Languages of India Official language(s) Hindi written in the Devangar script (the Indian Constitution recognises English as a subsidiary

official language) Regional language(s) Assamese Bengali Bodo Chhattisgarhi Dogri Garo Gujarati Standard Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Khasi Kokborok Konkani Maithili Malayalam Manipuri Marathi Mizo Nepali Oriya Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Telugu Tamil Urdu The languages of India belong to several major linguistic families, the two largest being the Indo-European languagesIndo-Aryan (spoken by 70% of Indians)and the Dravidian languages (spoken by 22% of Indians). Other languages spoken in India come mainly from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families, in addition to a few language isolates.[1] The principal official language of the Republic of India is Hindi while English is the secondary official language.[2] The constitution of India states that "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script."[3] Neither the Constitution of India nor Indian law specifies a National language, a position supported by a High Court ruling.[4] However, languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian constitution are sometimes referred to, without legal standing, as the national languages of India.[5][6] Individual mother tongues in India number several hundred;[7] the 1961 census recognized 1,652[8] (SIL Ethnologue lists 415). According to Census of India of 2001, 29 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000. Three millennia of language contact has led to significant mutual influence among the four language families in India and South Asia. Two contact languages have played an important role in the history of India: Persian and English.[9] Hindi speaking regions in the vicinity of India The northern Indian languages from the Indo-European family evolved from Old IndoAryan such as Sanskrit, by way of the Middle Indo-Aryan Prakrit languages and Apabhraa of the Middle Ages. There is no consensus for a specific time where the modern north Indian languages such as Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Saraiki, Punjabi, Assamese, Sindhi, Bengali and Oriya emerged, but AD 1000 is commonly accepted.[10] Each language had different influences, with Hindi/Urdu and closely related Hindustani languages being strongly influenced by Persian. The Dravidian languages of South India had a history independent of Sanskrit. The major Dravidian languages are Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.[11] Though Dravidian in origin, over eighty percent of words in Malayalam are pure Sanskrit words. Religions in India India is a country where religious diversity and religious tolerance is established in both law and custom. Throughout the history of India, religion has been an important part of the country's culture. India is the birth place of four of the world's major religious traditions; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. [1] A vast majority of Indians associate themselves with a religion.

According to the 2001 census, Hinduism accounts for 80.5% of the population of India.[2] Islam (13.4%), Christianity (2.3%) and Sikhism (1.9%) are the other major religions followed by the people of India. This diversity of religious belief systems existing in India today is a result of, besides existence and birth of native religions, assimilation and social integration of religions brought to the region by traders, travelers, immigrants, and even invaders and conquerors. Stating the hospitality of Hinduism towards all other religions, John Hardon writes, "However, the most significant feature of current Hinduism is its creation of a non-Hindu State, in which all religions are equal;..."[3] Ancient India had two philosophical streams of thought, the Shramana religions and the Vedic religion, parallel traditions that have existed side by side for thousands of years.[4] Buddhism and Jainism are continuations of Shramana traditions, while modern Hinduism is a continuation of the Vedic tradition. These co-existing traditions have been mutually influential. Zoroastrianism and Judaism also have an ancient history in India and each has several thousand Indian adherents. India has the largest population of people adhering to Zoroastrianism and Bah' Faith anywhere in the world. [5] [6] Bah's make up 0.2% of the Indian population The Constitution of India declares the nation to be a secular republic that must uphold the right of citizens to freely worship and propagate any religion or faith (with activities subject to reasonable restrictions for the sake of morality, law and order, etc.).[7][8]. The Constitution of India also declares the right to freedom of religion as a fundamental right. Citizens of India are generally tolerant of each other's religions and retain a secular outlook, although inter-religious marriage is not widely practiced. The Supreme Court of India has ruled that Sharia or Muslim law, held precedence for Muslims over Indian civil law.[9] Inter-community clashes have found little support in the social mainstream, and it is generally perceived that the causes of religious conflicts are political rather than ideological in nature.[citation needed]