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SALIENT FEATURES OF THE INDIAN SOCIETY
Diversity, in social contexts, connotes
“collective differences” in culture, groups,
language and ethnicity. We have always had
variety in abundance in India. India’s
geopolitical condition along with multiple
interactions with foreigners via invasions,
missionaries, trade has led to foreign
influences on the subcontinent which in turn
has had an impact on the social scenario of
the country.
In retrospect, ever since the dawn of human
settlement, India has always harbored a rich
cultural heritage and civilization. Over all
these years, she has provided a healthy
environment for a number of ideas and
culture to flourish and take roots, thereby
facilitating syncretism and synthesizing a
cultural fabric which is unique and exclusive
to the subcontinent. She is home to almost
all the religions of the world, harbors 22
scheduled languages and over 1500 dialects.
India’s geopolitical condition along with
multiple interactions with foreigners via
invasions, missionaries, trade has led to
foreign influences on the subcontinent which
in turn has had an impact on the social
scenario of the country as a whole.
THE LINCHPIN OF THE INDIAN SOCIETY:
BASIC INSTITUTIONS
The Indian society has always been upheld as
‘traditional’ based on the notion that we
Indians reject materialism and pursue only
“spiritualism”. Though the wheels of change
have kept churning and we have embarked
upon a journey towards a more secular, pro
capitalist and modern state, things have
differed in the past.
● The traditional Hindu society has
believed and followed the ascribed
identity which has always been
hierarchical.
● The 4 concepts of “purushartha”,
namely, dharma, artha, kama and
moksha, formed the major goal of
their lives.
● They also believed in 4 stages of life
or ‘ashram’ which were interlinked to
the above mentioned concept of
‘purushartha’.
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● There were concepts of ‘karma’ and
‘rina’ or the debt one owed to the
almighty and the society which could
be met only by performing one’s
‘dharma’.
● The above elements are more in
letters and spirit, than in practice
today.
● Nevertheless, today, they stand
institutionalized as a way of life which
has become all pervading across
various communities.
In the above light, we can say that the Indian
communities and the society at large are
sustained and regulated by social institutions
and the relationship amongst them. Let us
look into the three unique Indian social
institutions that have had a central influence
on the society and the lives of communities
for millennia.
CASTE
● Manusmriti, the authoritative book on
Hindu law, justifies the caste system
as the basic order of the society.
● It is a 3000-year-old system which
divides the Hindu community into a
hierarchy based on their karma and
dharma. The caste system has four
main categories - Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the
Shudras.
● At the top of the hierarchy were the
Brahmins believed to have come from
Brahma's head.
● Then were the Kshatriyas, supposedly
from his arms.
● The third slot went to the Vaishyas,
who were created from his thighs.
● At the bottom of the heap were the
Shudras, who came from Brahma's
feet.
● Outside this caste system were the
Dalits or the untouchables.
Caste has not confined itself to Hinduism and
has seeped into the more egalitarian religions
like Islam. Muslims are divided into classes of
Ashraf and Ajlaf. Ashraf are in turn divided
into Shaikh, Saiyed, Mughal, Pathan while
Ajlaf consist of various other castes like teli,
dhobi, darjee etc. among the Muslim.
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CASTE AND OCCUPATION
● The hereditary association of caste
with an occupation used to be a very
striking feature of the caste system.
● Overtime, occupational hierarchies
gave rise to various jatis.
● The jati system provided a unique
system of cooperation through the
economic system of jajmani.
● It means exchange of goods and
services amongst the jatis and is
based on the patron client
relationship.
● India has 3500 jatis out of which more
than 750 are schedule caste
communities.
Nevertheless, with the advent of market
economy, this system is waning away.
TRIBE
The present popular meaning of the word
‘Tribe’ was acquired during the expansion of
colonialism particularly in Asia and Africa.
● A ‘tribe’ in India is a category of
people, included in the list of the
scheduled tribes. Tribal populations
are not mainstreamed. They form
isolated and rather closed groups, tied
by strong bonds of kinship and
culture.
● One remarkable difference between
tribes and castes is the fact that the
former is more of an egalitarian
system and not mutually
interdependent as is the case with
castes.
● Total population of Scheduled Tribes
is 84,326,240 as per the Census 2001
which accounts for 8.2% of the total
population of country. The share of
the Scheduled Tribe population in
urban areas is a meager 2.4%.
● Geographically, the tribes are
concentrated in five regions namely,
Himalayan region (Gaddi, the Naga
etc.), Middle India (Mundas Santhals
etc.), Western India (Bhils), South
Indian Region (Chenchu,) and the
Islands Region (Onge).
● On the basis of racial features, Guha
(1935) classifies them into the
following three races.
(a) The Proto-Australoids; the Gonds,
Mundas, Hos (central india)
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(b) The Mongoloids- Bhotiya, the
Wanchu, the Naga (Himalayas)
(c) The Negrito- the Onge ,the Jarwa
(Islands)
● Linguistically too, there is great
diversity among these tribes. They
have a total of 105 different
languages and 225 subsidiary
language.
● Numerical strength of tribes also
varies with regions. Tribes like Gonds
and Bhils have decent numbers while
some like Great Andamanese number
less than hundred.
● These tribes also show great variety
in their economic pursuits. Some
tribes like Cholanaicken depended on
food collection and hunting others like
Khasi of Meghalaya practiced shilfing
cultivation.
FAMILY AND KINSHIP
● Kinship System in India indicates the
specific code of conduct to delineate
various relationship ties amongst
individuals and demarcating their role
in and for every relationship not only
by ties of blood but via marriages too.
● Kinship system is essentially a
‘cultural system’, and varies according
to varying cultures. Kinship denotes
family relationship through blood,
adoption or marriage. .
● In the Indian society, it is noteworthy,
that the distinction between blood
kin’s and affinal kin’s is not so sharply
drawn.
● A uniform kinship pattern for the
whole of India has not been and will
not be available, so long, as different
social conditions continue to persist in
different parts of the country and
influence norms and institutions in
those regions.
● Kinship varies from region to region.
Some have localized lineage while in
some part of the country there is a
presence of a larger exogamous
category in many jatis, which is
known as ‘gotra’.
● Some part of the country also has a
class of kinsmen who provide a basis
for some joint action in which those
belonging to the same jati, live in one
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village who are either actual or
potential relatives with the added
bond of village residence.
● Finally, there is a class of fictive kin,
who are not actually related by blood
or marriage can establish fictional
bonds of kinship with one another
LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY
● India is a microcosm of the world’s
language diversity. She has been a
perfect host to and has assimilated
and synthesized different cultural
variety, regional differences, race,
religion and war, to produce a diverse
pattern of language.
FEATURES OF THE INDIAN SOCIETY
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
● On account of such institutions and
their assimilation, the Indian society
has evolved and developed certain
remarkable features which are
peculiar to the Indian system.
● Apart from institutionalization with
respect to marriage, caste and kinship
and multiplicity and plurality in terms
of religion, ethnicity and language,
the Indian community shares bonds of
unity amidst all this diversity, which is
termed as, ‘unity in diversity’.
● India’s diversity is unique in terms of
its enormity and is responsible for the
development of our composite and
rich culture and democracy.
COEXISTENCE OF TRADITION WITH
MODERNITY
● Modernity has a wider
connotation than modernization
which mainly refers to a civilization
Modernity, on the other hand,
connotes a culture primarily
determined by ideals of rationality,
plurality and liberal notions and ethos.
● India's traditional elements have
continued to persist even while new
elements are being introduced
through various heterogenic factors.
Thus these elements of modernity
have not been replaced, instead have
been accommodated into India's
tradition.
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● Such is the diversity that the
languages can provide a primer on
nearly every major aspect of historical
linguistics like the impact of
socioeconomic, ethnic and religious
divides, the influence of foreign
languages, and the development of
writing systems to name a few.
● India is home to 22 constitutionally
recognized languages. However,
number of languages is much higher.
● There are thousands of dialects which
are spoken in the country like the
avadhi and braj spoken in the Hindi
belt. They also play a major role in
formulating regional identities.
● The process of modernization of
Indian Society was ushered with the
introduction of democratic political
system leading to political modernity .
● The elected representatives have
passed legislation to abolish
traditional social structures - abolition
of Zamindari, Untouchability,
Prevention of atrocities act (SC and
ST), Dowry Prohibition, Domestic
Violence etc, dismantling in theory
and legally orthodox hierarchies, and
the judiciary has ensured dispensation
of justice.
● Advent of colonialism brought about
awakening and an ideological shift,
which was consolidated post
independence with indigenous
reforms
● However sociologists observe that
tradition has held its ground. The
inertia and rigidity of traditional
structures has violently resisted
change .
● The process of secularization hasn’t
been successful to provide functional
alternatives to traditional structures in
order to maintain social solidarity and
control.
● Religious revivalism has cropped up
against the modern tenets of
secularization and rationalization.
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● Violence against women has reached
new level as the struggle against
patriarchy continues.
● Moreover the ability of old structures
to continuously adapt to changes in
society has ensured their co-
existence.
● Caste has been rejuvenated through
caste based political parties in
democratic system. The class
structures have seen reproduction of
caste hierarchies.
COEXISTENCE OF SPIRITUALISM WITH
MATERIALISM
● Materialism focuses on material well-
being and progress and is reflected as
the desire for material possessions
and the incessant struggle to attain
them.
● It is the search for Artha and Kama.
Materialism is inevitable and is
embodied in the present model of
capitalism and consumerism and the
quest for wellbeing and prosperous.
● Spiritualism in India is a complete
philosophy of human life, the correct
way of living and right way of
thinking.
● It can be traced to the ideals of
dharma and moksha of ‘purushartha’.
It is letting go of desires and
detaching from worldly possessions so
as to control your senses to connect
with the inner supreme conscious.
● Such is the veracity of and the depth
of the imprint on the Indian minds of
the Aryan civilization, Islamic,
Buddhist and Bhakti and Sufi culture,
that almost Every Indian can tell
stories of history, which serves as a
reminder of a consciousness of a great
civilization heritage.
It is this spirituality which enables even the
most deprived to endure poverty and it is
materialism and its aspiration which provides
the prospect of improvement.
WHERE DOES THE INDIAN SOCIETY
STAND TODAY? AN EVALUATION OF THE
EVOLUTIONARY TREND
● Social infrastructure, cultural,
attitudinal and behavioral patterns do
not remain static. As years pass, there
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is a need to grow and evolve with the
changing circumstances. For any
society to move forward, two things
are necessary. First, the need to
accept that these faults exist and
second, addressing them with
alacrity.
● Political independence has made
possible for the nation to achieve
credible development and growth.
The liberal values and changes in the
ideological patterns have brought
about changes in the institutional
framework that India has been
envisaging for centuries.
● Expansion of western education have
shattered the traditional structure of
caste. With increased mobility in
professions, there is a transformation
of rigid caste into modern mobile
classes. Besides, there is a
secularization of occupation. Among
high castes there is a trend towards
Modernization while among low
classes is a trend towards
Sanskritization.
● The fragmentation of the feudal
society has given rise to new classes.
This genesis is based on the
disintegration of the caste system.
● The impact of modern social forces is
also evident in the change of family
structure which is exhibiting
characteristics of urban family.
● Urbanization is another evolutionary
pattern noticed in the Indian scenario.
Growth of secularism has developed a
value system which emphasizes
individual initiative and responsibility.
● The emphasis on individuality and
individual rights has tremendously
affected woman and has challenged to
the traditional view of society that
women as a class are inferior to men.
Women’s role in decision-making is
assuming significance and they are
pursuing emancipation.
● Modern means of communication,
growth of competitive economy and
expansion of western education have
shattered the traditional structure of
caste. With increased mobility in
professions, there is a transformation
of rigid caste into modern mobile
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classes. Besides, there is a capitalist system has led to the

secularization of occupation. Among
high castes there is a trend towards
Modernization while among low
classes is a trend towards
Sanskritization.
● The transformation of the Indian
society from a feudal society to a
development of new classes. The
genesis of these new classes is based
on the disintegration of the caste
system.
All the above instances bear testimony to
how our mindsets have changed over time.

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