This study examines the self-perceptions of communities in India. Focusing on a number of communities including the familial, village, merchant, religious and cyber communities, we investigate the traditional foundations of each community, and current changes. In "Traditional Perceptions of Community in India," the second chapter, we discuss the key concepts and the rise of communities in India. In the third chapter, we examine representative communities of India. Among the numerous communities, we discuss specific examples of the family, a merchant community, the panchayat and village communities, and religious communities. We focus on the present in the fourth chapter. Among the aforementioned communities, we examine the temple community, a community with which most Indians are associated in one way or another, and how the temple community has been transformed through a period of industrialization and urbanization. We also investigate a newly rising notion of community, i.e. the notion of cyber communities in this chapter. With the advance of information technology (IT), new cyber communities have been rising in India, and we examine the development in chapter 4. In the final chapter we summarize the significant points of our study.
The self-perceptions of Indians’ communities are based on the social concept of dharma, i.e. the varna dharma. Such communities can be found in various sizes, staring from the family, the smallest community, to the village and nation. According to its function, each community may be differentiated as a merchant guild or a religious community. The social position of each individual, represented by their caste, also forms an integral part of a social community when viewed together.
Among the representative communities of India we may count the family, the panchayat and village communities, merchant communities, and religious communities. The traditional Indian family is a joint family, in which several generations of brothers join each other to form a community within the same household. Members of the joint family share the responsibility for their ancestors as well as the familial wealth, which leads to strong ties among the members. The family also provides practical benefits for each individual member.
Among many merchant communities, this study focuses on the Marwaris of Rajasthan. The Marwaris are considered as one of the most successful merchant communities in India, based on strong family ties, assertive and practical marketing, thorough localization, reputation for honesty and industriousness based on family culture, and cooperation among Marwari communities. Marwaris provided a new role model for Indian merchant communities, especially within the modern economical system of India.
While the self-perception of village communities has been comparatively weak in India due to the strong self-perception of familial and caste communities, the traditional jajmani system and panchayat have been crucial in preserving village communities. The panchayat system was legalized according to the 73rd constitutional revision (1993), leading to the rise of the ‘Panchayat Raj,’ a symbol of the decentralization and mass participation found in Indian politics. Whether the panchayat raj will mature the Indian village into a democratic community will be a significant issue of contemporary Indian society.
The traditional religious communities of India can be divided into Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, and other minor religious communities. The self-perception of Hindu communities surfaced during the modern Hindu renaissance, which also lead to the rise of Hindu nationalism. The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: National Volunteer Organization) or the VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad: World Hindu Council) are political groups representative of such Hindu nationalist viewpoints, and have been responsible for many communal upsets and events. With the support of such groups, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), a right-wing Hindu nationalist party, was able to hold power from 1998 to 2004. Hindu nationalism has been charged with the rise of communalism in India, leading dissensions with other religious communities and threatening the secularism propagated in the Indian constitution at the time of Independence.
When India and Pakistan were divided according to religion, many Muslims remained in India and their number is now more than 150 million. However, many experience a loss of religious identity and community, as well as suffering from economic hardships and lack of political influence. With the rise of Hindu right-wing political pressure and unseen threats, both real and imagined, many Muslim communities are anxious to build a self-perception of their own religious community in spite of the lack of physical and material security.
The self-perception of the Sikh community was formed during the religious persecutions of the Mughal Empire. In addition, the controversy between Sikhs and Hindus on the notion of shuddhi (purification) resulted in a rise of the Sikh self-perception. In the 1980s the Sikh community sought an independent state through the Khalistan movement. Nowadays they seem to be more focused on religious movements rather than political positions.
The Jain community has maintained its social status through its economic role in Indian society. Due to their belief in ahiṃsa, Jains have long been involved in commerce and finances, and thus have formed their own self-perceptions of community through the lineages of teachers, one’s hometown or caste, areas or categories of business and the credit relationship formed by such businesses, and pilgrimage. Especially from the 19th century onwards, we can witness the rise of religious identity as a Jain, differentiated from Hindus.
These communities have been undergoing many changes during the modern and contemporary period. Among many communities, we examine the temple communities and cyber communities in this study. For most Indians, the temple community serves as a critical component of their lives, not only in the religious sense but also within the social and political arena. Each temple community possesses different characteristics due to the difference in the role of the constituents and the relationship among the constituents; the most significant constituents are the clergy, the lay believers, and the management committee. The self-perception of a temple community is expressed through participation in religious rites as well as charitable acts, education, social and political activities. In general, the management, which is usually run by a committee, is most active in building the self-perception of a temple community.
Currently, the temple communities of India, especially those of urban areas, display many changes from the traditional temple community in their outward appearances, management, and economic status. One of the most significant changes is found in the role of the clergy, in particular the role of the Hindu priest of the Hindu temple community. While the priest occupied a considerable role in the formation of a religious community as well as the management of a temple, this role has now been usurped by the management committee in the contemporary temple community. As a result, the judiciary role, based on the religious authority of the priest found in traditional and/or rural communities, has now become miniscule. As an employee of the temple, the priest does not play as significant a role as the members of the management committee, who now organize charitable activities, volunteering, cultural and sometimes political events.
With the computerization enabled by the rapid increase of users as well as the spread of various IT-based technologies, numerous Indian communities have been formed in cyberspace. Accordingly, Indians are now shifting to accommodate cyber communities in addition to their traditional offline communities. Currently India is one of the youngest nations in the world, with a large number of young adults and youths leading the cyberspace communities.
Social media in India has been affecting not only the media industry but also many aspects of daily life. The flow from one’s homepage to social media such as personal blogs, Facebook, and Twitter is now commonly found in India, with many people receiving information from the government, the industry, as well as general users.
The core opinion leaders of India are males, mostly in their mid- to late-twenties. Many are college students or workers in the IT or financial industry. The social network services provided by such opinion leaders are found more effective in the work of NGOs(non-governmental organizations), compared to that of the industry. This indicates a trend in the social service network, which favors the pursuit of public benefit rather than business profits. In many cases social network services are provided through mobile phones rather than personal computers.
According to this study, we suggest the following strategies in promoting knowledge and insight of India as well as advancing Korean-Indian relationship.
First, as a study of communities and the self-perception of communities in India, we anticipate this study will provide critical information on Indian societies and their ways of thinking, while aiding government agencies and companies entering and branching out in India.
Second, we propose financial or administrative support for Indians in Korea who are seeking to build a center for the immigrant and migrant worker community. This may include support for building physical temples in Korea, or providing cyberspace in which actual Indian temple communities may be broadcast or cyber worship communities may be operated.
Third, with the upsurge in the use of social network services such as Twitter or Facebook, many Indian businesses have started to use these networks to promote new products or service. Korean businesses aiming to find a market in India should also be aware of this trend, and provide their own channels within the Indian social media as soon as possible. This will be crucial to the younger consumers of India, who will lead the trends in providing information as well as consumption.