Culture of India

Indian greetings are based on Añjali Mudrā, including Pranāma and Puja.

Greetings include Namaste (Hindi,Sanskrit and Kannada), Nômôskar in

Other greetings include Jai Jagannath (used in

These traditional forms of greeting may be absent in the world of business and in India's urban environment, where a handshake is a common form of greeting.[88]

Animals

Cows in Indian culture

Cows depicted in the decorated gopuram of the Kapaleeshwarar Temple in Chennai. Cow statue located at the open hall looking into the eastern doorway of the Kalleshvara Temple.

The varied and rich wildlife of India has a profound impact on the region's popular culture. Common name for wilderness in India is jungle which was adopted by Britons living in India to the English language. The word has been also made famous in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. India's wildlife has been the subject of numerous other tales and fables such as the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales.^[89]

In Hinduism, the cow is regarded as a symbol of ahimsa (non-violence), mother goddess and bringer of good fortune and wealth.^[90] For this reason, cows are revered in Hindu culture and feeding a cow is seen as an act of worship. This is why beef remains a taboo food in mainstream Hindu and Jain society.^[91]

The Article 48 of the Constitution of India is one of the Directive Principles which directs that the state shall endeavor to prohibit slaughtering and smuggling of cattle, calves and other milch and draught cattle.^[92][93] As of January 2012, cow remains a divisive and controversial topic in India. Several states of India have passed laws to protect cows, while many states have no restrictions on the production and consumption of beef. Some groups oppose the butchering of cows, while other secular groups argue that what kind of meat one eats ought to be a matter of personal choice in a democracy. Madhya Pradesh enacted a law in January 2012, namely the Gau-Vansh Vadh Pratishedh (Sanshodhan) Act, which makes cow slaughter a serious offence.^[94]

Gujarat, a western state of India, has the Animal Preservation Act, enacted in October 2011, that prohibits the killing of cows along with buying, selling and transport of beef. In contrast, Assam and Andhra Pradesh allow butchering of cattle with a fit-for-slaughter certificate. In the states of West Bengal and Kerala, consumption of beef is not deemed an offence. Contrary to stereotypes, a sizeable number of Hindus eat beef, and many argue that their scriptures, such as Vedic and Upanishadic texts do not prohibit its consumption. In southern Indian state Kerala, for instance, beef accounts for nearly half of all meat consumed by all communities, including Hindus. Sociologists theorise that the widespread consumption of cow meat in India is because it is a far cheaper source of animal protein for the poor than mutton or chicken, which retail at double the price. For these reasons, India's beef consumption post-independence in 1947 has witnessed a much faster growth than any other kind of meat; currently, India is one of the five largest producers and consumers of cattle livestock meat in the world. A beef ban has been made in Maharashtra and other states as of 2015. While states such as Madhya Pradesh are passing local laws to prevent cruelty to cows, other Indians are arguing "If the real objective is to prevent cruelty to animals, then why single out the cows when hundreds of other animals are maltreated?"^[95][96][97]

Cuisine

Indian cuisine is diverse, ranging from very spicy to very mild, varying with seasons in each region. These reflect the local agriculture, regional climate, culinary innovations and cultural diversity. Food in India is sometimes served in thali – a plate with rice, bread and a selection of sides. Above are thali samples.

Indian food is as diverse as India. Indian cuisines use numerous ingredients, deploy a wide range of food preparation styles, cooking techniques, and culinary presentations. From salads to sauces, from vegetarian to meat, from spices to sensuous, from bread to desserts, Indian cuisine is invariably complex. Harold McGee, a favourite of many Michelin-starred chefs, writes "for sheer inventiveness with the milk itself as the primary ingredient, no country on earth can match India."^[98]

I travel to India at least three to four times a year. It's always inspirational. There is so much to learn from India because each and every state is a country by itself and each has its own cuisine. There are lots of things to learn about the different cuisines – it just amazes me. I keep my mind open and like to explore different places and pick up different influences as I go along. I don't actually think that there is a single state in India that I haven't visited.  Indian food is a cosmopolitan cuisine that has so many ingredients. I don't think any cuisine in the world has got so many influences on the way that Indian food has. It is a very rich cuisine and is very varied. Every region in the world has its own sense of how Indian food should be perceived.

— 

Michelin stars^[99]

... it takes me back to the first Christmas I can remember, when the grandmother I hadn't yet met, who was Indian and lived in England, sent me a box. For me it still carries the taste of strangeness and confusion and wonder.

— Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking^[100]

According to

Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe.^[105] In most Indian restaurants outside India, the menu does not do justice to the enormous variety of Indian cuisine available – the most common cuisine served on the menu would be Punjabi cuisine (chicken tikka masala is a very popular dish in the United Kingdom). There do exist some restaurants serving cuisines from other regions of India, although these are few and far between. Historically, Indian spices and herbs were one of the most sought after trade commodities. The spice trade between India and Europe led to the rise and dominance of Arab traders to such an extent that European explorers, such as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus, set out to find new trade routes with India leading to the Age of Discovery.^[106] The popularity of curry, which originated in India, across Asia has often led to the dish being labeled as the "pan-Asian" dish.^[107]

Regional Indian cuisine continues to evolve. A fusion of East Asian and Western cooking methods with traditional cuisines, along with regional adaptations of fast food are prominent in major Indian cities.^[108]

The cuisine of

Traditional clothing in India greatly varies across different parts of the country and is influenced by local culture, geography, climate, and rural/urban settings. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as

• 
  Illustration of different styles of

  gagra choli and shalwar kameez

  worn by women in India
• 
  The Didarganj Yakshi (3rd century BCE) depicting the dhoti wrap
• 
  Rajasthan, India
• 
  An

  mekhela sador, 2010 and bindi

  on the centre of her forehead.
• 
  Indian actress Pakkhi Hegde wearing a string-sleeve choli and sari
• 
  Indian actress

  kameez with dupatta draped over the neck and decorative bindi

  on the centre of her forehead
• 
  Indian actress

  exposing the midriff and navel, which has long been a fashion with Indian women in popular culture^[117]
• 
  Sikh man and women wearing Turban
• 
  Traditional Hajong Pathin and Argon from Northeast India
• 
  Indian nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose wearing India's traditional costume dhuti and panjabi.
• 
  J. L. Nehru wearing Nehru jacket

  and Chooridar.
• 
  Maharani Gayatri Devi, in Nivi sari. The Nivi style drape was created during the colonial era of Indian history in order to create a fashion style which would conform to the Victorian-era sensibilities
• 
  Malayali lady wearing Mundum neriyatum. Painted by Raja Ravi Varma

  , c. 1900.
• 
  Nocte Naga

  couple in their traditional attire

Languages and literature

Main articles: Languages of India and Indian literature

History

Literary tradition in India

padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century. After a scribal benediction ("śrīgaṇéśāyanamaḥ ;; Aum(3) ;;"), the first line has the opening words of RV.1.1.1 (agniṃ ; iḷe ; puraḥ-hitaṃ ; yajñasya ; devaṃ ; ṛtvijaṃ). The Vedic accent is marked by underscores and vertical overscores in red. Literary records suggest India had interacted in languages of other ancient civilisations. This inscription is from the Indian emperor Aramaic, with ideas of non-violence against men and all living beings, as the doctrine of Eusebeia – spiritual maturity.

The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists; there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit ...

— Sir William Jones, 1786^[118]

The Rigvedic Sanskrit is one of the oldest attestations of any Indo-Aryan languages, and one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European languages. The discovery of Sanskrit by early European explorers of India led to the development of comparative Philology. The scholars of the 18th century were struck by the far-reaching similarity of Sanskrit, both in grammar and vocabulary, to the classical languages of Europe. Intensive scientific studies that followed have established that Sanskrit and many Indian derivative languages belong to the family which includes English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Celtic, Greek, Baltic, Armenian, Persian, Tocharian, and other Indo-European languages.^[119]

Tamil, one of India's major classical language, descends from Proto-Dravidian languages spoken around the third millennium BCE in peninsular India. The earliest inscriptions of Tamil have been found on pottery dating back to 500 BC. Tamil literature has existed for over two thousand years^[120] and the earliest epigraphic records found date from around the 3rd century BCE.^[121]

Language families in India and its neighbouring countries. India has 22 official languages – 15 of which are Indo-European. The 2001 census of India found 122 first languages in active use. The second map shows the distribution of Indo-European languages throughout the world.

The evolution of language within India may be distinguished over three periods: old, middle and modern Indo-Aryan. The classical form of old Indo-Aryan was Sanskrit meaning polished, cultivated and correct, in distinction to Prakrit – the practical language of the migrating masses evolving without concern to proper pronunciation or grammar, the structure of language changing as those masses mingled, settled new lands and adopted words from people of other native languages. Prakrita became middle Indo-Aryan leading to Pali (the language of early Buddhists and Ashoka era in 200–300 BCE), Prakrit (the language of Jain philosophers) and Apabhramsa (the language blend at the final stage of middle Indo-Aryan). It is Apabhramsa, scholars claim,^[119] that flowered into Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, and many other languages now in use in India's north, east and west. All of these Indian languages have roots and structures similar to Sanskrit, to each other and to other Indo-European languages. Thus we have in India three thousand years of continuous linguistic history recorded and preserved in literary documents. This enables scholars to follow language evolution and observe how, by changes hardly noticeable from generation to generation, an original language alters into descendant languages that are now barely recognisable as the same.^[119]

Numerous words from India entered English vocabulary during the bandana, bangles, bungalow and shampoo .

Sanskrit has had a profound impact on the languages and literature of India.

Ardhamagadhi language.^[126][127]

Another major Classical Dravidian language,

Ashoka rock edict found at Brahmagiri (dated 230 BCE) has been suggested to contain a word in identifiable Kannada.^[132] Odia is India's 6th classical language in addition to Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.^[133] It is also one of the 22 official languages in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution. Odia's importance to Indian culture, from ancient times, is evidenced by its presence in Ashoka's Rock Edict X, dated to the 2nd century BC.^[134][135]

The language with the largest number of speakers in India is

Islamic rule in parts of India, it became influenced by Persian.^[136] The Persian influence led to the development of Urdu, which is more Persianized and written in the Perso-Arabic script. Modern standard Hindi has a lesser Persian influence and is written in the Devanagari script

.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Indian English literature developed during the British Raj, pioneered by Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand and Munshi Premchand.^[137]

In addition to Indo-European and Dravidian languages, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages are in use in India.^[138][139] The 2011 Linguistic Survey of India states that India has over 780 languages and 66 different scripts, with its state of Arunachal Pradesh with 90 languages.^[140]

Epics

The

• 
  A manuscript illustration of the

  Pandavas

  , recorded in the Mahābhārata
• 
  The Battle at Lanka, Ramayana by Sahibdin. It depicts the monkey army of the protagonist Rama (top left, blue figure) fighting Ravana—the demon-king of the Lanka—to save Rama's kidnapped wife, Sita. The painting depicts multiple events in the battle against the three-headed demon general Trisiras, in the bottom left. Trisiras is beheaded by Hanuman, the monkey-companion of Rama.
• 
  Rama and Hanuman fighting Ravana from Ramavataram, an album painting on paper from Tamil Nadu, c. 1820 CE
• 
  five great epics of Tamil literature.^[145]
• 
  Krishna killing Bakasura, still of Harivamsa from Mahabharata.

Performing arts

Dance

Let drama and dance (Nātya, नाट्य) be the fifth vedic scripture. Combined with an epic story, tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom, it must contain the significance of every scripture, and forward every art.

— First chapter of Nātyaśāstra, sometime between 200 BCE – 200 CE.^[146][147]

India has had a long romance with the art of dance. The Hindu Sanskrit texts

The Indian art of dance as taught in these ancient books, according to Ragini Devi, is the expression of inner beauty and the divine in man.^[150] It is a deliberate art, nothing is left to chance, each gesture seeks to communicate the ideas, each facial expression the emotions.

In addition to the formal arts of dance, Indian regions have a strong free form, folksy dance tradition. Some of the

Drama

• 
  Andhra

  , with roots dating back to 3rd century BCE.
• 
  Kerala, India
• 
  Rasa lila theatrical performance in Manipuri dance style
• 
  Bhavai Artist, Gujarat
• 
  A street play (

  nukkad natak) in Dharavi

  slums in Mumbai.
• 
  Tulunadu

  .
• 
  Koodiyattam performer Kapila Venu
• 
  A still from play 'Nati Binodoni', Bengali Jatra Theatre. Jatra is a popular folk-theatre form of Bengali and Odia Theatre.

Indian drama and theatre has a long history alongside its music and dance.

India has a long tradition of puppetry. In the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata there are references to puppets. Kathputli, a form of string puppet performance native to Rajasthan, is notable and there are many Indian ventriloquists and puppeteers. The first Indian ventriloquist, Professor Y. K. Padhye, introduced this form of puppetry to India in the 1920s and his son, Ramdas Padhye, subsequently popularised ventriloquism and puppetry. Ramdas Padhye's son, Satyajit Padhye is also a ventriloquist and puppeteer. Almost all types of puppets are found in India.

• String puppets

India has a rich and ancient tradition of string puppets or marionettes. Marionettes with jointed limbs controlled by strings allow far greater flexibility and are therefore the most articulate of the puppets. Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are some of the regions where this form of puppetry has flourished. The traditional marionettes of Rajasthan are known as

, known as Bommalattam, combine the techniques of rod and string puppets.

• Rod puppets

Rod puppets are an extension of glove-puppets, but are often much larger and supported and manipulated by rods from below. This form of puppetry now is found mostly in

Orissa. The traditional rod puppet form of West Bengal is known as Putul Nautch. They are carved from wood and follow the various artistic styles of a particular region. The traditional rod puppet of Bihar

is known as Yampuri.

• Glove puppets

Glove puppets are also known as sleeve, hand or palm puppets. The head is made of either

papier mâché

, cloth or wood, with two hands emerging from just below the neck. The rest of the figure consists of a long, flowing skirt. These puppets are like limp dolls, but in the hands of an able puppeteer, are capable of producing a wide range of movements. The manipulation technique is simple the movements are controlled by the human hand, the first finger inserted in the head and the middle finger and the thumb in the two arms of the puppet. With the help of these three fingers, the glove puppet comes alive.

The tradition of glove puppets in India is popular in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Kerala. In

Orissa, the puppeteer plays a dholak (hand drum) with one hand and manipulates the puppet with the other. The delivery of the dialogue, the movement of the puppet and the beat of the dholak are well synchronised and create a dramatic atmosphere. In Kerala

, the traditional glove puppet play is called Pavakoothu.

Shadow play

Main article: Shadow play § India

Shadow puppets are an ancient part of India's culture and art, particularly regionally as the keelu bomme and

Ravana chhaya in Odisha, the Tholpavakoothu in Kerala and the thol bommalatta in Tamil Nadu. Shadow puppet play is also found in pictorial traditions in India, such as temple mural painting, loose-leaf folio paintings, and the narrative paintings.^[157] Dance forms such as the Chhau of Odisha literally mean "shadow".^[158] The shadow theatre dance drama theatre are usually performed on platform stages attached to Hindu temples, and in some regions these are called Koothu Madams or Koothambalams.^[159] In many regions, the puppet drama play is performed by itinerant artist families on temporary stages during major temple festivals.^[160] Legends from the Hindu epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata dominate their repertoire.^[160] However, the details and the stories vary regionally.^[161][162]

During the 19th century and early parts of the 20th century of the colonial era, Indologists believed that shadow puppet plays had become extinct in India, though mentioned in its ancient Sanskrit texts.[160] In the 1930s and thereafter, states Stuart Blackburn, these fears of its extinction were found to be false as evidence emerged that shadow puppetry had remained a vigorous rural tradition in central Kerala mountains, most of Karnataka, northern Andhra Pradesh, parts of Tamil Nadu, Odisha and southern Maharashtra.^[160] The Marathi people, particularly of low caste, had preserved and vigorously performed the legends of Hindu epics as a folk tradition. The importance of Marathi artists is evidenced, states Blackburn, from the puppeteers speaking Marathi as their mother tongue in many non-Marathi speaking states of India.^[160]

A shadow play in Kerala

Ramayana legend, with audience response (45 seconds)

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According to Beth Osnes, the tholu bommalata shadow puppet theatre dates back to the 3rd century BCE, and has attracted patronage ever since.^[163] The puppets used in a tholu bommalata performance, states Phyllis Dircks, are "translucent, lusciously multicolored leather figures four to five feet tall, and feature one or two articulated arms".^[164] The process of making the puppets is an elaborate ritual, where the artist families in India pray, go into seclusion, produce the required art work, then celebrate the "metaphorical birth of a puppet" with flowers and incense.^[165]

The tholu pava koothu of Kerala uses leather puppets whose images are projected on a backlit screen. The shadows are used to creatively express characters and stories in the Ramayana. A complete performance of the epic can take forty-one nights, while an abridged performance lasts as few as seven days.^[166] One feature of the tholu pava koothu show is that it is a team performance of puppeteers, while other shadow plays such as the wayang of Indonesia are performed by a single puppeteer for the same Ramayana story.^[166] There are regional differences within India in the puppet arts. For example, women play a major role in shadow play theatre in most parts of India, except in Kerala and Maharashtra.^[160] Almost everywhere, except Odisha, the puppets are made from tanned deer skin, painted and articulated. Translucent leather puppets are typical in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, while opaque puppets are typical in Kerala and Odisha. The artist troupes typically carry over a hundred puppets for their performance in rural India.^[160]

Music

Main articles:

Indian musical instruments and Vadya

Saraswati Veena, Sarangi, Bansuri flute, Tabla drums.^[167][168]

Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur

, India

North Indian Bansuri flute sound sample

North Indian bansuri, E-key (1 min 39 sec)

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South Indian Venu flute sound sample

South Indian venu, E-key (39 sec)

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Music is an integral part of India's culture. Natyasastra, a 2000-year-old Sanskrit text, describes five systems of taxonomy to classify musical instruments.^[169] One of these ancient Indian systems classifies musical instruments into four groups according to four primary sources of vibration: strings, membranes, cymbals, and air. According to Reis Flora, this is similar to the Western theory of organology. Archeologists have also reported the discovery of a 3000-year-old, 20-key, carefully shaped polished basalt lithophone in the highlands of Odisha.^[170]

The oldest preserved examples of Indian music are the melodies of the

nātyaśāstra (200 BC) and the dattilam (300 AD).^[172]

The current music of India includes multiple varieties of religious, classical, folk, filmi, rock and pop music and dance. The appeal of traditional classical music and dance is on the rapid decline, especially among the younger generation.

Prominent contemporary Indian musical forms included

Bollywood, and accounts for more than 70 percent of all music sales in the country.^[173] Indipop is one of the most popular contemporary styles of Indian music which is either a fusion of Indian folk, classical or Sufi music with Western musical traditions.^[174]

Visual arts

Main article: Indian art

Painting

Main article: Indian painting

• 
  A

  Prehistoric cave painting in Bhimbetka rock shelters

  .
• 
  The Jataka tales from Ajanta Caves
• 
  A Kangra Style Painting of Radha, the companion of the Hindu god Krishna
• 
  Hindu iconography shown in Pattachitra
• 
  Raja Ravi Varma's Shakuntala (1870); oil on canvas
• 
  Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951), a nephew of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, and a pioneer of the Bengal School of Art
• 
  A painting of

  Meghanada after his victory over Indra by Raja Ravi Varma
• 
  Emperor Jahangir weighs Prince Khurram by Manohar Das, 1610–15, from Jahangir's own copy of the Tuzk-e-Jahangiri. The names of the main figures are noted on their clothes, and the artist shown at bottom.
• 
  The Passing of Shah Jahan by Abanindranath Tagore.

Cave paintings from Ajanta, Bagh, Ellora and Sittanavasal and temple paintings testify to a love of naturalism. Most early and medieval art in India is Hindu, Buddhist or Jain. A freshly made coloured floor design (Rangoli) is still a common sight outside the doorstep of many (mostly South Indian) Indian homes. Raja Ravi Varma is one of the classical painters from medieval India.

Tanjore painting and Mughal painting are some notable Genres of Indian Art; while Nandalal Bose, M. F. Husain, S. H. Raza, Geeta Vadhera, Jamini Roy and B. Venkatappa^[175] are some modern painters. Among the present day artists, Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamacnahri, Devajyoti Ray and Shibu Natesan represent a new era of Indian art where global art shows direct amalgamation with Indian classical styles. These recent artists have acquired international recognition. Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, Mysore Palace

has on display a few good Indian paintings.

Sculpture

Main article:

Sculpture in India

• 
  Woman riding two bulls (bronze), from

  Kausambi

  , c. 2000–1750 BCE
• 
  The

  National Emblem of India, the most famous example of Mauryan art

  .
• 
  5th-century Buddha statue in

  Kanheri caves, Mumbai
• 
  The Colossal 6 metres (20 ft) high trimurti sculpture at the Elephanta Caves
• 
  The iconic 57 ft high monolithic Statue of Gommateshwara, Shravanabelagola, 10th Century
• 
  The Dhyana Buddha is a statue of

  Andhra
• 
  Bhutesvara Yakshis, reliefs from Mathura, 2nd century CE
• 
  Intricately carved sculptures on the exterior of one of the Khajuraho Group of Monuments
• 
  Kārttikeya

  , 11th century
• 
  The

  Tiruvalluvar
• 
  The Statue of Unity is the world's tallest statue, with a height of 182 metres (597 feet), located in the state of Gujarat.It depicts Indian statesman and independence activist Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950), who was the first deputy prime minister and home minister of independent India. It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, on 31 October 2018.

The first

Indus Valley civilisation, where stone and bronze figures have been discovered. Later, as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism developed further, India produced some extremely intricate bronzes as well as temple carvings. Some huge shrines, such as the one at Ellora

were not constructed by using blocks but carved out of solid rock.

Sculptures produced in the northwest, in

Gupta period

(4th to 6th centuries) sculpture reached a very high standard in execution and delicacy in modeling. These styles and others elsewhere in India evolved leading to classical Indian art that contributed to Buddhist and Hindu sculptures throughout Southeast Central and East Asia.

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of India

See also: Ancient Indian architecture, Indian rock-cut architecture, and Indian vernacular architecture

• 
  North Gate of

  Indus valley civilisation archeological site built around the 3rd Millennium B.C in modern-day Gujarat

  .
• 
  Great Stupa of Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh built in the 3rd century BCE.
• 
  Ellora, Maharashtra, India

  .
• 
  The granite

  Raja Raja Chola I

  .
• 
  Chennakesava Temple is a model example of the Hoysala architecture

  .
• 
  tallest Vimana among Hindu temples

  standing at 344 feet. It was the tallest structure in the Indian subcontinent from 1558 CE to 1970 CE.
• 
  The rock-cut Shore Temple of the temples in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, 700–728. Showing the typical dravida form of tower.
• 
  Considered to be an "unrivalled architectural wonder", the Taj Mahal in Agra is a prime example of Indo-Islamic architecture. One of the world's seven wonders.^[176]
• 
  Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh, was built in the 1600s and is the largest monastery in India and second largest in the world after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.
• 
  Victoria Memorial, Kolkata
• 
  Thakur Dalan of Itachuna Rajbari, Khanyan
• 
  Hawa Mahal in Jaipur city, Rajasthan
• 
  Patwon ki Haveli, Jaisalmer. Rows of sandstone haveli in Rajasthan
• 
  Dravidian style in form of Tamil architecture of Meenakshi Temple
• 
  The Charminar, built in the 16th century by the Golconda Sultanate.
• 
  Amer Fort Entrance, Jaipur
• 
  Ralang Monastery, Sikkim
• 
  Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, the first fully developed Mughal imperial tomb, 1569–70 CE
• 
  Façade of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai
• 
  Pachin Kari or

  Pietra Dura on Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah
• 
  The Stone Chariot in Hampi
• 
  The Viceregal Lodge, now Rashtrapati Niwas, in Shimla designed by Henry Irwin in the Jacobethan style and built in the late 19th century.
• 
  Fort Dansborg, built by the 17th century Danish admiral Ove Gjedde, reminiscences of Danish India, Tharangambadi, Tamil Nadu
• 
  Lotus Temple in New Delhi

Indian architecture encompasses a multitude of expressions 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. Some of its earliest production are found in the

Indus Valley civilisation (2600–1900 BC) which is characterised by well-planned cities and houses. Religion and kingship do not seem to have played an important role in the planning and layout of these towns.^[177]

Meenakshi Amman Temple

During the period of the

Hindu

temples indicate strong Indian influence on South East Asian architecture, as they are built in styles almost identical to traditional Indian religious buildings.

The traditional system of

Feng Shui, influencing town planning, architecture, and ergonomics. It is unclear which system is older, but they contain certain similarities. Feng Shui is more commonly used throughout the world. Though Vastu is conceptually similar to Feng Shui in that it also tries to harmonise the flow of energy, (also called life-force or Prana in Sanskrit and Chi/Ki

in Chinese/Japanese), through the house, it differs in the details, such as the exact directions in which various objects, rooms, materials, etc. are to be placed.

With the advent of Islamic influence from the west, Indian architecture was adapted to allow the traditions of the new religion, creating the

Red Fort of Delhi^[181] and Charminar

are creations of this era, and are often used as the stereotypical symbols of India.

British colonial rule in India saw the development of

Victoria Memorial and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

are notable examples.

Indian architecture has influenced eastern and southeastern Asia, due to the spread of Buddhism. A number of Indian architectural features such as the temple mound or

South East Asia. The central spire is also sometimes called a vimanam. The southern temple gate, or gopuram

is noted for its intricacy and majesty.

Contemporary

Akshardham, and the various modern urban developments of India like Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh

, are notable.

Sports and martial arts

Sports

Main articles:

Sports in India and Traditional games of India

Sports in India

Cricket was introduced to India by the British. Now it is the country's most popular sport. The annual Snake boat race is performed during Onam Celebrations on the Pamba River at Aranmula near Pathanamthitta .

Sania Mirza, a former world No. 1 in women's tennis doubles. ancient India . It is one of the most popular sports in India.

Men's Hockey World Cup, and 8 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals at the Olympic Games. However, field hockey in India no longer has the following that it once did.^[185]

Irani Trophy and the Challenger Series. In addition, BCCI conducts the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20

competition.

Mohammedan Sporting Club.^[186]

Manipur, India, where the game was known as 'Sagol Kangjei', 'Kanjai-bazee', or 'Pulu'.^[191][192]

It was the anglicised form of the last, referring to the wooden ball that was used, which was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam, India, in 1833.

In 2011, India inaugurated a privately built Buddh International Circuit, its first motor racing circuit. The 5.14-kilometre circuit is in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, near Delhi. The first Formula One Indian Grand Prix event was hosted here in October 2011.^[193][194]

Indian martial arts

Main article: Indian martial arts

Indian martial arts

Patañjali, in India's ancient books, suggests yoga's goal is to help one focus, reflect upon, know and express one's highest self.^[195][196]

India's cultural journey with yoga is now popular in many parts of the world.

One of the best known forms of ancient Indian martial arts is the

Kalarippayattu from Kerala. This ancient fighting style is mentioned in Sangam literature 400 BCE and 600 CE and is regarded as one of the oldest surviving martial arts.^[197][198] In this form of martial arts, various stages of physical training include ayurvedic massage with sesame oil to impart suppleness to the body (uzichil); a series of sharp body movements so as to gain control over various parts of the body (miapayattu); and, complex sword fighting techniques (paliyankam).^[199]Silambam, which was developed around 200 AD, traces its roots to the Sangam period in southern India.^[200] Silambam is unique among Indian martial arts because it uses complex footwork techniques (kaaladi), including a variety of spinning styles. A bamboo staff is used as the main weapon.^[200] The ancient Tamil Sangam literature mentions that between 400 BCE and 600 CE, soldiers from southern India received special martial arts training which revolved primarily around the use of spear (vel), sword (val) and shield (kedaham).^[201]

Among eastern states, Paika akhada is a martial art found in Odisha. Paika akhada, or paika akhara, roughly translates as "warrior gymnasium" or "warrior school".^[202] In ancient times, these were training schools of the peasant militia. Today's Paika akhada teach physical exercises and martial arts in addition to the Paika dance, performance art with rhythmic movements and weapons being hit in time to the drum. It incorporates acrobatic manoeuvres and use of the khanda (straight sword), patta (guantlet-sword), sticks, and other weapons.

In northern India, the

bow and the arrow to be the supreme weapons. The Dhanur Veda was first described in the 5th-century BCE Viṣṇu Purāṇa^[198] and is also mentioned in both of the major ancient Indian epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. A distinctive factor of Indian martial arts is the heavy emphasis laid on meditation (dhyāna) as a tool to remove fear, doubt and anxiety.^[204]

Indian martial arts techniques have had a profound impact on other martial arts styles across Asia. The 3rd-century BCE

Shaolin Kungfu.^[206]

Popular media

Main article:

Media of India

Television

Main article: Television in India

See also:

List of Indian television stations

Indian television started off in 1959 in New Delhi with tests for educational telecasts.

Mahabharat were among the popular television series produced. By the late 1980s television set ownership rapidly increased.^[209]

Because a single channel was catering to an ever-growing audience, television programming quickly reached saturation. Hence the government started another channel that had part of national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 (later DD Metro). Both channels were broadcast terrestrially.

In 1991, the government liberated its markets, opening them up to cable television. Since then, there has been a spurt in the number of channels available. Today, the Indian small screen is a huge industry by itself and offers hundreds of programmes in almost all the regional languages of India. The small screen has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind, some even attaining national fame for themselves. TV soaps enjoy popularity among women of all classes. Indian TV also consists of Western channels such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, HBO, and FX. In 2016 the list of TV channels in India stood at 892.^[210]

Cinema

Main article: Cinema of India

Indian cinema

A scene from Raja Harishchandra (1913), the first full-length Indian motion picture Producer-director-screenwriter Dadasaheb Phalke, the "father of Indian cinema"

Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based film industry in India. Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs (in Bengali cinema, the Oriya film industry, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi and 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 number of tickets sold.

India has produced many cinema-makers like

Shekhar Kapoor, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Nagraj Manjule, Shyam Benegal, Shankar Nag, Girish Karnad, G. V. Iyer, Mani Ratnam, and K. Balachander (see also: Indian film directors

). With the opening up of the economy in recent years and consequent exposure to world cinema, audience tastes have been changing. In addition, multiplexes have mushroomed in most cities, changing the revenue patterns.

Perceptions of Indian culture

Main article: Stereotypes of South Asians

India's diversity has inspired many writers to describe their perceptions of the country's culture. These writings paint a complex and often conflicting picture of the culture of India. India is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse countries in the world. The concept of "Indian culture" is a very complex and complicated matter. Indian citizens are divided into various ethnic, religious, caste, linguistic and regional groups, making the realities of "Indianness" extremely complicated. This is why the conception of Indian identity poses certain difficulties and presupposes a series of assumptions about what concisely the expression "Indian" means. However, despite this vast and heterogeneous composition, the creation of some sort of typical or shared Indian culture results from some inherent internal forces (such as a robust Constitution, universal adult franchise, flexible federal structure, secular educational policy, etc.) and from certain historical events (such as Indian Independence Movement, Partition, wars against Pakistan, etc.) Hindu Sanskriti Ankh is an ancient series of books originally from northern part of India highlighting the Bharatiya Sanskriti, that is, the culture of India.

According to industry consultant Eugene M. Makar, for example, traditional Indian culture is defined by a relatively strict social hierarchy. He also mentions that from an early age, children are reminded of their roles and places in society.^[211] This is reinforced, Makar notes, by the way, many believe gods and spirits have an integral and functional role in determining their life. Several differences such as religion divide the culture. However, a far more powerful division is the traditional Hindu bifurcation into non-polluting and polluting occupations. Strict social taboos have governed these groups for thousands of years, claims Makar. In recent years, particularly in cities, some of these lines have blurred and sometimes even disappeared. He writes important family relations extend as far as 1 gotra, the mainly patrilinear lineage or clan assigned to a Hindu at birth. In rural areas & sometimes in urban areas as well, it is common that three or four generations of the family live under the same roof. The patriarch often resolves family issues.^[211]

Others have a different perception of Indian culture. According to an interview with C.K. Prahalad by Des Dearlove, author of many best selling business books, modern India is a country of very diverse cultures with many languages, religions, and traditions. Children begin by coping and learning to accept and assimilate in this diversity. Prahalad – who was born in India and grew up there – claimed, in the interview, that Indians, like everyone else in the world, want to be treated as unique, as individuals, want to express themselves and seek innovation.^[212] In another report, Nancy Lockwood of Society for Human Resource Management, the world's largest human resources association with members in 140 countries, writes that in the past two decades or so, social change in India is in dramatic contrast to the expectations from traditional Indian culture. These changes have led to Indian families giving education opportunities to girls, accepting women working outside the home, pursuing a career, and opening the possibility for women to attain managerial roles in corporate India. Lockwood claims that change is slow, yet the scale of cultural change can be sensed from the fact that of India's 397 million workers, 124 million are now women. The issues in India with women empowerment are similar to those elsewhere in the world.^[213]

According to Amartya Sen, the India born Nobel Laureate in Economics, the culture of modern India is a complex blend of its historical traditions, influences from the effects of colonial rule over centuries and current Western culture – both collaterally and dialectically. Sen observes that external images of India in the West often tend to emphasise the difference – real or imagined – between India and the West.^[214] There is a considerable inclination in the Western countries to distance and highlight the differences in Indian culture from the mainstream of Western traditions, rather than discover and show similarities. Western writers and media usually misses, in important ways, crucial aspects of Indian culture and traditions. The deep-seated heterogeneity of Indian traditions, in different parts of India, is neglected in these homogenised descriptions of India. The perceptions of Indian culture, by those who weren't born and raised in India, tend to be one of at least three categories, writes Sen:

• Exoticist approach: it concentrates on the wondrous aspects of the culture of India. The focus of this approach of understanding Indian culture is to present the different, the strange and as Hegel put it, "a country that has existed for millennia in the imaginations of the Europeans."
• Magisterial approach: it assumes a sense of superiority and guardianship necessary to deal with India, a country that James Mill's historiography thought of as grotesquely primitive culture. While a great many British observers did not agree with such views of India, and some non-British ones did, it is an approach that contributes to some confusion about the culture of India.
• Curatorial approach: it attempts to observe, classify and record the diversity of Indian culture in different parts of India. The curators do not look only for the strange, are not weighed by political priorities, and tend to be freer from stereotypes. The curatorial approach, nevertheless, has an inclination to see Indian culture as more special and extraordinarily interesting than it actually may be.

The curatorial approach, one inspired by a systematic curiosity for the cultural diversity of India within India, is mostly absent.

Susan Bayly, in her book, observes that there is a considerable dispute in India and Orientalist scholars on perceived Indian culture. She acknowledges that many dispute claims of the pervasiveness of caste and strict social hierarchy in modern India. Bayly notes that much of the Indian subcontinent was populated by people for whom the formal distinctions of caste and strict social hierarchies were of only limited importance in their lifestyles.^[215]

According to Rosser, an American sociologist, Americans of South Asian origins feel the Western perception of the culture of India has numerous stereotypes. Rosser notes that the discourse in much of the United States about the culture of India is rarely devoted to independent India. People quickly make sweeping and flawed metaphysical assumptions about its religion and culture but are far more circumspect when evaluating civil society and political culture in modern India. It is as if the value of South Asia resides only in its ancient contributions to human knowledge whereas its pathetic attempts to modernise or develop are to be winked at and patronised.^[216] Rosser conducted numerous interviews and summarised the comments. The study reports a stark contrast between Western perceptions of the culture of India, versus the direct experience of the interviewed people. For example:

The presentation of South Asians is a standard pedagogic approach which runs quickly from the "Cradle of Civilisation"—contrasting the Indus Valley with Egypt and Mesopotamia—on past the Aryans, who were somehow our ancestors— to the poverty-stricken, superstitious, polytheistic, caste-ridden Hindu way of life ... and then somehow magically culminates with a eulogy of Mahatma Gandhi. A typical textbook trope presents standard Ancient India Meets the Age of Expansion Approach with a colour photo of the Taj Mahal. There may be a sidebar on ahimsa or a chart of connecting circles graphically explaining samsara and reincarnation or illustrations of the four stages of life or the Four Noble Truths. Amid the dearth of real information, there may be found an entire page dedicated to a deity such as Indra or Varuna, who admittedly are rather an obscure vis-à-vis the beliefs of most modern Hindus.

— A South Asian in America^[216]

There is new debate arising as to whether or not Indian culture is decaying.^[217]

See also

• North Indian culture
• South Indian culture
• Culture of the Indian subcontinent
• Customs and etiquette in Indian dining
• Indian religions
• Lists of Indian people
• South Asian ethnic groups
• Atithi Devo Bhava
• Cultural Zones of India
• Glossary of Indian culture

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Further reading

• Chattopadhyaya, D. P. (ed.). History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization. Vol. 15-volum + parts Set. Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Culture of India.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Culture of India.

• Union Ministry of Culture (archive): Links to some cultural sites and available grants for understanding the cultural diversity and society of India
• Union Ministry of Culture: Official Website
• India and World Cultural Heritage A UNESCO site describing cultural heritage sites of India
• India's intangible cultural heritage Another UNESCO site dedicated to Indian dance and other cultural heritage
• Indian Culture: Repository of culturally-relevant data hosted by/at the behest of the Union Ministry of Culture

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