Things common across South Asia

When we talk about the Indian subcontinent, we often talk about how diverse the society is. We have multiple religions, numerous languages, many races, and on and on.

The conflict between India and Pakistan dominates the cultural minds of many South Asians and every country that is not India strives to makes its own identity stand out tall and proud. While I do agree that nation states should assert their own identity, today I am going to focus on the things we have in common across South Asia - this includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan.

I. Cuisine and spices

Anyone from the subcontinent will tell you how diverse the food is and how the food from the region they hail from is unique.

No one will deny the use of spices in their cuisine, whether they are from Punjab or Tamil Nadu, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, however diverse the cuisines themselves may be. The subcontinent has always been known as a storehouse of spices and there exists a multiple millenia long history of spice trade across the Indian Ocean.

Common characteristics of the cuisine include

  • multitudes of spices used in different proportions based on the dish and regional cuisine
  • chutneys, powders/podis, pickles and curd
  • rice, wheat, meats, and local vegetables
  • paan and saunf as a post meal digestive
  • tropical fruits! two hundred kinds of mangoes, papayas, chikoos/sapottas, pineapples, mosambi/saathukudi, sitaphal/custard apple, and the list goes on

II. Language

With several hundred languages being spoken in South Asia, it is one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world, along with Africa and Papua New Guinea.

Language families

As a South Indian, I never realized two important statistical realities of modern South Asia: a majority of Punjabis and and a majority of Bengalis live outside of India, in Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively.

Key aspects here about the prominent languages

  • Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, but its birthplace is in Uttar Pradesh in India
  • Hindi enjoys a dominant position in India, and I consider Hindi and Urdu to be sister languages. Hindi/Urdu is the language of Bollywood, the lingua franca of much of North India, and an important bridge language for many parts of India
  • India has 23 official languages. While Hindi is dominant, there are many regions where Hindi is conspicuously absent, like in the South Indian states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala
  • The two biggest language families are Indo-Aryan and Dravidian, roughly corresponding to North India and South India
  • Sanskrit, the Latin of South Asia, has a staggering influence on languages in both North and South India
  • Persian or Farsi has also had a big influence on the Indo-Aryan language family. The Indo-Aryan language family belongs to the larger Indo-Iranian language family. South Asia also has a very high number of writing systems, with almost every language having its own unique writing system
  • Hindi, Bengali and Punjabi are in the top ten list of languages by most number of speakers, in the world
  • Dravidian languages are spoken as far as Jharkand in North India and in Balcohistan (Brahui)
  • Sri Lanka has two language families in spite of its low population: Indo-Aryan (Sinhalese) and Dravidian(Tamil)
  • Bangladesh is extremely homogenous, in spite of its large population (eighth most populous country in the world), around 99% of the population speaks Bengali

Let’s not forget the smaller language families

  • Austra-Asiatic
    • The Munda languages like Santali, Mundari and Ho are spoken primarily in the Chhota Nagpur Plateau area
    • The Khasi languages are spoken by the Khasi peoples in Meghalaya and Bangladesh
    • The Nicobarese languages are spoken in the Nicobar islands
  • Tibeto-Burman
    • These languages are spoken in the regions adjacent to Tibet, stretching from Leh near Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh in the East, a distance of over 3,000 kilometers. Some examples from North Eastern India include the Naga languages, Manipuri or Meitei, Mizo, and Bodo.
  • Iranian languages like Pashto and Dari in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I admit I know very less about these languages. Interestingly, the city with the largest number of Pashto speakers is Karachi in Pakistan, a city outside of the traditional Pashto heartland

III. Rupee as Currency

In South Asia, rupee is used as the name of the currency in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Rupee or cognates of rupee are also used in Maldives(rufiyaa) and Indonesia(rupiah).

Once again paying testament to the diversity of South Asia, each language has its own version of rupee. For example, you may say “rupayye” in Hindi and “roobai” in Tamil.

The Indian currency notes have the denomination written in sixteen different languages. Take a look at how the Indian Two Thousand Rupee note looks.

IV. Number system

South Asia employs its own number system that is different from the International or Western numbering system. Instead of millions and billions, we have lakhs and crores. A hundred thousand is a lakh, a hundred lakhs is a crore.

Once again, the terms “lakh” and “crore” are in English, but each language has its own versions of the terms.

In Hindi, the terms for the numbers are “laakh” and “karor”. In Tamil, the terms for the numbers are “latcham” and “kodee”

Just like millionaire, in Hindi, a person with at least a lakh is “lakhpati”, and with at least a crore is “crorepati”. The popular TV show Who wants to be a Millionaire was localized as Kaun Banega Crorepati in Hindi. In Tamil, a person with at least a crore is “kodeeswaran”.

V. Sports

Cricket

The richest cricketing body in the world today is the BCCI, which is the Board of Control for Cricket in India. As a shared legacy of British colonialism, cricket is played almost everywhere across South Asia.

Kabaddi

Kabaddi is an indigenous game that has recently been more recognized in the world with its own World Cup and Premier League. The word “kabaddi” likely comes from “kai pidi” in Tamil, which translates to “catch my hand”

Javelin throwing

In the 2024 Olympics, two men from Punjab won medals for Javelin throwing. Arshad Nadeem from Pakistani Punjab won the Gold, and Neeraj Chopra from Indian Punjab won the Silver.

Board games

I grew up playing carrom and many movies have scenes with lead characters playing carrom - my two favorites are Munnabhai MBBS and Vada Chennai.

Chess originated in the subcontinent, as Chaturanga. It then spread to Persia where it was known as Shatranj, and was further picked up by the Arabs who spread it to Europe through Muslim Spain.

The modern board game known as Ludo originated in Ancient India as Pachisi. Interestingly, the American version is known as Parcheesi. I have played a Tamil version with dice called Dayakattai.

Another modern game that comes from Ancient India is Snakes and Ladders - it was known as Moksha Patam - the path to Moksha or salvation.

VI. Tropical weather

It is hot as hell in the neighborhood and the summers are getting longer and hotter everywhere. Global warming may have serious consequences on the region - increase in heat will affect people at the bottom of the ladder, as the region still grapples with poverty.