Westernization

Westernization or Westernisation ,meaning the Western world is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet, religion, philosophy, and values. Westernization has been a pervasive and accelerating influence across the world in the last few centuries, with some thinkers assuming westernization to be the equivalent of modernization, a way of thought that is often debated. The overall process of westernization is often two-sided in that Western influences and interests themselves are joined with parts of the affected society, at minimum, to change towards a more Westernized society, in the hope of attaining Western life or some aspects of it. To assume, however, Western societies are not affected or changed by this process and interaction with non-Western groups is misleading.

The phenomenon of westernization does not follow any one specific pattern across societies as the degree of adaption and fusion with Western customs will occur at varying magnitudes within different communities. Specifically, the extent to which domination, destruction, resistance, survival, adaptation or modification affect a native culture may differ following inter-ethnic contact. In a situation where a native culture experiences destruction as a result of a more powerful outside force, a "shock phase" can often result from the encounter. Such a phase is especially characteristic during expansionist or colonialist eras. During a shock phase, repression using military force may lead to a cultural collapse or ethnocide, a culture’s physical extinction. According to Conrad Phillip Kottak, the Westerners "will attempt to remake the native culture within their own image, ignoring the fact that the models of culture that they have created are inappropriate for settings outside of Western civilisation," just one representation of the possibly harmful effects of Westernization.

Modernization

Modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by societies that have achieved modernity. While it may theoretically be possible for some societies to make the transition in entirely different ways, there have been no counterexamples provided by reliable sources.

According to theories of modernization, each society can develop from traditionalism to modernity, and that those that make this transition follow similar paths. More modern states are wealthier and more powerful, and their citizens freer, with a higher standard of living. According to Peter Wagner, modernization can be seen as processes, and as offensives. The former view is commonly projected by politicians and the media, and suggests that it is developments, such as new data technology or need to update traditional methods, which make modernization necessary or preferable. This view makes critique of modernization difficult, since it implies these developments control the limits of human interaction, and not vice versa. It also states that it is purely up to human being to control the speed and severity of modernisation.

The view of modernization as offensives argues that both the developments and the altered opportunities made available by these developments are shaped and controlled by human agents. The view of modernization as offensives therefore sees it as a product of human planning and action, an active process capable of being both changed and criticized

Universalization and Parochialization

Universalization and Parochialization -Mckim Marriott

The concept of universalization and parochialization were given by Mckim Marriott in his "Little Communities in an indigenous Civilization ".He examined the socio-religious organization in an Indian village Kishangarhi in Uttar Pradesh. According to Marriott, an indigenous civilization is one whose Great Tradition originates by universalization or a carrying forward of materials which are already present in the Little Tradition which it encompasses.Such an indigenous Great Tradition has authority in so far it constitutes a more articulate and refined restatement or systematization of what is already there. He explains the concept by giving examples from the festivals of Little Tradition in Kishangarhi village.He refers to the Festival of Lights in which the local goddess of prosperity and wealth is propitiated.Marriott comments that Saurti of this Little Tradition could have been universalized into the goddess Lakshmi of the Great Tradition who stands for prosperity and wealth also.

The reverse of universalization is parochialization .It is a process of localization of limitation upon the scope of intelligibility of deprivation of literary form,of reduction to less systematic and less reflective dimensions.The process of parochialization constitutes the characteristic creative work of little communities within India's indigenous civilization.He explains the process through examples from Kishangarhi ,the festival of Navarathri in which Nine Durgas are worshiped for nine successive days.In Kishangarhi a female deity Naurtha made of  mud is worshiped for nine deities.Marriott points out that Durga has been parochialized into Naurtha the name also being parochialized deriving from nava ratra or nine nights.

Marriott concludes that seen through its festivals and deities the religion of the village of Kishangarhi may have originated as resulting from continuous process of communication between a little ,local tradition and great traditions .Since both Great and Little traditions exist within the religion of little communities  and these communities study of the religion  of a little community can contribute to the understanding of processes of universalization and parochialization.

Sanskritization

All the changes, which have occurred in the castes, are intercaste changes and these have no way affected the fundamentals of caste system. For this process of change M.N. Srinivas a pioneer of Indian sociology has used the concept of Sanskritization.  Sanskritization is not a new concept in sociological literature but M.N. Srinivas has used this concept in a peculiar way. In his words, Sanskritization means not only the adaptation of new customs and habits but also exposure of new ideas and valued which have found frequent expression in the vast body of Sanskrit literature, social as well as Secular. These ideas reach the common people through Sanskrit myth and stories. Thus Sanskritization means the adaptation of the values of a cultured society.In explaining the meaning of Sanskritisation, M.N. Srinivas pointed out that Sanskritization was not always due to Brahmans; generally Sanskritisation qualifies as caste for a higher status. In the dynastic system, Sanskritisation emphasised the status of dynasty.According to Srinivas, Sanskritization spread during the British Rule with the development of means of communication, the impact of Sanskritisation was felt in the remote corners of the century.  With the spread of education and literacy it percolated to the lowest castes.  The western terminology radio press rail etc.  generally facilitated the process of Sanskritisation.The mobility associated with Sanskritisation results only in positional changes in the system and does not lead to any structural change. In other words, the spectrum itself doesn’t change.  He also notes how the tribal groups such as Bhils of western India, the Gonds and Oraon of central India claim to be a caste through the process of Sanskritisation and thus claim a place in the caste hierarchy.  It is well known that there is no conversion process in the traditional Hindu system.While Srinivas took Sanskritisation to mean some kind of Brahminisation, other investigators showed that Sanskritisation could be based on Kshatriya or Vaisya or Sudra’ morals. As Srinivas himself points out the varna hierarchy is clear and immutable’. It is evident; therefore, that Sanskritisation reinforces and consolidates the ‘immutable varna hierarchy’ rather than dislodges it or modify it.Thus, Sanskritisation is not a process by which structural change in the Hindu society can become possible. It is certainly not a means by which any social change in India can be brought about.

children and youth, aged, physically challenged, religious minorities

women

STATUS OF WOMEN

“Yatra Nari Astu Pujyante, Ramante Tatra Devataa” The Gods reside in places where woman is worshiped --- Manu Smriti

“It is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is impossible for a bird to fly on only one wing.” – Swami Vivekananda

Women are not born, but made. What better than India to exemplify this statement by Simone de Beauvoir. With the whole world celebrating International Women’s Day with great pomp and show, it would be only apt to analyze the position and space Indian women occupy today, and comparing it to the times 60 years ago when the country had just gained independence. With the women participating in nationalist movements to being pushed into the domestic household space, to their resurgence as the super-women today, women in our country have seen it all.

When our country got its independence, the participation of women nationalists was widely acknowledged. When the Indian Constitution was formulated, it granted equal rights to women, considering them legal citizens of the country and as an equal to men in terms of freedom and opportunity. The sex ratio of women at this time was slightly better than what it is today, standing at 945 females per 1000 males. Yet the conditions of women screamed a different reality.

A very few were allowed a public space, which she was expected to manage on her own along with her domestic role as a homemaker. In spite of the Sharda Act which was passed in the 1950s to raise the marital age limit for girls, child marriage particularly in North India was quite prevalent though the average age at marriage for females was increased to 18. Sprawling inequalities persisted in their access to education, health care, physical and financial resources and opportunities in political, social and cultural spheres. It was almost unthinkable for women to have a choice or a say in matters of marriage, career or life. Rather she had no voice at all. The practice of dowry was as common as ever.

Women of India slowly started recognizing her true potential. She has started questioning the rules laid down for her by the society. As a result, she has started breaking barriers and earned a respectable position in the world. Today Indian women have excelled in each and every field from social work to visiting space station. There is no arena, which remains unconquered by Indian women. Whether it is politics, sports, entertainment, literature, technology everywhere, its women power all along. The Modern Indian woman, does not let social constraints to keep her behind, but prioritizes her education or her career before anything else. From a time when there no woman writer in India who was taken seriously, today names like Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Shobhaa De, Jhumpa Lahiri can put any other writer to shame. In the field of cinema, women like Rekha, Smita Patil, Shabana Aazmi and Vidya Balan and Konkona Sen are such names who don’t play feminized roles, but have asserted themselves over this male-dominated realm. In the field of Politics, from Indira Gandhi to Shiela Dixit, Uma Bharti, Jayalalitha, Vasundhra Raje and Mamata Banerjee today, women are making their presence felt.

Kinship : definitions, forms, kinship system in north n south India-imp features

Meaning

Kinship provides the framework of social relationship. Kinship means relationship of the individual with the other members due to either a bond of marriage or through blood. Kinship bonds are very strong. Kinship begins with nuclear family. The kins found in this group are husband, wife, son, daughter, brother, sister. Kinship is that part of culture which deals with notions of, or ideas about 'relatedness' or relationship through birth and through marriage. A kinship system is not a group like family nor it is a set of institutionalised rules like marriage.

According to Murdock, "It is a structured system of relationship in which individuals are bound to one another by complex interlocking and ramifying ties". Radcliffe-Brown says that Kinship system is a part of social structure and insists upon the study of kinship as a field of rights and obligations.

Types of kinship systems 

Primary kins: Every individual who belong to a nuclear family finds his primary kins within the family. There are 8 primary kins- husband-wife, father-son, mother-son, father-daughter, mother-daughter, younger brother-elder brother, younger sister-elder sister and brother-sister.

Secondary kins: Outside the nuclear family the individual can have 33 types of secondary relatives. For example mother's brother, brother's wife, sister's husband, father's brother.

Tertiary kins: Tertiary kins refer to the secondary kins of our primary kins. For example wife's brother's son, sister's husband's brother and so on. There are 151 types of tertiary kins.

Kinship in North and South India

North Indian kinship systems 
This kinship system is present in Hindi speaking belt and also in areas where Aryan culture influence is substantive. It includes West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. In case of North India kinship system, the terminology used for father's brother is not used for mother's brother ,therefore Patrikins are distinguished from Matrikins. Within Patrilineal system father's brother are distinguished from father's sister therefore differential terminologies are used. Father's brothers are also distinguished in terms of age and so deferential respect is attribute to them. 

In North India kinship systems, the rules of marriage is highly exhaustive because a large body of people are excluded from alliance relationship. One is not supposed to receive a woman from a group to which women is offered within 5 to 7 generations. In addition to that one cannot receive women from his mother’s group or mother's mother group, father’s mother group and from within his own village. Hence exogamy is quite exhaustive and marriage involves not intra-family ties but inter-village ties. Residential system is very Virilocal (bride lives with husband's father’s group) type and marriage involves a series of presentational obligations. 

In North Indian kinship father – son relationship precedes over husband – wife relationship.
Elaborating on this Veena Das in an analysis of Punjabi kinship system indicates that natural sexual relationship between husband and wife are subdued to social established relationship between father and son 
thereby glorifying the values of patriarchy (system of kinship where authority rests with male). 

South Indian kinship systems 
This type of relationship system is largely present in all southern states and some of its influence is also largely noticed in pockets of Maharashtra and Orissa. In southern India kinship systems, no distinction is made between patrilineal or matrilineal ,therefore father's brother is equated with mother's sister's husband and both their children being parallel cousins so no marriage is allowed between them. To its contrast father's sister's group is equated with mother's brother's group, hence mother's brother is equivalent to father's sister's husband.

Thus in South India specific patrilineal kins are equated with specific matrilineal Kins. In South India father is equated with elder brother ,mother is equated with elder sister , daughter is equated with younger sister and son is equated with younger brother and subsequently/correspondingly terminologies are adjusted. These terminologies speaks about love for younger, respect for elders cutting across generational principles. 

In case of South India cross cousins marriage take place and so exogamy is not exhaustive like in North India. The relationship between husband and wife is not subdued to father – son relationship as in case of North India. Hostility of relationship between the in laws driven by suspicion is also weak in South India. 

family : definitions, forms and trends; universality of family; functions and dysfunctions of family

The word 'family' has been taken from the Roman word 'famulus', meaning a servant and a Latin word 'familia', meaning household. Family is the first and foremost institution. It is the oldest among the other institutions. Though the family has undergone many changes, yet it is the backbone of our social structure.

Definition:

1. Maclver and Page - "Family is a group defined by a sex relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for the procreation and upbringing of children".
2. Kingsley Davis - "Family is a group of persons whose relations to one another are based upon consanguinity and who are therefore kin to one another".
3. Elliott and Merrill - "Family is a biological social unit composed of husband, wife and children".
4. Murdock - "Family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction".

Salient Features/Characteristics:

According to J.L. Rachroo, "Family is a universal concept. The sexual urge of men and women, the desire of woman to bear a child, of man to perpetuate his line and of both to look after their  procreation, coupled with desire of economic security for leisure and pleasure on the basic of division of labour may have contributed to the origin of the family. Sexual urge, the consequent affinity and the socio-economic expedieny appear to be the basics of this institution".

1. Universality
2. Fixed habitation
3. Financial provision
4. Limited size and nucleus
5. Emotional basis
6. Sense of responsibility among members
7. Social regulation
8. Closed Group
9. Permanency and temporariness
10. Persistence and change
11. Educative role
12. A mating relationship
13. A form of marriage

Functions:

Different sociologists have classified the functions of family differently. Maclver and Page divide the functions of the family into two broad categories : 1)Essential; and 2)Non-essential. Under essential functions he includes three functions,namely - 1) Stable satisfaction of sex need; 2)production and rearing of children; and 3)provision of home. Under the non-essential functions, he includes religious, educational, economic and recreational and other functions.

#1 Essential Functions (biological functions)

a)Satisfaction of sex needs - Satisfaction of sex instinct brings the desire for life long partnership among males and females. The modern family satisfies the sex needs in a greater degree.b)Production and rearing of children - The inevitable result of sexual satisfaction is procreation. The task of race perpetuation has always been an important function of the family. Family is an institution  par excellence for the production and rearing of children.
c)Provision of home and minimum basic facilities - It is the responsibility of the head of family to provide some minimum basic facilities to the members of the family, namely, those of food, clothing and shelter. The family members should cooperate with the head in using, sharing and maintaining them. The desire for a home is a powerful incentive for man as well as woman to live in and lead peaceful family life along with their children.
d)Giving love and sympathy - Family is in fact the most important cooperative society where one member helps the others. All members of family are supposed to solve each other's problems with a sympathetic and careful attitude. Children require love and affection from their parents. Similarly, husband and wife want love from each other.
e)Socialisation - The main function of the family is socialisation. Family transmits the moral ideas of group to its members. Socialisation is nothing but acclimatisation of the children to the society. Through language and their action, a child is able to learn about various customs and traditions of the society. It is the family that socialises the new generation.
f)Protection of young - The family has to protect the child as he cannot protect himself as he is open to every risk and danger till he is in a position to protect himself.

#2 Non-essential Functions

a)Economic Functions - Previously family was an economic unit. It was a center of both production & consumption. It used to fulfill the economic needs of its members such as food, clothing, housing etc. To maintain the family all the members take up responsibility and work co­operatively. The family used to follow simple division of labour i.e. women engaged themselves in all domestic work and the men work outside. The family was economically self-sufficient. But today, the situation has changed. The modern family is more a consumption unit than a production one. In many respect, the family is slowly transferring its economic functions to the external agencies.b)Educational Function - As an educational institution family used to teach the knowledge, skill and trade secret. The child learns the first letters under the direct supervision of the family members. All sorts of informal education i.e. manners, equates, discipline, obedience etc. the child receives from the family. Family also teaches morality, honesty, loyalty etc.Today, many of the educational functions of the family have been taken over by the schools, still it has increased the family's responsibility for the education of the children. No-a-days, the learning activities of the children are taking place mostly under alert supervision of the family members.c)Religious Functions - Family is a center of religious activity. All the family members together perform all religious ceremony at home. The children learn various religious virtues from their parents. The elder family members use to teach the children the religious values, morals etc. Thus, family helps in transmitting the religious belief from one generation to another.d)Recreational Functions - Family is one of the most important centers of recreation. It provides various entertainments to its members. Members of the family sit together, gossip, play, make jokes visit family relation for a change, interact with small children, observe different types of festivals etc. In this way, family provides reservation to all of its members.e)Function relating to health - Family not only rears the small children but also takes care of both young and old. It looks after the health of its member. It takes care of sick and disabled persons. As a whole, family takes up the responsibility of health and vigour of its member.

Marriage : Definition, forms, trends; dowry and divorce

Definition

Collins Dictionary of Sociology - " Marriage is a socially acknowledged and sometimes legally ratified union between an adult male and an adult female".

Horton and Hunt - "Marriage is the approved social pattern whereby two or more persons establish a family".

Malinowski - "Marriage is a contract for the production and maintenance of children".
Mark and Young - "Marriage is the institution or set of norms which determines the particular relation of harmony to each other and to their children".

Characteristics of Marriage :

1. Marriage is universal.
2. Marriage is basic for the formation of family
3. Marriage forges new social link.
4. Marriage fixes the responsibility of bringing children on the parents.
5. Marriage is a result of civil or religious ceremony.
6. Marriage is a means of contact of opposite sex for sexual gratification, which is biological need.
7. In marriage, the male and female get the right of mutual relationship in economic, social and biological spheres.
8. Legitimization of children born out of such union, which is a social need.

Functions/Importance of Marriage :

1. Biological Functions - The institution of marriage regulates and socially validates relatively long-term legitimate sexual relation between males and females. Marriage serves as a means for getting together to satisfy sex needs and to start reproductive process. It is true reproduction, human species is replicated and society is perpetuated. Therefore, the institution of marriage serves biological functions.
   
2. Social Functions - Marriage is also a way to acquire new kinsmen, for at marriage one adds not only a spouse but also of a spouse's relatives to one's own group of kin. Marriage links one kin group to another kin group.
   It is only after marriage a family comes into being, it is after marriage that there is desire to perpetuate the name of the family. Women get security with marriage.
   
3. Economic Functions - The institution of marriage performs economic function in the form of bringing economic cooperation between men and women and ensuring the survival of individuals in every society. Actually the children born as a result of socially recognised marriage are accepted by the society as legitimate and legal heirs to the property and other assets of the family.
   
4. Educational Functions - The care and protection of offspring are the heart of human social organisation. The institution of marriage enables the parent to educate their young through enculturation process.
   

Forms of marriage :

In all the cultures and societies marriage is not entirely of free choice because the institution of marriage is socially derived and socially sanctioned.Every society places certain limitations on the range of persons from among whom spouses may be chosen.There are two major rules of marriage that are almost always present in all societies.They are exogamy and endogamy.

Exogamy is the social rule that requires an individual to marry outside a specific culturally defined social group of which she/he is a member.The universal nuclear family is always exogamous. It is even said sometimes that exogamy results from the effects of the incest prohibitions.The social group beyond which marriage is required to take place may either be a lineage or a clan or a phatry or a moiety.Thus the exogamous unit is always a subdivision of a large society. Exogamous practices serve to enhance and improve sociability among people by connecting groups of people.

Endogamy is the social rule that requires an individual to marry within a specific culturally defined social group of which he/she is member.

The occurrence of endogamy is not as common as exogamy. There is no particular universal type of social group to which the endogamous rule applies unlike exogamy. The function of endogamy is probably to regulate marriage in a way that preserve the cultural identity of a group.

A classic case of endogamy within the Indian subcontinent is caste endogamy. Persons who are members of a caste group are required to select their marital partners from the same caste group. Endogamous caste marriages are supported,reinforced and rationalized by ritual explanations which are in turn manifest in everyday behavioral patterns.Concepts of physical pollution are related to the caste endogamy. A person of a higher caste who comes into physical contact with a person of a lower caste becomes polluted the severity of the pollution being dependent upon the relative rank of two castes. Endogamy with its reinforcing concepts such as pollution helps to set one group apart from others.

Examples of endogamy can be seen among ethnic groups within larger societies.

Dowry :

A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to a marriage. Dowry is an ancient custom, and its existence may well predate records of it. Dowries continue to be expected in some parts of the world, mainly India.

"Dowry" refers to money, goods or property that a woman brings into the marriage - it is paid by the woman's family to the man's family. Dowry is practiced mainly in South Asian countries, such as India.

Today, dowry is a common practice in some parts of the world, especially in South Asia, in countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Dowry is most common in patrilineal societies, which expect women to live with or near their husband’s family.

In India, dowry (known as Dahej in Hindi) is a payment of cash or gifts from the bride's family to the bridegroom's family upon marriage. It may include cash, jewellery, electrical appliances, furniture, bedding, crockery, utensils and other household items that help the newly-weds set up their home.

In India, the dowry system puts great financial strain on the bride's family. This has been cited as one of the reasons for families resorting to sex selection, favouring the birth of sons over daughters. This has distorted the sex ratio in India (933 females per thousand males) due to sex-selective abortion.

Divorce :Divorce (or the dissolution of marriage) is the termination of a marital union, the canceling of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and the dissolving of the bonds of matrimony between a married couple. Divorce is unlike annulment which declares the marriage null and void. Divorce laws vary considerably around the world, but in most countries it requires the sanction of a court or other authority in a legal process. The legal process of divorce may also involve issues of alimony (spousal support), child custody, child support, distribution of property, and division of debt. In most countries monogamy is required by law, so divorce allows each former partner to marry another; where polygyny is legal but polyandry is not, divorce allows the woman to marry a new husband.
Divorce can be a stressful experience affecting finances, living arrangements, household jobs, schedules and more. If the family includes children, they may be deeply affected.

Diversity

Diversity (politics)

In sociology and political studies, the term diversity (or diverse) is used to describe political entities (neighborhoods, student bodies, etc.) with members who have identifiable differences in their cultural backgrounds or lifestyles.

The term describes differences in racial or ethnic classifications, age, gender, religion, philosophy, physical abilities, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, gender identity,intelligence, mental health, physical health, genetic attributes, behavior, attractiveness, or other identifying features.

Two distinctive features of India are its vastness and variety. Because of its vastness; it is often called a sub-continent. Its size is twenty times that of Great Britain and it is as large as Europe excluding Russia. The population of some of the states is more than that of many important countries of the world. It presents one of the most remarkable arrays of geographical, climatic and attendant economic features with racial, linguistic and religious differences.

One is puzzled at her many contrasting features such as the splendours of her temples, mosques and tombs, alongside the squalor of her villages, the intellectual brilliance of the educated men and women at the top, alongside ignorance and superstition of the majority of people. The tribes living within kilometers of Rabindranath Tagore's last residence, Santi Niketan had no idea whatsoever about Gitanjali or the Nobel Prize he had won. When Tagore was being awarded Nobel Prize for Literature, the Santhals living around Santi Niketan were still at the food gathering stage.

Racial Diversity:

It is a arduous task to construct a systematic ethnography of the teeming millions of Indian population. Different ethnic groups came to India as invaders, mingled with the Indian population and developed their own civilization and language. India contains a large variety of human types. The three primary broad types of mankind such as the Caucasian or white type, the Mongolian or yellow type and the Ethiopian or black type are found in India. As per the 1901 census the following eight different ethnic groups are found here.

1. Pre-Dravidian 2. Dravidian 3. Indo-Aryan

4. Turko-lranian 5. Scytho-Dravidian 6. Arya-Dravidian

7. Mongoloid 8. Mongoloid-Dravidian

India has been described as an ethnological museaum. Race formation is a dynamic process and environmental stimuli have caused many changes in the ethic types. However, it is said, "The bridge which links the Pathans of North west to the hill tribes of Travancore is still in existence." There are primitive tribesmen as well as city dwellers. There is a wide variety of differences in physical features, complexion and even in language. Often linguistic terms like Aryan and Dravidian have been applied to ethnic units.

It is difficult to assume that this vast subcontinent was once a vaccuum and the races have migrated into this ethnological paradise from faraway places. There have never been attempts to ascertain how far India bred her own races.

Linguistic Diversity:

The ethnological differences gave rise to a large number of languages. The linguistic survey of India records as many as 179 languages and 544 dialects. Among the Dravidian languages, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam are popular. Similarly, among the north Indian languages, Hindi, Bengali, Gujrati, Punjabi, and Urdu are prominent. The Constitution of India recognizes 18 languages in the country. Many foreign languages like Arabic ad Persian are also in use.

Religious Diversity:

All the main religions of the world are found here along with religions which are born here. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Sikhism etc. have adherents in India. All these religions have grown freely along with their sects. Many beliefs, superstitions, dogmas, cults and gods and goddesses are worshipped here. Hinduism, the religion of the majority has a number of cults and creeds as Vaishnavism, Saivism, Shaktism, Tantricism, Ganapatya cult, Sun cult etc. There have been religious reformers like Kabir, Nanak and Chaitanya who have preached synthesis of religions. The primitive tribes have their own religions. Various fairs and festivals are also observed in different parts of the country. Even the Hindus differ widely in respect of observance of fairs and festivals.

Ethnic Diversity:

The variations in climatic condition, land structure and political set-up have resulted in considerable differences in dress, food habit and social customs and practices. The dress of the people of Rajasthan due to heat is bound to differ from that of the people of Kashmir due to cold. The people of the south under Saivite influence put sandal marks on their forehead whereas the people of the north under the influence of Vaishnavism were more liberal and catholic. The Hindu society as such is divided into a number of castes or varnas with well-defined functions for each Varna.

A modern writer, who has attempted a vivid portrayal of the diversities in India says, "Everybody looks different and dresses differently. Complexions range from white to black coffee, nose for Biblical spurs to Mongolian pugs; some people are very tall, others very; short. Dress, like a botanical classification, reveals the exact identity of the bearer, his or her religion, caste, region and occupation. The variety is endless."