New Delhi: India is universally known for its diversity of religions & communities. India has been a land of tolerance with communities as diverse as the Parsees, Armenians and Syrian Christians coming to this land to take refuge.
But India is also the country that has witnessed communal violence on a large scale during the 66 years of independence.
Here's a list of major communal riots that shook India since independence:
1969 Gujrat riots: 
The 1969 Gujrat riots were known to be the most deadly Hindu-Muslim riots till the 1989 Bhagalpur communal riots in Bihar.
The violence started on the evening of 18th September 1969, which was the last day of the Urs.
A minor incident relating to some cattle damaging the carts of shoppers belonging to a particular community led to large-scale violence, arson and stoning.
Around 514 people were killed and 6,123 houses and shops were damaged from 19-24 September, 1969.
