1. Subject-English
ClassXII
Topic-The Variety And Unity Of India
Word: 2074
Anchor
Welcome students! Would you like to see a movie? Look at the screen. Here
we go.
(Show an animation about the diversity of India: Kashmir, Himachal
Punjab, Tamil, Kerala etc their dresses and dances and festivals).
Anchor
I hope you must have enjoyed watching a short movie.
So what have you noticed? Of course! India is the country of variety
of people differing in colour, caste, creed, languages, food, dress,
physical features, habits and traits. So today, we will read an essay
on ‘The Variety and Unity of India’ written by Jawahar Lal Nehru, Our first
prime minister. So first of all let me tell you about the learning objectives of
the lesson.
Learning Objectives of the Lesson: At the end of the lesson you
will be able to
1. Describe the differences between the people of various
states of India
2. Answer the short answer questions as asked in the
examination.
Anchor
Let’s move further on this lesson. What does the writer say in his essay?
Look at the screen
( Show an animation about the variety of India; as shown in the red areas)

2. VO
The diversity of India is tremendous; it lies on the surface.
Anybody can see it. It concerns itself with physical
appearances as well as with certain mental habits and
traits. Look ! There is little in common, to outward seeming, between
the Pathan of the North-west and the Tamil in the far South. Their
racial stocks are not the same, though there may be common strands
running through them; they differ in face and figure, food and clothing,
and of course, language.
Anchor
Yet, with all these differences there is no mistaking the impress of
India on the Pathan, as this is obvious on the Tamil..
Now let’s have a look on North-Western Frontier Provinces.
(Animation about the similarities between the people of the border
areas custom as in Kashmir, reminds one of the countries on the
other side of the Himalayas. Pathan popular dances are singularly
like Russian cossakck dancing.)
VO
In the North-Western Frontier Province there in already the breath of
Central Asia, and many a custom there, as in Kashmir, reminds one
of the countries on the other side of the Himalayas. Pathan popular
dances are singularly like Russian cossakck dancing.
Anchor
Hello students! I hope you must have enjoyed watching a short movie.
What have you noticed in it? You must have surprised to see such
resemblances between the different countries and India. This is not
surprising, because these border lands, and indeed Afghanistan also,
were united with India for thousands of years.

3. VO
The old Turkish and other races, who inhabited Afghanistan and parts
of Central Asia before the advent of Islam were largely Buddhist, and
earlier still, during the period of Epics, Hindus. The frontier area was
one of the principal centers of old Indian culture and it abounds still
with ruins of monuments and monasteries and, especially of the great
University of Taxila, which was at the height of its fame two thousand
years ago, attracting students from all over India as well as different
parts of Asia.
Anchor
So children! You have seen that Changes of religions made a
difference but could not change entirely the mental backgrounds
which the people of those areas had developed. Differences, big or
small can always be noticed even within a national group, however
closely bound together it may be. The essential unity of that group
becomes apparent when it is compared to another national group,
though often the differences between two adjoining groups fade out
or intermingle near the frontiers, and modern developments are
tending to produce certain uniformity everywhere. Now look at the
screen and notice the difference between the concept of ancient and
medieval times as compare to the modern age.
VO
On screen
In ancient and medieval times, the idea of the
modern nation was non-existent and feudal, religious,
racial, or cultural bonds had more importance, yet I
think that at almost any time in recorded history an

4. Indian would have felt more or less at home in any other
country.
He would certainly have felt less of a stranger in
countries which had partly adopted his culture or
religion.
Those who professed a religion of non-Indian origin on
coming to India settled down there, became distinctively
Indian in the course of a few generations, such as
Christians,l Jews, parsees, Moslems. Indian converts to
some of these religions never ceased to be Indians on
account of a change of their faith. They were looked
upon in other countires as Indians and foreigners, even
though there might have been a community of faith
between them.
Today, when the conception of nationalism has
developed much more, Indians in foreign countries
inevitably form a national group and hang together for
various purposes, in spite of their internal differences. 0
An Indian Christian is looked upon as Indian in Turkey
or Arabia or Iran, or any other country where Islam is the
dominant religion.
VO (If it can be of Nehru’s)
(Show animation of India as marked under red)
All of us, I suppose have varying pictures of our native land and
no two persons will think exactly alike. When I think of India, I think of
many things: of broad fields dotted with innumerable small villages; of
towns and cities I have visited ; of the magic of the rainy season
which pours like into the dry parched-up land and converts it
suddenly into a glistening expanse of beauty and greenery of great
rivers and following water; of the Khyber Pass in all its bleak
surroundings, of the southern tip of India; of people individually and in

5. the mass; and, above all, of the Himalayas. Snowcapped, of some
mountain valley in Kashmir in the spring, covered with new flowers
and with a brook bubbling and gurgling through it. We make and
preserve the pictures of our choice, and so I have chosen this
mountain background rather than the more normal pictures of a hot,
sub-tropical country. Both pictures would be correct, for India
stretches from the tropics rights up to the temperate regions, from
near the equator to the cold heart of Asia.
ANCHOR
I hope you have understood theme of the essay. So let me test your
skill. Try to answer the following questions in short.
(The answers will appear after a gap)
Q1. What outward differences between the Tamil and the
Pathan can be mentioned to show the diversity of India?
Ans. A Pathan is very tall, broad and fair in complexion while
a Tamil is short, and darker in complexion.
Q2. What common bond bearing the impress of India can still
be seen between the Tamil and the Pathan?
Ans. Yet, with all these differences they have been distinctively
Indian with the same national heritage and the same set
of moral and mental qualities.
Q3. (a) Besides Pathans and Tamil which other have
remained essentially Indian?
Ans. Besides Pathans and Tamil, the Bengalis, the Marathas,
the Gujratis, the Andhras, the Oriyas, the Assamese, the
Canarese, the Malayalis, the Sindhis the Punjabis, the
Kashmiris, the Rajputs and the great central block
comprising the Hindustani-speaking people, have
retained their peculiar characteristics for hundreds of
years.
(b) What common things have they retained?

6. Ans. They have retained their peculiar characteristics for
hundreds of years. They have still more or less the same
virtues, and failings of which old tradition or record tells
us, and yet have been throughout these ages distinctively
Indian with the same national heritage and the same set
of moral and mental qualities.
Q.4 What relation of nearness does the frontier area bear with
India?
Ans. Many customs as in Kashmir, reminds one of the
countries on the other side of the Himalayas and Pathan
popular dances are singularly like Russian cossakck
dancing.
Q.5 (a) Does Nehru admit the existence of differences within a
national group?
Ans. Yes, Nehru in his essay ‘Variety and Unity of India’ admits
the fact of differences in physical appearance, cast,
creed, food, language, dress, and religion of different
states of India.
Q5.(b) How does he call them insignificant?
Ans. The existence of differences within a national group is
Insignificant as feudal, religious, racial, or cultural bonds
had more importance.
Q.6 What kind of unity Nehru sees among the people of
India?
Ans. All the Indians, immaterial of their states have retained
their peculiar characteristics for hundreds of years. They
have still more or less the same virtues, and failings of
which old tradition or record tells us, and yet have been
throughout these ages distinctively Indian with the same
national heritage and the same set of moral and mental
qualities

7. Q.7 How does Nehru compare the ancient and medieval times
with the modern times? Which bond has more importance
in the modern time?
Ans. In ancient and medieval times, the idea of the modern
nation was non-existent and feudal, religious, racial, or
cultural bonds had more importance. In the modern time
the conception of nationalism has developed much more,
Indians in foreign countries inevitably form a national
group and hang together for various purposes, in spite of
their internal differences.
Q.8 for a long time how has an Indian felt:
(a) In other parts of country
Ans. Indian would have felt more or less at home in an other
parts of our country.
(b) in other countries ;
Ans. An Indian would have felt stranger and been
uncomfortable in an other country.
(c) in countries bearing kinship with his culture of religion.
Ans. He would certainly have felt less of a stranger in countries
which had partly adopted his culture or religion.
Q.9 How have people of other countries look upon the visiting
Indians?
Ans. An Indian Christian is looked upon as Indian in Turkey or
Arabia or Iran, or any other country where Islam is the
dominant religion. They were looked upon in other
countries as Indians and foreigners, even though there
might have been a community of faith between them.
Q.10 Mention some of the many things that Nehru thinks of
when he thinks of India?
Ans. Nehru thinks of many things: of broad fields dotted with

8. innumerable small villages, towns and cities he had visited;
of the magic of the rainy season which pours like into the dry
parched-up land and converts it suddenly into a glistening
expanse of beauty and greenery of great rivers and following
water; of the Khyber Pass and snow covered peaks of
mountains.