Unity in Diversity in India Essay

Unity in Diversity: As we know India is known for its Unity in diversity. India is plural in both letter and spirit. Unity in diversity means a grand fusion of cultures, religions, and languages of the people belonging to different castes and communities has upheld its unity and cohesiveness despite multiple foreign invasions.

Unity and integrity have been maintained despite sharp economic and social inequalities. It is this fusion that has made India a unique mosque of culture. Thus, India is a representation of multicultural situations within the framework of a single integrated cultural whole.

Unity  in Diversity  

India, a 5000 years old civilization, has a land of rich diversity. Individuals from different groups or religions live in peace.  It is considered to be the best example of unity in diversity. The term ‘diversity’ here emphasizes collective differences, that is, one group of people is different from another. These differences can be of any sort: biological, religious, linguistic, etc. Thus, diversity means a variety of races,  religions, languages, castes, and cultures.

The word ‘Unity’ means integration, emphasizing the essence of “we-ness”.‘Unity in diversity fundamentally means “unity without uniformity” and “diversity without fragmentation”. It is based upon the notion that diversity enriches human interaction. When we say that India is a nation of great cultural diversity, we mean that there are many different types of social groups and communities living here. These are communities defined by cultural markers such as language, religion, race, caste, and sect.

Importance of Unity in Diversity

Unity in diversity is very much important for a country for:

1. National Integration: Unity in diversity is very important for a country because it is a very simple task to divide people with different views and ideas. The existence of national integration helps to maintain unity despite diversity.
2. Development and growth: Unity in diversity plays an essential role in the growth of the country because a united country will always move on the path of development.
3. Global Recognition: A country that is diverse, but still it is united, not only joins value to the nation but is also recognized at global levels.
4. Peaceful co-existence: Diversity can also be the reason for the origin of internal disputes but unity in diversity plays a big role in maintaining peaceful co-existence with people with different cultures and backgrounds.

Factors affecting Unity in Diversity

 There are a number of factors that affects unity in diversity based upon forms of diversity there are Racial diversity, Linguistic diversity, Caste diversity, and Religious diversity, and based on bonds of unity there are geo-political unity and the institution of  Pilgrimage. Here is a detailed description of factors affecting below:

Racial Diversity

Racial diversity means diversity based on race. A race is a group of people having distinct physical features such as skin color, type of nose, the form of hair, etc.Herbert Risley had classified the people of India into. These are, Turko-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Scytho-Dravidian,AryoDravidian, Mongols-Dravidian, Mongoloid, Dravidian. These racial types above can be reduced to three basic types-the Indo-Aryan, Mongolian and Dravidian. Herbert Risley is the supervisor of census 1891. As Herbert Risley's classification was based upon languages he was criticized for his work. The latest classification was given by  B.S. Guha(1931 census). He has identified six racial types, the Negrito, the Proto Australoid, the Mongoloid, the Mediterranea, the Western Brachycephaly, and the Nordic.

Linguistic Diversity

In India, language is not just a means of communication, rather it is a representation of rich culture, heritage, and tradition. The famous linguist Grierson has noted 179 languages and 544 dialects,  further, the 1971 census on the other hand reported 1652 languages in India which are spoken as the mother tongue. Not all these languages are, however, equally widespread some are tribal languages too which are spoken by less than one percent of the total population. Our Indian constitution mentions 22 languages mentioned under the VIII schedule, these are,  Assamese,  Bengali, Gujarati,  Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri,  Marathi,  Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Nepali, Santhali, Maithili, Dogri.

Even UNESCO has recognized India as one of the most linguistically diverse Countries in the world.

Religious Diversity

Indian civilization values multiculturalism and gives a unique character to Indian culture. We have people who belong to a variety of ethnicities and religions. While 94% of the world’s Hindus live in India, there are also considerable populations of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and adherents of folk religions. The Indian constitution also guarantees the Right to freedom of religion under Article 25-28 making India a Secular state that is, Respect for all religions.

Caste  Diversity

India is a country of castes. The term caste is generally used in two senses: sometimes it is based upon Varna and sometimes it is based upon Jati.

1. VARNA refers to a segment of the four-fold division of Hindu society based upon functional criteria. During the Vedic period, the caste system was well recognized, this caste was based upon varnas. The Four principal categories were, Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra
2. JATI refers to a hereditary endogamous status group that practices a    specific traditional occupation. There are 3000 and more jatis in India. There are bonds of unity underlying all this diversity. These bonds of unity lie in a certain underlying uniformity of life as well as in certain mechanisms of integration. These are geo-political unity, and the institution of pilgrimage.

Geo-Political Unity

The first bond of unity of India is its geopolitical integration. India is known for its geographical unity ranging from the Himalayas in the north to  Kanyakumari in the south and the oceans on the other side. Politically India is a Sovereign State.  The same political culture  is shared  by the norms of democracy, secularism, and socialism

Institution Of Pilgrimage

Another source of unity in India is temple culture which is reflected in the network of shrines and holy places. From Badrinath and Kedarnath in the north region to Rameshwaram in the south region, Jagannath Puri in the east region, and Dwaraka in the west region.  The religious shrines and sacred rivers are spread throughout the length and breadth of the country. Closely related to them is the age-old culture of pilgrimage, which has always moved people to various parts of the country and promoted in them a sense of geo-cultural unity.

Unity in Diversity Famous Slogans and Quotes

• “Peace, harmony, togetherness, and brotherhood are all because of Unity in Diversity”.
• “Unity in Diversity creates a sense of oneness, togetherness, and harmony among the citizens of India”.
• “Our identity lies in the Diversity because of unity”.
• “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” – Mahatma Gandhi.
• Unity: It starts with the letter “U”. If not you, then who?
• Diversity: The art of thinking independently despite being together.