unity and diversity of india.comment.?

Question

is it true that characteristic feature of indian culture in different periods of india's history has been 'unity and diversity'?discuss with 3 suitable examples.

Answer 1

lmao this looks like a homework question. The answer is available in Navneet's Sociology guide for HSC (Std XII)

It's too long an answer but the gist of it is that people from varied cultural backgrounds live together in a cooperative and harmonious way. The communal tensions are ephemeral and are resolved very fast...so on an average the population is united and diverse....

examples can be
1. Mumbai - a cosmopolitan city
2. breaking of caste barriers in jobs and social interaction
3. sanction of inter caste and inter community marriages

For an answer these need to be elaborated upon. The guide may have a better answer.

Answer 2

i've spent an hour and a half researching a reply how miffed am I?

i've no recourse but to post a fraction of it.

india's unity is a controversial subject. Its however is a much envied and applauded source of strength. It is also a source of extreme division between India's people and its culture.

India has some of the world's most stark dichotomy between standards of living, its history holds the world's most long standing caste system, put in place before the Romans, the remnants of which can still be evidenced today in the effects it has had on India's people.

This same unity and diversity has been at the root of india's success. The primary example of the marriage between these two qualities that India has to show the world is in the strength that India as a nation has been able to obtain from its women.

Their story is not an easy one to listen to. It are wrought with more heartache and hardship than most but Indian women have survived and advanced despite it all.

It is arguable that all of india's success in the world is down to the woman's role in the family. She is the glue that keeps it together and directs (even from a subservient position in the family) her children to advance and better herself.

I personally know very many families where relatively illiterate Indian mothers run or own businesses and/or direct their children to study in particular areas thus boosting economy and helping that family unit to advance.

This can also be seen in India's relatively low divorce rate and high efficiency and economic growth.

The east in general is set to overtake the west in economic growth. It is the fastest growing economy in the world at present and a large proportion of that has a root in the Asian woman's endeavours and India's success.

Yet the women of Asia have some of the most grueling histories which few of the talk about.

An example of this is The Partition Of India:

In the bloody carnage that accompanied the Partition of India in 1947, women - Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims - were the most vulnerable. As the entire region of Punjab fragmented along religious lines, women were abducted in their thousands by the 'enemy' community. Many others endured extreme forms of sexual violence.

Scores of women committed suicide or were killed by their own menfolk to stop themselves from falling into enemy hands.

During this period, so many women disappeared that the newly formed governments of India and Pakistan were compelled to act. They formed official 'recovery' departments to bring their women back...sometimes with even more tragic consequences.

Sleeping With The Enemy tells the story of Ranjit Kaur, a Muslim woman who survived a massacre and was then claimed by a Sikh man who married her. She was 10 years old.

To prevent such perceived 'dishonour', Bir Bahadur Singh, a Sikh man, relates how he watched his father publicly behead his teenage sister - along with 25 other female members of their family - in front of a Muslim mob.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/sleepingwiththeenemy.shtml

This account reveals untold stories of love, death, betrayal and sexual exploitation, all revealed through personal testimony.

If asked what the status of women in Indian society is, I would find this question very difficult to answer.

Women are both abused as well as revered in the Indian society; sometimes within the same household.

The Hindu religion calls for worship of the womanhood, and several rituals are conducted in honor of women. At the same time, it denied such privileges as performing the last rites and equal share of inheritance.
...

Answer 3

Try looking at this site,
http://www.ncert.nic.in/textbooks/XII/Structure_of_Indian_Society/Chapter%201.pdf
it might help you come to some conclusion.