In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest population of Hindus, [1] about 510 million Muslims, [1] over 27 million Sikhs, 35 million Christians and over 25 million Buddhists. [2] Hindus make up about 68 percent or about 900 million and Muslims at 31 percent or 510 million of the overall South Asia population, [3] while Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, and Christians constitute most of the rest. The Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, and Christians are concentrated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while the Muslims are concentrated in Afghanistan (99%), Bangladesh (91%), Pakistan (96%) and Maldives (100%). [1]
Indian religions (also known as Dharmic religions) are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism. [4] The Indian religions are distinct yet share terminology, concepts, goals and ideas, and from South Asia spread into East Asia and Southeast Asia. [4] Early Christianity and Islam were introduced into coastal regions of South Asia by merchants who settled among the local populations. Later Sindh, Balochistan, and parts of the Punjab region saw conquest by the Arab caliphates along with an influx of Muslims from Persia and Central Asia, which resulted in spread of both Shia and Sunni Islam in parts of northwestern region of South Asia. Subsequently, under the influence of Muslim rulers of the Islamic sultanates and the Mughal Empire, Islam spread in South Asia. [5] [6] About one-third of the world's Muslims are from South Asia. [7] [8] [9]
South Asia was primarily Hindu in ancient times. Buddhism appeared around 500 BCE. [10]
Christianity and Islam made an appearance in Kerala during this time period; Saint Thomas is believed to have travelled to Kerala soon after the death of Jesus and converted some people, [11] while the first mosque to be built in India was built during the Islamic prophet Muhammad's lifetime in Kerala. [12] Islam also established itself in Sindh due to Umayyad invasions soon after Muhammad's death. [13]
Some Jews and Zoroastrians came to South Asia because they were fleeing religious persecution. [14]
Centuries of Islamic invasion and rule over South Asia in the medieval era began to change the religious character of the region. Sufism played a significant role in the spread of Islam during this time. [15] Sikhism emerged in this era, bringing a message of equality and creating military resistance to Muslim rule. [16]
Nepal's formation during this period occurred in part due to the desire of Hindus to avoid being influenced by the dominant Muslim Mughal Empire and British Christian missionaries. [17]
Christianity grew to some extent during the colonial era; the Goa Inquisition committed by the Portuguese helped Catholicism establish itself in Goa, [19] [20] while British missionaries spread Christianity through the rest of India. [21] [22]
Religious tensions increased with the independence of British India, as it was partitioned into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan (which later became Pakistan and Bangladesh), and many died during the creation of the new countries. [23] Tensions further increased with Pakistani terrorist attacks on and Pakistani military conflicts with India. [24]
Religious nationalism has grown in the post-colonial era. Pakistan converted from a secular republic to an Islamic Republic after Independence, [25] while Bangladesh made Islam the state religion (though while maintaining secularism in the Constitution). [26] Hindu nationalism has grown since the 2014 election of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. [27]
Hinduism is the largest religion in South Asia with about 1.2 billion Hindus, forming just under two-thirds of South Asia's population. South Asia has the largest population of Hindus in the world, with about 99% of all global Hindus being from South Asia. Hinduism is the dominant religion in India and Nepal and is the second-largest religion in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.
Indo-Aryan migrations brought the Indo-Aryans to South Asia, where they compiled and composed the Vedic corpus during the Vedic period (ca. 1500-500 BCE) across present-day Northern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The subsequent period, between and , was "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions", and a formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and Early Puranic period, from c. and 500 CE, saw the onset of the Hindu synthesis, followed by the classical "Golden Age" of India (), which coincides with the Gupta Empire.
Following the conquest of Islamic rulers in the Indian subcontinent and spread of Islam in South Asia, an era featuring persecution of Hindus began and continued until the end of Mughal Empire. The Vijayanagara and Maratha Empire significantly protected and revived Hinduism in the Indian subcontinent, while the Jaffna Kingdom and Gorkha dynasty have significantly protected Hinduism in Sri Lanka and Nepal respectively.Islam is the second-largest religion in South Asia, with more than 650 million Muslims living there, forming about one-third of the region's population. Islam first spread along the coastal regions of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, almost as soon as it started in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Arab traders brought it to South Asia. South Asia has the largest population of Muslims in the world, with about one-third of all Muslims living here. [28] [29] Islam is the dominant religion in half of the South Asian countries (Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). It is the second largest religion in India and third largest in Sri Lanka and Nepal.
On the Indian subcontinent, Islam first appeared in the southwestern tip of the peninsula, in today's Kerala state. Arabs traded with Malabar even before the birth of Muhammad. Native legends say that a group of Sahaba, under Malik Ibn Deenar, arrived on the Malabar Coast and preached Islam. According to that legend, the first mosque of India was built by the mandate of the last King of Chera Perumals of Makotai, who accepted Islam and received the name Tajudheen during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632). [30] [31] [32] On a similar note, Tamil Muslims on the eastern coast also claim that they converted to Islam in Muhammad's lifetime. According to Qissat Shakarwati Farmad, the Masjids at Kodungallur, Kollam, Madayi, Barkur, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Kannur, Dharmadam, Panthalayini, and Chaliyam, were built during the era of Malik Dinar, and they are among the oldest Masjids in Indian Subcontinent. [33] [34] [35] Historicaly, the Barwada Mosque in Ghogha, Gujarat built before 623 CE, Cheraman Juma Mosque (629 CE) in Methala, Kerala and Palaiya Jumma Palli (630 CE) in Kilakarai, Tamil Nadu are three of the first mosques in South Asia. [36] [37] [38] [39] [34]
The first incursion occurred through sea by Caliph Umar's governor of Bahrain, Usman ibn Abu al-Aas, who sent his brother Hakam ibn Abu al-Aas to raid and reconnoitre the Makran region [40] around 636 CE or 643 AD long before any Arab army reached the frontier of India by land. Al-Hakim ibn Jabalah al-Abdi, who attacked Makran in the year 649 AD, was an early partisan of Ali ibn Abu Talib. [41] During the caliphate of Ali, many Hindu Jats of Sindh had come under the influence of Shi'ism [42] and some even participated in the Battle of Camel and died fighting for Ali. [41] According to popular tradition, Islam was brought to Lakshadweep islands, situated just to the west of Malabar Coast, by Ubaidullah in 661 CE. After the Rashidun Caliphate, Muslim dynasties came to power. [43] [44] Since 1947, South Asia has been largely governed by modern states. [45] [46]
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Christianity in Asia has its roots in the very inception of Christianity, which originated from the life and teachings of Jesus in 1st-century Roman Judea. Christianity then spread through the missionary work of his apostles, first in the Levant and taking roots in the major cities such as Jerusalem and Antioch. According to tradition, further eastward expansion occurred via the preaching of Thomas the Apostle, who established Christianity in the Parthian Empire (Iran) and India. The very First Ecumenical Council was held in the city of Nicaea in Asia Minor (325). The first nations to adopt Christianity as a state religion were Armenia in 301 and Georgia in 327. By the 4th century, Christianity became the dominant religion in all Asian provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire.
After the First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Nestorian Schism, the Nestorian Christianity developed. Nestorians began converting Mongols around the 7th century, and Nestorian Christianity was probably introduced into China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Mongols tended to be tolerant of multiple religions, with several Mongol tribes being primarily Christian, and under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson, the great khan Möngke, Christianity was a small religious influence of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.
The Fourth Ecumenical Council was held in Asian city of Chalcedon (451). Christological controversies and disputes that surrounded the Council and its aftermath gradually resulted in division between pro-Chalcedonian ( Eastern Orthodox) and anti-Chalcedonian ( Oriental Orthodox) Christianity. [47]
At the late 12th and 13th centuries, there was some effort to reunite Eastern and Western Christianity. There were also numerous missionary efforts from Europe to Asia, primarily by Franciscan, Dominican, or Jesuit missionaries. In the 16th century, Spain began to convert Filipinos. In the 18th century, Catholicism developed more or less independently in Korea.
At present, Christianity continues to be the majority religion in the Philippines, East Timor, Armenia, Georgia, Cyprus and Russia. It has significant minority populations in South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Israel, Palestine (including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip), Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and several other countries in Asia with a total Christian population of more than 295 million. [48]
As of 2021, there are nearly 383 million Christians in Asia. [49]Sikhism ( ), also known as Sikhi ( ', , from ), is a monotheistic religion and philosophy, that originated in the Punjab region of India around the end of the 15th century CE. Sikhism is classified as an Indian religion or Dharmic religion along with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups and among the largest in the world with about 25–30million adherents (known as Sikhs).
Sikhism developed from the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the faith's first guru, and the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him. The tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), named the Guru Granth Sahib, which is the central religious scripture in Sikhism, as his successor. This brought the line of human gurus to a close. Sikhs regard the Guru Granth Sahib as the 11th and eternally living guru.
The core beliefs and practices of Sikhism, articulated in the Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh scriptures, include faith and meditation in the name of the one creator ( Ik Onkar), the divine unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in selfless service to others ( sevā), striving for justice for the benefit and prosperity of all ( sarbat da bhala), and honest conduct and livelihood. Following this standard, Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on absolute truth. As a consequence, Sikhs do not actively proselytize, although voluntary converts are generally accepted. Sikhism emphasizes meditation and remembrance as a means to feel God's presence ( simran), which can be expressed musically through kirtan or internally through naam japna (). Baptised Sikhs are obliged to wear the five Ks, which are five articles of faith which physically distinguish Sikhs from non-Sikhs. Among these include the kesh (uncut hair). Most religious Sikh men thus do not cut their hair but rather wear a turban.
The religion developed and evolved in times of religious persecution, gaining converts from both Hinduism and Islam. The Mughal emperors of India tortured and executed two of the Sikh gurus— Guru Arjan (1563–1605) and Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675)—after they refused to convert to Islam. In the context of this persecution, Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh guru (1606–1644), established the concept of Miri Piri: the mutual co-existence of both the miri ("political/temporal") and piri ("spiritual") realms. The persecution of the Sikhs ultimately triggered the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 as an order to protect the freedom of conscience and religion, with members expressing the qualities of a sant-sipāhī ("saint-soldier"). The Sikh community may be seen to correspond to A.D. Smith's definition of a politicized community, sharing common ancestry myths and historical memories of martyrdom and persecution under successive rulers.Buddhism is an ancient Indian religion, which arose in and around the ancient Kingdom of Magadha (now in Bihar, India), and is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha who was deemed a " Buddha" ("Awakened One"), although Buddhist doctrine holds that there were other Buddhas before him. Buddhism spread outside of Magadha starting in the Buddha's lifetime.
During the reign of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, the Buddhist community split into two branches: the Mahāsāṃghika and the Sthaviravāda, each of which spread throughout India and split into numerous sub-sects. In modern times, two major branches of Buddhism exist: the Theravada in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and the Mahayana throughout the Himalayas and East Asia. The Buddhist tradition of Vajrayana is sometimes classified as a part of Mahayana Buddhism, but some scholars consider it to be a different branch altogether.
The practice of Buddhism lost influence in India around the 7th century CE, after the collapse of the Gupta Empire. The last large state to support Buddhism—the Pala Empire—fell in the 12th century. By the end of the 12th century, Buddhism had largely disappeared from India with the exception of the Himalayan region and isolated remnants in parts of south India. However, since the 19th century, modern revivals of Buddhism have included the Maha Bodhi Society, the Vipassana movement, and the Dalit Buddhist movement spearheaded by B. R. Ambedkar. There has also been a growth in Tibetan Buddhism with the arrival of Tibetan refugees and the Tibetan government in exile to India, following the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950. According to the 2011 Census there are 8.4 million Buddhists in India (0.70% of the total population).Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of Dharma), with the first in the current time cycle being Rishabhadeva, whom the tradition holds to have lived millions of years ago, the twenty-third tirthankara Parshvanatha, whom historians date to the 9th century BCE, and the twenty-fourth tirthankara Mahavira, around 600 BCE. Jainism is considered an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every time cycle of the cosmology. The three main pillars of Jainism are ahiṃsā (non-violence), anekāntavāda (non-absolutism), and aparigraha (asceticism).
Jain monks take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). These principles have affected Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly lacto-vegetarian lifestyle. Parasparopagraho jīvānām (the function of souls is to help one another) is the faith's motto, and the Namokar Mantra is its most common and strongest prayer.
Jainism is one of the oldest religions still practiced today. It has two major ancient sub-traditions, Digambaras and Śvētāmbaras, which hold different views on ascetic practices, gender, and the texts considered canonical. Both sub-traditions have mendicants supported by laypersons ( śrāvakas and śrāvikas). The Śvētāmbara tradition in turn has two sub-traditions: Deravasi also known as Mandirmargis, and Sthānakavasī. The religion has between four and five million followers, known as Jains or Jainas, who reside mostly in India, where they numbered around 4.5 million at the 2011 census. Outside India, some of the largest Jain communities can be found in Canada, Europe, and the United States. Japan is also home to a fast-growing community of converts. Major festivals include Paryushana and Das Lakshana, Ashtanika, Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, Akshaya Tritiya, and Dipawali.Zoroastrianism (), also known as Mazdayasna and Behdin, is an Iranian religion. Among the world's oldest organized faiths, it is based on the teachings of Iranian prophet Zarathustra—commonly known by his Greek name Zoroaster—as set forth in the primary religious text called the Avesta. Zoroastrians exalt an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, commonly referred to as Ahura Mazda (), as the universe's supreme being; opposed to Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyu (), who is personified as a destructive spirit and the adversary of all things good. Zoroastrianism combines a dualistic cosmology of good and evil with an eschatology that predicts the ultimate triumph of Ahura Mazda over evil. Opinions vary among scholars as to whether the religion is monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, or a combination of all three. Zoroastrianism influenced Iranian culture and history as well as ancient Western philosophy and the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Originating from Zoroaster's reforms of the ancient Iranian religion, Zoroastrianism may have roots in the Avestan period of the second millennium BCE but was first recorded in the mid sixth century BCE. For the next thousand years, it was the official religion of successive Iranian polities, beginning with the Achaemenid Empire, which formalized and institutionalized many of its tenets and rituals, through the Sasanian Empire, which revitalized the faith and standardized its teachings. Following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the mid seventh century CE, Zoroastrianism declined amid persecution and forced conversions by the early Muslims; many Zoroastrians fled to the Indian subcontinent, where they received refugees and became the progenitors of today's Parsis. Once numbering millions of adherents at its height, the world's current Zoroastrian population is estimated at between 110,000–200,000, with the vast majority residing in India (50,000–60,000), Iran (15,000–25,000), and North America (21,000); the religion is thought to be declining due to restrictions on conversion, strict endogamy, and low birth rates.
The central beliefs and practices of Zoroastrianism are contained in the Avesta, a compendium of texts assembled over several centuries. Its oldest and most central component are the Gathas, purported to be the direct teachings of Zoroaster and his account of conversations with Ahura Mazda. These writings are part of a major section of the Avesta called the Yasna, which forms the core of Zoroastrian liturgy. Zoroaster's religious philosophy divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian paganism into emanations of the natural world, known as ahuras and daevas ; the former are to be revered and the latter rejected. Zoroaster proclaimed that Ahura Mazda was the supreme creator and sustaining force of the universe, working in gētīg (the visible material realm) and mēnōg (the invisible spiritual and mental realm) through seven Amesha Spentas, which variably represent aspects of the universe as well as the highest moral goods. Emanating from Ahura Mazda is Spenta Mainyu (the Holy or Bountiful Spirit), the source of life and goodness, which is opposed by Angra Mainyu (the Destructive or Opposing Spirit), who is born from Aka Manah (evil thought). Angra Mainyu was further developed by Middle Persian literature into Ahriman (), Mazda's direct adversary.
Zoroastrianism holds that within this cosmic dichotomy, humans have the choice between Asha (truth, cosmic order), the principle of righteousness or "rightness" that is promoted and embodied by Ahura Mazda, and Druj (falsehood, deceit), the essential nature of Angra Mainyu that expresses itself as greed, wrath, and envy. The central moral precepts of the religion are good thoughts (hwnata) good words (hakhta), good deeds (hvarshta), which are recited in many prayers and ceremonies. Zoroastrianism maintains many practices and beliefs from ancient Iranian religion, such as revering nature and its elements. Fire is held to be particularly sacred as a symbol of Ahura Mazda, serving as focal point of many ceremonies and rituals, and Zoroastrian places of worship are known as Fire Temples.Country | State religion | Religious population as a percentage of total population | |||||||
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Buddhism | Christianity | Hinduism | Islam | Kiratism | Sikhism | Others | Year reported | ||
Afghanistan | Islam | – | – | – | 99.7% | – | – | 0.3% | 2019 [50] |
Bangladesh | Islam | 0.6% | 0.4% | 9.5% | 90.4% | – | – | – | 2011 [51] |
Bhutan | Vajrayana Buddhism | 74.8% | 0.5% | 22.6% | 0.1% | – | – | 2% | 2010 [52] [53] |
India | Hinduism | 0.7% | 2.3% | 79.8% | 14.2% | – | 1.7% | 1.3% | 2011 [54] [55] |
Maldives | Sunni Islam | – | – | – | 100% | – | – | – | [56] [57] [58] |
Nepal | Hinduism | 9% | 1.3% | 81.3% | 4.4% | 3% | – | 0.8% | 2013 [59] |
Pakistan | Islam | – | 1.59% | 1.85% | 96.28% | – | – | 0.07% | 2010 [60] |
Sri Lanka | Theravada Buddhism | 70.2% | 6.2% | 12.6% | 9.7% | – | – | 1.4% | 2011 [61] |
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A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste ( endogamy), follow lifestyles often linked to a particular occupation, hold a ritual status observed within a hierarchy, and interact with others based on cultural notions of exclusion, with certain castes considered as either more pure or more polluted than others. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in eusocial insects such as ants, bees, and termites.
Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups. Its roots lie in South Asia's ancient history and it still exists; however, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. In colonial Spanish America, mixed-race castas were a category within the Hispanic sector but the social order was otherwise fluid.The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the establishment of the British Raj. [62] [63] [64] [65] It is today the basis of affirmative action programmes in India as enforced through its constitution. [66] The caste system consists of two different concepts, varna and jati, which may be regarded as different levels of analysis of this system.
The caste system as it exists today is thought to be the result of developments during the collapse of the Mughal era and the rise of the British colonial government in India. [62] [67] [68] The British Raj furthered this development, making rigid caste organisation a central mechanism of administration. [67] Between 1860 and 1920, the British incorporated the Indian caste system into their system of governance, granting administrative jobs and senior appointments only to Christians and people belonging to certain castes. [69] Social unrest during the 1920s led to a change in this policy. [70] Caste was no longer used by the colonial authority to functionally organize civil society. This reflected changes in administrative practices, understandings of expertise, and the rise of new European scholarly institutions. [71] After the 1920s, the colonial administration began a policy of positive discrimination by reserving a certain percentage of government jobs for the lower castes. In 1948, negative discrimination on the basis of caste was banned by law and further enshrined in the Indian constitution in 1950; [72] however, the system continues to be practiced in parts of India. [66] There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in India, each related to a specific occupation. [73]Muslim communities in South Asia have a system of social stratification arising from concepts other than "pure" and "impure", which are integral to the caste system in India. It developed as a result of relations among foreign conquerors, local upper-caste Hindus convert to Islam ( ashraf, also known as tabqa-i ashrafiyya) and local lower-caste converts (ajlaf), as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system by converts. Non-ashrafs are backward-caste converts. The concept of "pasmanda" includes ajlaf and arzal Muslims; ajlaf status is defined by descent from converts to Islam and by pesha (profession). These terms are not part of the sociological vocabulary in regions such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and say little about the functioning of Muslim society.
The Biradari system is social stratification in Pakistan and, to an extent, India. The South Asian Muslim caste system includes hierarchical classifications of khandan (dynasty, family, or lineage).Hindutva (Hindi pronunciation: [hɪnˈdʊtvə] lit. 'Hindu-ness') is a political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. [74] [75] [76] [77] The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1922. [78] [79] It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [80] [81] and other organisations, collectively called the Sangh Parivar.
Inspired by European fascism, [82] [83] the Hindutva movement has been described as a variant of right-wing extremism, [84] and as "almost fascist in the classical sense", adhering to a concept of homogenised majority and cultural hegemony. [85] [86] Some have also described Hindutva as a separatist ideology. [87] [88] Some analysts dispute the identification of Hindutva with fascism, and suggest Hindutva is an extreme form of conservatism or ethno-nationalism. [89]The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno‐ religious sovereign state called Khalistan ( lit. ' land of the Khalsa') in the Punjab region. [93] The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different groups; some suggest the entirety of the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab, while larger claims include Pakistani Punjab and other parts of North India such as Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. [94] Shimla and Lahore have been proposed as the capital of Khalistan. [95] [96]
The call for a separate Sikh state began during the 1930s, when British rule in India was nearing its end. [97] In 1940, the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in a pamphlet titled "Khalistan". [98] [99] With financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora, the movement flourished in the Indian state of Punjab – which has a Sikh-majority population – continuing through the 1970s and 1980s, and reaching its zenith in the late 1980s. The Sikh separatist leader Jagjit Singh Chohan said that during his talks with Pakistani prime minister that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto affirmed "we'll help you and make it the capital of Khalistan" and claimed Bhutto wanted revenge over Bangladesh. [100]
The separatist militant insurgency in Punjab started in the early 1980s. [101] [102] Several militant groups were involved in the armed insurgency, including Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Commando Force, among others. [103] In 1986, Khalistan Commando Force took responsibility for the assassination of General Arun Vaidya, in retaliation for 1984's Operation Blue Star. [104] [105] By the mid-1990s, the insurgency petered out, with the last major incident being the assassination of Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was killed in a bomb blast by a member of Babbar Khalsa. [106] The movement failed to reach its objective for multiple reasons, including heavy police crackdowns on separatists, factional infighting, and disillusionment from the Sikh population. [101] [107]
There is some support within India and the Sikh diaspora, with yearly demonstrations in protest of those killed during Operation Blue Star. [108] [109] [110] In early 2018, some militant groups were arrested by police in Punjab, India. [101] Former Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh claimed that the recent extremism is backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and "Khalistani sympathisers" in Canada, Italy, and the UK. [111] Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is currently the only pro-Khalistan party in the Indian parliament. [112] [113]{{
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Independent India's constitution banned discrimination on the basis of caste, and, in an attempt to correct historical injustices and provide a level playing field to the traditionally disadvantaged, the authorities announced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and tribes, the lowest in the caste hierarchy, in 1950.
Hindutva is a political ideology that does not necessarily represent the view of the majority of Hindus in India.
Hindutva , especially in their early stages , exemplify a process of ideological borrowing from both European fascism and a fabrication of " Vedic Hinduism " that defies the binarism of local/global.
the archival evidence presented by Marzia Casolari conclusively shows how much the proponents of Hindutva admired European fascism ; liberally borrowed from it and this influence continues even today.
The agendas of Hindutva though strong on the issues of self - identity and self - definition, have tended to be separatist.
three most outstanding Musilm leaders who had so enthusiastically started out as staunch Indian Nationalists, ended up finally at the threshold of Muslim nationalism.
The call for a Sikh homeland was first made in the 1930s, addressed to the quickly dissolving empire.
However, the term Khalistan was first coined by Dr V.S. Bhatti to denote an independent Sikh state in March 1940. Dr Bhatti made the case for a separate Sikh state in a pamphlet entitled 'Khalistan' in response to the Muslim League's Lahore Resolution.
Around the same time, a pamphlet of about forty pages, entitled 'Khalistan', and authored by medical doctor, V.S. Bhatti, also appeared.
The Sikh insurgency petered out in the 1990s. He told state leaders his country would not support anyone trying to reignite the movement for an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan.
Q. Is it clear which "foreign hand" is driving this entire nexus? A. Evidence gathered by the police and other agencies points to the ISI as the key perpetrator of extremism in Punjab. (Amarinder Singh Indian Punjab Chief Minister)
In 2010, South Asia had the world's largest population of Hindus, [1] about 510 million Muslims, [1] over 27 million Sikhs, 35 million Christians and over 25 million Buddhists. [2] Hindus make up about 68 percent or about 900 million and Muslims at 31 percent or 510 million of the overall South Asia population, [3] while Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, and Christians constitute most of the rest. The Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, and Christians are concentrated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while the Muslims are concentrated in Afghanistan (99%), Bangladesh (91%), Pakistan (96%) and Maldives (100%). [1]
Indian religions (also known as Dharmic religions) are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism. [4] The Indian religions are distinct yet share terminology, concepts, goals and ideas, and from South Asia spread into East Asia and Southeast Asia. [4] Early Christianity and Islam were introduced into coastal regions of South Asia by merchants who settled among the local populations. Later Sindh, Balochistan, and parts of the Punjab region saw conquest by the Arab caliphates along with an influx of Muslims from Persia and Central Asia, which resulted in spread of both Shia and Sunni Islam in parts of northwestern region of South Asia. Subsequently, under the influence of Muslim rulers of the Islamic sultanates and the Mughal Empire, Islam spread in South Asia. [5] [6] About one-third of the world's Muslims are from South Asia. [7] [8] [9]
South Asia was primarily Hindu in ancient times. Buddhism appeared around 500 BCE. [10]
Christianity and Islam made an appearance in Kerala during this time period; Saint Thomas is believed to have travelled to Kerala soon after the death of Jesus and converted some people, [11] while the first mosque to be built in India was built during the Islamic prophet Muhammad's lifetime in Kerala. [12] Islam also established itself in Sindh due to Umayyad invasions soon after Muhammad's death. [13]
Some Jews and Zoroastrians came to South Asia because they were fleeing religious persecution. [14]
Centuries of Islamic invasion and rule over South Asia in the medieval era began to change the religious character of the region. Sufism played a significant role in the spread of Islam during this time. [15] Sikhism emerged in this era, bringing a message of equality and creating military resistance to Muslim rule. [16]
Nepal's formation during this period occurred in part due to the desire of Hindus to avoid being influenced by the dominant Muslim Mughal Empire and British Christian missionaries. [17]
Christianity grew to some extent during the colonial era; the Goa Inquisition committed by the Portuguese helped Catholicism establish itself in Goa, [19] [20] while British missionaries spread Christianity through the rest of India. [21] [22]
Religious tensions increased with the independence of British India, as it was partitioned into a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan (which later became Pakistan and Bangladesh), and many died during the creation of the new countries. [23] Tensions further increased with Pakistani terrorist attacks on and Pakistani military conflicts with India. [24]
Religious nationalism has grown in the post-colonial era. Pakistan converted from a secular republic to an Islamic Republic after Independence, [25] while Bangladesh made Islam the state religion (though while maintaining secularism in the Constitution). [26] Hindu nationalism has grown since the 2014 election of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. [27]
Hinduism is the largest religion in South Asia with about 1.2 billion Hindus, forming just under two-thirds of South Asia's population. South Asia has the largest population of Hindus in the world, with about 99% of all global Hindus being from South Asia. Hinduism is the dominant religion in India and Nepal and is the second-largest religion in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.
Indo-Aryan migrations brought the Indo-Aryans to South Asia, where they compiled and composed the Vedic corpus during the Vedic period (ca. 1500-500 BCE) across present-day Northern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The subsequent period, between and , was "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions", and a formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and Early Puranic period, from c. and 500 CE, saw the onset of the Hindu synthesis, followed by the classical "Golden Age" of India (), which coincides with the Gupta Empire.
Following the conquest of Islamic rulers in the Indian subcontinent and spread of Islam in South Asia, an era featuring persecution of Hindus began and continued until the end of Mughal Empire. The Vijayanagara and Maratha Empire significantly protected and revived Hinduism in the Indian subcontinent, while the Jaffna Kingdom and Gorkha dynasty have significantly protected Hinduism in Sri Lanka and Nepal respectively.Islam is the second-largest religion in South Asia, with more than 650 million Muslims living there, forming about one-third of the region's population. Islam first spread along the coastal regions of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, almost as soon as it started in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Arab traders brought it to South Asia. South Asia has the largest population of Muslims in the world, with about one-third of all Muslims living here. [28] [29] Islam is the dominant religion in half of the South Asian countries (Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). It is the second largest religion in India and third largest in Sri Lanka and Nepal.
On the Indian subcontinent, Islam first appeared in the southwestern tip of the peninsula, in today's Kerala state. Arabs traded with Malabar even before the birth of Muhammad. Native legends say that a group of Sahaba, under Malik Ibn Deenar, arrived on the Malabar Coast and preached Islam. According to that legend, the first mosque of India was built by the mandate of the last King of Chera Perumals of Makotai, who accepted Islam and received the name Tajudheen during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632). [30] [31] [32] On a similar note, Tamil Muslims on the eastern coast also claim that they converted to Islam in Muhammad's lifetime. According to Qissat Shakarwati Farmad, the Masjids at Kodungallur, Kollam, Madayi, Barkur, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Kannur, Dharmadam, Panthalayini, and Chaliyam, were built during the era of Malik Dinar, and they are among the oldest Masjids in Indian Subcontinent. [33] [34] [35] Historicaly, the Barwada Mosque in Ghogha, Gujarat built before 623 CE, Cheraman Juma Mosque (629 CE) in Methala, Kerala and Palaiya Jumma Palli (630 CE) in Kilakarai, Tamil Nadu are three of the first mosques in South Asia. [36] [37] [38] [39] [34]
The first incursion occurred through sea by Caliph Umar's governor of Bahrain, Usman ibn Abu al-Aas, who sent his brother Hakam ibn Abu al-Aas to raid and reconnoitre the Makran region [40] around 636 CE or 643 AD long before any Arab army reached the frontier of India by land. Al-Hakim ibn Jabalah al-Abdi, who attacked Makran in the year 649 AD, was an early partisan of Ali ibn Abu Talib. [41] During the caliphate of Ali, many Hindu Jats of Sindh had come under the influence of Shi'ism [42] and some even participated in the Battle of Camel and died fighting for Ali. [41] According to popular tradition, Islam was brought to Lakshadweep islands, situated just to the west of Malabar Coast, by Ubaidullah in 661 CE. After the Rashidun Caliphate, Muslim dynasties came to power. [43] [44] Since 1947, South Asia has been largely governed by modern states. [45] [46]
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Christianity in Asia has its roots in the very inception of Christianity, which originated from the life and teachings of Jesus in 1st-century Roman Judea. Christianity then spread through the missionary work of his apostles, first in the Levant and taking roots in the major cities such as Jerusalem and Antioch. According to tradition, further eastward expansion occurred via the preaching of Thomas the Apostle, who established Christianity in the Parthian Empire (Iran) and India. The very First Ecumenical Council was held in the city of Nicaea in Asia Minor (325). The first nations to adopt Christianity as a state religion were Armenia in 301 and Georgia in 327. By the 4th century, Christianity became the dominant religion in all Asian provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire.
After the First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Nestorian Schism, the Nestorian Christianity developed. Nestorians began converting Mongols around the 7th century, and Nestorian Christianity was probably introduced into China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Mongols tended to be tolerant of multiple religions, with several Mongol tribes being primarily Christian, and under the leadership of Genghis Khan's grandson, the great khan Möngke, Christianity was a small religious influence of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.
The Fourth Ecumenical Council was held in Asian city of Chalcedon (451). Christological controversies and disputes that surrounded the Council and its aftermath gradually resulted in division between pro-Chalcedonian ( Eastern Orthodox) and anti-Chalcedonian ( Oriental Orthodox) Christianity. [47]
At the late 12th and 13th centuries, there was some effort to reunite Eastern and Western Christianity. There were also numerous missionary efforts from Europe to Asia, primarily by Franciscan, Dominican, or Jesuit missionaries. In the 16th century, Spain began to convert Filipinos. In the 18th century, Catholicism developed more or less independently in Korea.
At present, Christianity continues to be the majority religion in the Philippines, East Timor, Armenia, Georgia, Cyprus and Russia. It has significant minority populations in South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Israel, Palestine (including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip), Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and several other countries in Asia with a total Christian population of more than 295 million. [48]
As of 2021, there are nearly 383 million Christians in Asia. [49]Sikhism ( ), also known as Sikhi ( ', , from ), is a monotheistic religion and philosophy, that originated in the Punjab region of India around the end of the 15th century CE. Sikhism is classified as an Indian religion or Dharmic religion along with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups and among the largest in the world with about 25–30million adherents (known as Sikhs).
Sikhism developed from the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the faith's first guru, and the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him. The tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), named the Guru Granth Sahib, which is the central religious scripture in Sikhism, as his successor. This brought the line of human gurus to a close. Sikhs regard the Guru Granth Sahib as the 11th and eternally living guru.
The core beliefs and practices of Sikhism, articulated in the Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh scriptures, include faith and meditation in the name of the one creator ( Ik Onkar), the divine unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in selfless service to others ( sevā), striving for justice for the benefit and prosperity of all ( sarbat da bhala), and honest conduct and livelihood. Following this standard, Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on absolute truth. As a consequence, Sikhs do not actively proselytize, although voluntary converts are generally accepted. Sikhism emphasizes meditation and remembrance as a means to feel God's presence ( simran), which can be expressed musically through kirtan or internally through naam japna (). Baptised Sikhs are obliged to wear the five Ks, which are five articles of faith which physically distinguish Sikhs from non-Sikhs. Among these include the kesh (uncut hair). Most religious Sikh men thus do not cut their hair but rather wear a turban.
The religion developed and evolved in times of religious persecution, gaining converts from both Hinduism and Islam. The Mughal emperors of India tortured and executed two of the Sikh gurus— Guru Arjan (1563–1605) and Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675)—after they refused to convert to Islam. In the context of this persecution, Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh guru (1606–1644), established the concept of Miri Piri: the mutual co-existence of both the miri ("political/temporal") and piri ("spiritual") realms. The persecution of the Sikhs ultimately triggered the founding of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699 as an order to protect the freedom of conscience and religion, with members expressing the qualities of a sant-sipāhī ("saint-soldier"). The Sikh community may be seen to correspond to A.D. Smith's definition of a politicized community, sharing common ancestry myths and historical memories of martyrdom and persecution under successive rulers.Buddhism is an ancient Indian religion, which arose in and around the ancient Kingdom of Magadha (now in Bihar, India), and is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha who was deemed a " Buddha" ("Awakened One"), although Buddhist doctrine holds that there were other Buddhas before him. Buddhism spread outside of Magadha starting in the Buddha's lifetime.
During the reign of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, the Buddhist community split into two branches: the Mahāsāṃghika and the Sthaviravāda, each of which spread throughout India and split into numerous sub-sects. In modern times, two major branches of Buddhism exist: the Theravada in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and the Mahayana throughout the Himalayas and East Asia. The Buddhist tradition of Vajrayana is sometimes classified as a part of Mahayana Buddhism, but some scholars consider it to be a different branch altogether.
The practice of Buddhism lost influence in India around the 7th century CE, after the collapse of the Gupta Empire. The last large state to support Buddhism—the Pala Empire—fell in the 12th century. By the end of the 12th century, Buddhism had largely disappeared from India with the exception of the Himalayan region and isolated remnants in parts of south India. However, since the 19th century, modern revivals of Buddhism have included the Maha Bodhi Society, the Vipassana movement, and the Dalit Buddhist movement spearheaded by B. R. Ambedkar. There has also been a growth in Tibetan Buddhism with the arrival of Tibetan refugees and the Tibetan government in exile to India, following the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950. According to the 2011 Census there are 8.4 million Buddhists in India (0.70% of the total population).Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of Dharma), with the first in the current time cycle being Rishabhadeva, whom the tradition holds to have lived millions of years ago, the twenty-third tirthankara Parshvanatha, whom historians date to the 9th century BCE, and the twenty-fourth tirthankara Mahavira, around 600 BCE. Jainism is considered an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every time cycle of the cosmology. The three main pillars of Jainism are ahiṃsā (non-violence), anekāntavāda (non-absolutism), and aparigraha (asceticism).
Jain monks take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). These principles have affected Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly lacto-vegetarian lifestyle. Parasparopagraho jīvānām (the function of souls is to help one another) is the faith's motto, and the Namokar Mantra is its most common and strongest prayer.
Jainism is one of the oldest religions still practiced today. It has two major ancient sub-traditions, Digambaras and Śvētāmbaras, which hold different views on ascetic practices, gender, and the texts considered canonical. Both sub-traditions have mendicants supported by laypersons ( śrāvakas and śrāvikas). The Śvētāmbara tradition in turn has two sub-traditions: Deravasi also known as Mandirmargis, and Sthānakavasī. The religion has between four and five million followers, known as Jains or Jainas, who reside mostly in India, where they numbered around 4.5 million at the 2011 census. Outside India, some of the largest Jain communities can be found in Canada, Europe, and the United States. Japan is also home to a fast-growing community of converts. Major festivals include Paryushana and Das Lakshana, Ashtanika, Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, Akshaya Tritiya, and Dipawali.Zoroastrianism (), also known as Mazdayasna and Behdin, is an Iranian religion. Among the world's oldest organized faiths, it is based on the teachings of Iranian prophet Zarathustra—commonly known by his Greek name Zoroaster—as set forth in the primary religious text called the Avesta. Zoroastrians exalt an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, commonly referred to as Ahura Mazda (), as the universe's supreme being; opposed to Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyu (), who is personified as a destructive spirit and the adversary of all things good. Zoroastrianism combines a dualistic cosmology of good and evil with an eschatology that predicts the ultimate triumph of Ahura Mazda over evil. Opinions vary among scholars as to whether the religion is monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, or a combination of all three. Zoroastrianism influenced Iranian culture and history as well as ancient Western philosophy and the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Originating from Zoroaster's reforms of the ancient Iranian religion, Zoroastrianism may have roots in the Avestan period of the second millennium BCE but was first recorded in the mid sixth century BCE. For the next thousand years, it was the official religion of successive Iranian polities, beginning with the Achaemenid Empire, which formalized and institutionalized many of its tenets and rituals, through the Sasanian Empire, which revitalized the faith and standardized its teachings. Following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the mid seventh century CE, Zoroastrianism declined amid persecution and forced conversions by the early Muslims; many Zoroastrians fled to the Indian subcontinent, where they received refugees and became the progenitors of today's Parsis. Once numbering millions of adherents at its height, the world's current Zoroastrian population is estimated at between 110,000–200,000, with the vast majority residing in India (50,000–60,000), Iran (15,000–25,000), and North America (21,000); the religion is thought to be declining due to restrictions on conversion, strict endogamy, and low birth rates.
The central beliefs and practices of Zoroastrianism are contained in the Avesta, a compendium of texts assembled over several centuries. Its oldest and most central component are the Gathas, purported to be the direct teachings of Zoroaster and his account of conversations with Ahura Mazda. These writings are part of a major section of the Avesta called the Yasna, which forms the core of Zoroastrian liturgy. Zoroaster's religious philosophy divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian paganism into emanations of the natural world, known as ahuras and daevas ; the former are to be revered and the latter rejected. Zoroaster proclaimed that Ahura Mazda was the supreme creator and sustaining force of the universe, working in gētīg (the visible material realm) and mēnōg (the invisible spiritual and mental realm) through seven Amesha Spentas, which variably represent aspects of the universe as well as the highest moral goods. Emanating from Ahura Mazda is Spenta Mainyu (the Holy or Bountiful Spirit), the source of life and goodness, which is opposed by Angra Mainyu (the Destructive or Opposing Spirit), who is born from Aka Manah (evil thought). Angra Mainyu was further developed by Middle Persian literature into Ahriman (), Mazda's direct adversary.
Zoroastrianism holds that within this cosmic dichotomy, humans have the choice between Asha (truth, cosmic order), the principle of righteousness or "rightness" that is promoted and embodied by Ahura Mazda, and Druj (falsehood, deceit), the essential nature of Angra Mainyu that expresses itself as greed, wrath, and envy. The central moral precepts of the religion are good thoughts (hwnata) good words (hakhta), good deeds (hvarshta), which are recited in many prayers and ceremonies. Zoroastrianism maintains many practices and beliefs from ancient Iranian religion, such as revering nature and its elements. Fire is held to be particularly sacred as a symbol of Ahura Mazda, serving as focal point of many ceremonies and rituals, and Zoroastrian places of worship are known as Fire Temples.Country | State religion | Religious population as a percentage of total population | |||||||
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Buddhism | Christianity | Hinduism | Islam | Kiratism | Sikhism | Others | Year reported | ||
Afghanistan | Islam | – | – | – | 99.7% | – | – | 0.3% | 2019 [50] |
Bangladesh | Islam | 0.6% | 0.4% | 9.5% | 90.4% | – | – | – | 2011 [51] |
Bhutan | Vajrayana Buddhism | 74.8% | 0.5% | 22.6% | 0.1% | – | – | 2% | 2010 [52] [53] |
India | Hinduism | 0.7% | 2.3% | 79.8% | 14.2% | – | 1.7% | 1.3% | 2011 [54] [55] |
Maldives | Sunni Islam | – | – | – | 100% | – | – | – | [56] [57] [58] |
Nepal | Hinduism | 9% | 1.3% | 81.3% | 4.4% | 3% | – | 0.8% | 2013 [59] |
Pakistan | Islam | – | 1.59% | 1.85% | 96.28% | – | – | 0.07% | 2010 [60] |
Sri Lanka | Theravada Buddhism | 70.2% | 6.2% | 12.6% | 9.7% | – | – | 1.4% | 2011 [61] |
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A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste ( endogamy), follow lifestyles often linked to a particular occupation, hold a ritual status observed within a hierarchy, and interact with others based on cultural notions of exclusion, with certain castes considered as either more pure or more polluted than others. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in eusocial insects such as ants, bees, and termites.
Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups. Its roots lie in South Asia's ancient history and it still exists; however, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. In colonial Spanish America, mixed-race castas were a category within the Hispanic sector but the social order was otherwise fluid.The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic instance of social classification based on castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mughal Empire and the establishment of the British Raj. [62] [63] [64] [65] It is today the basis of affirmative action programmes in India as enforced through its constitution. [66] The caste system consists of two different concepts, varna and jati, which may be regarded as different levels of analysis of this system.
The caste system as it exists today is thought to be the result of developments during the collapse of the Mughal era and the rise of the British colonial government in India. [62] [67] [68] The British Raj furthered this development, making rigid caste organisation a central mechanism of administration. [67] Between 1860 and 1920, the British incorporated the Indian caste system into their system of governance, granting administrative jobs and senior appointments only to Christians and people belonging to certain castes. [69] Social unrest during the 1920s led to a change in this policy. [70] Caste was no longer used by the colonial authority to functionally organize civil society. This reflected changes in administrative practices, understandings of expertise, and the rise of new European scholarly institutions. [71] After the 1920s, the colonial administration began a policy of positive discrimination by reserving a certain percentage of government jobs for the lower castes. In 1948, negative discrimination on the basis of caste was banned by law and further enshrined in the Indian constitution in 1950; [72] however, the system continues to be practiced in parts of India. [66] There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes in India, each related to a specific occupation. [73]Muslim communities in South Asia have a system of social stratification arising from concepts other than "pure" and "impure", which are integral to the caste system in India. It developed as a result of relations among foreign conquerors, local upper-caste Hindus convert to Islam ( ashraf, also known as tabqa-i ashrafiyya) and local lower-caste converts (ajlaf), as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system by converts. Non-ashrafs are backward-caste converts. The concept of "pasmanda" includes ajlaf and arzal Muslims; ajlaf status is defined by descent from converts to Islam and by pesha (profession). These terms are not part of the sociological vocabulary in regions such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and say little about the functioning of Muslim society.
The Biradari system is social stratification in Pakistan and, to an extent, India. The South Asian Muslim caste system includes hierarchical classifications of khandan (dynasty, family, or lineage).Hindutva (Hindi pronunciation: [hɪnˈdʊtvə] lit. 'Hindu-ness') is a political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. [74] [75] [76] [77] The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1922. [78] [79] It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [80] [81] and other organisations, collectively called the Sangh Parivar.
Inspired by European fascism, [82] [83] the Hindutva movement has been described as a variant of right-wing extremism, [84] and as "almost fascist in the classical sense", adhering to a concept of homogenised majority and cultural hegemony. [85] [86] Some have also described Hindutva as a separatist ideology. [87] [88] Some analysts dispute the identification of Hindutva with fascism, and suggest Hindutva is an extreme form of conservatism or ethno-nationalism. [89]The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno‐ religious sovereign state called Khalistan ( lit. ' land of the Khalsa') in the Punjab region. [93] The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different groups; some suggest the entirety of the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab, while larger claims include Pakistani Punjab and other parts of North India such as Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. [94] Shimla and Lahore have been proposed as the capital of Khalistan. [95] [96]
The call for a separate Sikh state began during the 1930s, when British rule in India was nearing its end. [97] In 1940, the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in a pamphlet titled "Khalistan". [98] [99] With financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora, the movement flourished in the Indian state of Punjab – which has a Sikh-majority population – continuing through the 1970s and 1980s, and reaching its zenith in the late 1980s. The Sikh separatist leader Jagjit Singh Chohan said that during his talks with Pakistani prime minister that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto affirmed "we'll help you and make it the capital of Khalistan" and claimed Bhutto wanted revenge over Bangladesh. [100]
The separatist militant insurgency in Punjab started in the early 1980s. [101] [102] Several militant groups were involved in the armed insurgency, including Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Commando Force, among others. [103] In 1986, Khalistan Commando Force took responsibility for the assassination of General Arun Vaidya, in retaliation for 1984's Operation Blue Star. [104] [105] By the mid-1990s, the insurgency petered out, with the last major incident being the assassination of Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was killed in a bomb blast by a member of Babbar Khalsa. [106] The movement failed to reach its objective for multiple reasons, including heavy police crackdowns on separatists, factional infighting, and disillusionment from the Sikh population. [101] [107]
There is some support within India and the Sikh diaspora, with yearly demonstrations in protest of those killed during Operation Blue Star. [108] [109] [110] In early 2018, some militant groups were arrested by police in Punjab, India. [101] Former Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh claimed that the recent extremism is backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and "Khalistani sympathisers" in Canada, Italy, and the UK. [111] Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is currently the only pro-Khalistan party in the Indian parliament. [112] [113]{{
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Independent India's constitution banned discrimination on the basis of caste, and, in an attempt to correct historical injustices and provide a level playing field to the traditionally disadvantaged, the authorities announced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and tribes, the lowest in the caste hierarchy, in 1950.
Hindutva is a political ideology that does not necessarily represent the view of the majority of Hindus in India.
Hindutva , especially in their early stages , exemplify a process of ideological borrowing from both European fascism and a fabrication of " Vedic Hinduism " that defies the binarism of local/global.
the archival evidence presented by Marzia Casolari conclusively shows how much the proponents of Hindutva admired European fascism ; liberally borrowed from it and this influence continues even today.
The agendas of Hindutva though strong on the issues of self - identity and self - definition, have tended to be separatist.
three most outstanding Musilm leaders who had so enthusiastically started out as staunch Indian Nationalists, ended up finally at the threshold of Muslim nationalism.
The call for a Sikh homeland was first made in the 1930s, addressed to the quickly dissolving empire.
However, the term Khalistan was first coined by Dr V.S. Bhatti to denote an independent Sikh state in March 1940. Dr Bhatti made the case for a separate Sikh state in a pamphlet entitled 'Khalistan' in response to the Muslim League's Lahore Resolution.
Around the same time, a pamphlet of about forty pages, entitled 'Khalistan', and authored by medical doctor, V.S. Bhatti, also appeared.
The Sikh insurgency petered out in the 1990s. He told state leaders his country would not support anyone trying to reignite the movement for an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan.
Q. Is it clear which "foreign hand" is driving this entire nexus? A. Evidence gathered by the police and other agencies points to the ISI as the key perpetrator of extremism in Punjab. (Amarinder Singh Indian Punjab Chief Minister)