Multiculturalism in India India : Unity in diversity

1. NameetaSahare
S.P. Mandali’sTilakCollegeofEducation,Pune411030

2. Bharat= India
 Pressing hands together with a smile to greet Namaste
/Namaskar a common cultural practice in India

4. Indian Cultural Diversity
The Indian culture has never been rigid and that's
why it's surviving with pride in the modern era. It
timely imbibes the qualities of various other
cultures and comes out as a contemporary and
acceptable tradition.

5. Indian culture is one of the oldest &
unique. Few countries in the world
have such an ancient & diverse
culture as India's. In India,
there is an amazing cultural
diversity throughout the country.
The South, North, and Northeast
have their own distinct cultures &
almost every state has carved its
own cultural niche. Its physical, religious and racial variety is
as immense as its linguistic diversity.
Underneath this diversity lies the continuity of Indian
civilization and social structure from the very earliest times
until the present day. India is a vast country with a variety of
geographical features & climatic conditions.

6. Most tourists who come to India are amazed by
personally observing the Indian culture. Since India is
vastly populated, its perpetual cultural diversity is
amazingly spread out. Still one thing that is common in
these millions of people their love for the culture. India is
the world’s largest democracy. Multiculturalism
relates to communities containing multiple cultures.
What makes Indian multiculturalism and multicultural
education unique is the fact that diversity is considered a
defining feature of both Indian identity and Indian democracy.
India is the best place in the world to see the
different cultures from modern to ancient and find the
similarities in these diversified cultures.
Multiculturalism

7. Indian Cultural Diversity
 On the world stage, either through international film
festivals or through beauty pageants, India regularly
displays its talent and culture. The flexibility &
movement with time has made Indian Culture
fashionable & acceptable too.

8. Multicultural education
 Multicultural education is a philosophical concept built
on the ideals of freedom, justice, equality, equity, and
human dignity
 Multicultural education is a process that permeates all
aspects of school practices, policies and organization as
a means to ensure the highest levels of academic
achievement for all students.
 It helps students develop a positive self-concept by
providing knowledge about the histories, cultures, and
contributions of diverse groups….Let’s have glimpses of
history & culture

9. India is the second richest centre of architectural heritage
in the world after Europe and may be no single country of the
world can match it in this respect.

10. Ajanta & ElloraCaves: Chaitya griha, kailasnath & Sanctuary
- Maharashtra. One of the most impressive rock-cut architectural
monuments in the world, built between 550 - 1000 AD. 34 caves
contain Buddhist, Hindu and Jain sanctuaries - possibly the most
splendid rock-cut cave in world.

11. Languages of India
According to Ethnologue, India is considered to be the
home to 398 languages out of which 11 have been reported
extinct.
In India, some 1652 dialects were recorded in a census
made in 1961. Another census was initiated way back 2001
and it showed that for more than half a million inhabitants,
there are 29 languages being spoken. This is why Indian
language translation is a tough one.
Dialects in India vary depending on demographic location.
Although the constitution of India stipulates that the main
language of the country is Hindi in Devanagari script,
languages of native tongues are still very much alive.

12. Languages of India: Water (vann)
= Paani, jal ,tani,neer,neeru,aab
Urdu
Punjabi
Rajasthani Sanskrit-Hindi
Gujarati
Marathi
Konkani
Kannada
Telagu-Tamil
Malayalam
Oriya
Bengali
Assamese
Manipuri

14. Agriculture & Food
Main crops: rice, wheat, tea, sugar cane, spices
 Rice & chapatti
 Vegetables
 Seafood
 Meat
 Masala-spices
 Tea-common
drink

15. ‘FESTIVALS’

16. India is undoubtedly, a land of festivals. There are festivals for every
season, for every legend & myth, every region and every religious
place. Festivals of India are characterized by colour, enthusiasm,
feasts and a variety of prayers and rituals. Dance and music are essential
ingredients.
Some are exclusive to certain communities & religions while
others have a national & secular character about them.
Indian festivals are celebrated according to the solar and
lunar calendars. Consequently, dates & months may vary
accordingly. In India, festivals are marked by a warmth of
participation. Color and festivity also provide an occasion for
shopping when overnight small markets appear from
nowhere.
IndianFestivals

17. Someone once remarked that in India, there is a festival on
every day of the year. There are innumerable national,
regional, local, religious, seasonal and social festivities that
give credence to this statement. This is not surprising
considering the innumerable gods, goddesses, saints, gurus
and prophets who are worshipped in India.
Throughout India, there are dozens of festivals and
celebrations that take place celebrating different religious
and cultural occasions. The numerous and varied festivals
that are held throughout the year offer a unique way of
seeing Indian culture at its best.
Indian Festivals

18. Some of the festivals celebrated
in India….

19. Makar Sankranti
 Makar Sankranti is a harvest festival. It marks the
transition of the Sun into the zodiac sign of Makara
rashi (Capricorn) on its celestial path.
 This festival also comes as Thanksgiving to Mother
Nature for an abundance of crops, well being and
prosperity. The festivities include sweets made of
jaggery, green gram and sesame.The festivals is known
as Khichri in UP, Sakat in Haryana and Punjab,
Sukarat in MP, Bhogali Bihu in Assam and West
Bengal, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Sankranti in Andhra
and Karnataka and Uttarayan in Rajasthan and
Gujarat.

20. Diwali is certainly the biggest and
the brightest of all Hindu festivals.
Deepavali in Sanskrit is ‘a row of
lamps’. It is a festival of lights
symbolizing the victory of
righteousness and the lifting of
spiritual darkness. It celebrates the
victory of good over evil - and the
glory of light. This festival
commemorates Lord Rama's return
to his kingdom Ayodhya after
completing his 14-year exile.
Diwali

21. Holi Holi is celebrated all over India
with color, music, dance and
bonfires. It marks the beginning
of summer. It also celebrates the
end of cold and hardship, and
the successful harvest of the
winter crop. People throw
colored water and powders
(gulal and kumkum) at each
other and make merry. Singing
and dancing add to the gaiety of
the occasion. The exuberant
display of colors symbolizes the
advent of a colorful and
prosperous spring season.

22. Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi is the Hindu
festival celebrated on the birthday
of Lord Ganesha, the son of
Shiva and Parvati. Ganesha is widely
worshipped as the god of wisdom, prosperity
and good fortune and traditionally invoked at
the beginning of any new venture or at the
start of travel.
On the last day of worship the idol is taken
out in a colourful and musical procession to
be immersed traditionally at a beach. People
bring home idols of Lord Ganesha and
celebrate the festival by worshiping the Lord
in a special way for a day and a half, 5 days, 7
days or 11 days

23. Eid
Eid also called Feast of Breaking the Fast,
the Sugar Feast, the Sweet Festival is an
important religious holiday celebrated
by Muslims worldwide that marks the end
of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month
of fasting.
At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate
Eid Al-Fitr. The entire community comes
together for special prayers and to
congratulate each other.
The traditional Eid greeting is Eid
Mubarak, and it is frequently followed by
a formal embrace.
Eid

24. Dussehra/ Durga Pooja
The name Dussehra is derived
from Sanskrit Dasha-
hara literally means removal of
ten referring to Lord Rama’s
victory over the ten-headed
demon king Ravana. The day
also marks the victory
of Goddess Durga over the
demons . They also hold outdoor
fairs (melas) and large parades
with effigies of Ravana ( king of
ancient Sri Lanka). The effigies
are burnt on bonfires in the
evening. Dussehra is the
culmination of the Navaratri
festival.

25. Baisakhi
Baisakhi is a festival celebrated across the
northern Indian subcontinent, especially in the Punjab region
by the Sikh nation. For the Sikh community this festival
commemorates the establishment of the Khalsa. This is the
time when harvest is gathered in and the farmer exults in the
fulfillment of his year's hard work. The fields can be seen full
of nature's bounty. Dressed in their typical folk attire, both
men and women, celebrate the day with Bhangra and Gidda.
On Baisakhi day, water is drawn from all the sacred rivers of
India and poured in to the huge tank surrounding the golden
temple. Many fairs in the Punjab are held near the
tombs and shrines of spiritual gurus. These
fairs must have originated in a spirit of
devotion to those saints and sages.

27. &
Dance

30.  Clothing in India varies from region
to region depending on
the ethnicity, geography, climate and
cultural traditions of the people of
that region.
 Women wear a sari, a long sheet of
colourful cloth, (5m to 7m)draped
over a fancy blouse
 Churidar, dupatta,
KharaDupatta,
gamchha, kurta,
mundum, sherwani
are among
other clothes.

31. Paithani sarees - Handwoven Pure silk saree
with golden thread.
Bandhani is a type of tie-dye practiced
mainly in
the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The
technique involves dyeing a fabric which is
tied tightly with a thread at several
points,thus producing a variety of patterns
like Leheriya, Mothra, Ekdali and Shikari
depending on the manner in which the cloth
is tied

32. Essentially, multicultural education is about social change
through education. It requires deep and critical thinking,
imagination, and commitment to another tomorrow, inclusive of
the wealth of all of our stories and peoples.
 Schools must find ways to respect the diversity of their
students as well as help to create a unified nation-state to
which all of the nation's citizens have allegiance.
 Multicultural education is another aspect of the
continuous human journey toward justice
and pushes us toward the fulfilment of the
promises of democracy

33. India today is unfolding a story of a billion plus people, or
more precisely, one sixth of the world’s population, on a big
move as India's large and complex systems rapidly moving
top-down and the country emerge as one of the fastest
growing economies of the world.
India is probable the only country in the world where people
belonging to different religions, castes and creeds, speaking
different languages, having different cultures, different modes
of living, different clothing, different food habits, worshiping
different gods and deity live together in harmony and believe
to be the children of one mother-MOTHER INDIA.
Jai Hind!
Jai Bharat!

34. Thank You
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