Free sample essay on Unity of India (Free to read). India is an ancient country, a living example of stupendous paradoxes, extremes and their synthesis. Unity in diversity runs through the entire fabric of the Indian society..
India is an ancient country, a living example of stupendous paradoxes, extremes and their synthesis. Unity in diversity runs through the entire fabric of the Indian society; its extraordinary heterogeneity strikes one and all with awe and wonder. People are left breathless and gaping at its sheer vastness, complexity and variety. India, the largest democracy in the world, is inhabited by one-sixth of mankind, occupying about a fortieth of the earth’s surface. It is so fascinating and fantastic, with all its variety of colours, dresses, languages, dialects, religions, faiths, faces, races, customs, rites and cults. All these present a feast of colours of a panoramic scene painted on a huge, single piece of canvass, as it were. Notwithstanding all these apparent and endless diversities, India has always been one integrated whole as a nation, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Dibrugarh to Dwarka.
India, the seventh largest country in the world, has a well defined geographical, cultural, political and social entity. It has been a meeting point and a melting pot of various cultures, civilisations, faiths and religions for centuries. It has outlived the test of time and aggressions. It is here that modernity and tradition, urban and rural, religion and secularism, spiritual and temporal, peaks and valleys embrace each other in counterbalance. It is so wonderful, fascinating, fantastic, mysterious, elusive and seemingly paradoxical that it baffles and defies description and analysis.
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India is a land of great variety and its unique and ancient civilisation has been a great unifying factor. The vast number of diverse faiths, cults, beliefs, sects, religions, languages, manners, and lifestyles, etc. may confound a stranger, but in essence they represent the different aspects of one nation as do the petals of a lotus flower in bloom. These give you the same fascinating sweet fragrance, whether you take these petals severally and separately or collectively. This spirit of unity in diversity is very well enshrined in our Constitution, which says that it is the primary duty of every Indian citizen “to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India, transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities.”
Tolerance and respect for all religions and faiths has been the hallmark of Indian civilisation. The religious life of India makes a complex but a wonderful pattern. Hinduism, which is not based on any single book or person, has the largest following. More than 80% of the population is Hindus. Hinduism is one of the most ancient and extant religions. It believes in oneness of the Universal Soul and is essentially monotheistic. It believes in the eternity of the soul and its reincarnations that eventually lead to final liberation and nirvana. This theory is based on the scientific principle of cause and effect.
Besides Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism have large following. Muslims in India form the largest religious minority and make India one of the largest Islamic nations. In fact, after Indonesia, India has the largest Muslim population in the world. The Christian Church in south India is much older than the coming of Islam in India. St. Thomas, one of the 12 Disciples of Christ, was the first preacher of Christianity in India. He was a contemporary of St. Peter in Rome. Then, there are Parsis who came to India seeking refuge from religious persecution in Iran and brought Zoroastrianism. The Jews came quite early, about 2000 years ago. All these faiths and religions have been here, coexisting in harmony, peace and tolerance; and the communal clashes in recent decades may be considered as an exception.
Fundamentally, India is secular as a nation and yet profoundly spiritual and religious. The Indian Constitution guarantees all its citizens freedom of faith and worship. One can follow and preach any faith, religion and sect as long as it does not interfere in the religious freedom and rights of others. All are equal before law, without any discrimination of faith, cult, caste, creed, sex or language. India has always believed in freedom of thought, expression and faith. The people of this ancient nation have always been at liberty to pursue cultural, religious and spiritual goals of their own selection and choice. They have varied views and opinions on religion, political systems, economic order, and social problems, etc.
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India is geographically, culturally and politically one united and strong and yet allows differences of thought, approach, religion and faith. It is this tolerance which has been a benchmark of Indian culture and thought since times immemorial. India has an immense capacity and power to imbibe and absorb all good alien influences. If it didn’t have this tolerance and power to assimilate foreign cultural influences, thought and philosophy would have been now extinct, as has been in the case of many ancient civilisations of the world. There has been useful interaction between the cultures of India and that of the other countries for the last several millennia. In the process, the Indian mind has assimilated much of the thoughts and conceptions of the cultures of other nations. Thus, India’s contribution to world culture and civilisation has been immense. It has been the cradle of such great religions as Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism.
But it is really regrettable that in recent years, particularly after 1947, so many ugly forces have raised their heads in the form of casteism, communalism, regionalism, and terrorism, etc. They pose a great threat and challenge to the unity, integrity, stability and progress of the country. These undesirable forces of evil, let loose by certain vested foreign powers, are hell bent on exploiting our spirit of tolerance, secularism, variety and diversity of faiths, religions, and languages, etc. But these nefarious designs of our enemies will never succeed. We are well aware of our responsibilities and duties as worthy citizens of this great ancient land and ready to fight tooth and nail to defeat these disruptive forces challenging our age-old solidarity and integrity. We shall definitely overcome, sooner rather than later, these fanatics, bigots and extremists trying to create communal tensions, religious intolerance and regional hatred at the instances of some hostile nations.
We should identify such narrow, parochial, selfish and communal mischief makers and eliminate them forever. Nobody can be allowed to encourage separatism, division, disharmony and disintegration. Some political parties are also to blame for it. They fight elections on the lines of caste, community, religion, region or language. They divide the people on communal basis, to use them as their vote banks in elections. These parties should be derecognized and their policies condemned in no uncertain terms. Unfortunately, some of the Indian political leaders are following in the footsteps of the British rulers who always adopted the policy of ‘divide and rule’.
In spite of all these odds that have surfaced in recent years, India is one and united politically, culturally, geographically and socially. Our way of life, thinking, literature, heritage, customs and traditions are basically the same. The institutions of family and marriage are the same, so are our social and religious customs throughout the length and breadth of the country. Similarly, there are many fairs and festivals, etc., observed and enjoyed by the people of all communities and castes in common. All these facts and factors underline our cultural and emotional unity and integrity.