with the sexes being similar in appearance. It is a multi-coloured bird, with parts of the bird such as the forehead and nape being chestnut, and other parts being green, yellow, black and blue. It eats predominantly insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. This chestnut-headed bee-eater was photographed in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka.Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
|
Portals
Wikipedia in other languages
This Wikipedia is written in English. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
-
1,000,000+ articles
-
250,000+ articles
-
50,000+ articles
Wikipedia's sister projects
Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
MediaWiki
Wiki software development -
Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikispecies
Directory of species -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus