Class 6 Social Science Chapter 8 Notes Unity in Diversity, or ‘Many in the One’
Oh, grant me my prayer, that I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of the many.
– Rabindranath Tagore
… The principle of unity in diversity which has always been normal to [India] and its fulfilment the fundamental course of her being and its very nature, the Many in the One, would place her on the sure foundation of her Swabhava and Swadharma.
– Sri Aurobindo
A Rich Diversity
If you travel through India by train, you will notice not only changing landscapes but also many different types of dresses and food; you will hear different languages, familiar and unfamiliar, and see different scripts on the way. Even within your own region, you will often come across people from other parts of India with different customs and traditions. This is India’s rich diversity, and it is usually the first thing that strikes visitors to our country.
With over 1.4 billion inhabitants (about 18 percent of the world’s population), such diversity is not surprising! In the late 20th century, the Anthropological Survey of India, a national organisation, conducted a massive survey called ‘People of India project’ of 4,635 communities across all States of the country. It counted 325 languages using 25 scripts; it also observed that many Indians may be called migrants, in the sense of people not living near their birthplace or with their original community.
LET’S EXPLORE
As a class activity, make lists of (1) the birthplaces of at least 5 classmates and the birthplaces of their parents; (2) the students’ mother tongues and other languages known to them. Discuss the results in terms of diversity.
While diversity is indeed beautiful, making sense of it is not so easy. Over a century ago, the British historian Vincent Smith wondered,
“How, in the face of such bewildering diversity, can a history of India be written? … The answer to the query is found in the fact that India offers unity in diversity.”
What is meant by ‘unity in diversity’? How shall we perceive and express this unity, or the ‘Many in the One’? To answer this question, we will explore a few dimensions of Indian life.
Food for All
Some of you will have eaten food from different regions of India. The number of different dishes and preparations you can taste in India must be in their thousands, if not lakhs! 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 dais and grams. All these are called ‘staple grains’ because they are the basic food for most Indians (Fig. 8.1 on page 127). Similarly, some common spices such as turmeric, cumin, cardamom and ginger, are also used throughout the country. We could continue this list with some common vegetables, common oils etc.
So we see how the same ingredients (unity) can be used in a number of combinations (diversity) to prepare an endless variety of dishes!
LET’S EXPLORE
- As a class activity, make a list of ingredients (grains, spices, etc.) that are used in your home.
- Take any one vegetable and think of the number of different dishes you can prepare with it.
Textiles and Clothing
Every region and community in India has developed its own styles of clothing and dresses. Yet, we notice a commonality in some traditional Indian dresses, irrespective of the material used. An obvious example is the plain length of cloth called the sari, a type of clothing worn in most parts of India and made from different fabrics – mostly cotton or silk, but nowadays synthetic fabrics too. Banarasi, Kanjivaram, Paithani, Patan Patola, Muga or Mysore are some of the famous types of silk saris. There are many more kinds of cotton saris. Altogether, this unstitched piece of cloth comes in hundreds of varieties. They are produced by different methods of weaving (Fig. 8.3 on the right) and designing. Some designs are part of the cloth, while others are printed after the cloth is woven. Finally, there are endless variations in the colours, which are produced from many kinds of pigments.
The sari has a long history. This stone relief (Fig. 8.2 on page 128) from Vaishali (today in Bihar) goes back a few centuries BCE.
LET’S EXPLORE
Explain how the example of the sari reflects both unity and diversity (in 100 – 150 words).
DON’T MISS OUT
For a very long time, India produced the finest cotton in the world and Indian textiles were exported as far away as Europe. One beautiful type of printed cotton called ‘chintz’ became so popular in 17th-century Europe that the sale of some European dresses dropped sharply. Eventually, to protect their own products, England and France decided to ban the import of chintz from India!
There are many ways of wearing the sari, as they vary from one region to another or from one community to another. In fact, new ways of draping it are still being invented. But in the end, it is a single dress – the sari. In past centuries, several travellers to India marvelled at its simplicity, economy, and the diverse ways in which it is worn. In addition, women often put the sari to many uses beyond that of a dress; the six pictures in Fig. 8.4 above illustrate a few such creative uses.
LET’S EXPLORE
- In the above pictures, can you recognise what a sari has been used for?
- Are you aware of, or can you imagine, more uses for the sari?
- Following the example of the sari, make a list of different styles you have seen for the dhoti – both as regards the fabric and the uses the dhoti can be put to. What conclusion can you draw?
Festivals Galore
There is an immense variety of festivals in India. You may have noticed that a few common ones are celebrated across India almost at the same time, though they have different names. We will take just one example – Makara Sankranti, which marks the beginning of the harvest season in many parts of India on or around January 14. The map shows the different names of similar festivals across India about the same date.
LET’S EXPLORE
- What is your favourite festival and how is it celebrated in your region? Do you know whether it is celebrated in any other part of India, maybe under a diffrent name?
- During October-November, many major festivals take place in India. Make a list of the few main ones and their various names in different parts of the country.
An Epic Spread
Literature offers us another fine illustration of unity in diversity. Indian literatures are extremely diverse (and among the most abundant in the world). Over centuries, despite differences in language, technique, etc., they have shared important themes and concerns. Who has not heard of the Panchatantra, for example? This collection of delightful stories, with animals as the main characters, 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. In fact, they have travelled well beyond India, all the way to Southeast Asia, the Arab world and Europe, inspiring new collections of stories on the way – it is estimated that about 200 adaptations of the Panchatantra exist in more than 50 languages! This illustrates how ‘one’ collection of stories has become ‘many’.
The most striking case, however, is that of India’s two epics – the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
These two long Sanskrit poems, which together might fill some 7,000 pages in their original versions, narrate the stories of heroes who fight to re-establish dharma. In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas, with Krishna’s help, fight their own cousins, the Kauravas, to recover their kingdom. In the Ramayana, Rama, with the help of his brother Lakshmana and of Hanuman, defeats the demon Ravana, who had kidnapped his wife SIta. These stories contain many shorter ones that focus on values, and constantly ask questions about what is right and what is wrong.
LET’S EXPLORE
In a class discussion, try to identify the episode depicted in the painting shown in Fig. 8.6 above and important details associated with it.
For more than two millenniums, these two epics have been translated or adapted into regional literatures in India and beyond. In addition, there are countless folk versions of them. A few years ago, a scholar conducted a survey in Tamil Nadu alone and counted “about a hundred versions [of the Mahabharata] that have come down to us in folklore forms.” Imagine what the number might be for the whole of India!
In fact, many communities have their own versions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. They have also preserved legends connecting their own history with these epics. This is especially true of tribal communities in many parts of
India, such as the Bhils, the Gonds, the Mundas and many more. Most tribes of India’s northeast and Himalayan regions, including Kashmir, have had their own version of one or the other of the two epics, or both. These tribal adaptations are transmitted orally, along with legends on how the heroes of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (generally any or all of the five Pandavas, their wife Draupadl, but also sometimes their cousin and adversary Duryodhana) visited the tribes’ respective regions.
The anthropologist K.S. Singh directed the ‘People of India’ project we referred to earlier (see page 126). In the case of the Mahabharata, he observed, “There is hardly a place in the country which the epic heroes such as the Pandavas, did not visit according to folklores.” And the same may be said of the Ramayana. Over the centuries, perhaps more than any other texts, these two epics created a dense web of cultural interactions across India and many parts of Asia. Another example of unity in diversity.
To further illustrate the theme of this chapter, we could have continued our journey and turned to more facets of Indian culture. For instance, in India’s classical arts, including classical architecture, both diversity and unity are easily noticeable. (You will study these fields through the Art Curricular Area.)
In the end, we should remember that Indian culture celebrates diversity as an enrichment, but never loses sight of the underlying unity which nourishes that diversity.
Before we move on …
- 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.
Class 6 Social Science Notes
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