COURSE PAPER: SOCIETY IN INDIA

COURSE CODE: SOBOMN1005

UNIT I: SOCIAL DIVERSITY IN INDIA

1.1 Linguistic Diversity

Diversity is the condition of having or being composed of differing elements. It is the range of
human differences, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual
orientation, age, social class, physical ability or attributes, religious or ethical values system,
national origin, and political beliefs.

Kos (roughly equals 1.8 Km) kos par badle pani char kos par bani (boli)

Social Diversity is the differences seen in a particular society in the case of language, religion,
race, culture, economic status etc. By ‘social diversity’, we mean co-existence of different social
groups within a given geo-political setting or in simpler terms, differentiation of society into
groups. Other terms such as, ‘plurality’, ‘multiculturalism’, ‘social differentiation’ etc. are also
interchangeably used to explain this feature. The diversity may be both functional and
dysfunctional for a society depending on its composition.

Languages of South Asian regions (Indian Population) belong to atleast 4 main major language
families.

1. Indo-European: 74.24% of the Indian population speaks these languages i.e. Hindi,
Punjabi, Gujarati, Rajasthan, Kashmiri, Oriya, Maithili, Bengali, Chattisgarhi, Gharwali,
Kumayuni.
2. Dravidian: These have 23.86% speakers. The languages include Kannada, Malayalam,
Tamil, Telgu, Gondi.
3. Austro-Asiatic: These have 1.16% speakers. The languages speakers are scattered
throughout the country but are prominently found in central Indian tribal belt comprising
of the languages spoken by Munda, Khasi, Ho, Santhal, Koraku tribes.
4. Sino-Tibetian: These have only 0.62% speakers, residing in the north-eastern region of
India like Bodo, Koch, Dhimal, Kuki, Burmese, Naga etc.

Factors of Variations: Every Indian region has some uniqueness in terms of language. There
are linguistic/dialectical variations owing to a range of factors like:
 Regional Variations:
If we travel from one place to another in a particular direction, we notice linguistic
differences. When the areas are close to each other, the differences will he relatively
small. However, the further we get from our starting point, the larger the differences will
emanate. For instance, take the case of Hindi spoken in different parts of India. We can
find differences at the level of sounds as well as vocabulary and grammar.
Word Hindi Bhojpuri
Fire Aag Aagi
Take Lena Leb
Boy Ladka laika

American English British English

Cookie Biscuit
Faucet Tap
Couch Sofa

Social Class:

A number of research studies have shown that certain phonological or grammatical

differences in the speech of groups of people give a clue to the social class to which they
belong. The letter ‘r’ has highest value amongst high class people and vice versa.

Word Brahman Non Brahman

Sheep Tungu Orangu
Water Jal Tanni
Sugar Jinni cinni

Gender: People expect women to be correct, quite and polite while speaking. The
tenagers use slangs as well in their conversations.
There are differences in languages/dialects used in formal and in informal settings. One
 tends to be perfect and structured in formal settings where are one is carefree in informal
settings like amongst friends, peer groups etc.

LANGUAGE CLASSIFICATION

Grierson’s Classification:

 The famous linguist Sir George A Grierson noted in Linguistic Survey of India, 179
languages and 544 dialects; the 1971 census on the other hand, reported 1652 languages
in India which are spoken as mother tongue.
 Not all these languages are, however, equally widespread. Many of them are tribal
speeches and these are spoken by less than one percent of the total population. Here you
can see that in India there is a good deal of linguistic diversity.

Census 2011:

 India is a place in world for its amazing linguistic heterogeneity because it has been the
destination of diverse racial groups.
 Census 2011 reported 19,569 raw mother tongue returns.
 These 19569 raw mother tongues were ‘rationalized’ into 1,369 mother tongues, and then
regrouped into 270 mother tongues (each spoken by more than 10,000 people) and 121
languages.
 The languages are further grouped into 22 Scheduled (listed under Schedule VIII of the
Indian Constitution) languages — which receiving state patronage — and 99 non-
Scheduled languages.

The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution specified 14 major languages

(i) Assamese, (viii) Marathi,

(ii) Bengali, (ix) Oriya,
(iii)Gujarati, (x) Punjabi,
(iv)Hindi, (xi) Sanskrit,
(v) Kannada, (xii) Tamil,
(vi)Kashmiri, (xiii) Telgu,
(vii) Malyalam, (xiv) Urdu
Subsequently, eight more languages were included in the schedule, and these were:
  Sindhi(1969),
 Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali (1993),
 Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali (2003)

The Language Statistics

96.71% Indian speak these 22 scheduled languages
3.29% are the speakers of the 99 non-scheduled languages.
Hindi is being spoken by 43.63% Indian Population. It is not the national
language but official language of India.
The other languages have different percentage speakers of the Indian
populationlike Bengali 8.03%; Marathi 6.86%, Telgu 6.7%, Tamil 5.7%,
Gujarati 4.8%,
Urdu 4.19%, Kannada 3.6%, Oriya 3.1%, Malayalam 2.8% etc.

While the total number of each language speakers varies greatly, they are mostly
geographically segregated. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India, covering a
large part of northern and central India and about 43.6% of country population. Bengali
comes in distant second position with only 8.03% of the country population, closely
followed by Marathi (6.86%), Telugu (6.70%) and Tamil (5.70%).

Linguistic Unity
Although linguistic diversity may prove to be disruptive for national integration but it hasn’t
so far made that considerable impact due to the following facts:

There is although development of common vocabulary side by side.

Mahatma Gandhi pressed for the Hindustani language which is the mixture of Hindi
andUrdu.
The Linguistic unity is furthered by the India TV and Cinema, Literature and
movieswhich use the mixture of languages to pose it as a common vocabulary.
 Topic: 1.2 Racial Diversity in India

Introduction:

 Race is a great division of mankind based on the varied morphological or physical

characters.
 Biologically, all human beings belong to a single genus and species called Homo Sapiens.

 However, population groups living together in different parts of the world show some
physical characteristics that distinguish them from other groups. Such biologically
distinguished groups are called races.
 Since earlier times, anthropologists and other eminent scholars had tried to understand
the extent of human variation based on somatoscopic (soma= body, scope= observation)
characters like skin colour, hair form, etc.
 Even some scholars had used serological (serum and body fluids) and genetic traits to
classify the human races.
 In general, the human population has been divided into three major races: Caucasoid
(white), Negroid (black) and Mongoloid (asian).
 Each major race has unique identifying characters to identify and have spread all over the
world.
 Race as a mechanism of social stratification and as a form of human identity is a recent
concept in human history (Andrey Smedley, Virgiana Commonwealth University, US )

INDIAN CLASSIFICATION:

India: Place of attraction for a variety of immigrants for varying reasons like:

 Religious Persecution
 Varying Harassment
 Attractions for trade (East India Company)
 War/Expansion of Empire
 Attacks for wealth

 The mixture with local population has resulted in a colourful mosaic.

Sir Herbert Hope Risley’ classification

 Sir Herbert Hope Risley (1851-1911) - British ethnographer, administrator, was first to
go for the racial classification of India in 1890.
 He was supervisor for the census 1891 and census commissioner for 1901 census.
  His work ‘People of India’ is a great advancement in this area.
 During the Census operations of 1891, he attempted the first-ever classification of the
people of India into different racial types.
 Based on anthropomorphic measurements, he classified them into the following seven
types:
(a) Turko-Iranian –
 These people are mainly found in Afghanistan and Baluchistan. These two places
are now in Pakistan.
 Turks- Iranian People are very tall and have a fair complexion.
 They possess dark eyes, narrow nose and plentiful hair on face.
(b) Indo-Aryan –
 This type is mainly concentrated in Punjab, Rajasthan and Kashmir. Rajput,
Khatri
and Jat come under this category.
 Most of the people have long heads and long noses.
 They are tall, their complexion is fair and eyes are of dark colour.
(c) Scytho-Dravidian –
 This race is the combination of Scythians (China to Balck Sea: Across Asia and
Europe) and Dravidians.
 They are found in Saurashtra (Gujrat Coast), Coorg and in Madhya Pradesh.
 They are broad headed, have a fine nose, scanty hair,
 Are of medium height and their complexion is fair.
(d) Aryo-Dravidian –
 It is the mixture of two races – Indo Aryan and the Dravidian.
 They are mainly concentrated in U.P. and Bihar.
 They have long head and the complexion varies from light brown to black.
(e) Mongolo-Dravidian (Bengali Type)-
 They mainly live in West Bengal and Orissa.
 This racial type has come into existence as a result of intermixture of Mongolians
and Dravidians while some element of Indo – Aryan race is also found.
 These people are generally black and broad-round headed having medium
nose,
 They have plentiful facial hair and medium height.

(f) Mongoloids –
 The tribal people of Assam and North – Eastern frontier are included under this
race.
 These are characterized by Short stature but broad, short oblique eyes with
epicanthic fold (brow going inwards), dark skin.
(g) Dravidian –
 People of this race are mainly concentrated in South India and Madhya Pradesh.
 The Santhals of Chotanagpur represent this type.
 They have dark complexion, dark eyes, long head and broad nose.

Criticism:
  This looks more like linguistic divisons rather than racial.
 Risley has mixed Aryan and Dravidians in this classification.
 Absence of Negrito race in the classification.

B.S. Guha Classicication of Races in India (1952): Guha took anthropogenic movements in
different parts of the country to determine the physical characteristics of different groups and
identified six main races:

1. The Negrito:
 Negritos are the people who belong to the black racial stock as found in Africa.

Physical appearance: Black skin, flat-nose, short stature, curly hair, bulbous forehead, flat nose,
long arms, thick lips, etc.

Areas: Some tribes of Kerala, Andamon and Nicobar such as the Kadar, the Irula and
the Paniyan have distinct Negrito strain.

2. The Proto-Australoid race: The races consist of an ethnic group, which includes the
Australian aborigines and other peoples of southern Asia and Pacific Islands.
Physical appearances: Dark brown to black brown complexion, broad nose, wavy to
curly hair, short stature, and thick everted lips.

Areas: Central India and Southern India: such as the Ho of Singhbhumi, Bihar, Bhil,
Gonds

3. The Mongoloid: People of this racial ancestry are mainly found in North–Eastern
India. For example, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, Eskimos, and often American Indians
also belong to this race.
Areas- Ladakh and North-Eastern India: The Mikir-Bodo group of tribes and the
Angami Nagas represent the best examples of Mongoloid racial composition in India.

Appearance: Yellow skin, short height, half-open eye

4. The Mediterranean: This racial stock came to India from eastern Mediterranean region
or South West Asia.
Appearance: Medium stature, dark skin and long head, i.e., It has 3 sub types:

(a) The Palaeo–Mediterranean: –

Areas: This racial type is represented by type Tamil and Telgu Brahmins of the
south.

Appearance: medium stature, long and narrow head, long face, short and
medium nose, brown complexion.

(b) The Mediterranean: – People of this racial type are believed to be the builders of
the Indus Valley Civilization.

Areas: They are found in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and
Kerala.

Appearance: Medium stature, olive brown complexion, long head and long broad
open eyes

(c) Oriental Mediterranean: –

Areas: They are limited to Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and

Southern Parts of Uttarakhand.

Appearance: Oriental type is very much similar to the Mediterranean type. They are
distinguished by long and convex nose and fair complexion.

5. The Western Brachycephals (short-headed): These are characterized by Broad heads.

These are divided into the following three sub-groups: Alpenoid, Dinaric and Armenoid
Areas: Gujarat, Bengal, Karnataka, Mumbai etc.
Appearances: Short and broad head, medium/tall stature and light skin/dark,
long/narrow noses

6. The Nordic (Northern Europe and island regions):

Areas: They are found in Scandinavian countries, Europe. In India, they are found in
different parts of north of the country, especially in Punjab and Rajputana (Rajasthan and
Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh).
Appearances: Tall stature, long head, light skin and hair, and blue eyes.
 Topic: 1.3 Religious Diversity

Religion is a system of beliefs, values, and practices concerning what a person holds sacred or
considers to be spiritually significant.

Definitions:

 The sociologist Emile Durkheim in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
defines religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things.”

 J.M. Frazer, “Religion is a belief in powers superior to man which are believed to direct
and control the course of nature of human life.” (The Golden Bough)

Functions of religion

Positive Functions

 Meaning and purpose to human experiences:

o Religion offers meaning and purpose for the human experiences.
o Most religions offer explanations for the losses and sufferings whether these are
on individual basis (such as injustice, suffering or the death of a loved one) or on
group basis (such as famine, earthquake, economic depression or subjugation by
an enemy).
o Explanations may differ from one religion to another yet each tells that life is part
of a larger system of order in the universe.
o Religion even offers hope of prosperity and salvation in the life after death. Such
beliefs help make the sufferings and losses bearable.

 Social Cohesion and sense of belonging: By emphasizing shared symbolism, religious

teachings and practices help promote social cohesion and sense of belonging among the
followers of the religion.
 Maintaining social control:
o Religion is one of the informal means of social control.
o Religion helps in maintaining social control in society by conferring Supernatural
legitimacy on the norms and laws of society.
o It describes the rules of conduct for people to follow.
o The conceptions of spirits, ghost, taboos souls and the ideas of hell and heaven
control human action and enforce discipline.
 Recreation functions: Religion promotes recreation through religious lectures, dramas,
dance, music festivals and so on.
 Enhances self-importance:
 o Religion expands self to infinite proportions.
o Religious beliefs and practices relate the self to the infinite cosmic design.
o Man considers himself the noblest work of God. His self thus becomes grand and
elevated.
Negative Functions

 Excessive guilt and repression—causing individuals to suffer emotionally for failure to

live up to religious ideals.
 Authoritarianism—supporting oppressive authority in society.
 Self-mortification—inducing people to endure physical suffering unnecessarily or to
cause themselves to suffer deliberately for religious reasons.
 Ethnocentrism—causing people to have narrow, culturally centered perceptions of other
groups, arming them with absolute convictions that can justify repression and violence
toward them.
 Promotes intergroup conflict—by causing individuals to feel urgent about exporting
their religion, and to feel offended by the religions of other peoples.

o Wars have been fought on religious lines.

 Rationalizes social, political, and economic inequality, preventing social change
necessary to reduce social conflict.
o In Karl Marx’s words: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the
sentiment of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the
opium of the people”.
o He believed that religious beliefs act as an opiate which reduces the pain of
poverty and oppression from the minds of the exploited masses.

Religion in India

 India is a secular state i.e. India has no official religion

 However, India is a multi-religious society.
 Religion has been playing an important role in Indian society from the very evolution of
human society.
 It has never been static.
 Religious conversion has been a controversial issue throughout Indian History.
 It still draws attention even in the contemporary situation.
 Hinduism, the main religion has allowed other religions to grow alongside. It not only
affected other religions, but has also been affected by other religions.
 The Constitution of India, considering the country as secular has treated all religious
groups on equal terms.
 It has made provision for freedom to all religious groups to hold and practice their beliefs
and rituals.
  Secularism has been ingrained in the national policies and planning of education and
development.

Religious Diversity in India:

 Religious diversity is the fact that there are significant differences in religious belief and
practice.
 The 2011 Census of India listed seven religious categories, Hindus, Muslims,
Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs and other religions such as: (Jews, Zoroastrians)
 There are huge diversities in terms of beliefs and practices as rites and rituals, festivals,
pilgrimages, marriage and family.
 The religions with prominent followers in the country are:
1. Hinduism (Indian Origin)
2. Sikhism (Indian Origin)
3. Buddhism (Indian Origin)
4. Jainism (Indian Origin)
5. Islam (Foreign Origin)
6. Christianity (Foreign Origin)
7. Zoroastrianism (Foreign Origin)

Condensation of population:

 At the State/Union Territory level the Muslims are the majority in the Union Territories
of Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep.
 In the States of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, Christians constitute the majority.
 Sikhs are the majority community in the State of Punjab.
 No other religious community among the minorities is a majority in any other State/UT.

Religions Population
Percentage
Hindus 79.8
Muslims 14.2
Christians 2.3
Sikhs 1.72
Buddhists 0.7
Jains 0.4
Others (Parsis) 0.7
Religion not stated 0.2
Hinduism

 “Hindu” is a Persian word derived from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name of the Indus River.
o Invaders from Persia in the 6th century B.C. named the people of the Indian
subcontinent "people living near the Indus River."
 Hinduism, a polytheistic religion and perhaps the oldest of the great world religions,
dates back to 4000-6,000 years.
 Hinduism teaches the concept of reincarnation—the belief that all living organisms
continue eternally in cycles of birth, death, and rebirth.
 Hinduism comprises so many different beliefs and rituals that some sociologists have
suggested thinking of it as a grouping of interrelated religions.

5 Primary sacred texts of Hinduism:

1)VEDAS: the “Verdic Verses” , written in Sanskrit between 1500 to 900 B.C.;
2) the “Upanishads” , written 800 and 600 B.C.;
3) the “Laws of Manu”, written around 250 B.C.; and
4) “Ramayana” and
5) the “Mahabharata”, written sometime between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200.
 Hinduism, for example, has many sects including Shaiva, Shakta and Vaishnava.
 Add to them the sects born or religious reform movements such as Arya Samaj, Brahmo
Samaj, Ram Krishna Mission.
 More recently, some new cults have come up such as Radhaswami, Saibaba, etc.

Islam:
 Islam is a monotheistic religion.
 The second largest religion in today’s world is Islam, which originated from the teachings
 of the 7th century prophet Mohammed.
 His teachings directly express the will of Allah, the one God of Islam.
 Moslems, or followers of the Islamic religion, believe that Allah also spoke through
earlier prophets such as Jesus and Moses before enlightening Mohammed.

Moslems have five primary religious duties (“The Pillars of Islam”):

1. Reciting the Islamic creed, which states that Allah is the one God and Mohammed is his
son.
2. Taking part in ceremonial washings and reciting formal prayers five times every day.
During these prayers, worshippers always face towards the holy city of Mecca in Saudi
Arabia.
3. Observing of Ramadan—a month of fasting when Moslems may have no food or drink
during daylight hours.
4. Giving money to the poor.
5. Making at least one pilgrimage to Mecca.
  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’, is the sacred book of Islam
 Islam the religion of the Muslims, originated in Arabia.
 It came to India towards the last quarter of the 12th century A.D
 The Muslim rulers in India patronized it.
 They established long dynasties over large chunks of the country and encouraged
conversions from Hinduism and Buddhism.
 Today Islam is the second largest religion in India, with 14.2% of the country's
population million people identifying as adherents of Islam (2011 census).

Christianity:

 Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the “Messiah” (meaning
“Christ” and “Annointed One” or sacred) who saves the world.
 Christianity began in the first century CE when the Jesus from Nazareth was honoured as
'Christ'.
 After the resurrection of Jesus, his disciples travelled to different parts of the world to
spread his teachings.
 Bible is the holy book of Christians.
 It is believed that St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus, came to India and established
churches and convinced many Indians to follow Christianity (Missick, 2000; Thangaraj,
2013).
 However, some Christians reject this belief and they trace their origins to the arrival of
Portuguese in India
 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 states of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Anadhra Praesh.
 Kerala where they form nearly 18.4% of the state’s population.

Buddhism

 Buddhism originates in the teachings of the Buddha, or the “Enlightened One”

(Siddhartha Gautama)—a 6th century B.C.
 Buddhism enjoyed royal patronage for a long period beginning from the Great emperor
Ashoka in the 3rd century B.C.
 While being a global religion, Buddhism today most commonly lies in such areas of the
Far East as China, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma.
 In India, Buddhists are mostly confined to Maharashtra, where 73% of India’s 8.0 million
Buddhists live.
  Many Buddhists are from the Dalit, or Untouchable Hindu caste who converted to
Buddhism.
 Major areas of concentration are Ladakh (J&K), Lahul and Spiti (H.P.) and Kameng
district (Arunachal Pradesh).

.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 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
 The Sacred Books of Jainism are collectively known as Agams or Agam Sutras.
 It consists of the teachings of Lord Mahavir's teachings that were methodically compiled
by his disciples.

Sikhs

 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.

The Guru Granth Sahib is the sacred text of the Sikh community.

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.

 Sikhs 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.Sikhs are concentrated largely in Punjab.
Zoroastrianism or Parsi

 Also spelled Parsee (i.e. ‘Persian’ in Persian Language) is a member of a group of

followers in India of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra).
 The Parsis in India are descendants of the Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to India to
avoid religious persecution by Muslims.
 They were forced to migrate after the Muslims victory in Persia (present day Iran).
 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 (about one lakh)