Culture of India: Encyclopedia - Culture of India

Culture of India

The culture of India is one of the oldest cultures in the world. In modern India, there is remarkable cultural diversity throughout the country. The South, North, and Northeast 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 a thread as one civilization perhaps because of its common history and transfer of age old knowledge in the geographies. Indian culture and religions had great impacts on South East Asia and this is evident in the legacy it left. Indian influences are still very strong in Thai, Malay, Indonesian, Laotian, Khmer, Burmese cultures and many more.

Culture of India - 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.

Culture of India - History

One of the most interesting aspects of Indian art and architecture prior to colonization was the strong impact of religious and folk idioms and folk art on courtly art. Although folk art received little encouragement during the period of colonization, independence brought forth a renewed interest in folk paintings.

Culture of India - 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. Bollywood is a place to be for the drama.

Culture of India - 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. Sangam literature from Tamil Nadu represents some of India's oldest secular traditions. Indian writers in modern times, like Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Khushwant Singh have been the cynosure of wide acclaim, both in Indian languages and English.

Culture of India - Dance

India offers a number of classical 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 seven main styles are Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam, Manipuri and Kathakali.

There are many types of dance in India, from those which are deeply religious in content, often based on old Vedic or Hindu folk traditions, to those which are danced on lighter occasions.

• Arts & Artistes of Kerala, India

Culture of India - Music

The music of India includes multiples varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects. 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.

Culture of India - Art

Culture of India - Painting

Indian painting is an old tradition, with 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 and Sittanvasal and temple paintings testify to a love of naturalism and God. Most rock art in India is Hindu or Buddhist.

A freshly made flour design (Rangoli) everyday is still a common sight outside the doorstep of many (mostly South Indian) Indian homes.

Jahangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, has on display several good Indian paintings.

Culture of India - Movies

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.

However, with the opening up of the economy in the recent years & consequent exposure to world cinema, audience tastes have been changing. Indian movies have now 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.

Culture of India - Recreation and sports

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.

Culture of India - Cuisine

The earliest Indians, the Harappans, probably ate mainly wheat, rice and lentils, and occasionally meats such as pork, lamb, goat and chicken. Rice and chicken seem to have come from Thailand, and wheat and lamb from western Asia. Some of the wheat was made into stews or soups, and some into flat breads called chapatis. Cows were considered sacred and it is believed that they did not eat beef. Around 1100 AD, with the Islamic conquests in northern India, most people in India stopped eating pork as well, because it is forbidden by the Koran.

The timing of the practice of Vegetarianism in India is not clear. The reason for its popularity are the scriptural injunctions (ex: Manusmriti) against eating it. Meat is considered to promote Rajasic qualities and religious men were forbidden against eating it. People could still eat lamb, goats or chicken, but many people in India became vegetarians, and only ate meat very rarely or not at all. Some believe that vegetarianism became popular with the arrival of Buddhism and Jainism, that emphasised ahimsa (non-violence). It is interesting to note, in light of this theory, that currently it is most practised by the Jains, next by Hindus and the least by Buddhists. The vegetarian food that Indians ate was mainly wheat flatbreads or a kind of flatbread made out of chickpeas with a spicy vegetarian sauce and yogurt. Alternatively, people ate rice with yogurt and vegetables.

The cuisine of Modern India has great variety and each region has its own distinctive flavours. In North India, it incorporates many Muslim and Middle Eastern influences. The type of food found naturally in a region also influenced a lot of the cuisine that developed in the region. In Kerala, for example most food is coconut based, while in west Bengal fish dishes are popular.

Culture of India - Different communities

Culture of India - Political culture

Main article: Politics of India

See also

• Mass media in India

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Culture of India", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki