The Heterogeneity Of India

“I am well aware, that I speak of a country containing congeries of races, religions and languages, and I know well the difficulties thereby created but these difficulties can only be overcome by the Indians. We are mindful of the rights of the minority. On the other hand, we cannot allow a minority to place a veto on the advance of majority”

As a first generation Indian-American, I am no stranger to being a part of a distinct community while observing two unique cultures. Traveling to India exposed me to a dynamic population with rich diversity comprising of numerous languages and differing religions. Though these individuals may have had differing customs from their neighbors, there were similar ambitions to conquer grinding poverty. This poverty can be clearly noticed by seeing citizens sleeping on floors of a railway station, or the lack of air conditioning in searing hot weather. The frailty and mortality of the human condition was starkly visible in India. As a fellow human, I was humbled not only by the lack of privilege and opportunity of many citizens, but also by their

To others, Religion is one condition among so many other countries, but to the Indian people it is one great sustaining force, pertaining to all the spheres of their lives. Mahatma Gandhi who was born and brought up in India could not escape this strong influence of religion in all his activities.

q. This shows that Nationalism still plays a large role in keeping India together, regardless of their diverse religious identities. Secularism

The modern India demonstrates unity in diversity in which history can provide no parallel, (India Culture, 2009).

Since the beginning of civilization many religions and cultures have come and gone. One of the few that has stood the test of time is Hinduism. Hinduisms base flourishes from the practical view of human life, belief in eternal truth and it’s ability to make small adaptations to it without compromising its core values. Hinduism is the oldest known religion in the world and also the third largest in the world. Most of its one billion followers live in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Even with its immense amount of followers and lengthy existence, many non followers are unaware of its history, beliefs, and practices.

In Chapter ten the history of Hinduism is discussed in America and India. Instead of illustrating the religious doctrines of Hinduism. The author lists statistics about the livelihoods of Asian Indians. For example, there are eighteen different official languages in India. As the author emphasizes that doctrines have nothing to do with Hinduism, but the actions that individuals commit. The orthodoxy is a set of responsibilities that Hindus must carry out. If they wish to be reincarnated into a higher caste. In addition, the origin of Hinduism is mentioned within the chapter. That Hinduism is the only major religion that does not have a founder and has no beginning as there is not a specific known date of when it originated. Moreover, Hinduism is the oldest major religion and is the only polytheistic faith among the five popular creeds.

Indians many times have been associated with funny accents, believers of caste system, culture that is full of colors and very smart people in math and technology. Indians make up less than 1% of the population of America and yet they are the CEO’s of “PepsiCo and MasterCard” and are presidents and deans of America’s most prestigious colleges and hold high positions in journalism such as Sanjay Gupta and neurosurgeon and media reporter for CNN here in Atlanta and Fareed Zakaria a journalist and author. “They are also dominating fields such as technology, scientific research and medicine; and thriving in industries such as hospitality, transportation and real estate. They have also achieved extraordinary success in government: the governors of two of America’s most conservative states are of Indian origin, as are White House senior

The United States has become a large melting pot of religions and this diversity only continues to grow. Two major world religions worth discussing are Hinduism and Judaism; from their distinctive points to the similarities, it is better to learn about them than to ignore them as they have made an influence in America. Hinduism and Judaism are two of the oldest and largely followed world religions. Hinduism dates back to around 3200 B.C.E (51), and Judaism about 1300 B.C.E (although in some cases is thought to be legend) (244). Since Hinduism is followed by around 80 percent of the people of India, it is said to be “the religion of India;” despite the several other religions known to exist there, such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, it is

India is a country full of mysteries and differences. It has a long history, a profound yet unique culture, with diversified nationalities, races, religions, languages and a huge population. The pursuit of secularism and inveteracy of sectarianism have brought huge influence to the Indian society. As the mainstream culture in India, Hinduism plays an important role in the Indian society and has dominated almost 2000 years of its history. Although in the following years since, the Indian culture gradually becomes a combination of different races, religions and languages, Hinduism still remains to be the key to dig into the development of the culture and society of India.

The belief of this religion was “the only religious and philosophical message of India to spread far beyond the borders of its

In our discussions about mass shootings and guns, terrorism and warfare, let us remember the problem begins with hatred, which is often founded on a determined lack of understanding.

On the other hand, India has spent a majority of its history as a colony of England. It was not until 1947 that India became an independent nation state, after a grassroots nationalist movement started by Gandhi, and even then they were a one party congress. They are also an interesting case of democracy because of how many unfavorable aspects towards it they had, such as high inequality, many peasants, and many different languages and religions (Lecture). In 1956, India was broken up into states by the States Reorganization Act, that made state lines based on linguistic group. India’s founding leaders mirrored the ideas of America, in balancing states rights with a central government (Sil, 2014). They have also more recently gone through a liberalization of their economy. India is unique in the way that their social hierarchy is constructed because of the fact that they have a caste system. The caste system is a combination of religious practice and community organization that is a part of Hinduism (Sil, 2014). This system was officially demolished in the country, but in the country it is still very prevalent, and the focus on helping those who were in lower castes succeed has made people more aware of the way they institute social policies.

Over time, religion provides a sense of unity and acceptance. According to Bentley et al. “The Ottoman Empire included large numbers of Christians, Jews… the Safavid empire embraced sizable Zoroastrian and Jewish communities…Mughal subjects were Hindus, but large numbers of Muslim…”

As said by Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter dated 20 September 1953, “India is a composite country, composite in many ways, in religion, in customs, in languages, in ways of life”. It is a community which is known for its cultural diversity across the world. With having 29 states and 7 Union territories, India also has 22 different languages and 11 different religions practiced by a diverse group of people. It is a community where holidays and festivals are celebrated on a wide scale, irrespective of caste, and beliefs. Where on one hand the community celebrates Eid ul- Fitr, Bakr- Id, Buddha Jayanti, and Baisakhi, there on the other, it also enthusiastically participates in the festivals like Diwali, Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Christmas. Not only the community shares different festivals but also share diverse places of worship. Where on one side there is a Temple and Gurudwara, there on the other is Mosque and Church. This brings an admirable combination of languages, rituals, festivals, cuisines, clothes, and principles in one diverse community, India. The above facts prove the fact that India has a very rich cultural heritage and the diversity in culture has been one of the strengths for development in