CENSUS OF INDIA 1991 SERIES-1 INDIA Paper 1 of 1995 RELIGION Dr. M. VIJAYANVNNI o(the Indian Administrative Service Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India CONTENTS Pages PREFACE iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V - VI INTRODUCTORY NOTE vii - xxiv Note on Religion Table C-9-Religion Table 3 - 15 APPENDICES Appendix A - Details of religions shown under 'other religions and persuasions' in main religion table 17 - 60 Appendix B - Total of 'other religions and persuasions' the strength of each of which is less than 100 61 - 64 Annexure - Details ofSects/Beliefs/Religions clubbed with another religion which is shown at the head of the table in block letters 65 - III PREFACE This pape: contains the 1991 Census religion data comprising of the distribution of population by religion and sex and rural and urban separately for the country and states. Information relating to the six major religious communities. namely. Hindus. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and 'other religions and persuasions' and 'religion not stated' is presented in this paper. The data contained in this volume was finalised under the able direction of my predecessor Shri A.R. Nanda. 2. The Directors of Census Operations of the States and Union Territories and their officers and staff processed the huge volume of household schedules manually and tabulated the data. 3. The arduous task of checking the figures, compilation of the table and preparation of notes was accomplished well by the Census Division under the overall guidance of Shri S.P. Sharma, Deputy Registrar General (Census and Tabulation) ably assisted by Shri A.K. Singh, Deputy Director of Census Operations and other colleagues. The names of the officials who helped in the scrutiny and compilation of the religion data are given separately. The initial work of scrutiny of the names of the religions was done under the supervision of Dr. M.K. Jain. Deputy Registrar General (Social Studies) assisted by Shri C. Chakravorty. Deputy Director of Census Operations and Smt. R. Sabharwal. Assistant Director of Census Operations in the Social Studies Division. 4. I hope this publication will be useful to sociologists. demographers, administrators. planners, research scholars and other data users. Dr. M. Vijayanunni Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India New Delhi January, 1995 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OFFICERS AND STAFF BEHIND THIS WORK Directors of Census Operations States 1 Andhra Pradesh Shri R.P. Singh 2 Arunachal Pradesh Shri S.R. Sarkar 3 Assam Shri N.C. Dutta 4 Bihar Shri \ltd. Shafiq-u/-Zaman 5 Goa Shri S Rajcndran 6 Gujarat Shri N.H. Varsani 7 Haryana Shri V.S. Chaudhri 8 Himachal Pradesh Shri H.S. Atwal 9 Jammu & Kashmir Shri A.H. Parray 10 Karnataka Smt. Sobha Nambisan 1 I Kerala Shri N.M. Samuel 12 Madhya Pradesh Shri Dilip f\1chra 13 Maharashtra Shri .l.K. Ranthia 14 Manipur Shri A.R. Khan 15 Meghalaya Shri lapan Scnapati 16 Mizoram Shri M. Dawngliana 17 Nagaland Shri S.R. LuhaJia 18 Orissa Shri R.N. Scnapati 19 Punjab Shri D.S . .1aspal 20 Rajasthan Dr. V.S. Sisodia 21'), Sikkim Shri R.S. Shreshtha ... ~ Tamil Nadu Shri K. Sampath Kumar 23 Tripura Shri H.M. Choudhury 24 Uttar Prad~sh Shri Vijendcr Paul 25 West Bengal Shri H. Chakravarty II nion Territories Andaman & Nicobar Islands Shri Ashok Kumar 2 Chandigarh Shri Ramesh Ncgi 3 Dadra and Nagar Haveli Shri N.R. Varsani 4 Daman & Diu Shri N.R. Varsani 5 Delhi Shri R.K. Goswami 6 Lakshadweep Shri S.P. Aggarwal 7 Pondicherry Shri R.S. Chari (v) Office of the Registrar General, India Finalisation of data Census Division Shri S.P. Sharma Deputy Registrar General (C&T) 2 Shri A.K. Singh Deputy Director of Census Operations 3 Shri Krishan Lal Asstt. Director of Census Operations (T) 4 Shri M.S. Bhati Investigator 5 Shri J.B. Sharma Statistical Assistant 6 Shri S.S. Bhardwaj Statistical Assistant 7 Smt. A. Tangri Statistical Assistant 8 Smt. Anila Mehdiratta Computor 9 Smt. Veena Dewan Assistant Compiler 10 Smt. Indu Bhola Assistant Compiler 11 Shri Vijay Kumar Assistant Compiler 12 Shri A.K. Wadhwa Assistant Compiler 13 Shri T.K. Mehto Assistant Compiler Social Studies Division Dr. M.K. Jain Deputy Registrar General (SS) 2 Shri C. Chakravorty Deputy Director of Census Operations 3 Smt. Renu Sabharwal Asstt. Director of Census Operations (T) Preparation of Camera-ready Copies Shri l-1.K. Kaushal Investigator 2 Shri Om Prakash Map Recorder 3 Shri R.G. Rajan U.D.C. Printing ] Shri K.S. Natarajan Deputy Registrar General (Demography) 2 Smt. Suman Prashar Dtputy Director of Census Operations 3 Shri H.K . .Jhamb Printing Officer 4 Shri N.L. Savita Printing Inspector (vi) INTRODlJCTORY NOTE INTRODUCTORY NOTE Religion is one of the bask cultural characteristks of the population. In a secular state like India, several religions have thri ved and every decennial Census has attempted to provide an interesting picture of the religious persuasions of the people of the country. The data on religion yielded by the Census are of gn~at intL'n.!st tn the anthropologists, sociologists, demographers, administrators, planners and also laymen. In the Il)l) I Census, in question numher !\ of the Individual Slip, the religion of the person enumerated was recorded as returned. The instructions to the enumerators for filling up question X on religion are given helow: "In answering this question, use the following ahhrevi •• tions: H for Hindus M for Muslims C fl)r Christians S ror Sikhs B for Buddhist.': J for hins Fill' others, wcord the actual religion as rcturneu fully. If the person says that he has no rdigillll the answer may he reclln.lcu accordingly. Do not mistake religion for castc which will not he l'l~cordeJ here. You should also not try to ~~stahlish any relationship hetween religion anu mother tongue. Do not write anYlhing in the doLLed hoxes, hut write Oil the linc." The enumerators were also inslrucleu to copy the rl'turns regarding religion of an inuividual from question X of Indiviuual Slip to colul1lll t) of Housei1olu Schedule. The instructions in this regard were as follows: "Fill' the person enten;u in column 2 or the Household Scheuuk, check if H, M, C, S, Band J or actual religion returned hy the person has heen recorded in question X of the Inuividual Slip. II' SIl, copy the same in column l) of the Household Scheuulc". Editing of the returns ohtained through question X of the Indiviuual Slip anu euiting and matching of the entry in column l) of lhe Household Schedule was done in the I ({~ Regional Tahulation Offices established allover the country to manually procl.!ss and compile the census data. The editing and matching instructions for question X of Individual slip (Religion) arc reproduced helow: "Question X. Religion (ix) Match the entry in column 9 of the Household schedule for each memher of the household with the corresponding entry against question X of the Individual Slip. Please note that this check will he made for all types of households whether normal or institutional or hOllseless. If these are not the same for any memher of the household, correct the entry in Column 9 of the Household Schedule on the oasis of entry in question X of the Individual Slip. If the entry in either the Individual Slip or the Household Schedule is missing for any memher of the househ()ld copy the entry from the schedule in which it has heen written into the schedule in which it has heen missed. If hy chanct' the entry is blank in both the Indivillual Slip and the Household Schedule f()r any memher of the household, look into the entries of religion in respect ()f other related memhers of the household and write the religion indicated therein in hoth the schedules". The religion-wise data was compiled from hOllsehold schedules 111 Regional Tahulati()n Ollil:es. A Summary The fnllnwing arc the main reiiginus c()mmunitks ill the clllintry as a whole. These are arranged in nHkr or nunH.:rical strength at all India lew!. Sex ratio Rdigiolls (Iemales Per Cotnmunities* Persons Males females I ,()()() males) 2 :1 4 5 Hindus hX7 ,646,721 357,252,X33 ·nO.3LJ1)·;XX l)25 Muslims I () 1,5lJ6,057 52'()' I ,3(15 4H,%4/1l)2 l):1() Christians 1l),64(),2X4 l),X4X,<):V) LJ, 7l) 1..154 994 Sikhs I (),25L), 7 44 X,() I (),5()X j ,t,4.9,216 XXX Buddhists 6JX7,500 3,272,2()() :\,115,lO() 952 Jains lJ52,7()6 1,722,715 1,()2l),9l) 1 946 * Excludes figures or Jammll & Kashmir wlwre )l)l) I Cl.!nslls was not held. T.h~ percentage of the p()pulation accollnll'd for hy each nr the six major relillious (;OmmunltICs, namely, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and hins' at lhe ) l)91 (x) Census are given helow at lhe (.:()Ulllry leveL Religiolls Percentage to '" Pl!rCl!l1tage Deead'll ** Communities total population growth rate Il)X I - l) I 2 Hinulls 1'<2.00 22.71'< Muslims 12.12 ~2.76 Christians 2.34 16.1'<l) Sikhs 1.94 25.4X Buddhists 0.76 ~5.91'< Jains (lAO 4.42 * Excludes figures or Jammu & Kashmir where Il)l) I Census was not held. ** Excludes figures of Assam and Jammu & Kashmir. The pattern or distrihution or the population of the SIX major religious communities helwcen rural and urhan arl~as is as follows: PI~.rcc n tage to Percentage to Religiolls Rural tolal fural Urban total urban C()mmunilil~s* PllPUiatio)) population pnpulation population 2 3 4 5 Hindus 522.1'<%,625 1'<~.l)6 IM.750.0t)() 76.~5 Muslims (15,5(11.695 IO.S:' 1(1,032.162 16.70 Christians I :1,41'<5,26 I 2.17 6,IS5,021 2.1'<5 Sikhs 12,473,410 2.