INDIANS OF INDIA

Submitted by: Marianne Asuncion

I.

INTRODUCTION India is a country located South of Asia. It is the second most populous country,

next to China. It is also the worlds largest democracy. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history. Indias population is rich with diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Ethnic groups are those based on a sense of common ancestry, while cultural groups can be either made up of people of different ethnic origins who share a common language, or of ethnic groups with some customs and beliefs in common, such as castes of a particular locality. The diverse ethnic and cultural origins of the people of India are shared by the other peoples of the Indian subcontinent, including the inhabitants of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. Most tribal groups live in a belt of communities that stretches across central India, from the eastern part of Gujar t (the westernmost state); eastward along the Madhya Pradesh-Mah r shtra border; through Chhattisgarh, parts of northern Andhra Pradesh, most of interior Orissa, and Jharkhand; and to the western part of West Bengal. The western tribes speak a dialect of Hindi, the central tribes use a form of the Dravidian language, and the eastern tribes speak Austro-Asiatic languages. The other major concentration of tribal people is in the northeastern hills. Tribe members make up the majority of the population in the states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Arun chal Pradesh. These people, many of them Christian, speak languages of the Sino-Tibetan family. Sino-Tibetan languages are also spoken by the Buddhists who live along the Himalayan ridge, including the states of Arun chal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttaranchal, and Jammu and Kashm r (specifically, the region of Ladakh). In the Himalayas particularly, isolation on the mountain flanks has led to languages so distinct that ethnic groups living within sight of each other may not

understand each other. Other tribes live in southern India and on Indias island territories, but their numbers are not large. II. MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS

SOCIETY Castes were the central feature of people's identities in ancient India. Beginning soon after the Aryan invasion, people in India began to divide everyone into one of five groups, or castes. Caste gave some people special rights and privileges that other people did not have. The castes are described in the Rig Veda. There were really four castes, and then the lowest group had no caste, and were known as Untouchables. The most powerful caste was the Brahmans, those who are priests and noble men. They were the only ones privileged to go to school, or teach in schools. However, women belonging to this caste were not allowed to go to school. Next were the Kshatriyas, or warriors. A lot of them belong in an army. Women were not allowed to become warriors. Next were the Vaishyas, or farmers and merchants. And the lowest of the castes were the Shudras, the servants, who had to work for other people or who did not have their own business. Untouchables usually did the most awful jobs. Below them were the slaves. ECONOMICS Since gaining independence in 1947, India has struggled to modernize and diversify an economy that was left relatively undeveloped by economic policies under British colonial rule. In the 19th century Indias cottage industries and thriving trade were virtually destroyed due to imports of European (primarily British) manufactured goods, which the colonial government paid for with exports of agricultural products such as cotton, opium, and tea. Agricultural development was therefore encouraged, while the industrial sector was neglected. Beginning in the late 19th century there was some investment in the industrial sector and infrastructure (mainly railways and irrigation

works). Nevertheless, Indias economy stagnated during the last three decades of British rule.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT The government identifies some groups of people in India as tribal, meaning they belong to one of the more than 300 officially designated scheduled tribes. The tribal people are sometimes called hill tribes or adivasis(original inhabitants) and in 2001 made up about 8 percent (more than 84 million people) of Indias population. For the purpose of affirmative action, the Indian government publishes schedules (lists) of the tribes, as well as of some other disadvantaged groups, such as the former Untouchables. Members of Indias various hill tribes are thought to be indigenous and tend to be ethnically distinct. These groups typically marry within their community and often live in large, adjoining areas, which are preserved by government policies restricting the sale of land to tribe members. RELIGION Religion is very important in India, with deep historical roots; Hinduism and Buddhism both originated here. Most people in India practice Hinduism with Islam a distant second. Other important religions include Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. About 80 percent of Indians are Hindus. Significant differences exist within this Hindu majority, arising not only out of divisions of caste, but also out of differing religious beliefs. One great divide is between devotees of the god Vishnu and devotees of the god Shiva. There are also Hindus who are members of reform movements that began in the 19th century. The most significant of these is perhaps the AryaSamaj, which rejects divisions of caste and idol worship. Hindus may come together also as devotees of a guru. Despite its differences, the Hindu community shares many things in common. All Hindus who go to Brahman priests for the rituals connected with birth,

marriage, and death will hear the same Sanskrit verses that have been memorized and repeated for hundreds of generations. Hindus also come from all parts of the country to visit pilgrimage sites. Four of the most sacred are at the four corners of India: Badrinath in the Himalayas; R meswaram in Tamil N du state; Dwarka on the Gujar t coast; and Puri in Orissa. V r nasi is also a significant holy city for Hindus. About 13 percent of the Indian population practices Islam, which also is divided into several different communities. The major division in the Muslim population is between Sunni and Shia branches. The Shia community has a significant presence in several areas, most notably in the cities of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Hyder b d in Andhra Pradesh. Muslim communities in India are generally more urban than rural. In many towns and cities in northern India, Muslims are one-third or more of the population. In addition to Jammu and Kashm r and the Lakshadweep islands, where more than two-thirds of the population is Muslim, major concentrations of Muslims live in Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala states. About one-quarter of all Muslims living in India live in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Indias other major religious groups include Christians (2.3 percent of the population), Sikhs (1.9 percent), and Buddhists (0.8 percent). Smaller religious groups include Jains, Bahais, and Parsis. Christians live primarily in urban areas throughout India, with major concentrations in the states of Kerala, Tamil N du, and Goa. Christians are a majority in three small states in the northeast: Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. Most Sikhs live in Punjab, generally in rural areas. Buddhists live in small numbers in the Himalayas from Ladakh to Arun chal Pradesh; many converts also live in Mah r shtra. The Jains live mainly in the belt of western states, from R jasth n through Gujar t and Mah r shtra to Karn taka. This region has many magnificent Jain temples, supported substantially by prosperous Jain

traders. Parsis live mainly in Mumbai and in cities in Gujar t, and Jews have small communities in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Cochin. Local communities of all these religions maintain institutions such as places of worship, schools, clubs, and charitable trusts that bring them together. Larger associations of religious groups also exist, including political parties. Such groups sometimes lobby the government in regard to legislation touching religious or social issues, such as the inheritance rights of women. ARCHITECTURE The earliest big buildings in India were built by the Harappan people in the Indus River valley, about 2500 BC. The Harappan buildings included high brick walls around their cities to keep out enemies. Most of the buildings were ordinary houses, with rooms arranged around a small courtyard. Probably some families owned a whole house (and lived in it with their slaves), while others rented only one room in a house, and the whole family lived together in the one room. The rulers built bigger buildings, like this public bathing house and a town warehouse for storing wheat and barley, also out of mudbrick and baked brick. Like the houses, these bigger buildings were square or rectangular, with small courtyards in the middle. They used arches, but, like the Sumerians and the Egyptians, they only used them underground, as drains or foundations for buildings. CLOTHING People in India wore mostly cotton clothing. India was the first place where cotton was grown, even as early as 2500 BC in the Harappan period.

By the Aryan period, women wore one very long piece of cloth called a sari that they wrapped around themselves in different ways. The word sari comes from a Sanskrit word that just means cloth.Sarisare first mentioned in the Vedas, about 600 BC. Wealthy women wore saris made of silk, but most women wore cotton ones.There were many different ways of draping saris to dress up women wore them like skirts with a top part thrown over their shoulder or worn over their heads as a veil. Working women

often pulled their sari up between their legs to make a sort of pants. Women who were fighting with the army tucked in the top part of the sari in the back, to free up their arms for fighting. Most saris were five or six yards long, although some saris were nine yards. Younger women generally wore brightly colored saris, but widows and other women in mourning wore only white ones. ANCIENT INDIAN GAMES

People in India brought the idea of throwing the knucklebones of sheep or pigs to tell the future, or to play a game of skill like jacks, when they first came from Africa to India about 40,000 BC. But people in India may have been the first to get the idea of carving those knucklebones and turning them into marked dice. The earliest known dice in the world come from a backgammon set from Iran, from about 3000 BC. Harappan people certainly used dice about 2500 BC, and the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata both tell stories about dice. Certainly Indian people invented a lot of board games, and they liked to play them. By the 300's AD, people in India were playing Pachisi (we know it as Parcheesi). They made the boards out of cotton cloth, and threw six cowrie shells to determine the moves. The pieces were made of wood. About 600 AD, people in India began to play chess. They may have gotten the idea partly from China, where versions of chess were a variation on earlier games of Go. Chess soon spread from India to the Islamic Empire and from there to Europe. Sometime around the 1200's AD (or possibly earlier), people in India also began playing a game they called Snakes and Ladders (we know it as Chutes and Ladders). This was a Hindu game. Each space was called a house, and each house represented a kind of emotion. You threw dice to see how far you should go, and used a cowrie shell for your piece. The ladders stood for good feelings, while the snakes stood for bad feelings that took you farther away from Nirvana.

People in India also played the game of mancala, which probably started as an African game. Athletic games were also popular in ancient India. Wrestling matches, as in West Asia, were very common. Camel racing and boat races were also common. INDIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE One of the earliest known writing systems came from India, probably around 2500 BC. Unfortunately, we can't read the Harappan writing yet. But we know people were using this writing to mark their property, so other people couldnt steal it, and to keep track of things. The writing was in pictographs, like Egyptian hieroglyphs. After the Aryan invasion, about 1500 BC, the Harappan writing was forgotten, and nobody in India could write at all for the next thousand years. When people did start to write again, around 500 BC, it may have been an idea they got from seeing Persians write. But the Indians did not use Persian script. Instead, they used an alphabetic writing called Sanskrit. One of the first things they wrote down was a poem called the Rig Veda. There were three other Vedas as well but they are less famous. They also wrote down the Upanishads, which are commentaries and explanations of the Vedas. Around 300 BC, people wrote down the Ramayana, a long story about Prince Rama and his wife Sita. And they also wrote down the Mahabharata. Part of the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita, a lot of advice about the law and how people should behave. About the same time, people began to collect traditional stories called Jataka tales and write them down too. Most of these stories have a lesson or a moral: they are the origins of the English stories of Chicken Little and the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg and many others. Many of the Greek stories we know as Aesop's Fables also come from older Jataka tales.

INDIAN FOOD The earliest Indians, the Harappans, probably ate mainly wheat and rice and lentils, and occasionally cows, pigs, sheep, and goats, and chicken. Rice and chicken seem to have come from Thailand, and wheat and sheep from West Asia. Some of the wheat was made into stews or soups, and some into flat breads called chapatis. The arrival of the Aryans does not seem to have changed Indian eating habits. But by around 300 BC, under the Mauryans, a lot of Hindus felt that animal sacrifices added to your karma and kept you from getting free of the wheel of reincarnation. Animal sacrifices became less popular, and although people didnt give up eating meat entirely, they ate much less of it. And a lot of people became vegetarians.

In the Gupta period, around 650 AD, Hindus began to worship a Mother Goddess. Cows were sacred to her, and so Hindus stopped eating beef. And then around 1100 AD, with the Islamic conquests in northern India, most people in India stopped eating pork as well, because it is forbidden by the Koran.

People could still eat sheep or goats or chicken, but most of the people in India became vegetarians, and only ate meat very rarely or not at all. The vegetarian food that Indians ate was mainly wheat flatbreads or a kind of flatbread made out of chickpeas, with a spicy vegetarian sauce, and yogurt. Or people ate rice, with yogurt and vegetables. A lot of spicy peppers grew in India. INDIAN ART The major themes of Indian art seem to begin emerging as early as the Harappan period, about 2500 BC. Although we're still not sure, some Harappan images look like later images of Vishnu and Shiva, and the tradition may start this early.

With the arrival of the Indo-Europeans (or Aryans) around 1500 BC, came new artistic ideas. Around 500 BC, the conversion to Buddhism of a large part of the population of India brought with it some new artistic themes. But at first nobody made images of the Buddha - only stupas (STOO-pahs), symbolic representations that didn't look like a person. Then the conquests of Alexander the Great, in the 320's BC, also had an important impact on Indian art. Alexander left colonies of Greek veteran soldiers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and these soldiers attracted Greek sculptors (maybe some of the soldiers were sculptors). Their Greek-style carvings attracted attention in India - the first life-size stone statues in India date to the 200's BC, just after Alexander. During the Guptan period, about 500 AD, the great cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora were carved. Scenes from the life of the Buddha became popular, and statues of the Buddha. Finally, the arrival of the Islamic faith and Islamic conquerors about 1000 AD brought iconoclasm to India, and a love of varied and complex patterning derived from Arabic and Persian models. This affected even Hindu artists who had not converted to Islam. Small Persian-style miniature paintings also became popular. INDIAN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS From the time of the Harappans to the time of the Islamic conquests, Indian scientists and mathematicians were leaders in many different fields. They especially stood out in mathematics and engineering. The Harappans in 2500 BC had a sewage system at their city of Mohenjo-Daro, and carefully laid out, straight streets. So even though we can't read their writing, we know that the Harappans understood a lot of geometry.

A severe climate change halted development at Harappa around 2000 BC. The Aryan invasion of 1500 BC also seems to have stopped scientific advances for a while, but it did bring military advances to India in the form of horse-drawn war chariots. Around 800 BC, when the Aryans in northern India learned to smelt iron from the Assyrians in West Asia, this gave them another military advantage. Around 500 BC, thanks to Persian influence, the city of Taxila (in modern Pakistan) became a great scientific center. Atreya, a great botanist (plant specialist) and doctor, was working at Taxila about this time. Around the 300's BC, Indian farmers seem to have been using water wheels to lift water for irrigation - the earliest water wheels in the world. By 250 or 200 BC, under Mauryan rule, Indian scientists were the first in the world to be smelting iron with carbon to make steel. About 500 AD, the great astronomer AryaBhata wrote a book. In the 600's AD, Indian mathematicians may have been responsible for inventing the numeral zero, and the decimal (or place) system (or it is possible that they got this idea from Chinese mathematicians). This made it a lot easier to add and multiply than it had been before. Indian mathematical ideas soon spread to West Asia and from there to Africa and Europe. Indian advances in iron-working led to some new ideas in the 1000's and 1100's AD. First, Indian architects were the first to use iron beams to replace wooden beams for building big temples. Second, Indian blacksmiths discovered a kind of iron that made a very strong and flexible kind of steel, called wootz steel.

SOURCES: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/ Microsoft Encarta 2009. 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.