Unity in Diversity in India

1. UNITY IN DIVERSITY IN
INDIA
Dr.M.Baby Rani
Associate Professor (dept of History)
V.V.Vanniaperumal College for Women

2. UNITY IN DIVERSITY
• Unity in Diversity refers to the state of togetherness or oneness in-
spite of presence of immense diversity
• Based on individual or social differences in physical attributes,skin
colour, castes, creed, cultural and religious practices etc.
• These differences are looked upon as varieties that enrich the
society and the nation as a whole

3. INTRODUCTION..
Meaning of DIVERSITY
• It means collective differences which mark off one group of
people from another
• It means variety of groups and cultures.
• We have such variety in abundance in India
• We have variety of races, religions, languages, castes, and
cultures
• For this reason India is known for its socio-cultural diversity
Meaning of Unity
• It means Integration
• A sense of one-ness , a sense of we-ness

4. INDIA
• Has 29 states and 7 union territories
• Total population is 1.38 billion (approx
1,370,306,986)
• There are 23 official languages of 415
languages of 900 dialects in India
• National language is Hindi. Most
commonly used language is English

5. FORMS OF DIVERSITY IN INDIA
• Racial Diversity
• Linguistic Diversity
• Religious And Cultural
Diversity
• Regional Diversity
• Caste Diversity

6. RACIAL DIVERSITY
• Race a group of people with a set of distinctive
physical feature such as skin colour, nose type etc.,
• India is Diverse in races
• 6 modern races found in India (as said by
J.H.Hutton & B.S.Guha) –
1. The Negritos
2. The Proto-Australoid (Austrics)
3. The Mongoloids
4. The Mediterranean
5. The Western Brachycephals
6. The Nordic
• Diverse races enrich the Indian Ethnicity and
Culture

7. LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY
• According to Ethnologue, India has 415
languages of which 22 are considered as
official language
• Dialects in India vary depending upon
demographic locations.
• Main language is Hindi in Devanagari script.
Second main language is English

8. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
• India is a land of Re-union of many religions and its festivals
• Hinduism is the dominant religion among others such as Islam,
Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism Zoroastrianism etc.,
• Each religion has its own festivals and customs
• Festivals include Makar Sankranthi (Pongal), Holi, Baisakhi, Diwali,
Dussehra/Durga Pooja, Eid, Christmas, Ganesh Chaturthi etc.,
• There are sects within each religion. For example, Hinduism has
many sects including Shaiva, Shakta and Vaishnava. Islam has
Shriya and Sunni
• There are distinctive architectural monuments found in various
parts of India belonging to different religions

9. CULTURAL DIVERSITY
• In India Social customs and traditions are observed irrespective of
caste, race and creed
• The vedas, the Puranas, the Upanishads and the Gita are the holy
treatise of all Hindus, though many of them speak dissimilar
languages
• Cultural difference can be based on Religion and Region
• Some cultures or religions have their own rituals, marriage and
kinship patterns to be followed
• Each cultural or religious groups have distinctive
traditions,celebrations, traditional costumes, languages, food
habits etc.,

10. REGIONAL DIVERSITY
• India is a vast country with geographical unity in diversity
• Includes environmental characters such as mountain terrains,
productive fields, waterways, wastelands, sea coasts etc.
• People from different regions practice different culture, food
habits, music, dance,arts, rituals etc., and wear different types of
clothing
• These differences can also be categorised as religious and cultural
diversity
• Regional climatic conditions defines the characteristics of its
people and their practices
• Diversity in settlement patterns – tribal, rural and urban

11. CASTE DIVERSITY
• India is a country of castes
• Used in 2 sense – Varna and Jati
• Varna – four-fold division of Hindu society based on functional
criterion. (Brahma-learning, Kshatriya-defence, Vaishya-trade and
Shudra-manual service)
• Jati – hereditary status group practising a specific traditional
occupation
• Caste system is also found among Muslims, Christians and others
too
• Some of the castes are -
• These Castes consists of sub-castes

12. CONCLUSION
• India is a large country
• Different regions observe variations in climate
• Spoken language of each state is different from one another
• People wear different types of garments
• They celebrate different festivals and perform various religious
rites

13. CONCLUSION..
• People belonging to diverse cultures belong to different religious
faiths
• In spite of these diversities, people of India feel a sense of unity
and oneness among them as INDIANS
• Thus India is a Land of Unity In Diversity