Westerners today tend to think of India in monolithic terms : one country, one culture. In reality, at very few times for a very brief periods in its history has most of the Indian subcontinent been unified-at least until 1947 when the state of Bharat (the Indian name for India) was created. Instead, for most of its long history, India has been home to an amazingly large number of district subcultures.
There are about 80,000 subcultures in India today. That's not a misprint-the correct figure is 80,000. Over 325 languages are spoken there, not to mention thousands of dialects. There are also 25 commonly used written scripts . And we think of America as a melting pot of different cultures!
Hinduism is by far the most complex religion in world, shading under its enormous umbrella an incredibly diverse array of contrasting beliefs, practices, and denominations. Hinduism is by far the oldest major religion. It has had more than enough time to develop a diversity of opinions and approaches to spirituality unmatched in any other tradition.
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