UNITY IN DIVERSITY

The Diversity
India is the seventh largest and the second most populous nation of the world occupying 2.4 per
cent of the total world area. It contains about 15.0 per cent of the worlds population living in a
variety of social, economic, geographical and ecological conditions. It has a long history
spanning over five thousand years of human habitation 3,000 years before Christ and 2,000
years after Christ. It has a cultural heritage handed down by the immigrant Aryans from across
the Himalayas, the native Dravidians, and the invading civilizations. Its social, economic and
cultural diversities are also reflected in habitat conditions in rural, urban and semi-urban areas.
Its total urban population of 217.18 million (1991 census) or even the total population of four
metropolis (Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta) exceeds the total population of most of the
developing nations. There are settlements with just 1,000 people and also settlements with 10
million people.
The Nature of Diversities
The diversity runs through various races, religions, castes, tribes, languages, social customs,
cultural and sub-cultural beliefs, political philosophies, and ideologies. Broadly speaking, the
diversities are found in the following areas:
Languages
Though the Constitution of India has recognized eighteen major languages (including three
languages recognized in August, 1992) but as many as 1,652 languages and dialects are spoken
in our country. Broadly, these languages belong to three families of languages: Indo Aryan,
Dravidian, and European. The Indo Aryan languages include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati,
Oriya, Punjabi, Bihari, Rajasthani, Assamese, Sanskrit, Sindhi and Kashmiri languages covering
about three fourths of Indias population. The Dravidian languages include Tamil, Telugu,
Malayalam and Kannada. The European languages include English, Portuguese, and French. The
last two languages are mostly spoken by people in Goa and Pondicherry.

Hindi is the official language of India and English is an associate language. According to 1991
figures, Hindi is spoken by the highest number of people (247.85 million), followed by Telugu
(72.08 million), Bengali (71.78 million), Marathi (67.26 million), Tamil (60.60 million), Urdu
(46.11 million), Gujarati (41.37 million), Malayalam (35.32 million), Kannada (34.78 million),
Oriya (31.79 million), Bhojpuri (23.11 million) and Punjabi (22.41 million). the rest of the
languages are spoken by one million to twenty million each. Some states were even created after
independence on the language basis, e.g., Punjab was divided in Punjab and Haryana, and
Maharashtra was divided in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Some stats like Mizoram and Nagaland
were created on cultural basis.
Religions
Though India has no state religion, yet the state guarantees the freedom of following and
practicing all religious faiths. Among the major religions are: Hinduism (practiced, according to
1991 census figures, by 697.4 million people including scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,
or 82.6 per cent of the countrys total population), Islam (practiced by 95.8 million people or
11.35 per cent of the countrys population), Christianity (practiced by 20.5 million people 2.43
per cent of the total population), Sikhism (practiced by 16.5 million people or 1.96 per cent of
the total population), Buddism (practiced by 5.9 million people on 0.71 per cent of the total
population), Jainism (practiced by 4.1 million people or 0.48 per cent of the total population) and
others (practiced by 3.5 million people or 0.3 per cent of the total population).
Hinduism advocates the doctrines of Karma (doing ones duties), dharma, rebirth man takes
84,000 births, depending upon good and bad deeds of his life), immortality of soul (soul never
dies), renunciation, and moksha (freedom from the cycle of births and deaths).
Islam came to India along with the Muslim invasions. It is strictly a monotheistic religion which
professes the fatalistic acceptance of Allahs (Gods) will. It does not believe in idol worship. It
considers Prophet Mohammed as the greatest prophet and the Quran as the most sacred book. It
prescribes five duties as the primary duties of a devout Muslim: belief in Allah, prayers five
times a day, the giving of alms, a months fast every year, and a pilgrimage to Mecca at least
once in a life time.

Sikhism emerged in the fifteen century. Its founder Guru Nanak and the later nine Gurus who
followed him preached against the hypocrisy in religion. The religious symbols of Sikhism are
five Ks: kesh (hair), kangha (comb), kara (bracelet), kirpan (sword), and Kachha (shorts).
Christianity came to India through Portuguese occupation of Goal, Daman and Diu in the
sixteenth century and later on through the Britishers in the seventeenth century.
Castes
The castes are hereditary endogamous groups with fixed traditional occupations, observing
commensal prohibitions and social restrictions on interaction. It is believed that there are about
3,000 castes in the country. These castes are grouped as upper castes (like Brahmins, Rajputs,
Baniyas, Kayasthas, etc.) intermediate castes (like Ahir, Sunar, Kurmi, etc.), and lower castes
(like Dhobi, Nai, etc.) There are also untouchable castes (like Chuhra, Bhangi, Raigar, etc.). the
castes are linked with the four varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisya and Sudra) for determining
the status in ritual hierarchy.
Tribes
Tribe is a community occupying a common geographic area and having a similar language and
culture. The total tribal population in India is 52.03 million (1991 census), which comes to 7.8
per cent of the countrys total population. The important tribes are: Santhals, Bhils, Meenas,
Gonds, Mundas, Nagas, Khasis, Oraons, Garos, and Hos. About two thirds of the total tribal
population of the country is found in the five states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat
and Maharashtra. There are three states (Rajasthan, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh) were
tribes with more than 20 lakh population are found. There are five states and union territories
where tribes constitute 70 to 95 per cent of the total population of the state / territory. These are
Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
Races / Ethnicity
Indian population is polygenetic and is a mixture of various races. According to B. S. Guha,
Indian population is derived from six ethnic groups: Negritos, Proto Australoids, Mongoloids,
Mediterraneans or Dravidians, Brachycephals and Nordic Aryans.

The Brach cephalic (broad headed) Negroids from Africa are the oldest people to have come to
India, who are now found among the hill tribes of South India and Andaman Islands where they
have retained their language. In terms of numbers, they are no inconsequential. Proto
Australoids or Austics, who are people with medium height, dark complexion, long head, low
forehead, thick jaws, small chin and flat nose, are spread over whole of India, particularly
Eastern, Central and Southern India, from where they went to Burma, Malaya, etc. These people
in fact led the foundation of Indian civilization and settled cultivation producing rice, sugar
(from sugarcanes) and vegetables. Their language has survived in the Kol and Munda speech (in
East and Central India). Dravidians or Mediterranean includes three sub-types: true
Mediterranean, Paleo Mediterranean and Oriental Mediterranean. They are reputed to have
built up the city civilization of the Indus Valley, whose remains have been found at MohenjoDaro and Harappa. The Dravidians must have spread to whole of India. Mongoloids are people
with medium height, high cheekbones, sparse hair, oblique height and yellow complexion and
are confined to the north eastern fringes of India in Assam, Nagaland and Mizo hills. Nordic
Aryans came from Central Asia between 2,000 and 1,500 B. C. and settled in northern and
western Punjab from where they spread to the valley of Ganga and beyond. These Aryans, a
pastoral race, encountered the highly civilized Indus Valley people who lived in big towns in
brick structured houses.
Negritos intermingled with the incoming Aryans and gradually adopted some of their cultural
traits.
The Unity
Running through various diversities is the thread of basic unity which makes Indian society a big
society and the nation as a big nation. M. N. Srinivas (1985:105) IS OF THE OPINION THAT
THE UNITY OF India is essentially a religious one. People may worship different deities but the
religious scriptures Puranas, Brahmanas, Epics and the Vedas knit the numerous
heterogeneous groups together into one religious society and give them the sense that their
country is sacred. The worshippers may visit different centers of pilgrimage but all have a
common goal of earning religious merit by visiting a sacred place. People of different

language backgrounds and customs and regions are found in one place of pilgrimage and one
shrine with one common object of achieving moksha.
India fought for political freedom as one unified entity. After independence, it faced an attack of
China and three attacks of Pakistan as one nation. Our economic, social and political
philosophies are broadly based on equality, justice, liberty, rationality and secularism. Our laws
apply to all people without any discrimination. The Constitution provides guarantee to all people
alike. The planning aims at the uplift of all types of weaker sections. The common customs and
consensus in social values have preserved our traditional culture. The unity among Hindus is also
found in commonly following the prohibitions of the caste system and so forth.
Similarly, people may say that they live in a particular region, but the idea of region is
contextual. Within one region, there are smaller and more homogenous areas which differ from
each other in many ways. A linguistic area thus possesses a
Vertical unity which is common to all castes living there (from Brahmins to the untouchables),
while caste represented a horizontal unity which cuts across a linguistic area. A Brahmin in one
state say, Uttar Pradesh, may not share values with a local dalit (Bhangi, Pasi, etc.) but he shares
some cultural values with Brahmins everywhere in India, from north to south and east to west.
Also, people may speak different languages in different regions but they have common
languages of English and Hindi to communicate with each other. Hindi has made good progress
in the non-Hindi areas and it has come to be accepted as the medium of communication for
people in different states. Earlier, English played this role as medium of communication for
intellectuals from all parts of India, though it created a barrier between the learned people and
the ordinary folk. The concept of a linguistic state and using regional languages as medium of
teaching in schools, colleges and universities are the product of independence. But it is doubtful
that language differences will create chaos in the society.
The caste system also has provided a common cultural ideology to Indians. Though it is true that
caste has created inter caste conflicts and has also created a major social problem of
untouchability and has brought a rift between the higher and the untouchable castes, but it is also
true that the jajmani system till recently had succeeded in maintaining harmony and co-operation
among various castes in the rural areas. A significant change has taken place in the power

relations of different castes in the last few decades. The economic forces and the political and
social changes in the last fortysix years have vastly increased the power of the numerically
large castes. The leaders of these castes are aware of the strategic position they occupy in the
struggle for political power at the local, regional and central levels. It is these castes which take
up big issues like uplift of position of weaker sections, untouchability issue, land reforms issue,
and so forth. This caste unity, to some extent, becomes crucial in taking up regional and national
issues and thus indirectly contributes to the process of nations development. Thus, religions,
caste and language may create some problems in the society yet the idea of the unity of India has
its origin in these three areas. These bind people together closely at different levels. Though it is
not being claimed that these three factors will be critically important in integrating the
inhabitants of India, but it is being suggested that in the course of time people will come to
appreciate the idea that members of every religion, caste and linguistic group are equal as
citizens. This would generate tolerance and promote secularism as a value.
The divisions in the country may be dysfunctional but their values may not necessarily be
inconsistent with being a citizen of India. The disappearance of loyalties to these divisions may
not be feasible but they need not be perceived and denounced as anti national. If an individual
thinks that he belongs to certain caste, village, regions and religion, he also thinks that he is an
Indian and as a citizen, he has certain responsibilities and duties to perform. Such feelings alone
maintain unity at a higher level among the individuals and keep the society integrated. Such a
concept of unit need not make people afraid of diversities in the society.