The Culture of India - Essay Example

India’s Culture Culture is the value, beliefs, and ideas of a particular civilization at a particular period. Culture getsdemonstrated in how we behave and respond to various things based on beliefs and values. Culture forms the basic and primary ethics, behavior, workings, and principles. India is located in South Asia, and her name is believed to come from the Indus River (Mark). India is a country with humble traditions, honest beliefs, and lively festivals. To understand the cultural setting of India and the historical significance the paper analyzes the mixture of several things like music, behavior, social norms, food, fashion, and architecture. The culture in India is among the World’s oldest described as the Sa Prathama Sanskrati Vishvarara, which means the world’s first and supreme culture (Zimmerman). India has experienced an incredibly rich heritage and culture. The Indians express unity in diversity as nothing can compare to the pedestal that India holds because of its colorful and unique culture that has been in existence for thousands of years now (Maps). The cultural euphoria and the warmth in the relations backed by the country’s liveliness attract tourists to its vibrant culture. A culture plays a significant role in the progress of any country. The canvas of India’s culture is enormous with hues and vibrancy of all sorts. India exhibition and presentation as a tolerant, cooperative, and peaceful over so many centuries to the modern times arise due to its ideologies. India is a multilingual country as different states have different official languages. These languages have developed over the years all forming significance in the people’s cultural setting. India has developed a strong hierarchical relationship that got influenced by Hinduism and the caste system of governance. The caste system developed in the Vedic period between 1700 and 150 BCE (Mark). The Indian society became divided into the Varnas that comprised of Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra (Mark). The caste system developed into a rigidly interpreted approach that was characterized by the belief in an eternal order to a life dictated by a supreme deity (Mark). Indians have always been conscious of the social order and status comparative to other people (Kwintesential). Most relationships get based on a hierarchy system where the father is the Patriarch meaning the elder of the family. Relationships in the historical-cultural setting had a clear-cut hierarchy that got observed keenly to ensure social order gets maintained (Kwintesential). Indians maintain close ties with members of the family including the extended family creating a myriad of rules and regulations. Based on the historic-cultural belief, greetings are also awarded in a set order where one has to greet the elder or the most senior member of the group and proceed downwards to the youngest. Before the influence of the West, Indians were not regularly involved in handshakes but since then, Indians have adopted selective handshakes where women shake hands with women and men with men (Kwintesential). The Indian societal arrangement is founded on the Joint family System and in some of the recently cropped nuclear families. Indian naming practices have not changed over the years. What people used to do fifty years ago is the same thing people do now. The naming practice gets based on the social class, religion, and region of the country. Among the Hindus, the men’s formal name is given by the use of the ‘son of’ and the father’s name (Kwintesential). Women refer to themselves as daughters of their fathers and finally drops the father’s name to replace it with the husband’s name when she gets married. For the Muslims, most people add the term ‘bin’ for men and ‘binti’ for women followed by the parents name to get used as the surname (Kwintesential). For the Sikhs, the name Singh is used either as a connector to the surname or adopted as a surname (Kwintesential). Historic greeting systems in India are present to this moment in this land with varied greeting approaches. Different religion practices influenced the greeting systems differently (Maps). In the Hindu religion, “Namaste” was the most common way to greet elders and outsiders. Placing both palms together and held just immediately below the face was used as a gesture of respect among Indian tribes and religions (Maps). The greeting is practiced in India and by most Indians living in different geographic regions. India is a country that is well known for its dynamic religious and worshipping nature. In India, people from different tribes adopted different religious traditions. The Vedic period saw the systematization as the religion of Hinduism developed from the doctrine of Sanatan Dharma (Mark). There are established religions in India that have grown over the years namely the Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jain, or Muslim (Maps). These are some of the historic religious factions though new ones have developed in the country. Sacred places such as Vaishno, Badrinath, Haridwar, and Kedarnath are respected and treated with diligence irrespective of one’s religious backgrounds. For example, the Harappan civilization was known to worship many gods and got constantly involved in ritual worship. The sixth-century religious evolution occurred as sections broke away from Hinduism and eventually created Buddhism and Jainism (Mark). In India, people adopted the Surya Namaskar where they begin their day by offering water to the Sun as they chant Mantras (Maps). The Indians have since forever worshiped nature that makes this particularly unique about its culture. In Hindu religion, for example, trees and animals are used as symbols of worship (Maps). Hindus have over the years portrayed a great liking and respect for their worship. Since childhood, kids are taught to adore and respect their worship and taught the hymns and relevant Hindu prayers (Maps). The Muslim general known as Muhammed bin Quasim brought the Islamic religion in 712 CE after conquering northern India in the region currently known as Pakistan (Mark). India’s artistic traditions developed and maintained for thousands of years can be illustrated by two different approaches; visual arts and performing arts (Maps). Sculptures on Indian temples as old as those buildings themselves demonstrated the sophisticated craftsmanship developed in India’s culture. The Temples of Ellora and the sculptures in the Elephanta caves display eloquent mastery of Indian historical culture (Maps). The Taj Mahal is one of India’s architecture influenced by the ancient culture. The Taj Mahal was constructed in honor of emperor Shah’s third wife Mumtaz (Zimmerman). India’s historical culture in painting gets to be visible in several Buddhist palm leaf manuscripts, caves at Ajanta, and Jain texts. Pottery is also one of the very ancient kinds of visual art in India. The Indians demonstrated a religious relevance associated with poetry where clay is molded to form deities of worship (Maps). The colorful silk Saris that most of the Indian women wear illustrate the artistic appreciation the Indian culture possesses. Men wear the Kurta or the Sherwani during the special occasions (Zimmerman). Indians domesticated cotton by 4000 BCE and is used to make the Sari for women and the dhoti and the lungi for men. The European culture influenced the Indian culture of clothing during the colonial period with the introduction of stitched clothing such as the Kurta-pyjama and the shalwar kameez. Fairs and festivals have been passed from generation to generation in India. For the whole calendar year, Indians have a fair or festival coming up each month. This tradition was founded on the love for each other aiming at uniting Indians forever. From Makar Sankranti, Holi, Diwali, to Christmas; the festivals are celebrated boisterously in India regardless of the particular religion attachment (Maps). Diwali is India’s largest and most celebrated holiday in India. The five-day festival is in India known as the festival of lights. This name was adopted because the Indians have lit many lights during this festival since its inception. The lights are believed to ward off the evil spirits and to defend them from what they consider to be spiritual darkness (Zimmerman). India’s civilization began in about 4500 years ago. The culture has had various changes and influences from the west and other foreign migrants to India. However, India has preserved most of its historic-cultural beliefs and traditions. The culture is passed from one generation to another, and its range has stretched to various countries in the world facilitated by the colonial era. Indians have managed to maintain their historic beliefs and values past the wake of colonialism when those societies outside of Europe and the Northern America were considered as primitive and inferior (Zimmerman). Works Cited Kwintessential. “India - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette.” Kwintessential. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2015. Maps of India. Culture of India. Maps of India, January 15, 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2015. Mark, Joshua J. "India." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2015. Zimmerman, Kim A. "Indian Culture: Traditions and Customs of India." Live Science. Purch, 30 Jan. 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2015. Read More