Despite various diversities, there are bonds of unity in India. These bonds of unity may be present in certain underlying uniformity of life, as well as in certain mechanism of integration.
According to Herbert Kisley, “Beneath the manifold diversity of physical and social types: languages, customs and religions, which strike the observer in India, there can still be discerned a certain underlying uniformity of life from Himalayas to Cape Comorin”.
Although various religions groups in India present several elements of external difference, yet it is not impossible to trace an element common to all. Each religion preaches a fundamentally single religious faith and shares a belief in the purity and value of life and faith in the invisible power with every other religious system.
Religious unity in India finds its expression through the places of pilgrimages and worship, scattered all over country. Such religious places of the Hindus, like Badrinath in the north, Dwarka in the west, Rameswaram in the south and Jagannath Puri in the east, represent the religious unity of this vast country.
These pilgrimage centers of great spiritual value comprehend the sentiments of patriotism and a feeling for the unity of the country. Similarly, there are hundreds of other monuments (national) which, all Indians, irrespective of race, culture or religion, pay homage. Mountains like the Himalayas, rivers like the Ganga make every Hindu feel that every inch of our land is sacred.
The legends of Rama and Krishna are enchanted and sung with equal fervor. People also speak languages such as Tamil, Telugu and others. Recounting the names of major rivers in the country such as the Ganges, the Yamuna, the Godavari, the Kaveri, etc., these rivers provide water which assists in the development of all the citizens of the country.
Just like a mother nurtures her children, in the same manner, our feeling of motherhood towards the rivers maintains the relevance of rivers in the form of a joint heritage. Therefore, it is clear that every place of pilgrimage, whether it is a holy place of the Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs or Christians, plays an important role in keeping all the Indians united.
