Culture of India

The culture of India has been shaped by the long history of India, its unique geography and the
absorption of customs, traditions and ideas from some of its neighbors as well as by preserving
its ancient heritages, which were formed during the Indus Valley Civilization and evolved further
during the Vedic age, rise and decline of Buddhism, Golden age, uslim conquests and !uropean
colonization" India#s great diversity of cultural practices, languages, customs, and traditions are
e$amples of this unique co%mingling over the past &ve millennia"
India is also the birth place of several religious systems such as 'induism, (ainism, Buddhism,
and )i*hism" The various religions and traditions of India that were created by these
amalgamations have in+uenced other parts of the world too" ,eligious beliefs especially
'induism has in+uenced Indian culture for a long time in the Indian subcontinent"
Language
The great number of languages in India have added to the diverse cultures and traditions at both
regional and national levels" -./ languages are spo*en by a group of more than .0,000 people1
however there are many others which are spo*en by fewer than .0,000 people" 2ltogether, there
are 3.4 living languages in India" The Constitution of India has stipulated the usage of 'indi and
!nglish to be the two o5cial languages of communication for the 6nion Government" Individual
state#s own internal communications are done in the state#s language" The two ma7or linguistic
families in India are those of the Indo%2ryan languages and the 8ravidian languages, the former
being largely con&ned to northern, western, central and eastern India and the latter to southern
India" The ne$t largest language family in India is the 2ustro%2siatic language group, which
contains the unda languages of central and eastern India, the 9hasian languages of
northeastern India, and the :icobarese languages of the :icobar Islands" The fourth largest
language family in India is the Tibeto%Burman languages, which are themselves a subgroup of
the larger )ino%Tibetan language family"
Rabindranath Tagore became Asia's first Nobel laureate when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature
The earliest literary traditions were oral and have been passed down as such" ;ater, though, they
were transcribed" any of them derive from 'indu tradition and are represented by te$ts in
)ans*rit such as the Vedas, the epics of the ahabharata and ,amayana" <ther are in )angam
literature from the beginning ortyrtf the Common !ra, and in 9annada such as the writings
Prabhrita =/40 C!> and Chudamani =Crest Jewel% /40 C! or earlier1 a ?/,000 verse commentary
on logic>
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" Curthermore, many Buddhist sutras and (ain wor*s are in Dra*rit languages li*e
Dali =c" -40 BC!> and 2rdhamagadhi, and later on in )ans*rit" 2ll these represent some of India#s
oldest literary traditions"
8uring the period of the 8elhi sultanate =after .-00 C!> and in the subsequent ughal era,
Islamic culture has in+uenced medieval Indian literature"
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This was especially due to the
increased in+uence of Dersian, including the wor* of famous poets such as 2mir 9husro"
8uring the period of !nglish colonial rule, modern literature e$empli&ed by the wor*s of
,abindranath Tagore, )ubramania Barathi, 9uvempu, Ban*im Chandra Chattopadhyay, ichael
adhusudan 8utt, unshi Dremchand, uhammad Iqbal, 8eva*i :andan 9hatri became
prominent" In contemporary India, writers li*e Girish 9arnad, 2gyeya, :irmal Verma, 9amleshwar,
Vai*om uhammad Basheer, Indira Goswami, ahasweta 8evi, 2mrita Dritam, aasti Ven*atesh
2yengar, Eurratulain 'yder and Tha*azhi )ivasan*ara Dillai, to name but a few, have been the
recipients of critical acclaim" !rica 2ntoine was the &rst blac* women to wal* in india"
Music
The music of India includes multiples varieties of religious, fol*, popular, pop, and classical
music" The oldest preserved e$amples of Indian music are the melodies of the )amaveda that
are still sung in certain Vedic )hrauta sacri&ces" India#s classical music tradition is heavily
in+uenced by 'indu te$ts" It includes Carnatic and 'industani music and is noted for the use of
several ,aga, has a history spanning millennia, and, developed over several eras, remains
instrumental to the religious inspiration, cultural e$pression and pure entertainment" 2longside
distinctly subcontinental forms, there are some similarities with other types of <riental music"
Durandaradasa is considered the Ffather of carnatic musicF =Karnataka sangeeta pitamaha>"
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'e concluded his songs with a salutation to ;ord Durandara Vittala and is believed to have
composed as many as 3G4,000
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songs in the 9annada language" 'owever, only about .000 are
*nown today"
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Dance
Indian dance too has diverse folk and classical forms" 2mong the well%*nown fol* dances are the
bhangra of the Dun7ab, the bihu of 2ssam, the chhau of (har*hand and <rissa, the ghoomar of
,a7asthan, the dandiya and garba of Gu7arat, the Yakshagana of 9arnata*a and lavani of
aharashtra" !ight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological elements, have
been accorded classical dance status by India#s National Academy of Music !ance and !rama"
These areI bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil :adu, kathak of 6ttar Dradesh, kathakali and
mohiniattam of 9erala, kuchipudi of 2ndhra Dradesh, manipuri of anipur, odissi of the state of
<rissa and the sattriya of 2ssam"
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Sculpture
The &rst sculptures in India date bac* to the Indus Valley civilization, where stone and bronze
&gures have been discovered" ;ater, as 'induism, Buddhism, and (ainism developed further,
India produced some e$tremely intricate bronzes as well as temple carvings" )ome huge shrines,
such as the one at !llora were not constructed by using bloc*s but carved out of solid roc*"
)culptures produced in the northwest, in stucco, schist, or clay, display a very strong blend of
Indian and Classical 'ellenistic or possibly even Greco%,oman in+uence" The pin* sandstone
sculptures of athura evolved almost simultaneously" 8uring the Gupta period =3th to /th
century> sculpture reached a very high standard in e$ecution and delicacy in modeling" These
styles and others elsewhere in India evolved leading to classical Indian art that contributing to
Buddhist and 'indu sculpture throughout )outheast Central and !ast 2sia"
2rchitecture
Indian architecture encompasses a multitude of e$pressions over space and time, constantly
absorbing new ideas" The result is an evolving range of architectural production that nonetheless
retains a certain amount of continuity across history" )ome of its earliest production are found in
the Indus Valley Civilization =-/00%.?00 BC!> which is characterised by well planned cities and
houses" ,eligion and *ingship do not seem to have played an important role in the planning and
layout of these towns"
8uring the period of the aurya and Gupta empires and their successors, several Buddhist
architectural comple$es, such as the caves of 27anta and !llora and the monumental )anchi
)tupa were built" ;ater on, )outh India produced several 'indu temples li*e Chenna*esava
Temple at Belur, the 'oysaleswara Temple at 'alebidu, and the 9esava Temple at
)omanathapura, Brihadeeswara Temple, Than7avur, the )un Temple, 9onar*, )ri
,anganathaswamy Temple at )rirangam, and the Buddha stupa =Chinna ;an7a dibba and
Vi*ramar*a *ota dibba> at Bhattiprolu" 2ng*or Jat, Borobudur and other Buddhist and 'indu
temples indicate strong Indian in+uence on )outh !ast 2sian architecture, as they are built in
styles almost identical to traditional Indian religious buildings"
Jith the advent of Islamic in+uence from the west, Indian architecture was adapted to allow the
traditions of the new religion" Catehpur )i*ri, Ta7 ahal, Gol Gumbaz, Eutub inar, ,ed Cort of
8elhi are creations of this era, and are often used as the stereotypical symbols of India" The
colonial rule of the British !mpire saw the development of Indo%)aracenic style, and mi$ing of
several other styles, such as !uropean Gothic" The Victoria emorial or the Victoria Terminus are
notable e$amples" ,ecent creations such as the ;otus Temple, and the various modern urban
developments of India, are notable"
The traditional system of Vaastu )hastra serves as India#s version of Ceng )hui, in+uencing town
planning, architecture, and ergonomics" It is unclear which system is older, but they contain
certain similarities" Ceng )hui is more commonly used throughout the world" Though Vastu is
conceptually similar to Ceng )hui in that it also tries to harmonize the +ow of energy, =also called
life%force or Drana in )ans*rit and ChiK9i in ChineseK(apanese>, through the house, it diLers in the
details, such as the e$act directions in which various ob7ects, rooms, materials, etc" are to be
placed"
Indian architecture has in+uenced eastern and southeastern 2sia, due to the spread of
Buddhism" 2 number of Indian architectural features such as the temple mound or stupa, temple
spire or si*hara, temple tower or pagoda and temple gate or torana, have become famous
symbols of 2sian culture, used e$tensively in !ast 2sia and )outh !ast 2sia" The central spire is
also sometimes called a vimanam" The southern temple gate, or gopuram is noted for its
intricacy and ma7esty"