South Asians

South Asians
Group	South Asians
Regions	South Asia, Middle East (migration), Southeast Asia (migration), Europe (diaspora), North America (diaspora)
Population	~1.9 billion (regional population)
Languages	Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Sinhala, Gujarati, Kannada
Religions	Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Jainism

Contents

South Asians are the peoples originating from the geopolitical and cultural region of South Asia encompassing modern states such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. The term is used in academic, diplomatic, and demographic contexts by institutions like the United Nations, World Bank, and United States Census Bureau and appears in scholarship by authors associated with Oxford University, Harvard University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Etymology and Definitions

The English term derives from the geographic compound "South" and "Asia" used in works by William Jones, James Mill, and later by Edward Said-era scholars; it gained policy usage in documents from the British Raj period, League of Nations, and post-World War II institutions like the UNESCO. Definitions vary among scholars at London School of Economics, Columbia University, and University of Chicago who debate inclusion criteria referencing boundaries such as the Himalayas, Indian Ocean, and political borders of India and Pakistan. Alternative terms appear in literature from University of Oxford Press and Cambridge University Press that discuss cultural zones defined by works like the Arthashastra and texts attributed to the Maurya Empire.

Prehistoric and ancient migrations are traced by archaeologists from sites like Mehrgarh, Harappa, and Mohenjo-daro and by genetic studies published by teams at Max Planck Institute and Wellcome Sanger Institute linking populations to movements associated with the Indus Valley Civilization and postglacial expansions. Classical contacts involved routes linking Persian Empire, Hellenistic Kingdoms, and the Roman Empire via trade nodes such as Alexandria and Arikamedu; medieval eras saw empires like the Maurya Empire, Gupta Empire, Chola dynasty, Delhi Sultanate, and Mughal Empire shaping polity and culture. Colonial transformations followed incursions by Portuguese Empire, Dutch East India Company, British East India Company, and culminated in the British Raj and decolonization events including the Partition of India and independence of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives.

Regional population concentrations center in megacities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Karachi, Dhaka, Kolkata, Chennai, and Colombo with subnational patterns documented by Census of India, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. International migration produced sizable communities in United Kingdom, United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia registered by agencies like the Office for National Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau. Demographic debates engage scholars at Population Council, International Organization for Migration, and United Nations Population Fund regarding urbanization, fertility transitions, and age-structure comparisons with East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The region hosts major language families including Indo-Aryan languages, Dravidian languages, and branches of Sino-Tibetan languages with prominent tongues such as Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Sinhala. Ethnolinguistic communities include groups identified as Bengalis, Punjabis, Tamils, Marathis, Sinhalese, Pashtuns, Baloch, Nepalis, and Bhutanese with research by institutions like SIL International and Ethnologue mapping dialect continua and language contact phenomena described in studies from University of Cambridge and SOAS University of London.

Religious traditions span Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, and Jainism with pilgrimage circuits including Varanasi, Amritsar, Bodh Gaya, Puri, and Anuradhapura. Ritual forms and performing arts link to classical traditions such as Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, and folk repertoires found in festivals like Diwali, Holi, Eid al-Fitr, Vesak, and Vaisakhi; scholarly work on syncretism cites fieldwork by researchers affiliated with Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of California, Berkeley, and National University of Singapore. Textual traditions include epics and scriptures like the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, Quran, and Tripitaka that have informed law codes such as those examined in studies at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School.

Regional economies range from agrarian zones to high-tech corridors in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune with multinational investment by corporations such as Tata Group, Reliance Industries, and Infosys and financial centers like Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. Labor migration flows fuel remittances recorded by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund with large diaspora populations contributing in United Kingdom, United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia; academic analyses appear in journals from Institute of Development Studies and Brookings Institution. Transnational networks connect professional associations like the Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and cultural institutions such as the India Foundation and Sri Lanka Foundation.

Political formations include major parties and movements such as the Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Pakistan Peoples Party, Awami League, and regional actors like the Tamil National Alliance; interstate relations involve disputes exemplified by the Kashmir conflict and cooperative frameworks like the SAARC. Social issues encompass caste-related movements documented in work on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, gender and labour studies referencing UN Women, and human rights concerns investigated by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Debates over secularism, communalism, migration law, and affirmative action feature in scholarship from Columbia University, University of Chicago, and regional think tanks such as the Observer Research Foundation.

Category:Ethnic groups in South Asia