Ethnicity, Language, & Religion of India
WARNING: Terrorist threats continue in India,
please read this travel warning before going!
Ethnicity
India is a very ethnically diverse country with thousands
of different ethnicities living within its borders and dozens of ethnically-tied
languages recognized by the government. Among the people, nearly three quarters
belong to the larger Indo-Aryan ethnic group, which is defined by language, not
ethnicity. Despite this linguistic affiliation, these people do tend to be ethnically
related to each other as well as to the Bangladeshis,
Nepalese, and to a much further distance, most of the people
of Europe today. Must of the last quarter of the people in
India are Dravidians, who again are united and defined as a linguistic group, but
are all ethnically related. These people, generally dominating southern India, are
most closely related to the Malaysians and other groups within and near India.
Language
The languages of India are numerous as the country has 14
official languages at the regional level. Hindi is the largest language spoken natively
with nearly 40% of the population speaking this language in the home. The next most
popular native language is Bengali at only 8%. Hindi, along with many languages
of India, is an Indo-Aryan language; however the languages of India fall into numerous
categories, including the Sino-Tibetan language family and numerous others. Generally
speaking, many of the Indo-Aryan languages are similar to each other in India, but
few are mutually intelligible.