Page 22 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 1: Indian Society

Self-Assessment Notes
1. Choose the correct option:
(i) India is the seventh largest and the second most populour nation of the world occupying
............... of the total world area.
(a) 2.4% (b) 3.5% (c) 2.8% (d) None of these
(ii) After Hindi the highest spoken language in India ............... .
(a) Bengali (b) Telugu (c) Urdu (d) Marathi
(iii) Sikkism emerged in the ............... .
(a) 13rd century (b) 14th cetury (c) 15th century (d) None of these
(iv) According to B.S. Guha, Indian population is derived from ............... .
(a) two ethnic groups (b) six ethnic groups
(c) negrites (d) None of these
(v) Nordic Aryans came from central Asia between ............... .
(a) 3000 and 2500 B.C. (b) 2000 and 1500 B.C.
(c) 1000 and 500 B.C. (d) None of these

1.6 Summary

• India is the seventh largest and the second most populous nation of the world occupying 2.4
per cent of the total world area. It contains about 15.0 per cent of the world’s population
living in a variety of social, economic, geographical and ecological conditions.
• The diversity runs through various races, religions, castes, tribes, languages, social customs,
cultural and sub-cultural beliefs, political philosophies, and ideologies.
• The Indo-Aryan languages include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Punjabi, Bihari,
Rajasthani, Assamese, Sanskrit, Sindhi, and Kashmiri languages covering about three-fourths
of India’s population. The Dravidian languages include Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and
Kannada. The European languages include English, Portuguese, and French. The last two
languages are mostly spoken by people in Goa and Pondicherry.
• Some states were even created after independence on the language basis, e.g., Punjab was
divided in Punjab and Haryana, and Maharashtra was divided in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Some states like Mizoram and Nagaland were created on cultural basis.
• Hinduism advocates the doctrines of karma (doing one’s duties), dharma, rebirth (man takes
84,000 births, depending upon good and bad deeds of his life), immortality of soul (soul
never dies), renunciation, and moksha (freedom from the cycle of births and deaths).
• Islam came to India along with the Muslim invasions. It is strictly a monotheistic religion
which professes the fatalistic acceptance” of Allah’s (God’s) will. It docs not believe in idol
worship. It considers Prophet Mohammed as the greatest prophet and the Quran as the most
sacred book. It prescribes five duties as the primary duties of a devout Muslim: belief in
Allah, prayers five times a day, the giving of alms, a month’s fast every year, and a pilgrimage
to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.
• The castes are hereditary endogamous groups with fixed traditional occupations, observing
commensal prohibitions and social restrictions on interaction. It is believed that there are
about 3,000 castes in the country. These castes are grouped as upper castes (like Brahmins,
Rajputs, Baniyas, Kayasthas, etc.), intermediate castes (like Ahir, Sunar, Kurmi, etc.), and
lower castes (like Dhobi, Nai, etc.).
• The total tribal population in India is 52.03 million (1991 census), which comes to 7.8 per cent
of the country’s total population. The important tribes are: Santhals, Bhils, Meenas, Gonds,
Mundas, Nagas, Khasis, Oraons, Garos, and Hos.

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