(MENAFN - NewsIn.Asia)
By Uditha Devapriya/Ceylon Today
The most populated and densely populated region in Asia, South Asia is a sprawling mass of land and sea. It covers around five million square kilometres, or 3.5 percent of the world s land surface, and houses around a quarter of humanity.
Within its frontiers, eight countries shelter a dazzling potpourri of ethnicities, faiths, dialects, cultural and behavioral patterns, alternating between conflict and coexistence. Nations thrive on borders, and borders define their state of being, as they do in much of Europe and the Americas. In South Asia, however, communities define themselves beyond borders. Very few ethnic groups are unable to claim a home in more than one country, and among those exceptions are the Sinhalese. Yet even the Sinhalese are wedded to other ethnic groups, by virtue of the past.