The vast range of things that can be found in
and around the world is known as diversity. e.g. on mother earth, there are
different varieties of things such as plants, animals, rivers, trees, birds,
flowers, etc. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “diversity”
is defined as “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a
range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders,
sexual orientations, etc.”
India is a
country of diversities, a
country with different cultures,
different religions and languages. It has different ethnic
groups, geographical diversity, different seasons. Diversities can be seen in food, clothes, races,
tribes, music, etc.
In India about all types of seasons
e.g. spring, summer, monsoon, winter, fall are found. Mawsynram is a place that
receives the highest average rainfall in the world. This place is located in
Meghalaya. It receives the majority of its rainfall from the Bay of Bengal
branch of the Indian monsoon. The Himalayas are one of the coldest places all
over the world which has snow fall for many of the months. Summer or
pre-monsoon season, lasting from March to May. In western and southern regions,
the hottest month is April and the beginning of May and for northern regions of
India, May is the hottest Month. In May, Temperatures average around 32–40 °C
(90–104 °F) in most of the interior.
In India different types of
geographical diversities can be seen. In the Himalaya Ranges, most of the peaks
in the Himalayas are situated about the snow line which is between 5000 to 5700
meters in the Himalayas. The climatic snow line is the point above which snow
and ice cover the ground throughout. The Thar desert and Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
are the largest desert in India. India has a very long coastline, and it
measures about 7,516.6 km bordering the mainland and the islands with the Bay
of Bengal in the East, the Indian Ocean on the South and the Arabian Sea on the
West. There are seven prominent mountain ranges in India, including the
Himalaya range, the Western Ghat, the Eastern Ghat, the Aravalli range, the
Vindhyachal range, etc. Malwa Plateau, plateau region in north-central India.
It is bounded by the Madhya Bharat Plateau and Bundelkhand Upland to the north,
the Vindhya Range to the east and south, and the Gujarat Plains to the west. Of
volcanic origin, the plateau comprises central Madhya Pradesh state and
southeastern Rajasthan state. Moreover, India is a great country with the vast
area of plains.
India is the biggest example of having people with different religions.
There are twelve classical religions- Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity,
Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and
Zoroastrianism followed all over the world. It can be proudly said that about
eight to nine of these classical religions can be found following in India.
The seasonal, geographical and religious diversities lead to lingual and
cultural diversities following foods, dresses, folks, rituals, arts and music
variations among the people.
Linguistic Diversity
Language diversity, or linguistic
diversity, is a broad term used to describe the differences between different
languages and the ways that people communicate with each other., or linguistic
diversity, is a broad term used to describe the differences between different
languages and the ways that people communicate with each other.
There is total 22 languages
according to the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution which have been
referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official
encouragement. In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction
of classical language to Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.
This status is given to languages that have a rich heritage and independent
nature. According to the Census of India of 2001, India has 122 major languages
and 1599 other languages. Hindi, which has the largest number of first-language
speakers in India today, serves as the lingua franca across much of northern
and central India. However, there have been concerns raised with Hindi being
imposed in South India, most notably in the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Some in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Punjab and other non-Hindi regions
have also started to voice concerns about imposition of Hindi. Bengali is the
second most spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number
of speakers in eastern and northeastern regions. Marathi is the third most
spoken and understood language in the country with a significant number of
speakers in the southwest, followed closely by Telugu, which is most commonly
spoken in southeastern areas.
Hindi
is the fastest growing language of India, followed by Kashmiri in the second
place, with Meitei (officially called Manipuri) as well as Gujarati, in the
third place, and Bengali in the fourth place, according to the 2011 census of
India.
Cultural milieu
India is a large and diverse polyglot nation whose tempo of life varies
from region to region and from community to community. Across India, customs
and rituals are still widely observed and practiced. Among Hindus, religious
and social customs follow samskaras, a series of personal rites and rituals
performed at various stages throughout life. Observant members of other
confessional communities observe their own rites and rituals. Across all
groups, despite decades of state laws to eliminate caste discrimination, caste
protocols continue to play a role in enforcing norms and values. Traditional forms of work and
recreation only slowly have given way to habits and pastimes imported from the
outside world.
But still for almost
all Indians the family is the most important social unit. There is a strong
preference for extended families, consisting of two or more married couples
(often of more than a single generation), who share finances and a common
kitchen.
Almost all
regions of India have their special temples, local saints and folk heroes,
religious festivals and related fairs. There are also numerous festivals
associated with individual villages or temples or specific castes and sects.
Among the religious festivals celebrated in most of India, the most popular are
Vasanta Panchami (usually in February, on a specific date determined by the
Hindu lunar calendar), in honor of Saraswati, the goddess of learning; Holi
(February–March), a time when traditional hierarchical relationships are
forgotten and celebrants throw colored water and powder at each other;
Dussehra (September–October), when the story of the Ramayana is reenacted; and
Diwali (Diwali; October–November), a time for lighting lamps and exchanging
gifts. Major secular holidays are Independence Day (15 August) and Republic Day
(26 January).
The impact of lingual and cultural diversities on society
In
India, due to political reasons, people of one language may have come into
conflict with people of another language or there may have been conflict
between two languages, but due to cultural reasons people never came against
each other. Countless languages are spoken here, even if dialects are included
then about 5 to 6 thousands of dialects are spoken. In this subcontinent, where
22 main languages are spoken, expressions and words are exchanged very
harmoniously in all the languages. These 22 languages are as if there is a main river, and many tributaries emerge from it. And as if it has spread like a vein
all over India. Just as all the blood vessels from the main artery emanating
from the heart spread throughout the body and circulate vital air, similarly
the speeches emanating from these 22 languages spread consciousness across the
country. Just as all the arteries and veins keep the whole body under control,
in the same way all these languages have kept the country united. From the
political point of view, it can be said that there has always been opposition
to the Hindi language spoken in North India with the Tamil language spoken in
South India, but we all know that this opposition is only on the political
platform, all these agendas are election agendas. The opposition to languages
in India is based only on the selfishness of politicians due to electoral
reasons and greed for power. People generally do not fight internally over
languages. Otherwise, the classic literature of Tamil language has been
translated not only into Hindi but also into other classic languages of India
like Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi and literature of Hindi language and
other languages of the country has been translated into Tamil. The exchange of
art and culture has taken place so widely that many customs and festivals of
North India are celebrated in South India and customs and festivals of South
India are celebrated with great enthusiasm in North India.
With time, such unity has been
established among all the cultures of India and the people speaking various
dialects that people do not even know whether it is a festival of the South or
a festival of the North. Karva Chaturthi, celebrated in North India, especially
in Haryana and Delhi, in which the sieve used in the kitchen is used, is today
celebrated all over India. Garba, the folk dance of Gujarat, is celebrated in
almost all parts of India. Ganeshotsav of Maharashtra is celebrated in all the
states, among people speaking diverse languages. The main festival of Orissa,
Rath Yatra, is celebrated with great enthusiasm in all parts of India.
Uttarayan, Kite Festival of Gujarat, is celebrated in almost every corner of
India. In a same way, Raksha Bandhan, Diwali, Holi, Navratri, Shivaratri,
Janmashtami – there is no festival which belongs to one state and is celebrated
in all over the country. This is an
excellent example of the Indian cultural unity. This unity is seen not only in
language, literature or festivals but also in music, arts and dance.
Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi and other folk dances are so popular in other states of
India that if any cultural program is organized these dances are performed as a
must throughout the country.
Whenever the characteristics of
Indian culture are discussed, one sentence has to be said that the Indian
culture is the unity of diversity. It is not only in the language but
also at the cultural level We see that India is a country of many types of
festivals, if the festivals of all the provinces are taken into consideration,
then there is a festival on almost every second or third day of the year. There
are around 120 main festivals celebrated in the country either at the
collective level, at the personal level or at the regional level. There is
diversity in the food and drink.
There is a lot of diversity in the
ways of life of people but there is no opposition anywhere. The biggest thing
is that diversity does not create controversy. With such an open heart, people
adopt other customs, other languages, other lifestyles and convert it into a
celebration. Whenever the people of the North plan a tour, they go towards the
South and when the people of the South travel the prefer going towards Kashmir
and Darjeeling. This curiosity that has arisen at the level of the people is the
strength of India. We see that whenever we are speaking any language, it does
not contain words of that very language only. Ever since the metro culture has
developed, people have started living in big cities, we come across many people
in our neighborhood who may not follow the same religion as one or may be of some
other caste. Someone may be from Kashmir, from Karnataka, from Kerala but they
gather in the evening and exchange with each other’s thoughts. People sit
together, talk about their lifestyles, learn from each other, teach each other
about various things. If the main 9 religions of the world are taken into
consideration, people of all religions will be found here more or less. Here
you will find Persians, Buddhists, Jains, those who believe in Islam, Muslims,
Hindus, and many more. There is no such country in the world where people of
all religions would live together in such unity. Here, the communal division
that we see at the level of religion is the result of politics in the society.
There is no division at the level of people. Till the last 25-30 years, Hindus
and Muslims also lived in a village. There was cultural exchange between them.
They used to come and go to each other's houses. Even today, they keep coming
and going there which have now become residential states due to political
reasons. There may have been centralization in them that this is a Hindu colony, and this is a Muslim colony, but when we go to the market, this division has yet
to happen. Suppose there is a Hindu shop, then next to it there may be a Muslim
shop or a Sikh shop, there can be a shop of those who believe in Buddhism. Sometimes,
it may occur that the owner of the shop is a Muslim, and the tenant is a Hindu
or someone else. Unity in diversity can be seen at the business level.
Suppose someone from Tamil Nadu
comes to the neighborhood, then immediately a curiosity arises that as we say
food, what do these people call food, what do they call water, what do they
call Namaste. Eagerly one wishes to
learn some of their words. Children mingle with their children very quickly and
keep talking in their language. They talk about the food cooked at home. Similarly,
they wish to cook like one another’s recipes. This is cultural exchange. This behavior is so dominant at the level of exchange that there is no diversity in the minds
of people regarding language and culture. Their names are different, their work
is the same. And this is the reason why there were so many attacks, people
coming from different cultures and speaking different languages attacked India, but India never attacked anyone. If one looks in the entire history, before the
Mughals, Turks came, Shakas came, Kushans came, Pallavas came, Greeks came,
Greeks came, Mughals came, French came, Spanish came, British came, whoever
came, took something from here but India never attacked England, never attacked
Spain, nor went anywhere for trade neither went anywhere to attack.
This strength is because even before the British came to the settlements
here, the British were here since before and were traders. They kept coming and
going and mingled with the people here. There was no enmity between each other.
They knew each other's language. Before the arrival of the British, English was
spoken here. Even before the British came here, Indians were familiar with the
British people because of the trade etc. Hence, when the British came here it seemed
a familiar behavior to the country. There must have been enmity at the
political level among the kings or on the political level, but they were
accepted as friends.
That
is our virtue, not our vice. We cannot be divided. May you always give us
strength.
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A Research Paper Published in a peer-reviewed journal
Volume-3, Year-2, Issue-6, January-2024.
©️Pallavi Gupta 🌷
