Unity in Diversity, or ‘Many in the One’

Class 06 Social Science

India offers immense diversity in its landscapes, people, languages, dresses, foods, festivals and customs. Diversity is easy to perceive in many fields, but there is also an underlying unity. India’s unity celebrates diversity because diversity does not divide - it enriches.

Food

The number of different dishes and preparations you can taste in India must be in their thousands. Yet certain food grains are common to almost every part of the country - cereals such as rice, barley and wheat; millets such as pearl millet (bajra), sorghum (jowar), finger millet (ragi); and pulses such as various kinds of dals and grams. Similarly, some common spices such as turmeric, cumin, cardamom and ginger, are also used throughout the country.

So, the same ingredients (unity) can be used in a number of combinations (diversity) to prepare variety of dishes.

Textiles and Clothing

Every region and community in India has developed its own styles of clothing and dresses. Yet, there is a commonality in some traditional Indian dresses, irrespective of the material used. For example, sari is a type of clothing worn in most parts of India and made from different fabrics.

Altogether, this piece of cloth comes in hundreds of varieties. They are produced by different methods of weaving and designing. Some designs are part of the cloth, while others are printed after the cloth is woven. There are endless variations in the colours, which are produced from many kinds of pigments.

There are many ways of wearing the sari, as they vary from one region to another or from one community to another.

Festivals

There is an immense variety of festivals in India. For example, Makara Sankrānti, which marks the beginning of the harvest season in many parts of India on or around January 14.

Literature

Indian literatures are extremely diverse. Over centuries, despite differences in language, technique, etc., they have shared important themes and concerns. For example, Pañchatantra, is collection of delightful stories, with animals as the main characters. It teaches us important life skills. The original Sanskrit text is at least 2,200 years old, but its stories have been adapted in almost every Indian language.

India’s two epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, have been translated or adapted into regional literatures in India and beyond. In addition, there are countless folk versions of them. Many communities have their own versions of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata. They have also preserved legends connecting their own history with these epics.