Culture of India

Culture of India
The culture of India is the way of life of the people of India. India's languages, religions, dance,
music, architecture, food, and customs differ from place to place within the country. The Indian
culture, often labeled as an amalgamation of several cultures, spans across the Indian
subcontinent and has been influenced by a history that is several millennia old.[1][2] Many
elements of India's diverse cultures, such as Indian religions, yoga and Indian cuisine, have had
a profound impact across the world.
Religions
India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively

known as Indian religions.[4] Indian religions are a major form of world religions
along with Abrahamic ones. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third
and fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion followers
altogether,[5][6][7] and possibly as many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion followers.[5][8]
India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with some of the
most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion plays a central and definitive
role in the life of many of its people.
According to a 2001 census of India, the religion of 80% of the people is

Hinduism. Islam is practised by around 13% of all Indians.[9] The country had over
23 million Christians, over 19 million Sikhs, about 8 million Buddhists and about 4
million Jains.[10]
Sikhism, Jainism and especially Buddhism are influential not only in India but
across the world. Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and the Bahá'í Faith are
also influential but their numbers are smaller. Atheism and agnostics also have
visible influence in India, along with a self-ascribed tolerance to other people.
The Hindu religion has many schools, each with their own unique views.[11] For
example, according to Yogavasistha, a spiritual text of the Advaita school of Hindu
religion, the values of the liberated (Hindi: जीवन्मुक्ति), self-actualised human being,
may be summarised as follows:[12][13][14] "Pleasures do not delight him; pains do not
distress. Although engaged in worldly actions, he has no attachment to any object.
He is busy outwardly, yet calm inwardly. He feels free from restrictions of
scriptures, customs, age, caste or creed. He is happy, but his happiness does not
depend on anything else. He does not feel needy, proud, agitated, troubled,
depressed or elated. He is full of compassion and forgiveness even to those who
mean him harm. He does the right thing, regardless of the pressures. He is patient,
perseverant, and without any impurity in his heart. He is free of delusions, he does
not crave for anything. His sense of freedom comes from his spirit of inquiry. The
fruits of his inquiry are his strength, intellect, efficiency and punctuality. He keeps
company of wise and enlightened persons. He is content."
There is significant historical discourse in India on the notion, relevance, and the
existence and non-existence of God. Dharmakirti, for example, in the 7th century
wrote in Pramanavarttikam:[15][16]
Perceptions of Indian culture
ndia's diversity has inspired many writers to pen their perceptions of the
country's culture. These writings paint a complex and often conflicting
picture of 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.[17] 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 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.[17]
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.[18] 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 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.[19]
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 colonialism 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.[20] 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 description 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 imperialist history thought of as grotesquely primitive
culture. While 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 more free from stereotypes. The curatorial
approach, nevertheless, have an inclination to see Indian culture as
more special and extraordinarily interesting than it actually may
be.
The curatorial approach, one inspired by systematic curiosity for the

cultural diversity of India within India, is mostly absent.
Susan Bayly, in her book, observes that there is considerable dispute in

India and Orientalist scholars on perceived Indian culture. She
acknowledges that many dispute claims of 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.

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Culture of India

India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively

According to a 2001 census of India, the religion of 80% of the people is

Perceptions of Indian culture

According to industry consultant Eugene M. Makar, for example,

Others have a different perception of Indian culture. According to an

According to Amartya Sen, the India born Nobel Laureate in

 Exoticist approach: it concentrates on the wondrous aspects of the

The curatorial approach, one inspired by systematic curiosity for the

Susan Bayly, in her book, observes that there is considerable dispute in

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