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India > Culture

India's cultural heritage dates back to 5000 years. Very few countries in the world has a social and religious structure which withstood invasions and persecution and yet kept its identity by being resilient enough to absorb, ignore or reject all attempts to radically change or destroy them. Indian culture is unique because of its diversity and variety in physical, religious, racial, linguistic and artistic fields.

In India religion is a way of life being an integral part of Indian tradition. Many dances, theatrics and folklore are religious and based on Indian mythology and folk legends. One has to have background knowledge of Indian mythology to enjoy and appreciate the Indian Arts

Indian Painting

Painting flourished as an art form, from the pre-historic age. The Neolithic man's drawings on the walls of his cave dwellings represent the oldest examples of Indian painting. Paintings on pots discovered from the Harappan Civilization (3000 BC), the cave paintings of Ajantha and Ellora using earth and vegetable dyes (I-V Century AD), wall paintings in the temple of Tanjavoor(I Century AD) and the Kalankari art forms in the Vidharba temple present the refinement in techniques and process.

Indian art is an art of social, political and religious influences which changed with evolving civilizations in all areas of artistic expressions. It is one of the oldest and resilient cultures on earth. It had integrated indigenous and outside influences but kept a unique identity of its own. Like any other art form, painting is also revolving around gods, legends, folklore and nature.

Indian Theatre

Indian tradition of theatre is rich and evolved with the ancient rituals and seasons of the country. It is believed that Lord Brahma created Natyaveda, the fifth Veda on Natya (action) as a mode of recreation for all class of the society by incorporating words from Rig Veda, music from Sama Veda, action from Yajur Veda and emotion from Adharva Veda. Sage Bharata who perfected the dramatic art and wrote Natya Shastra, a great comprehensive work on the science and technique of Indian drama, dance and music enacted the first drama to the audience of 'Devas'. Through the medium of drama, common man was presented with the Ithihasas, Puranas, and Mythology.

Dance has played an important role in the birth of theatre. According to Natya Shastra, dancing and dramatic representation has an intimate relationship. Drama gradually moved from deficting mythological themes to social issues of today. Cinema and serials on the mini screen are nothing but offshoots of this age old culture.

Indian Dance

Indian dancing is a way of communication using the body as a medium. The expressions of dances are perhaps most developed, yet easily understood. Indian dance is a blend of Nirtta (the rythemic movement of the body without any expression of emotion), Nirtya (the combination of rhythm with expression through eyes, hands and facial movements) and Natya (the dramatic element). Dance is performed with Abhinaya(expression), rasa (emotion) and mudras(hand formations). All Dances are structured around 'nava rasas'(the common emotions of happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sorrow, courage, compassion, wonder and serenity) with limited adaptation to local requirements. Most Indian dances take their themes from indian mythology and folk legends.

There are a number of classical dance forms such as 'Bharatnatyam', 'Kathak', 'Kathakali', 'Kuchipudi', 'Manipuri', 'Mohiniyattam' and 'Odissi' each representing the culture of a particular region of the country.

Apart from classical dances, India is also rich in folk idioms. Chauu dance of Bihar, Garba of Gujarat, Bangra of Punjab and Banjara of Andra Pradesh are a few of them.

Indian Folklore

No ancient civilization can boast of literature without folklore. It was essentially oral in nature and there is no form or technique that can either create or render folklore. This art form was passed on orally by elders to the younger generations. Folk songs are simple in terms of verses and music unlike the classical music which follows ragas, talas and shrutis.

There are many kinds of folklore depending on its content such as festival songs, work songs, marriage songs etc. Festival and religious songs are usually accompamied by a suitable dance form.

Indian Music

As in dance, the nine emotions are basic to the Indian music. The 'raga' the basic musical mode is rendering the seven musical notes. 'Tala' binds the music altogether. With the help of tala and shrutis the musician can create numerous variations in feelings.

Basically there are two dominant styles of music in India; the South Indian Carnatic music and the North Indian Hindustani music. Through the styles are distinct, many features and underlying philosophy are the same.

Foreign influences due to invasions are more evident in Hindustani music. Inventions of various musical instruments are attibuted to the gods and godesses. Popular musical instruments such as Sitar, Veena, Tabala, Shehnai etc are the contribution of india to the world.

Indian Literature

The first known written work of Indian literature is the 'Ramayana', in Sanskrit, by Sage 'Valmiki' around 4^th century BC. The story of 'Rama', an incarnation of Lord 'Vishnu' was composed in 24000 verses. Ramayana, a great work of literature, is the most sacred and holy of all books written in Sanskrit next only to 'Bhagvat Gita'.

'Mahabharatha' is the largest literary work in the world. It consists of 100,000 verses and Sage 'Vyasa', often referred as the Homer of India, composed it. Mahabharatha is a glorious work of high literary and philosophical value. It is a poem, an epic and a legend believed to have been written around 4^th century BC.

'Panchathantra' (five strategies) is a book of edifying tales. It contains five books each teaching a strategy, through fairy tales, to be applied to tackle a situation. 'Vishnu Sharma' (100-500 AD) wrote it and its contents did had an influence on the West Asia and medieval Europe.

One of the greatest poets of all times, 'Kalidasa' (4^th century AD) had enriched Indian literature with his works of 'Abhijnanasakuntalam', 'Meghadootham', 'Raghuvamsam' and 'Kumarasambhavam'. All of his works is still a model for 'Mahakavyas'.

There were many writers like 'Aswa Gosha' (Budhacharitha, II century AD), 'Vishaka Datta' (Political plays, VI century), 'Bana Bhatta' (Autobiographical elements, VII century) and 'Kalhana' (History, XI century) those are only a few who contributed to the development of Indian literature.

Every Indian language has its share of enrichment in Indian literature. Great works are created in every field and to mention them and their authors will be exhaustive. The earliest literary works were revolving mainly around mythology and religion but gradually started to deal directly with social, political and economical themes.

India has produced a number of literary marvels in English as well. 'Rabindranath Tagore' won Nobel Prize for his collection of popular poems, 'Gitanjali'. Raja Rao received the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for literature. Vikram Seth who won the Commonwealth Writer's prize, published the first Indian English novel in verse (Golden Gate). Shashi Tharoor is another writer who won the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Amitav Gosh has won the Prix Medici Estranger, a top French literary award, and the Sahitya Acadamy Award. Arundhathi Roy won the Booker Prize for her first novel, The God of small things, for the year 1997.

R. K. Narayan (fiction), Kamala Das (poetry), Mulk Raj Anand (social realism), Kushwant Singh (fiction) and A. K. Ramanujan (poetry) are only a few of the other literary giants in English.

Indian Cuisine

Indian cuisine is diversified in its varieties similar to its cultures, races and regions. Thousands of variations of dishes are prepared in the different parts of the country everyday. The essence of Indian cooking lies in the aroma of the spices which are blended together and added to enhance the basic flavour of a particular dish. Spices are always freshly ground to the required combination called Massalas. Many of these spices are noted for their medicinal values and are also used as appetisers and digestive. The ingredients for the masala vary from region to region.

Besides spices, ghee and curd are other two main ingredients in Indian cooking. Even though India is known for the Hindu vegetarian tradition, many Hindus eat meat now. Meat dishes are more common in North India while more vegetables are eaten in the South. The Muslim tradition is more evident in the cooking of meats. Mughlai foods comprising of kababs, kurmas, koftas, biriyanis, rogan josh, tandoori chicken, tandoori rotis etc are contribution of Muslims.

Rice is the staple food of the South while in the North it is supplemented or substituted by pooris, chappathis or nan. Dhal(lentil soup) and Dhai (curd) are common throughout India. Vegetable dishes are prepared based on the main dish with which they are served. Rice is served with vegetable curries, vegetable side dishes and curd. As India has a very long coastal area, dishes prepared with fish are also popular.

Verities of sweets representing the style and taste of different regions are available in India. The main ingredients of the sweets and deserts are sugar, milk flour and ghee.

Indian Dress

The colorful and diversified clothing of Indians from the different parts of the country shall be very much attractive to a foreign traveler in India. Like in any other country, the fashion revolves around the women whose attire is colourful and distinctive in styles.

Women folk in India wear 'sari', a 5 - 6 meter long rectangular piece of cloth. The style, colour and texture of the cloth vary and saris are made from cotton, silk or one of the numerous manmade synthetic yarns. The sari was in India from time immemorial and is considered as the national dress of Indian woman. Sari is worn with 'choli' (short tight blouse). Choli fits tight to the body. When worn with proper style and colour combination, the dress is amazingly attractive and fashionable.

Women in Rajastan wear traditional colourful and glass embedded cholis with a form of pleated skirts known as 'lehanga'. They cover their head with a long cotton cloth called 'duppatta'.

'Salwar kamees' which evolved as a comfortable and respectable garment for the women in Kashmir and Punjab is now immensely popular throughout the country. 'Salwars' are pyjamas tight at the waist and angles. 'Kameez' is a loose tunic worn over salwar. A 'churidar' is similar to salwar except that it is tighter fitting at hips, thighs and angles.

Generally the men wore more conventional western cloths like shirts and trousers. But men at the villages are still fond of more comfortable and traditional dresses like 'kurtas', 'lungis', 'dothis' and pyjamas.

The dress style has many variations depending on the regions and religions. It is evident on the apparels worn by the Indians.

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