Indian culture is the legacy of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts, and technologies that arise in or are compared with the Indian subcontinent. India’s languages, religion, dance, music, architecture, cuisine, and customs vary from place to place.
Culture of India
The term also applies to countries and cultures beyond India whose history is linked to immigration, colonization, or influence from India, especially in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Indian culture, often labeled a combination of several cultures, is influenced by many millennia-old histories starting with the Indus Valley Civilization. Many Indian cultural elements such as Indian religion, mathematics, philosophy, cuisine, language, dance, music, and films have profoundly impacted the infosphere.
Indian Religious Culture
Religions of Indian origin are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, all based on dharma and karma. Ahimsa, the philosophy of non-violence, is an essential aspect of native Indian religions, the most famous originator was Mahatma Gandhi, who used civil indiscipline to unite India during the Indian independence movement. This philosophy further motivated Martin Luther King Jr. during the American Civil Rights Movement.
India is the provenience of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and other religions. They are collectively known as Indian religions. Indian religion is an effective form of Abrahamic religions as well as world religions.
Relegious Percentage in India
| General Population | Indians 96% | A Resident of thier States 95% | Member of thier Relegion 94% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hindus | 97 | 95 | 94 |
| Muslims | 95 | 95 | 96 |
| Christians | 90 | 92 | 91 |
| Sikhs | 95 | 94 | 95 |
| Buddhists | 97 | 97 | 97 |
| Jains | 98 | 97 | 95 |
| Men | 97 | 95 | 94 |
| Women | 96 | 94 | 95 |
| Ages 18-34 | 97 | 95 | 94 |
| 35+ | 96 | 95 | 95 |
| Less than college | 96 | 95 | 94 |
| College graduate | 97 | 97 | 95 |
| North | 97 | 95 | 96 |
| Central | 98 | 98 | 98 |
| East | 94 | 92 | 94 |
| West | 98 | 96 | 97 |
| South | 95 | 93 | 88 |
| Northeast | 94 | 95 | 95 |
India is the most religiously and ethnically various country globally, with deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion plays a central and conclusive role in the lives of many of its people. Although India is a non-religious Hindu-majority country, it has a sizeable Muslim population. Except for Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Punjab, Lakshadweep, and Mizoram, Hindus constitute the significant population in all 27 states and nine union territories.
India has a history of unrest and violence due to the diversity of religious groups. India has been a theater of violent religious conflicts between members of various religions such as Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs.
According to the 2011 census, 79.7% of India’s population practices Hinduism. Islam (14.5%), Christianity (2.1%), Sikhism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%), and Jainism (0.45%), followed by the people of India. There are other significant religions known. Many tribal religions, such as Satanism, are found in India, although they have been influenced by major religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and the Bahá’í Faith. Their number is less.
Indian Family Structure and Marriage
For generations, the joint family system has been a prevalent tradition in India. It occurs when extended family members – parents, children, children’s spouses, their children, etc. live together. Typically, the oldest male member is the head of the joint Indian family system.
After that, with urbanization and economic development, India broke traditional joint families into more nuclear families. Sinha, in his book, after summarizing several sociological studies conducted on the Indian family, notes that over the past 60 years, the cultural trend in much of India has been a rapid change from joint family to nuclear families, such as population trends in other areas of the world.
Indian Festivals
Being a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious society, India celebrates holidays and festivals of different religions. Independence Day, Republic Day, and Gandhi Jayanti, three national holidays in India, are celebrated with enthusiasm and fervor all over India.
In addition, many Indian states and territories have local festivals based on the prevailing linguistic and religious demographics. Popular religious festivals embrace the Hindu festivals of Vasant Panchami, Navratri, Janmashtami, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Maha Shivratri, Durga Puja, Holi, Rath Yatra, Ugadi, Rakshabandhan, and Dussehra. Several harvest festivals like Makar Sankranti, Sohrai, Pusna, Hornbill, Chapchar Kut, Pongal, Onam and Raja Sankranti Jhula festival are also quite popular.
Indian Greetings
Indian greetings are based on the Anjali Mudra, including salutations and worship. Greetings in Hindi (Hindi and Sanskrit), Namaste / Juhara in Odia, Khulumkha (Tripuri), Namaskar (Marathi), Namaskar (Kannada), Namaskaram (Telugu, Malayalam), Vanakkam (Tamil), Nomoshakar (Bengali), Nomoskar (Assamese) are included., Adab (Urdu), and Sat Sri Akal (Punjabi).
These are usually greetings or greetings spoken when people meet and are a form of farewell when they leave. Namaste is considered a bit more formal than Namaste, but both express deep respect. Namaskar is commonly used by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists in India and Nepal, and many continue to use it outside the Indian subcontinent. In Indian and Nepalese cultures, words are spoken at the beginning of written or ■■■■ communication.
Indian Food
Indian food is diverse, ranging from very spicy to very mild, varying with the season in each region. These reflect local agriculture, regional climate, culinary innovations, and cultural diversity. Food in India is sometimes served on a thali – a platter consisting of rice, roti, and sides. Above are the plate samples.
Indian food is as diverse as India. Indian cuisine uses many ingredients and deploys different food preparation styles, culinary presentations, and cooking techniques. From vegetarian to meat, from salads to sauces, from condiments to sensual, from bread to sweets, Indian cuisine is always complex.
Clothing in India
Traditional clothing in India varies significantly in different parts of the country and is influenced by local culture, climate, geography, and rural/urban settings.
Popular dress styles include sari and chadar for women and dhoti or lungi or Pancha (in Kannada) for men. Stitched clothes are also famous for women like churidar or salwar-kameez; a dupatta (long scarf) is thrown over the shoulder, completing the outfit.
The salwar is often loose-fit, whereas churidar is a tight cut. Dastar, a headdress worn by the Sikhs, is common in Punjab.
Indian women perfect their charm and fashion sense with makeup and jewelry. Bindi, mehndi, earrings, bangles, and other ornaments are there every day.
Women can wear cheerful colors with jewelry made of gold, silver, or other regional stones and gems on special occasions such as wedding ceremonies and festivals.
Indian Literature
Rigvedic Sanskrit is one of the oldest attested Indo-Aryan languages and one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages. The discovery of Sanskrit by the early European explorers of India led to the development of comparative philology.
Tamil, one of the primary classical languages of India, descends from the Proto-Dravidian languages spoken in peninsular India around the 3rd millennium BCE. The oldest Tamil inscriptions have been found on ceramics dating back to 500 BC. Tamil literature has existed for over a thousand years, and the oldest archival records date back to about the 3rd century BCE.
Architecture of India
Indian architecture includes a variety of expressions of space and time as well, constantly absorbing new ideas. The result is an evolving architectural production chain that maintains a certain amount of continuity throughout history.
One of its earliest production dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization (2600–1900 B.C.), characterized by well-planned cities and houses. Religion and monarchy do not seem to have played a significant role in the planning and design of these cities.
Several Buddhist architectural complexes such as the Ajanta and Ellora caves and the monumental Sanchi Stupa were built during the Maurya and Gupta empires and their successors.
Sports in India
Field hockey used to be considered the national sport of India, but it has recently been refuted by the Government of India, clarifying on the Right to Information Act (RTI) that India has not nominated any sport as a national sport. It was trendy when the India national field hockey team won the 1975 Men’s Hockey World Cup and won 8 gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. Though, field hockey in India no longer has what it once did.
Cricket is considered to be the most famous sport in India. The India cricket team won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2007 ICC World Twenty20, 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, and 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. In addition, the BCCI organizes the IPL, a Twenty20 competition.
In the Indian state of Kerala, football is a trendy sport, which is also considered the home of football in India. The Kolkata city is home to the largest stadium in India, and the second-largest stadium in the world by capacity, Salt Lake Stadium. National clubs like Mohun Bagan A.C., Kingfisher East Bengal F.C., Prayag United S.C., and Mohammedan Sporting Club.
Chess is generally believed to have originated during the Gupta Empire in north-western India, where its initial form was known as Chaturanga in the sixth century. Other sports that originated in India and continue to be popular in vast parts of northern India include kabaddi, Gilli-danda, and kho-kho.
Concept of Indian Culture
These homogeneous descriptions of India ignore the deeply rooted diversity of Indian traditions in different parts of India. Sen writes, the notions of Indian culture, those who were not born and brought up in India, fall into at least one of three categories:
Foreign Approach: It focuses on essential aspects of the culture of India. The focus of this approach to understanding Indian culture is to present the various, peculiar, and as Hegel wrote, “a country that has survived for millennia in the imagination of Europeans.”
Magisterial Approach: This assumes a sense of superiority and guardianship needed to deal with India, a country that James Mill’s historiography thought of as a strangely primitive culture. While many British observers disagreed with such views of India, and some non-British ones did, it is a view that contributes to some confusion about India’s culture.
Curatorial Approach: It attempts to notice, classify and record the mixture of Indian culture in different parts of India. Curators do not seek out the strange, are not weighed down by political preferences, and are free from stereotypes. Nevertheless, the curatorial approach sees Indian culture as more unique and extraordinarily interesting than it could be.
The curatorial approach driven by a systematic curiosity for India’s cultural diversity is primarily absent within India.
Summary
India has one of the world’s most significant populations, public and private places are frequently overcrowded. Because privacy is rarely attainable, sought for, or indulged in, it impacts how people perceive it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Generally, people ask many questions about Indian culture. Some of them are discussed below:
What is unique about Indian culture?
India is the land of “Unity in Diversity,” and our dances are no different. Various forms of dance (classified as folk or classical) find their origins from different parts of the country and represent the particular culture from which they originate.
What is Indian culture and tradition?
India is considered the origin of the world’s major religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Today, other religions such as Muslims and Christianity have worked their way into the population, although Hinduism remains the most popular.
What is the importance of Indian culture?
The essential characteristics of Indian culture are civilized communication, beliefs, values, etiquette, and rituals. India is known universally for its “Unity in Diversity.” It means that India is a diverse nation where many religious people with different cultures live together peacefully.
What is Hindu culture?
Hindus believe in the principles of samsara (the continuous cycle of life, death, and rebirth) and karma. One of the crucial ideas of Hinduism is the belief in “atman,” or soul. This philosophy holds that living beings have souls and that they are all part of the Supreme Soul.
What is Indian traditional food?
The staple foods of Indian cuisine include bajra (millet), rice, whole wheat flour (atta), and a variety of pulses such as masoor (often red lentils), tur (pigeon peas), urad (black gram), and moong (mung).
Conclusion
Nature is fundamental in India, particularly rivers such as the Ganga (or ‘Ganges’) in the north and the Godavari in the center and southeast. Both offer irrigation for farmlands and a mode of transportation and are revered by many Hindus.
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