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The '''Culture of ]''' is one of the oldest in the world. India has managed to preserve its established traditions throughout history whilst absorbing customs, traditions and ideas from both invaders and immigrants. Many cultural practices, languages, customs and monuments are examples of this co-mingling over centuries. In modern India, there is remarkable cultural diversity throughout the country. The ], ], and ] have their own distinct cultures and almost every state has carved out its own cultural niche. In spite of the diversity, it's bound by a common thread as one civilization perhaps because of its common history. Indian culture and religions had great impact on its immediate neighbours, ] and beyond. Indian influences are still very strong in ], ], ]an, ]n, ], ], ], ]an, ]n cultures and many more. India has been the birth place of many major relegious systems such as ], ], ], ] and ], that are strong and influential not only in India but across the world. | ||
| ==Cultural policy== | ==Cultural policy== | ||
Revision as of 10:01, 10 May 2006
The Culture of India is one of the oldest in the world. India has managed to preserve its established traditions throughout history whilst absorbing customs, traditions and ideas from both invaders and immigrants. Many cultural practices, languages, customs and monuments are examples of this co-mingling over centuries. In modern India, there is remarkable cultural diversity throughout the country. The South, North, and North-East have their own distinct cultures and almost every state has carved out its own cultural niche. In spite of the diversity, it's bound by a common thread as one civilization perhaps because of its common history. Indian culture and religions had great impact on its immediate neighbours, South East Asia and beyond. Indian influences are still very strong in Thai, Malay, Singaporean, Indonesian, Laotian, Khmer, Burmese, Tibetan, Mongolian cultures and many more. India has been the birth place of many major relegious systems such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Ayyavazhi, Buddhism and Jainism, that are strong and influential not only in India but across the world.
Cultural policy
The cultural policy of the Government of India has three major objectives:
- Preserving the cultural heritage of India,
- Inculcating Indian art consciousness amongst Indians and
- Promoting high standards in creative and performing arts.
Overview
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India has a rich and unique cultural heritage, and has managed to preserve its established traditions throughout history whilst absorbing customs, traditions and ideas from both invaders and immigrants. Indian culture is a mixture of several regional cultures, which also has been influenced by cultural impact from other countries, and at the same time, influenced the culture of several other nations. Indian culture is strongly influenced by religious and folk idioms and art. While the religious influence is still evident in "classical" Indian culture, the urban India is now mostly influenced by Western, more specifically, popular American culture.
India is usually divided into five major cultural divisions — each with their own identity. Most distinctive are the South India and North East India, whereas East and West Indian cultures portray a mingling of Northern and Southern influnces with their own forms.
There are a large number of languages in India; 216 of them are spoken by a group of 10,000 persons or more. The two major families of languages are those of the Dravidian languages and those of the Indo-Aryan languages, the former largely confined to the South India and the latter to the North India. The Constitution of India has stipulated the usage of Hindi and English to be the two official languages of communication for the national government. A further 22 languages are scheduled for official use.
Literature
- Main article: Indian literature
The earliest literary traditions were mostly oral and were later transcribed. Most of these spring from Hindu tradition and are represented by sacred works like the Vedas, the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Tamil Sangam literature represents some of India's oldest secular traditions. Many Buddhist and Jain works are in Prakrit languages like Pali. Islamic culture dominates most of medieval Indian literature, with the spreading influence of Persian and the rise of famous poets such as Amir Khusro. Simultaneously developed literaure in regional languages. Colonial rule prepared the stage for modern literature exemplified by the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Munshi Premchand, Devaki Nandan Khatri, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer among many others. Indian writers in modern times, like R. K. Narayan, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Khushwant Singh have been the cynosure of wide acclaim, both in Indian languages and English.
Performing arts
Music
- Main article: Music of India
The music of India includes multiples varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, noted for the use of several Raga, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, remains instrumental to the religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. Alongside distinctly subcontinental forms there are major influences from Persian, Arab, and British music. Indian genres like filmi and bhangra have become popular throughout the United Kingdom, South and East Asia, and around the world.
Dance
- Main article: Indian Dance
India offers a number of Classical Indian dance forms, each of which can be traced to different parts of the country. Each form represents the culture and ethos of a particular region or a group of people. The eight main styles are Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam, Bhangra, Manipuri and Kathakali. Besides, there are several forms of Indian folk dances, and special dances observed in regional festivals.
Drama and theatre
Indian drama and theatre is perhaps as old as its music and dance. Kalidas' plays like Shakuntala and Meghadoot are some of the oldest plays from literary traditions. The tradition of folk theatre is alive in nearly all the linguistic regions of the country. In addition, there is a rich tradition of puppet theatre in rural India. Group Theatre is also thriving in the cities, initiated by the likes of Utpal Dutt, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and still maintained by groups like Nandikar and Prithvi Theatre.
Visual arts
- Main article: Indian art
Painting
- Main article: Indian painting
The earliest Indian paintings were the rock paintings of pre-historic times, the petroglyphs as found in places like Bhimbetka, and some of them are older than 5500 BC. Ancient texts outlining theories of darragh and anecdotal accounts suggesting that it was common for households to paint their doorways or indoor rooms where guests resided.
Cave paintings from Ajanta, Bagh, Ellora and Sittanavasal and temple paintings testify to a love of naturalism and God. Most rock art in India is Hindu or Buddhist. A freshly made coloured flour design (Rangoli) everyday is still a common sight outside the doorstep of many (mostly South Indian) Indian homes.
Madhubani painting, Rajput painting, Tanjore painting, Mughal painting are some notable Genres of Indian Art; while Raja Ravi Varma, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy are some modern painters. Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, has on display several good Indian paintings.
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Sculpture
The first sculptures in India date back to the Indus Valley civilization, where stone and bronze carvings have been discovered. This is one of the earliest instances of sculpture in the world. Later, as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism developed further, India produced some of the most intricate bronzes in the world, as well as unrivaled temple carvings. Some huge shrines, such as the one at Ellora were not actually constructed using blocks, but instead carved out of solid rock, making them perhaps the largest and most intricate sculptures in the world. The pink sandstone sculptures of Mathura evolved during the Gupta period (4th to 6th century) to reach a very high fineness of execution and delicacy in the modeling. Newer sculptures in northwest, in stucco, schist or clay, display very strong blending of Indian post-Gupta mannerism and Classical influence, Hellenistic or possibly even Greco-Roman. Meanwhile, elsewhere in India, less anatomically accurate styles of human representation evolved, leading to the classical art that the world is now familiar with, and contributing to Buddhist and Hindu sculpture throughout Asia.
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Architecture
Indian architecture is that vast tapestry of production of the Indian Subcontinent that encompasses a multitude of expressions over space and time, transformed by the forces of history considered unique to the sub-continent, sometimes destroying, but most of the time absorbing. The result is an evolving range of architectural production that none the less retains a certain amount of continuity across history. The earliest production in the Indus Valley Civilization was characterised by well planned cities and houses where religion did not seem to play an active role. During the reign Gupta and Maurya empires, several Buddhist architecture like caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the monumental Sanchi Stupa were built. South India contains several Hindu temples like Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur, the Sun Temple, Konark, Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam. Angkor Wat carries the evidence of Indian influence on South East Asian architecture.
With the advent of Islam, the erstwhile Indian architecture was slightly adapted to allow the traditions of the new religion. Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal, Gol Gumbaz, Qutub Minar, Red Fort of Delhi are the creations of this era. The colonoal rule saw the development of Indo-Saracenic and mixing of several other styles. Victoria Memorial, Victoria Terminus are notable examples. Recent creations such as Lotus Temple are also notable.
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Recreation and sports
- Main article: Sports in India
In the area of recreation and sports India had evolved a number of games. One would be surprised to know today that games like, Chess, Snakes and Ladders, Playing cards, Polo, the martial art Kung-fu had originated as a sport in India and it was from here that these games were transmitted to foreign countries, where they were further modernized. Additionally, a few games introduced during the British Raj have grown quite popular in India, field hockey and especially cricket. Although field hockey is India's official national sport, cricket is by far the most popular sport not only in India, but the entire subcontinent, thriving recreationally and professionally. Cricket has even been used recently as a forum for diplomatic relations between India and long-standing rival, Pakistan. The two nations' cricket teams face off annually and such contests are quite impassioned on both sides.
Cuisine
- Main article: Cuisine of India
The earliest Indians, the Harappans, probably ate mainly wheat, rice and lentils, and occasionally meats such as pork, lamb, beef, goat and chicken. It is not known exactly when beef was made forbidden in Hinduism. Some believe that vegetarianism became popular with the arrival of Buddhism and Jainism, that emphasised ahimsa (non-violence).
The cuisine of Modern India has great variety and each region has its own distinctive flavours. The staple cereals are rice and wheat. North Indian meals consist of chapatis or rotis and rice as staples, eaten with a wide variety of side dishes like dals, curries, yogurt, chutney and achars. South Indian dishes are mostly rice-based, sambhar, rasam and curries being important side dishes. Dosa, Idli are specialties of the southern states where coconut is an important ingredient food. Fish is popular in coastal states. Several kind of street foods like Panipuri, Vada pav, Bhelpuri, samosa, vada are popular, though they are known by different names in different regions. Chinese cuisine is also popular. tea enjoys heavy popularity, while coffee is mostly popular in South India. Nimbu pani (lemonade), lassi, and coconut milk are also popular, while India also has many indigenous alcoholic beverages like Fenny and Indian beer
Intellectual and government culture
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Political culture
Main article: Politics of India
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India, a "sovereign socialist secular democratic republic", is the largest nation on Earth with a democratically-elected government. Accordingly, there are hundreds of political parties in India, almost every single party with its individual agenda. While Indian National Congress were at the helms of the affairs for many years after Independence, the South India saw the rising of several regional parties, many in the line of regional and anti-center politics. Religion-based politics came into major play in the 1990s, probably aided by the lack of a roll model in the hitherto numero uno Congress, and also by sectarian divisionism in the wake of Ram Janmabhoomi—Babri Mosque incident in 1992. Meanwhile, especially in state level, several parties were at large, including communist Left Front.
The political culture of India is full of theatrics and politicians usually try to satisfy their respective electoral population. The result is often discreet local gains rather than general upliftment of the country.
Scientific culture
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Military culture
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Popular media
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Cinema
- Main article: Cinema of India
Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based film industry in India. Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs (Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu) constitute the broader Indian film industry, whose output is considered to be the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced and, possibly, number of tickets sold.
Bollywood films are usually musicals. Few movies are made without at least one song-and-dance number. Indian audiences expect full value for their money; they want songs and dances, love interest, comedy and dare-devil thrills, all mixed up in a three hour long extravaganza with intermission. Such movies are called masala movies, after the Indian spice mixture masala. Like masala, these movies are a mixture of many things. Plots tend to be melodramatic. They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers and angry parents, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences, and even movies with tri polar changes that can turn a movie and its plot upside down.
Besides the regular masala films, India has also produced many critically acclaimed cinema-makers like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan etc. In fact, with the opening up of the economy in the recent years & consequent exposure to world cinema, audience tastes have been changing. Indian commercial movies have also started following authentic, real world themes with a lower amount of melodrama & some do not even contain songs. In addition, multiplexes have mushroomed in most cities, changing the revenue patterns & allowing film makers greater liberty & scope for executing bold & innovative ideas which would not have been possible even a decade ago.
Television
Main article: Television in IndiaIndian television started off in 1959 in New Delhi with tests for educational telecasts. Indian small screen programming started off in the early 1980s. At that time there was only one national channel Doordarshan, which was government owned. The Ramayana and Mahabharat was the first major television series produced. This serial notched up the world record in viewer ship numbers for a single program. By the late 1980s more and more people started to own television sets. Though there was a single channel, television programming had reached saturation. Hence the government opened up another channel which had part national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 later DD Metro. Both channels were broadcasted terrestrially.
In 1992, the government liberated its markets, opening them up to cable television. Since then, a spurt in the number of channels available. Today, Indian silver screen is a huge industry by itself, and has thousands of programmes in all the states of India. The small screen has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind some even attaining national fame.TV soaps are extremely popular with housewives as well as working women. Some small time actors have made it big in Bollywood.
See also: List of Indian television stationsRadio
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Radio broadcasting began in India in 1927, with two privately-owned transmitters at Mumbai and Calcutta. These were nationalised in 1930 and operated under the name Indian Broadcasting Service until 1936, when it was renamed All India Radio (AIR). Although officially renamed again to Akashwani in 1957, it is still popularly known as All India Radio. All India Radio is a division of Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India), an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster.
All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world. The headquarters is at Akashwani Bhavan, on the Parliament Street next to the Indian parliament. Akashwani Bhavan houses the drama section, the FM section and the National service. The Doordarshan Kendra (Delhi) is also located on the 6 floor of Akashwani Bhavan.
AIR covers 99.37% of India's populace. AIR maintains approximately 200 broadcasting centres around the country and transmits in 24 different languages. In spite of recent penetration by other media such as Cable TV, AIR remains the most common means of gaining access to information and entertainment, as the radio receivers are relatively cheap and affordable.
See also: All India RadioReligion and philosophy
Main article: Religion in IndiaIndia is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with one of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion plays a central and definitive role in the life of the country and most of its people.
The faith of more than 80.4% of the people is Hinduism, considered the world's oldest religious and philosophical system. Islam is practiced by around 13.4% of all Indians.
Sikhism, Ayyavazhi, Buddhism and Jainism are Indian-born religious systems that are strong and influential not only in India but across the world. Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith are also influential but their numbers are smaller.
Despite the strong role of religion in Indian life, atheism and agnostics are also visible influences.
Philosophy
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