The overwhelming impact of Hinduism on the Indian minds can be considered as the single most important unifying factor. India is a land of diverse religious faiths. But the influence of Hinduism easily transcends that of any other religion. It is mainly due to the all-comprehensive and all-embracing pervasiveness of Hinduism. Like Christianity in Europe, Hinduism in India has provided an attitude and way of thinking, which is shared and cherished even by the people of other religions. Hinduism, as Dr. Radhakrishnan described it is “a mosaic of almost all types of stages of religious aspiration and endeavour.”
The worship of Hindu gods and goddesses is widespread in north as well as in south India. Epics like the Ramayan and the Mahabharata continue to be studied with equal zeal throughout the country. Originally written in Sanskrit, these have been translated into many different languages. The holy places and centres of religions are spread over entire India making it obligatory for people to visit these places. The Saivites worship 12 Jyotirlingas (effulgent lingas), the Saktas have 52 pithas and the Vaishnavites have numerous pithas throughout India. From Kanchipuram in the south, Dwarka in the west, Badrinath in the north and Puri in the east (chartudham) the whole country is dotted with a network of holy places, which foster a sense of unity.
The daily prayer of Hindus includes sacred rivers like the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Saraswati, the Godavari, the Narmada, the Sindhu and the Kaveri from different parts of the country. Another prayer describes the country as the land of seven sacred cities. Ayodhya, Mathura, Haradwar (Maya), Varanasi (Kasi), Kanchi, Ujjain (Avantika) and Dwaraka (Dvaravati) representing different regions. The four holy lakes, Bindu, Pampa,
Narayan and Manasa and seven mountains (Kulachala) Mahendra, Malaya, Sahyah, Suktimat, Vindhya and Pariyatra are spread over the whole of India.
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Religious concepts like monotheism, immortality of the soul, re-incarnation, karma, nirvana, moksha etc. inspire people all over the country. Religious rites and rituals have uniformity throughout the country. Sages and saints, religious preachers and the pilgrims have never differentiated between the north and south. If Shankaracharya carried the message from the south to the north, Buddhism and Jainism spread from the north to the south. Chitanya, Kabir and Nanak formed the connecting link among various regions of the country.