Surrounded on three sides by the sea and closed in the north by high mountain ranges, the relatively segregated geographical position of the subcontinent and the strong and persistent influence of the Indian caste system have resulted in certain specifics with regard to Indian Islam. One is that the spread of Islam has been extremely…
With the largest population of Muslims in the world, Islam is the second largest religion in South Asia with about 600 million Muslims, forming about one-third of all Muslims of South Asia’s population. The dominant religion in half of the South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives and Pakistan), in India Islam is the second-largest religion while…
Parsis (meaning ‘Persian’) are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent whose religion is Zoroastrianism. They live chiefly in Mumbai and in a few towns and villages mostly to the south of Mumbai, but there are also a few families nearby in Karachi (Pakistan) and Chennai. There is a sizeable Parsi population in Pune as…
Christianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world’s largest religion, with about 2.5 billion followers. Its adherents, known as Christians, make up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories, and believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the…
Buddhism like Jainism is a religion that arose out of critique of Vedic Hinduism. Like Jainism it does not propagate a God. It is a religion or rather a philosophy based on the original teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha. Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini, present-day Nepal. He renounced material life because he thought that…
Traditionally known as Jain Dharma, Jainism is an ancient Indian religion. Though Jains themselves claim it to be eternal, it came into prominence in India around the 5th century AD at the time when Vedic Hinduism was challenged by demands for reform of its ritualistic approach and the monopoly of Brahmans to conduct rituals. Jainism…
Since they are also treated apart as a caste, not so much discriminated as the Dalits are we are addressing the subject separately. Tribal religions in the North, particularly the Northeast mountains of South Asia, believe in various ancient traditions of spiritualism known as animism and/or ancestor worshipping they believe in cosmic oneness where everything…
Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Rahim. I can deliver this talk in Urdu language as the people here understand this but the target of my talk is also Bangladesh who will not fully understand, “Aami Bangla bolte pari, but aami chesta korbo k English bolbo” so that everyone can understand. I want my words to reach…
Dear Readers, The New Year was greeted with fireworks, music and crowds chanting “Happy New Year” in several world capitals, demonstrating the human resolve to be optimistic and keeping the hope aloft for a better tomorrow, whether this ever happens in reality is another matter. Having braved through the highs and mostly the lows of…
The world is changing, these changes are not going away, they are bound to stay. Getting caught up in our daily business we tend to lose sight of the greater picture, but to keep looking at what is going on in the world around us and some history of it is important to get the…
