India is a country that is considered to have rich culture as it is made up of more than one religion. Though majority of Indians practice Hinduism (80%), there are other religions that can also be found all throughout India. Religion such as: Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism. Different cultures, languages and healthcare practices are found due to such diversity in religion in India. My family is from Gujarat state located in the western part of India and our language is Gujarati. Though, the national language in India is Hindi, there are approximately 15 languages and approximately 300 dialects spoken in India. Since my family and I, reside in United States, we as many Indians identify ourselves as Asian- Americans or Indo-Americans, as our ancestry belongs to Republic of India. “Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines Island, Thailand and Vietnam. According to the 2000 census, there are about 3.6% of total population of American- Asians or Indo Asians in United states and has increased in 2010 to 4.8 percent ( Ritter & Graham, 2017) . Due to family reintegration laws, the number of Asian Indian elders who followed their offspring like my grandmother has also risen.
Religion is considered to be a central life in Indian families since Hinduism is a religion that is bound to the hierarchical structure of the caste system, a categorization of members of society into defined social classes. Being raised by my grandmother, she explained how caste system played a critical role as it altered the social behaviors, values and ideals and how this system is considered as a taboo as it affected the availability of resources such as: food, water and healthcare to the lower caste system.
The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories- Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vashyas and the Shudras. Brahmins, who are at the top of the hierarchy consisted of teachers and intellectuals whom were believed originated from Brahma’s head. Followed by Kshatriyas or warriors and rulers, who represented the Brahma’s arms. The Vaishyas, or the traders were created from the Brahma’s thighs and lastly at the bottom of the layer were the shudras, who came from Brahma’s feet and did all the low and unskilled jobs. Along with the caste system, there were also the Dalit’s or also known as the untouchables. The ideology of caste system is supported by the concept of Karma. The law of Karma states that the present condition of your soul, for example, confusion or serenity, is based on your decisions in the past and that you, as individual, have made yourself what you are based on your actions. Karma supports the rational that the lower castes must blame themselves for their troubles, limited resources and their low status because of their bad Karma in their past life. M...
