THE ETHNIC, LINGUISTIC AND RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION OF INDIA

Atula Ahuja

MIGRATION OF FIRST HUMAN OUT OF AFRICA

The first migration out of East Africa took place about 85,000 years ago. Researches on the tribes of Andaman and Nicobar islands using complete mitochondrial DNA sequences has revealed that the first humans took the “southern coastal route” of migration from East Africa to India where they expanded rapidly along the west coast of India. (National Geographic, Stephen Oppenheimer, 2006)

Thus India is believed to have acted “as an incubator of early genetic differentiation of modern humans moving out of Africa.” (Michel Danino (2000).

JOURNEY OF MANKIND

See, The Peopling of the World:

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey by Bradshaw Foundation

WORLD’S RACES ACCORDING TO EARLY THEORIES

World’s three major races today are Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid.

The Australoid or Oceanian race remains only in a few pockets in South Asia(Boyd, 1963).

Numerous genetic studies of Indian populations have shown divergent conclusions about roots of ethnicity and races because the Indian region happens to be one of the most diverse and complex in the world, which makes it difficult to interpret the data.

MOST ETHNICALLY DIVERSE

India can be considered the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. Nowhere in the world, groups of people are distributed in such a large number of:

ethnic groups castes religious groups linguistic groups

Numerous theories have suggested that several waves of immigrants at different periods of entered into the ethnic composition of India since 4th century BC.

THE LIST OF VARIOUS CLASSIFICATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN ON THE PEOPLE OF INDIA BY DIFFERENT RESEARCHERS IS AS FOLLOWS

Risley’s Classification (1915)

2. Giuffrida-Ruggari’s Classification (1921)

3. Haddon’s Classification (1924)

4. Eickstedt’s Classification (1934, 1952)

5. Guha’s Classification (1935, 1937)

Roy’s Classification (1934-38)

7. Sarkar’s Classification (1958, 1961)

8. Biasutti’s Classification (1959)

9. Roginskij and Levin’s Classification (1963)

10. Büchi’s Classification (1968)

11. Bowles’s Classification (1977)

ETHNIC GROUPS

Modern anthropologists classify Indians as belonging to all of the four major ethno-racial groups of the world: Negritos, Australoids, Caucasoids, Mongoloids (Basu, et al 2006).

Many theorists believe that there is no race such as Dravidians or Aryans. They categorize Indians as Caucasians, where Caucasians ≠ "white" people.

ETHNIC GROUPS

Of the many ethnic groups found, FIVE categories emerge as the most unanimously agreed upon:

1. Negroids: The earliest to come to India from Africa. Their original habitat was in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in which they have survived till today. They are the Jarawas or the Great Andamanese. Some hill tribes can be found in south India.

2. Proto Astraloids or Australoids: They were the original inhabitants of India. Guha (1937), Basu et al (2006), Bhasin (2012). Some others say that came next from Myanmar South East Asian islands. Originally they had spread out over north and south. Australoid tribals currently live in pockets in central and south India.

ETHNIC GROUPS

3. Dravidians: The 20th century anthropologists like, Carleton S. Coon classified them as the slender, dark-skinned Caucasoids who came before the Aryans from the Paleo-Mediterranean region and Asia Minor and Crete . They are reputed to have built up the civilization of the Indus valley . Some other studies have shown that Dravidians have an Australoid racial basis as well as a Caucasoid influence by the admixture with Aryans.

ETHNIC GROUPS

4. Mongoloids: Their origin is from China, Tibet and Mongolia. They are found in north-eastern parts of India such as Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Tripura, Northern parts of West Bengal, Sikkim, and Ladakh.

5. Nordics or the Indo- Aryans: Considered the last ones to immigrate to India around 2000 to 1500 B.C. Were the robust Caucasoids, with paler skins and speaking Indo- European languages. They came from the Plateau of Iran and moved through the Hindu Kush Mountains into India.

HOLT, RINEHART & WINDSOR

Indo-Aryan Migration into India, c. 1750 B.C.

They were nomadic warriors who came in through the Indus Valley and spread beyond the Ganges Valley.

DRAVIDIAN AND ARYAN INVASION THEORY DISCREDITED

But recent Genetics studies, using large samples of Indian population and refined methods of analysis have shown that the Dravidians are in fact the descendants of the earliest people who migrated from Africa and reached South India 70,000- 80,000 years ago. These studies have also discredited the Aryan Invasion theory.

RECENT STUDY

A path-breaking study done in 2009 by Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology on ancestral Indian populations, analyzed 500,000 genetic markers across the genomes of 132 individuals from 25 diverse groups from 13 states. The individuals were from six-language families.

FINDINGS

Key finding, reported by geneticist David Reich of Harvard Medical School, who led the team, were:

1. Initial settlement – between 85,000- 75,000 years ago in the Andamans and south India.

2. All non- African people were descendants from this group.

3. About 45,000- 40,000 years ago, ANIs emerged.

4. 30,000- 25,000 years ago people from the subcontinent moved to Europe. “That’s the reason behind the same genetic traits in Eurasiain regions,” said Dr Thangaraj, senior scientist, CCMB.

FINDINGS5. The present-day Indian population is a mix of Ancient

North Indians and Ancient South Indians, bearing the genomic contributions from two distinct ancestral populations, who mixed about 1,900 to 4,200 years ago.

5.a. Indo- Aryan ethnic group: are mainly Ancestral North Indians (ANIs), related to the Central Asians, Middle Easterners, Caucasians, and Europeans; speaking the Indo- European languages. Migrated into the subcontinent 45000 ybp.

5.b. Dravidian ethnic group: are Ancestral South Indians (ASIs) and native to the region, believed to have entered the subcontinent 65,000- 70,000ybp. Reputed to have been the first Vedic people who built the Indus Valley civilization.

(Reich et al, 2009, The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2013)

OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS

1. Indo-Scythians: were the Central Asians. Came to India in 2nd century B.C. Now spread out in Gujarat, Maharashtra and towards, Mysore and Deccan.

2. Hepthalites/ White Huns: were nomadic tribes in Central Asia

3. Gurjara-Pratiharas: They were Caucasians. The oldest record of these tribes in India date to around 11th century.

4. Indo-Greeks: descendants of Alexander's armies. Formed a significant Caucasian family & got absorbed in the northern castes and tribes. (Bhasin 2006)

ETHNIC GROUPS 5. Western Brachycephals: These groups consist of the sub- groups, (i) Alpinoids (ii) Dinarics and (iii) Armenoids (iv)

Indo Iranian

i. Alpinoids came from the Alpine region, and entered Sind, Kathiawar Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

ii. Dinarics came from the Alps mountain region on the border of Bosnia and Croatia, and followed the Ganga-Valley and its delta as their route to enter India.

iii. Armenoids/Armenian entered India through Chitral, Gilgit, Kashmir and Nepal. Known as the "true" Caucasians, Armenoids were relatively tall, usually with medium to dark brown or black hair, light to medium skin colour.

iv. Indo-Iranian/Zoroastrians migrated to India in 8th centure B.C after the rise of Islam in Iran. Zarathushtra's followers. developed and preserved their culture in India.

CENSUS OF INDIA 2001

Govt of India census recognizes ethnic three ethnic groups, the Indo Aryans, the Dravidians and the Mongloids, of which:

Indo-Aryan 72%

Dravidian 25%

Mongoloid

Other 3%

The rest constitute scheduled tribes. There are 697 tribes in India according to the Article 342 of the constitution of India. They are spread out in MP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand. Data on ethnicity was not collected in the census of 2011

LINGUISTIC COMPOSITION

LANGUAGE FAMILIES

India displays a high degree of diversity in languages and dialects.

“Each decade, a national census attempts to record the languages spoken by every inhabitant, but interpreting the results has not been easy. The 2001 census recorded 6,661 ‘mother tongues’ many among these could be the dialects of these languages.” David Graddol, 2010.

In India, schools teach 58 different languages, newspapers are produced in 87 languages, radio programs broadcast in 71 languages, and films are produced in 15 different languages.

LANGUAGE FAMILIES

The Indian languages belong to four language families. (Bhasin, 2006)

Austro- Asiatic: Considered the oldest. Austrics are a very old off-shoot of the Mediterranean people who came into India from the west.

a. Mon-Khmer Branch

b. Munda Branch

Sino-Tibetan: born at least 4000 years before Christ.

a. Tibeto- Himalayan Branch

b. North- Assam Branch

c. Assam- Burmese Branch

LANGUAGE FAMILIES

Dravidian: Linguistic and anthropological theories have establihed that Dravidians came from Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean. Dravidian languages are spoken in the Deccan and Southern India.

a. South Dravidian Group b. Central Dravidian Group c. North Dravidian Group

Indo- European: With 443 languages, this is the largest language family in the world. These languages descended from a common source-speech, the “Primitive Indo-European”, which flourished about 5000 years ago” (The Gazetteer of India 1965).

LANGUAGE MAP OF INDIA

DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES

Austro- Asiatic:

a. Mon-Khmer: Khasi in Assam, Nicobarese in Nicobar.

b. Munda: Largest of the Austro- Asiatic family. Mundari speakers are concentrated in the tribal regions of Chota Nagpur and Central

and Eastern regions of India.

DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES

Sino-Tibetan: with 10 and 6 million speakers, respectively, together 5% of the population.

a. Tibeto- Himalayan Branch: The area stretches from Baltistan in the west to the north-eastern. Languages: Ladakhi, Lahuli, Sikkim Bhotia, Balti.

b. North- Assam Branch: occupies the north-eastern frontier.Languages: Aka/Hrusso, Dalfa, Abor/Adi, Miri, Mishmi

c. Assam- Burmese Branch: Bodo Group, Naga Group, Kachin Group, Kuki-Chin Group, Burma Group. Languages: Several languages are spoken by few people, each.

DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES

Dravidian: Found in blocks in the Deccan and in South India, where they have their separate existence.

a. South Dravidian Group: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Coorgi, Tulu, Toda, Kota, Telugu

b. Central Dravidian Group: Kui, Kolami, Gondi , Parji Koya, Khond

c. North Dravidian Group: Kuruk, Malto

Unspecified Dravidian Tongues: About 6742 persons of tribal groups speak unspecified Dravidian tongues. They live in the eastern and the north-eastern parts of the peninsular plateau including Gonds of Madhya Pradesh, Central India andthe Oraons of Chota Nagpur Plateau.

DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES

Indo- European or Indo-Aryan Languages: 700 million speakers, or 69% of the population)The oldest-known Indo-Aryan languages are Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali.

Northern Group: Punjabi and dialects, Sindhi, Southern Group: Marathi, Konkani.

Eastern Group: Oriya, Bihari, Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bengali, Assamese, Maithali.

Central Group: Hindi, Hindustani, Urdu, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Pahari

Dardic languages are spoken in the northernmost parts of India- Kashmir, Sindh

The languages of India according to the proportion of the population who speak them as a first language (Census 2001)

Hindi 41%; Bengali 8%; Telegu 7%; Marathi 7%

Tamil 6% urdu 5%; Gujarati 4%; Kannada 4%, Non- Scheduled 3%; Malayalam 3%; Oriya 3%; Punjabi 3% Assamese 1%; Maithili 1%.

Other 2%- Santali 0.63%; Kashmiri 0.54%; Nepali 0.28%, Sindhi 0.25%; Dogri 0.22%; Manipuri 0.15%

Bodo 0.13%; Sanskrit 0.001%

Languages Official Language of Spoken by Assamese Assam 15 million Bengali Tripura & West Bengal 67 million Bodo Assam Dogri J ammu and Kashmir

Gujarati Dadra and Nagar Haeli, Daman and Diu & Gujrat

43 million

Hindi

Andaman and Nicobar I slands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J harkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh & Uttaranchal

180 million

Kannada Karnataka 35 million Kashmiri Konkani Goa Maithili Bihar 22 million Malayalam Kerala & Lakshadweep 34 million Manipuri (Meithei) Manipur Marathi Maharashtra 65 million Nepali Sikkim Oriya Orissa 30 million Punjabi Punjab 26 million Sanskrit Santhali Sindhi Tamil Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry 66 million Telugu Andhra Pradesh 70 million Urdu J ammu and Kashmir 46 million

India has 22 official languages

Languages Language of Spoken by Awadhi (sub-variety of Hindi) 20 million

Bhili Bhil tribals Bhojpuri (sub-variety of Hindi) Bihar 23 million Bundeli (sub-variety of Hindi) Chhattisgarhi (sub-variety of Hindi) Chhattisgarh 11 million Deccani 11 million Gondi Gond tribals Haryanvi (sub-variety of Hindi) Haryana 13 million Hindustani (mixture of Hindi and Urdu) Northern part of India Kanauji (sub-variety of Hindi) Uttar Pradesh Kodava Kodagu (Karnataka) Kutchi Kutch (Gujarat) Magahi (sub-variety of Hindi) southern Bihar 11 million Marwari (sub-variety of Hindi) Rajasthan 12 million

Portuguese Partly in Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli

Sikkimese Sikkim Tibetan Tibet (Kashmir) 6 million Tulu Tulu people (Karnataka & Kerala)

Other Languages

The 1991 census recognizes 1,576 classified "mother tongues.

According to Census of India of 2001, 30 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 60 have more than 100,000 and 122 have more than 10,000 native speakers.

Hindi and English are the official languages. Other official languages in various states are Punjabi, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu and Gujarati. But there are over 1,000 languages spoken throughout the country.

English is widely spoken in major cities and tourist areas.

Hindi, in the Devanagari script is the official language of the Federal government of India.

English is an associate official language.

Sanskrit, the classical language of India, and is 5000 years old and the basis of many modern Indian languages including Hindi and Urdu.

RELIGIONS OF INDIA

RELIGIONS OF INDIA

India is a secular country and observance of various religions and its rituals play a significant role in every aspect of life in the country. According to Census 2001:

It is the birth place of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.

It has nourished Zoroastrianism, Bahaism, Judaism.

Islam and Christianity have flourished alongside other religions and faiths.

RELIGIONS OF INDIAReligion Number %

All religious communities 1,028,610,328 100.0

Hindus 827,578,868 80.5

Muslims 138,188,240 13.4

Christians 24,080,016 2.3

Sikhs 19,215,730 1.9

Buddhists 7,955,207 0.8

Jains 4,225,053 0.4

Others 6,639,626 0.6

Religion not stated 727,588 0.1

Source : Religion, Census of India 2001

RELIGIONS OF INDIAAccording to census of India 2001, out of 1028 million population:

little over 827 million (80.5%) follow Hinduism

138 million (13.4%) follow Islam

24 million (2.3%) are Christians

19 million (1.9%) are Sikh

8 million (0.80%) follow Buddhism

4 million (0.4%) are Jainism

In addition, over 6 million profess ‘other’ religions and faiths including Judaism, Zoarashtianism, Bahaism, tribal religions, different from six main religions.

TRENDS

Proportion of various religions in population 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 All 100 100 100 100 100 Hindus 83.4 82.7 82.6 82 80.5 Muslims 10.7 11.2 11.4 12.1 13.4 Christians 2.4 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.3 Sikhs 1.8 1.9 2 1.9 1.9 Buddhists 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 Jains 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 Others 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.6

Census 2001, India

DISTRIBUTION

Hindus are most numerous in 27 states/Uts except in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.

Muslims are in majority in Lakshadweep and Jammu & Kashmir. Sizeable in Assam (30.9%), West Bengal (25.2%), Kerala (24.7%), Uttar Pradesh (18.5%) and Bihar (16.5%).

Christians are a majority in North-eastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya- upto 80%. Among other states/Uts, Manipur (34.0%), Goa (26.7%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (21.7%), Kerala (19.0%), and Arunachal Pradesh (18.7%) have considerable percentage of Christian population to the total population of the State/UT.

DISTRIBUTION

Sikhs Punjab accounts for more than 75 % of the total Sikh population in the country. Chandigarh (16.1%), Haryana (5.5%), Delhi (4.0%), Uttaranchal (2.5%) and Jammu & Kashmir (2.0%)

Buddhism: Maharashtra largest concentration of Buddhism (58.3%). 73.4% of the total Buddhists in India reside here. Karnataka (3.9 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (3.0 lakh), west Bengal (2.4 lakh) and Madhya Pradesh (2.0 lakh) are other states having large Buddhist population. Sikkim (28.1%), Arunachal Pradesh (13.0%) and Mizoram (7.9 %)

DISTRIBUTION Baha’is: The roots of the Bahá'í Faith in India go back to the first days of the Bábí religion in 1844.

Zorashtrianism: A small religious community, which exists mostly in Mumbai, is Zoroastrianism. The follower is called Parsi because the religion arrived in India from Persia. This religion was established by Zarathustra in 6th or 7th century BC.

Judaism: In 1948, India had a Jewish population of approximately 30,000. Since then 20,000 have migrated to Israel and elsewhere, leaving a community of 7 to 8 thousand, according to the official estimates. Most of Bene' Israel origin, concentrated in Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Cochin, Poona and a few villages in Maharashton State.

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REFERENCES Franz Boas, 1912. Race, Language and Culture, New York: Macmillan.

Census of India. 2001.

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