South Asia:
Cultural Diversity

Countries of this realm differ in their cultural diversity. India and Pakistan have great cultural diversity. Bangladesh is more homogeneous. Sri Lanka has two major cultural groups who are in a virtual state of war.

Study the following data from the 1997 CIA World Factbook on the four most populous countries of the realm. Know the major religions and note the minority religions and the diversity of languages. Web links to the 1998 CIA Online Factbook are included for your information.

INDIA [sspeoind]

• Ethnic groups [sspeoind]: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3%
• Religions [ssrelig]: Hindu 80%, Muslim 14%, Christian 2.4%, Sikh 2%, Buddhist 0.7%, Jains 0.5%, other 0.4%
• Languages [sslang]: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication, Hindi the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people, Bengali (official), Telugu (official), Marathi (official), Tamil (official), Urdu (official), Gujarati (official), Malayalam (official), Kannada (official), Oriya (official), Punjabi (official), Assamese (official), Kashmiri (official), Sindhi (official), Sanskrit (official), Hindustani a popular variant of Hindu/Urdu, is spoken widely throughout northern India.
  
  Note : 24 languages each spoken by a million or more persons; numerous other languages and dialects, for the most part mutually unintelligible

Cultural Characteristics of India: Language [sslang] [sspeoind]

• 14 official (more than 1500 overall)
• Two broad linguistic regions:
  • Indo-European to the north and
  • Dravidian to the South Official languages: English (1%), Hindi (35%), 8 other Indo-Eur, 4 Dravidian
• Linguistic patterns have political expression in Indian states

Cultural Characteristics of India: Religion [ssrelig] [sspeoind]

• Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and others
• Hinduism 80% of population
  • polytheistic, ethnic religion
  • Basic concepts: dharma (duty within society), reincarnation, karma, ahimsa (reverence for life)
  • Caste system
  • Spatial aspects
• Islam -- origin and diffusion
  • Majority in Pakistan and Bangladesh
  • approx. 14% in India
• Buddhism -- origin and distribution
  • about 1% of India's population, majority in Nepal and Sri Lanka
• Sikhs -- origin and distribution
  • Mainly in NW Indian state of Punjab, minority in India and Pakistan culture history

PAKISTAN [sspeopak]

Ethnic groups [sspeopak]: Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun (Pathan), Baloch, Muhajir (immigrants from India and their descendants)

Religions [ssrelig] [sspeopak]: Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%, Shi'a 20%), Christian, Hindu, and other 3%

Languages [sslang] [sspeopak]: Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8%

Bangladesh [sspeoban]

• Ethnic groups [sspeoban]: Bengali 98%, Biharis 250,000, tribals less than 1 million
• Religions [ssrelig] [sspeoban]: Muslim 88.3%, Hindu 10.5%, other 1.2%
• Languages [sslang] [sspeoban]: Bangla (official), English

Sri Lanka [sspeosri]

• Ethnic groups [sspeosri]: Sinhalese 74%, Tamil 18%, Moor 7%, Burgher, Malay, and Vedda 1%
• Religions [ssrelig] [sspeosri]: Buddhist 69%, Hindu 15%, Christian 8%, Muslim 8%
• Languages [sslang] [sspeosri]: Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%

Sources:
CIA Factbook
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html