That was a reference to a view held by hardliners that Muslims have large families in order to increase their religion's population in India.

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In Hindu mythology (Hinduism is an ancient religion practiced in the country of India), there is an insightful legend involving Lord Shiva and his son, Karthikeya.

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Cricket is also nothing short of a religion in places such as India and Sri Lanka, where cricket players are superstars and big matches bring daily life to a standstill.

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Correspondents say that as the news of the arrests broke on Thursday, there was shock in India where cricket is often treated on a par with religion.

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Ibrahim Tai, the president of the Indian Muslim Council, which looks after the social and religious affairs of the Muslim community in India, said that they had "defamed" his religion.

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In India agencies such as BharatMatrimony provide remarkably detailed lists of criteria, including religion, caste, income and education, that allow people to make minute refinements to the description of their ideal soulmate.

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Today, in many parts of the country, the identity wars that engulfed India during the 1990s - when religion and caste advanced as the basis of claims to special privileges - seem to have played themselves out.

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