India is a country that is full of interesting and old people, many of whom have survived longer than a century! In this article, we’re going to look more closely at some of the oldest people in India, where they are from, and for how many years they have lived.
Let’s dive right in and take a closer look.
5 Oldest People in India
5. Swami Shivananda
Date of birth: 8 August 1896 (allegedly)
Death date: Still Alive
Age: 128 (allegedly)
Swami Sivananda is another one of the oldest people in India. Although he claims to have been alive since 1896, this has definitely not been verified. One of the most interesting things about Sivananda is that he is an avid practitioner of yoga. He has believed for several years now that doing yoga is what has helped him lead such a long and healthy life.
For the past thirty years, Sivananada has taught yoga in Varanasi along the banks of the Ganges river. He has also helped serve the poor for the past 50 years, and has arranged for them to receive things like food, water, clothing, winter clothing, blankets, and much more.
Did you know?
Swami Sivananda eats a healthy vegetarian diet that consists mainly of rice and lentils.
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4. Habib Miyan
Date of birth: 1870 (allegedly)
Death date: 19 August 2008
Age: 138 (allegedly)
Habib Miyan was one of the oldest people in India who claimed to have lived to the age of 138! It’s important to note that this fact is most likely not true at all, but since Habib Miyan did not have the documents to back up his claims, we don’t know if this fact is true at all. However, we do know that he was born in Rajgarh, which was located in the Alwar State, in what was called British India at the time.
According to his pension book, Habib Miyan’s birth year was shown to be 1878, though he claimed to have been born eight years prior to this.
Did you know?
Habib Miyan’s claims of being 138 have been disputed by the Guinness World Book of Records.
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3. Lourdina Conceicao Lobo
Age: 112
Date of birth: 8 December 1908
Death date: 3 November 2021
Lourdina Conceicao Lobo was also one of the oldest living people in India until she passed away in 2021. She was the oldest of nine children, and she was born in 1908 in Salvador do Mundo in Socorro, which is located in Goa. At the time, the area that she was born in was a Portuguese colony!
Some years later, she married a Goan man named Jose Maria Lobo, and they had four kids together. A few years after all her children were born, the family moved to Bombay, though they later moved back to Goa.
One of the most fascinating things about Lourdina is that she was independent until she was in her 90s, but was later forced to use a wheelchair after developing gangrene at the age of 102.
Her toes were amputated, and although her doctors recommended that she amputate her leg as well, she refused. She was also heavily diabetic, but did not let her diagnosis impact her life at all! Lourdina was a fluent Portuguese speaker, and even read the newspaper in Portuguese every day.
Did you know?
Lourdina was a devout Catholic.
2. Fauja Singh
Age: 117
Date of birth: 4 March 1907
Location: Location: San Francisco, California
Fauja Singh was most likely born in Beas Pind, Jalandhar, Punjab, which was, at the time, located in British India, and today is located in present-day India. However, it is difficult to verify his place of birth, because the Indian government has stated that there were no physical records kept at the time for these kinds of verification purposes.
One of the most interesting things about Fauja Singh is the fact that he is still quite an avid runner. He has stated that when he was a child, his legs were weak and extremely thin, which made it hard for him to walk, let alone run. However, as he got older, he began to run. He gave up running for a time in his young adulthood, but later resumed it after the death of his son.
Did you know?
Fauja Singh ran the London Marathon when he was when was 89 years old!
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1. Lucy d’Abreu
Age: 113
Date of birth: 24 May 1892
Death date: 7 December 2005
Lucy d’Abreu was one of the oldest Indian people for several years! Although she spent her last few years in the United Kingdom, she was born in and belonged to an Indian family. She was born in Dharwar, which at the time belonged to the British Raj, and today is a part of India. Her parents were both Mangalorean Catholics, and their names were Marceline Saldanha and Joseph d’Souza. It’s interesting to note that Lucy’s middle name was Victoria; she was named after the reigning queen at that time.
When she was an adult, Lucy married a man named Abundius Joseph d’Abreu, who was a surgeon. They ended up having eight children together, though two of their children died when they were quite young. Her husband later died in 1971. A few years after that, Lucy moved to Scotland, where one of her children was based.
Did you know?
Lucy d’Abreu has held the record for being the only Indian to have lived the longest. Her age was validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).
Conclusion
In this article, we took a closer look at some of the oldest living persons in India. If you haven’t learned this by now already, the people that we wrote about in this article have certainly led colorful and extremely interesting lives! We were particularly fascinated to learn that many of these old people remained independent throughout their lies, and we found this extremely inspiring as well. We hope that you enjoyed reading this article, and that you learned something new from it today.
