Chapter 1: Introduction
Introduction: India is a plural society. It is rightly characterized by its unity and diversity. A
grand synthesis of cultures, religions and languages of the people belonging to different
castes and communities has upheld its unity and cohesiveness. In spite of several foreign
invasions, Mughal rule and the British rule, national unity and integrity have been
maintained. It is this synthesis which has made India a unique mosaic of cultures. India
fought against the British Raj as one unified entity. Foreign invasions, immigration from
other parts of the world, and the existence of diverse languages, cultures and religions have
made India’s culture tolerant, on the one hand, and a unique continuing and living culture,
with its specificity and historicity, on the other. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam,
Sikhism and Christianity are the major religions. There is diversity not only in regard to racial
compositions, religious and linguistic distinction but also in patterns of living, life styles, land
tenure systems, occupational pursuits, inheritance and succession law, and practices and rites
related to birth, marriage death etc. Post-Independent India is a nation united against several
odds and obstacles. The idea of unity of India is inherent in all its historical and socio-cultural
facts as well as in its cultural heritage. India is a secular state. It has one Constitution
providing guarantees for people belonging to diverse regions, religions, cultures and
languages. It covers people belonging to all socioeconomic strata. There are several
developmental schemes are geared to the upliftment of the poor and weaker sections of
society.
Features of Diversity in India:
The sources of diversity in India may be traced through a variety of ways, the most obvious
being the ethnic origins, religious, castes, tribes, languages, social customs, cultural and
subcultural beliefs, political philosophies and ideologies, geographical variations etc.
1. Racial Diversity: According to A.W.Green, “A race is a large biological human grouping
with a number of distinctive, inherited characteristics which vary within a certain range.”
Riseley’s Racial Classification: Sir Herbert Risely classified Indian population into seven
racial types. These seven racial types can, however be reduced to three basic races namely
(1) The Dravidian
(2) The Mongolian and
(3) Indo-Aryan.
1. The Turko Iranian: People having this strain in their blood are mainly found in
Beluchisthan and Afghanisthan, which are now outside the political borders of India.
2. The Indo-Aryan: This strain is mainly found in East Punjab, Rajasthan and Kashmir,
especially among the people belonging to the castes of Rajput, Khatri and Jat.
3. The Scytho-Dravidian: It is a mixed racial type of Scythians and Dravidians. People
having this racial ancestry are said to be found in Saurashtra, Coorg and hilly tracts of
Madhya Pradesh.
4. The Aryan-Dravidian: It is a mixture of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian races. They are mainly
found in U.P and Bihar. While the Aryan element is more pronounced among the Brahmins
and other higher caste people, The Dravidian element is more prominent among the Harijans
and other lower caste people of this region.
5. The Mongolo Dravidian: This racial type formed lout of the intermixture of Dravidian and
Mongolian Races, is believed to be Brahmins and the Kayasthas of Bengal and Odisha.
6. The Mongoloid: This racial element is mainly found among the tribal people of NorthEast
Frontier and Assam.
7. The Dravidian: The people of South India and Madhya Pradesh are claimed to be of this
stock. Risley has not referred to the presence of Negrito element in Indian population.
A.C.Haddon, having disagreed with the classification of Risley, has given his own
classification of races in India.
According to him the principal races in India are:
(1) The PreDravidian
(2) The Dravidian
(3) The Indo- Aryan
(4) The Indo-Alpine
(5) The Mongolian.
He believes that “the Dravidians may have been the original inhabitants of the valley of the
Ganges in Western Bengal and later on they settled mainly in Nagpur.”
Religious Diversity: India is a land where almost all major religions of the world are found.
Here we find Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Zorostrianism and
Animism. All of these main religions have a number of sects of their own. In India, religious
affiliations appear to be over-emphasised. As such, people in India sometimes, seem to be
more loyal to their respective religions than to their nation. This religious diversity has been a
factor and a source of disunity and disharmony in the country. As is well known, these
religious differences were responsible for the development of the two-nation theory and the
consequent partition of the country in 1947. But the partition has neither solved the Muslim
minority problem nor it has created a homogeneous population in India from a religious point
of view.
1. Hinduism: It is an amalgamation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Pre-Dravidian religious
elements. It is the religion of the majority of the people of India. The followers of 8 Hinduism
believe in the doctrine of ‘Karma’, ‘Dharma’, rebirth, immortality of soul, renunciation and
salvation. Hinduism allows a number of possible conceptions of God. It also prescribes
various alternative paths of attaining God. The Sakta, the Shaiva, the Satnami, the Lingayat,
the Kabirpanthi, the Bramho Samaj, the Arya Samaj etc. are different sects of Hinduism.
According to 1991 census, 697.4 million people (82.6%) in India practice Hinduism and
provide a solid base for national unity through common beliefs,festivals, customs and
traditions.
2. Islam: Islam the religion of the Muslims, originated in Arebia. It came to India towards the
last quarter of the 12th century A.D, with the Muslim invasions. The Muslim rulers in India
patronized it. They established long dynasties over large chunks of the country and
encouraged conversions from Hinduism and Buddhism. Islam does not believe in idol
worship. It professes the fatalistic acceptance of Allah’s will and considers Prophet
Mohammed as the greatest prophet. The ‘Quran’, sacred book of Islam, ordains five primary
duties of a true and devout Muslim, such as belief in God (Allah), prayers five times a day,
the giving of alms, a month’s fast every year and a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in the
life time of a Muslim.
3. Christianity: Christians in India constitute more than 2% of its population. They are very
widely scattered all over the country, but they are mainly concentrated in the south and
especially in Kerala where they form nearly 25% of the state’s population. In the North,
Christianity has spread rather sporadically and its influence is mainly confined to certain
sections of the tribal population and the depressed castes. There are mainly three sects in
Christianity. They are (a) Roman-Syrians (b) Roman Catholics and (c) Protestants.
4. Sikhism: It was founded by Guru Nanak in the 16th century A.D. The Sikhs were
originally a part of the Vaishnava sect before they converted to it. Sikhism was later
developed by a line of Sikh Gurus, who succeeded Guru Nanak. According to Rose “ The
Sikh creed involves belief in one God, condemning the worship of other deity; it prohibits
idolatry, pilgrimage to the great shrines of Hinduism, faith in omens, charms or witchcraft;
and does not recognize ceremonial impurity at birth and death. As a social system, it
abolishes caste distinctions and as a necessary consequence, the Brahminical supremacy and
usages in all ceremonies, at birth, marriage, death and so on.” The Sikhs are ideologically
nearer to the Hindus than to the Muslims. They as a group can easily be identified by anyone,
because of the five “K”s they always wear. The 5 “K” s are Kesh (uncut long hair),
Kanga(wooden comb) Kaccha (shorts), Kara (iron bangle in the hand and Kirpan (short
sword). Sikh population in India is around 2% which is mainly concentrated in the Punjab
and at the adjoining states.
5. Buddhism: It originated in India during the 6th century B.C. Its founder was Gautama the
Buddha. Buddhism enjoyed royal patronage for a long period beginning from the Great
emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century B.C. As a result, Buddhism spread not only in India but
also in countries outside India. It has two sects, namely the Hinayana and the 9 Mahayana. At
present Buddhists are found in Sikkim and the adjoining hills, they are also found in
Maharashtra as a result of the recent conversions under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar.
However the number of the Buddhists in India is very meager and it represents only less than
1% of the total population.
6. Jainism: Lord Mahavir established Jainism in India in the 6th century B.C. It is very close
to Hinduism. Many of the Hindu doctrines are retained in it. Jains like the Hindus, venerate
and worship the cows, they often worship in the Hindu temples and also employ the services
of the Brahmin priest in their domestic rites. They are even more scrupulous than the Hindus
in maintaining caste distinctions. But it differs from Hinduism in its heretical views regarding
the sanctity of the Vedas and in its strict insistence on the principle of Ahimsa. Jains
represent only a small portion of the Indian population. They comprise about 0.45% of our
population. Jains are divided into 3 sects: namely (a) The Digambaras, (b) The Sevetambaras
and (c) The Dhundias. Jains are mainly urban people and are found in the town and cities of
Punjab, U.P, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
7. Zoroastrianism or Parsi: The Parsis or the followers of Zoroaster of Zorathushtra came to
India in the 7th century A.D. from Persia in order to escape the forcible conversions to Islam.
They worship fire. The expose their dead on the so-called “towers of Silence” to be eaten up
by vultures so that the elements- earth, fire and water-are not defiled by the contact of the
dead matter. Their number in India is negligible. They are about one lakh in total half of
which live in the city of Bombay alone. As such they are mainly urban. They are the most
literate and are on the top of the economic ladder of India.
8. Animism: It is mainly a tribal faith. In India there are about 25 million people who believe
in Animism. It is a primitive religion, according to which man is believed to be surrounded
by a number of impersonal ghostly powers. These powers are said to reside in rocks, rivers,
trees, stones etc. The above discussion makes it amply clear that India is a land of numerous
religions. It is in view of this religious diversity that independent India has declared
secularism as one of the main principles of its State Policy. Today India strives to integrate its
people into a great nation on secular lines. But in spite of the secular policy followed by the
state, there have been occasional communal riots in India causing much loss of life and
property. It is to be seen how far we will be able to cultivate the ideal of secularism in the
minds of our people who are mainly religious minded.
3. Linguistic Diversity: India is called a ‘veritable tower of Babel’ and according to A. R.
Desai, “India presents a spectacle of Museum of tongues.” The 1971 census reports the
presence of 1652 languages in India. Most of the languages are spoken in the North India.
This multiplicity of languages creates new social cleavages in the already divided population
of India by caste and creed and renders the task of inter-communication in the country
difficult, if not impossible. 10 Indian languages can, however, be grouped into four different
speech families such as:(1) the Indo-Aryan,
(2) the Dravidian,
(3) the Austric
(4) the Sino-Tibetan
Hindi, Urdhu, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarathi, Marathi and Kashmiri belong to
the Indo-Aryan speech family. The Dravidian linguistic group includes four southern
languages namely, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. The tribes of central India speak
Austric languages and the tribes of the North Eastern India speak the Sino-Tibetan languages.
At the time of Independence from the British rule in 1947, there were many princely states.
The Constitution of India was adopted on 20th November 1949 and came into effect on 26th
January 1950, which defined the Union of India comprising of different states and Union
territories. In 1950, the states were recognized on linguistic basis. As a result, the domiciles
of a particular state speak a particular language. Though the Constitution of India has
recognized 22 major languages, as many as 1652 languages spoken in our country. Broadly
these languages belong to three families of languages such as Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and
European. Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujurati, Odia, Punjabi, Bihari, Rajasthani, Assamese,
Sanskrit, Sindhi and Kashmiri are included in the Indo-Aryan family. The Dravidian
language includes Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. English, Portuguese and French
are included in the European language family. Portuguese and French are mostly spoken by
people in Goa and Pondicherry respectively. Hindi has been accepted as the official language
in India, English remains an associate language. of the languages are spoken by people within
the range of one million to twenty million. Thus Linguistic diversity has posed a major threat
to the unity and existence of our country.
Factors Contributing to the Unity of India:
India is a vast country inhabited by people of diverse, religions, languages and customs. But,
behind all this apparent diversity, there is a fundamental unity which often eludes the eye of
an observer, who is more concerned with the external aspects only. It is these superficial
observers, who often mistakenly take the view that India, in the past, did not have cultural
unity and that whatever unity we find in India today is the product of the British rule. But, the
fact is that the ideal of unity is not something new to India. The concept of one unified India
has always been the fascinating idea of many a great thinker of this land. The idea is not
imaginary either. Indian unity is the product of certain objective factors that are present in the
various fields of Indian social life.
1. Geographical unity: India, though very large in size, possesses geographical unity with
natural boundaries. It is surrounded on one side by the great Himalayas and on the other sides
by the high seas. These natural boundaries give the land geographical unity. The term ‘Bharat
Varsha’ i.e, India has always referred to this vast expanse of, the land expanding from the
Himalayas in the North to the Cape Comorin in the south and from the Brahmaputra in the
East to the Indus in the West. Religious thinkers, political philosophers, poets, statesmen and
kings have always conceived Bharat Varsha in this sense. Even today, Mother India means
this vast expanse of land.
2. Religious Unity: India is a land of many religions. Even Hinduism is not a monolithic
religion. Even Hinduism is not a monolithic religion. There are a number of sects in it. But, in
spite of all this religious diversity, as Prof. Srinivas puts it, “the concept of unity of India is
essentially a religious one”. Hinduism, being the religion of the majority of the people of
India, provides a basis for unity. It is true that there are a number of sects in Hinduism. But
all of them have something in common when they preach, with slight variations, the same
beliefs like immortality of the soul, transmigration of the soul, rebirth, the law of Karma,
Dharma, Moksha etc. Even Buddhism and Jainism are not very much different from
Hinduism in so far as these beliefs are concerned. Although Hinduism admits a number of
possible conceptions of God and also a variety of ways to attain union with God, it,
nevertheless, stresses the idea of unity when it declares, “there is one, they call by many
names”. The same myths, legends and deities are shared by all the Hindus in spite of their
sectarian differences. Epics like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata are read
as devotionally in the south as in the North. All the Hindus, despite their differences in
language, caste and customs, show equal respect to the Hindu Scriptures like the Vedas,
Upanishads, the Gita and the Puranas. Religious Unity of the country is expresses through the
existence of pilgrimage centres spread all over the country. Pilgrimage centres of great
religious value such as Badrinath in the north, Rameswaram in the south, Dwarika in the west
and Puri in the east eloquently speak the religious unity of this vast land of Bharatvarsha.
There are mountains like the Himalayas and the rivers like the Ganges, Yamuna and
Godavari which are sacred for every Hindu. These centres of religious merit, the temples, the
mountains and rivers spread all over the country make every Hindu feel that every inch of the
land is sacred. That is why, devout Hindus, even in Pre-British days, when means of
transportation were little developed. To these pilgrims language barriers, political boundaries
and differences in customs and usages were not great obstacles on their way to earn religious
merit.
3. Cultural Unity: Indian possesses cultural unity which runs through every aspect of Indian
Social life. The fundamental approaches to philosophy, art, literature and the traditions and
customs are typically Indian in character. Social institutions like caste and the joint family
which are found throughout the length and breadth of the country are typically Indian. Thus,
for instance, the social institution of caste provides a common cultural idiom to all Indians.
The institution is so pervasive that it cuts across even religious boundaries. Every Indian,
whether he is a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh, a Jain, a Buddhist or a Christian finds himself in a
universe of caste. Similar is the case with joint family. Then there are the same rituals,
samskaras and festivals which are observed all over the country very much in a similar
fashion.
4. Political Unity : The ideal of bringing the whole country under one central authority has
always been a pre-occupation with great kings and statesmen in India. The concept of
‘Chakravarti’ clearly refers to this idea of political unification of India under one authority.
Many kings in the past have been fired by the ambition of achieving the title of Universal
Overlord or ‘Chakravarti’, waged wars and established hegemony over the entire land. Later
kings like Chandra Gupta Maurya, Ashoka, Samudra Gupta and others also achieved this
distinction of being the universal overlord. The Indian nationalist movement too has fuelled a
sense of unity in building the nation as one.
Threats and Challenges to India’s Unity in Diversity:
1. Regionalism: Regionalism is the expression of a common sense of identity and
purpose by people within a specific geographical region, united y its unique
language, culture, etc.
2. In a positive sense, it encourages people to develop a sense of brotherhood and
oneness which seeks to protect the interests of a particular region and promotes the
welfare and development of the state and its people.
3. It implies excessive attachment to one’s region which is a great threat to the unity
and integrity of the country. The history of regional movements in India can be
traced back to the 1940’s Dravida Movement or the Non-Brahmin Movement that
started in the present day Tamil Nadu. This led to the demand of a separate and
independent Tamil state. This led to the several other parties like the Telugu Desam
Party(TDP) springing up in the Andhra region, with the demands of separate
statehood. In 1954, the revolt for separate state of Andhra for Telugu – speaking
people spearhead by Potti Sri Ramulu and his eventual death triggered the wave of
political regionalism in India with many princely states and other states making a
demand for a separate state. In principle, regionalism need not be regarded as an
unhealthy or anti-national phenomenon, unless it takes a militant, aggressive turn to
encourage the growth of secessionist tendencies.
Communalism: It is the biggest challenge to national integration and democracy.
Threat of communal hatred has shaken the very unity and integrity of our nation.
Religious fundamentalism and communal fanaticism have raised their ugly heads
which vitiate the atmosphere of peace and tranquillity of the nation. The ugliest
manifestation of this trend is the occurrence of communal riots with a disconcerting
frequency in some parts of the country. In this scenario, peace becomes a mirage for
the people who suffer the most. Misinterpretation of religion by fundamentalists is
said to be the chief reason of spreading the fire of communalism.
Casteism: It is the basis of division of our society. Caste is one of the most rigid
social institutions found in Indian society. Caste loyalties are looming large. Caste
based reservation has become one most demanded Constitutional provision. Caste
associations and organizations further compartmentalize the society. Politicization
of caste has fuelling the issue of caste-based differences.
Terrorism poses a great threat to national unity and integration. The main objective
of terrorism is to create a climate of extreme fear and thus, it undermines the
confidence of people in the political system and the government. Violence is a
means to achieve the goal of destabilizing the nation by instilling fear in the minds
of people. The reasons for the growth of terrorism are historical, political,
economical and religious.
