India Conducts First Nuclear Test — 'Smiling Buddha'

India detonated its first nuclear device, codenamed 'Smiling Buddha,' at Pokhran, Rajasthan on May 18, 1974. The official designation was a 'peaceful nuclear explosion.' The test alarmed Pakistan and accelerated Islamabad's own nuclear weapons program. Pakistani PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto vowed to build a nuclear bomb even if Pakistanis had to 'eat grass.'