| India
is probably the only country with the largest and most
diverse mixture of races. All the five major racial
types - Australoid, Mongoloid, Europoid, Caucasian and
Negroid - find representation among the people of India
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| Population |
: |
1,080,264,388
(July 2005 est.) |
| Nationality |
: |
noun: Indian(s)
adjective: Indian |
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| Ethnic groups |
: |
Indo-Aryan
72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000) |
| Languages |
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English enjoys associate status but is the most important
language for national, political, and commercial communication;
Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30%
of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali,
Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada,
Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit;
Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely
throughout northern India but is not an official language.
Indian literature dates back several millennia to the hymns
of the vedic Aryans. The oral tradition nurtured classical
literature, and produced great works of philosophy and religious
doctrine. It also accounted for compilations of anecdotes
like the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales, as well as epics
like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In southern India,
the creative energies of the Tamil poets found expression
in the great works of Sangam literature. The epic Tirukkural
by Tiruvalluvar is a masterpiece of this age. In the north,
dramatists like Kalidasa and Bhasa produced great dramas
in Sanskrit.
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| Literacy |
: |
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 59.5%
male: 70.2%
female: 48.3% (2003 est.) |
| Terrain |
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Upland
plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along
the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north |
India is a very large country, with an estimated population
of one billion (by comparison, Britain has 58 million). It
has, after China, the largest population of any country in
the world.
Most people living in India are subject to the caste system.
The caste system in India is part of the Hindu religion, to
which 82 per cent of the people belong. The caste system used
to regulate who did what jobs, how rich people were likely
to become, and many aspects of their lives. Only very high
caste Hindus, called Brahmins, could become Hindu priests.
Lower-caste people were generally the poorest. The lowest
Hindu castes were called untouchables and did the jobs no-one
else wanted to. The Indian goverment has introduced laws to
modify the caste system. Untouchability in the traditional
sense has been outlawed and the lowest castes are now called
“Scheduled Castes” or “Dalits” (meaning
the “oppressed”). Despite this the caste people
are born into continues to have a strong influence on the
life they can expect to lead.
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