“Elaborate on various types of religious practices prevalent in Indian society.” (2017)
Religious practice is the enacted side of religion: the rites, observances and forms of worship through which believers relate to the sacred. Émile Durkheim saw these rites as what binds a moral community. India’s practices range from tribal nature worship to philosophical monism, and they overlap more than census categories suggest.
Types of practice
| Type | Meaning | Indian illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Animism and naturism | Spirits dwell in natural objects (Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 1871); worship of natural forces (Max Müller) | Sarna worship of sacred groves among Munda and Oraon; river, tree and snake worship |
| Totemism | A clan’s sacred bond with an animal or plant emblem | Totemic clans among the Oraon and Gonds, with taboos on killing the totem |
| Ancestor worship | Rites for the dead as protective spirits | Shraddha, pitru paksha, hero-stones |
| Polytheism, monotheism, monism | Many gods; one God; one ultimate reality | Village and Puranic deities; Islam, Sikhism; Advaita Vedanta |
| Ritualism | Rites of passage, purity and pollution | M. N. Srinivas (Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India, 1952) showed rites expressing caste and family unity |
| Pilgrimage and festivals | Movement to sacred centres; calendrical rites | The Maha Kumbh (Prayagraj, 2025), the Pandharpur wari, Ajmer urs |
| Sects and cults | Breakaway or devotee-centred groups around a guru | Lingayats, Kabirpanthis, Radha Soami, deras of Punjab |
| Syncretic practice | Blending across traditions | Sufi dargahs visited by Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims |
Interpreting the variety
- Great and little traditions: McKim Marriott‘s Kishan Garhi study (1955) showed local and Sanskritic practices constantly borrowing from each other.
- Shared practice across boundaries: the Pew Research Center survey (2019–20, about 30,000 adults) found 77% of both Hindus and Muslims believe in karma. It also found 20% of Muslims and 31% of Christians celebrate Diwali.
- Protest and identity: Ambedkarite Buddhism rejects Brahmanical ritual. Adivasi groups demand a separate Sarna code in the Census, and the Jharkhand Assembly passed a resolution for one in 2020.
- New forms: televised epics, online darshan, e-hundi donations and live-streamed events such as the Ayodhya consecration (January 2024) create mediatised religion without ending older rites.
Conclusion
Indian religious practice is best seen as a continuum, not a set of sealed boxes. Animist, ritualist, devotional and syncretic forms coexist, often in the same household. Modern media and identity politics are reshaping how people practise without reducing that variety.