A STUDY ON INDIA AND ITS CULTURE &

HERITAGE

BY
Rishika Sinha
BAENG19027
[B.A.English Hons.]

IN THE SUPERVISION
OF
Prof. Dr. Radha Madhab Jha

ABSTRACT
India is probably the most established development on the planet with a colourful assortment
and rich cultural legacy. It has accomplished all-round financial advancement during the most
recent 65 years of its Independence. India has become independent in agricultural creation
and is presently one of the top industrialized nations on the planet and one of only a handful
not many countries to have gone into space to vanquish nature to assist the individuals. It
covers an area of 32, 87,263 sq. km, extending from the snow-secured Himalayan statures to
the tropical rain woods of the south. As the seventh biggest nation on the planet, India stands
separated from the remainder of Asia, separated all things considered by mountains and the
ocean, which give the nation a distinct topographical substance. Limited by the Great
Himalayas in the north, it extends southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tightens into the
Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. As you
travel, India offers a scope of tremendous the travel industry decisions, various in land and
nature, individuals, tribes, cuisine, religions, move structures, music, arts, crafts, experience,
sport, otherworldliness, history; even these differ as you venture starting with one state then
onto the next. As a nation, India has accomplished all-round financial advancement over the
most recent 70 years of independence. The change is unmistakably noticeable in the Tier I
and Tier II cities. However, the fascinating angle lies in the obvious contrast as you travel
through the new and old parts of its cities. From world class airports and inns, extravagant
shopping centres, restaurants, bars and cafes to packed roads and pathways, in similar cities,
loaded up with thousands of little shops offering each conceivable present day and ethnic
item and local street food is a fascinating encounter.

India's history and culture is dynamic, spanning back to the beginning of human civilization.
It begins with a secretive culture along the Indus River and in farming networks in the
southern lands of India. The history of India is accentuated by consistent integration of
migrating individuals with the various cultures that encompass India. Accessible proof
proposes that the utilization of iron, copper and different metals was broadly common in the
Indian sub-continent at a genuinely early period, which is indicative of the advancement that
this aspect of the world had made. Before the finish of the fourth thousand years BC, India
had risen as a locale of exceptionally created civilization.

So, in this paper we will see how India is rich in its culture and heritage. While covering
these aspects of India, we will also explore many more facts and features about India which
makes it a unique and diverse country in all over world.

CONTENTS
1. Culture
2. Family structure and marriage
2.1 Arranged marriage
2.2 Wedding rituals

3. Greetings
 4. Festivals

5. Animals

6. Cuisine

7. Clothing

8. Languages and literature

9. Performing arts

10. Visual arts

10.1 Painting

10.2 Sculpture

10.3 Architecture

11. Sports and martial arts

12. Popular media

12.1 Television

12.2 Cinema

13. Perceptions of Indian culture

14. Some Facts about India

1. CULTURE
India is a land of antiquated civilization. India's social, financial, and cultural designs are the
results of a long cycle of territorial development. Indian history begins with the introduction
of the Indus Valley Civilization and the coming of the Aryans. These two stages are generally
portrayed as the pre-Vedic and Vedic age. Hinduism emerged in the Vedic time frame.

The fifth century saw the unification of India under Ashoka, who had changed over to
Buddhism, and it is in his reign that Buddhism spread in numerous parts of Asia. In the
eighth century Islam came to India just because and by the eleventh century had immovably
settled itself in India as a political power. It came about into the development of the Delhi
Sultanate, which was finally prevailing by the Mughal Empire, under which India by and by
accomplished an enormous proportion of political solidarity.
It was in the seventeenth century that the Europeans came to India. This coincided with the
disintegration of the Mughal Empire, paving the path for territorial states. In the challenge for
matchless quality, the English developed 'victors'. The Rebellion of 1857-58, which looked to
re-establish Indian matchless quality, was squashed; and with the resulting crowning of
Victoria as Empress of India, the incorporation of India into the realm was finished. It was
trailed by India's battle for independence, which we got in the year 1947.

India is one of the world's most seasoned civilizations and one of the most populated nations
on the planet. The Indian culture, regularly named as a mixture of a few different cultures,
ranges over the Indian subcontinent and has been influenced and moulded by a history that is
a few thousand years old. Since the commencement of India, Indian culture has been
intensely influenced by Dharmic religions. They have been credited with shaping quite a bit
of Indian way of thinking, literature, architecture, workmanship and music. More prominent
India was the chronicled degree of Indian culture past the Indian subcontinent. This
especially concerns the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism, architecture, administration and
writing framework from India to different parts of Asia through the Silk Road by the
voyagers and sea merchants during the early hundreds of years of the Common Era. To the
west, Greater India covers with Greater Persia in the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains.
Throughout the long term, there has been huge combination of cultures between Buddhists,
Hindus, Muslims (Sunni, Shia, and Sufi), Jains, Sikhs and different tribal populaces in India.

2. FAMILY STRUCTURE AND MARRIAGE

For ages, India has a prevailing tradition of the joint family framework. It is when expanded
individuals from a family – guardians, kids, the kids' mates and their offspring, and so on –
live respectively. Generally, the most established male part is the head in the joint Indian
family framework. He generally settles on immeasurably significant choices and rules, and
other relatives are probably going to maintain them.

2.1 ARRANGED MARRIAGE

 Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the brides and grooms are
selected by the partners themselves, with total involvement of the families and social
circles of them in the selection process. In some cultures a professional matchmaker
may be used to find a spouse for a young person.
Arranged marriages have for quite some time been the standard in Indian culture.
Indeed, even today, most of Indians have their marriages arranged by their folks and
other regarded relatives. Previously, the time of marriage was youthful. The normal
time of marriage for women in India has increased to 21 years, according to 2011
Census of India. In 2009, about 7% of women get hitched before the age of 18.
2.2 WEDDING RITUALS
Weddings are merry events in India with broad enhancements, hues, music, move,
ensembles and customs that rely upon the religion of the lady of the hour and the
husband to be, just as their inclinations. The country celebrates around 10 million
weddings for every year, of which over 80% are Hindu weddings.

3. GREETINGS
Greetings include Namaste (Hindi and Sanskrit), Namaskar (Hindi), Juhar/Namaskar
in Odia, Namaskar (Marathi), Namaskara (Kannada), Namaskaram (Telugu,
Malayalam), Vanakkam (Tamil), Nomoshkaar (Bengali), Nomoskar (Assamese). All
these are normal spoken greetings or welcome when individuals meet, and are types
of goodbye when they withdraw. Namaskar is viewed as somewhat more formal than
Namaste however both express profound regard. Namaskar is normally utilized in
India and Nepal by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, and many continue to utilize this
external the Indian subcontinent. In Indian and Nepali culture, the word is expressed
toward the beginning of written or verbal communication.
4. FESTIVALS
India, being a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-strict society, commends holidays
and festivals of different religions. The three public holidays in India, the
Independence Day, the Republic Day and the Gandhi Jayanti, are commended with
energy and eagerness across India. Likewise, numerous Indian states and districts
have nearby festivals depending on pervasive strict and linguistic socioeconomics.
Famous strict festivals include the Hindu festivals of Navratri, Janmashtami, Diwali,
Maha Shivratri, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Holi, Rath Yatra, Ugadi, Onam,
Vasant Panchami, Rakshabandhan, and Dussehra. A few gather festivals, for example,
Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Raja sankaranti swinging festival are also fairly well
known.
Indian New Year festivals are praised in various piece of India with one of a kind
style in various occasions. Ugadi, Bihu, Gudhi Padwa, Puthandu, Pohela Boishakh,
Vishu and Vishuva Sankranti are the New Year’s festival of various piece of India.
Certain festivals in India are praised by various religions. Striking models include
Diwali, which is praised by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains the nation over and Buddha
Purnima, celebrated by Buddhists. Sikh festivals, for example, Guru Nanak Jayanti,
Baisakhi are commended with full exhibition by Sikhs and Hindus of Punjab and
Delhi where the two networks together structure an overwhelming greater part of the
populace. Adding hues to the culture of India, the Dree Festival is one of the tribal
festivals of India celebrated by the Apatanis of the Ziro valley of Arunachal Pradesh,
which is the easternmost territory of India. Nowruz is the most significant festival
among the Parsi people group of India.
Islam in India is the second biggest religion with more than 172 million Muslims,
according to India's 2011 statistics. The Islamic festivals which are watched and are
announced open holiday in India are; Eid ul Fitr, Eid ul Adha-(Bakri Eid), Milad un
 Nabi, Muharram and Shab-eBarat. A portion of the Indian states have proclaimed
regional holiday's for the specific regional famous festivals, for example, Arba'een,
Jumu'ahtul-Wida and Shab-e-Qadar.
Christianity is India's third biggest religion. With more than 23 million Christians, of
which 17 million are Roman Catholics, India is home to numerous Christian festivals.
The nation observes Christmas and Good Friday as open holidays.
Regional and network fairs are also regular festival in India. For instance, Pushkar fair
of Rajasthan is one of the world's biggest business sectors of cows and animals.

5. ANIMALS AS GOD
The differed and rich natural life of India has profoundly affected the area's
mainstream society. Normal name for wild in India is Jungle which was received by
the British colonialists to the English language. The word has been also put on the
map in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. India's natural life has been the subject
of various different stories and tales, for example, the Panchatantra and the Jataka
stories.
In Hinduism, the dairy animals are viewed as an image of ahimsa (peacefulness),
mother goddess and bringer of favourable luck and riches. Hence, cows are adored in
Hindu culture and feeding a cow is viewed as a demonstration of love. This is the
reason beef remains a taboo food in mainstream Hindu and Jain society.
6. CUISINE
Indian food is as diverse as India. Indian cuisines utilize various ingredients; convey a
wide scope of food planning styles, cooking procedures and culinary introduction.
From servings of mixed greens to sauces, from vegan to meat, from flavours to
arousing, from breads to treats, Indian cuisine is invariably perplexing.

The cuisine in India is as immense and wide ranging as its multi ethnic culture. The
delectable and the fascinating dishes of India are set apart by the inconspicuous
employments of flavours and spices.
Indian cuisines differ generally from locale to district. Various districts receive
various cuisines. India is glad to serve the most various cuisines in the entire world.
Each district has their own strengths and diverse method of cooking. The style of
cooking, flavour and their claims to fame change with the landscapes. The greater part
of the Indian cuisines are vegan yet the Indians also love non-veggie lover
indulgences cooked out of fish, sheep, goat, chicken and different meats. Food has
consistently been critical to the culture of India.

East Indian Cuisine

The eastern district of India comprises of states like Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa.
Rice is the staple food in eastern locale of India. Because of the ideal atmosphere,
eastern India grows a ton of rice. Very as opposed to the north India where wheat is
dominant, rice fills in as integral piece of nay dinner in the eastern India. Alongside
that, fishes are also accessible in plenitude in the waterways and lakes in this locale.
Fish is also a most loved thing of the individuals of eastern India.
A wide assortment of dishes is set up from fishes. Hilsa is the most famous fish in
eastern India. Generally accessible during the storms, this is well known for its life-
changing taste. A few delights are made of Hilsa, and also other mainstream
assortments of fishes like: Rohu, Vetki and so on, which make certain to stimulate
your taste bud.

A lot of vegetables are also developed in this piece of India. Vegetables also structure
a generous piece of Eastern Indian suppers. The flavours utilized in their cuisine are
also uniquely not the same as those utilized in different parts of India.
Desserts are a striking element in Eastern Indian Cuisine. The individuals from the
eastern area appear to have a sweet tooth. A large portion of the eastern Indian
cuisines tend to be sweet. In West Bengal, Rasgulla is an incredible delicacy that has
earned worldwide recognition. You may also attempt Mishti Doi (improved yogurt)
while in eastern district of India.

West Indian Cuisine

Geological heterogeneity has offered ascend to an assortment of dishes in the western

piece of India. Varying landscape from the bone-dry deserts to wet waterfront are has
added to the flexibility of cuisine here. Simultaneously, western India is a melting pot
of a few races and traditions. Therefore various influences are seen in India’s variety
of dishes.
Rice is the staple food in the western India as well. Wheat, bajra and jowar are also
devoured in locales, for example, in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
In Gujarat district and obviously Mumbai you would find Parsi influences in their
cuisine. Vegan dishes like Pav Bhajis, Bhel puris and Dhoklas are gourmet's joy here.
Because of centralization of the Jains in Gujarat, the state exceeds expectations in
vegan cuisine with the unobtrusive utilization of flavours and rich surface.
In the seaside areas of Maharashtra and Goa, ocean fishes are accessible in wealth.
Arrangements of ocean fishes marinated in tantalizing flavours make certain to
stimulate your taste buds. Goa, with its particular Portuguese influence has
extraordinarily won the core of food darling through stomach with the fascinating
shellfishes including crab, prawn.
The food of Rajasthan is wealthy in flavours. Be that as it may, in the event that you
can overcome a little zesty affair, you might have the option to appreciate the
Rajasthani cuisine.

North Indian Cuisine

North Indian Cuisine is to a great extent influenced by the Mughal style of cooking. In
their about 500 years rule over India, they contributed a great deal to India including
cuisine. Since the Mughals were originally from focal Asia, the cuisine bears a lot of
closeness to the central Asian style of cooking.
Plentiful employments of margarine based curries and dried foods grown from the
ground are striking highlights of north Indian cuisine. Wheat that develops plentifully
in northern India frames the bigger segment of north Indian feast. In spite of the
southern and Northern piece of India where rice is the staple food, north India lives on
Roti, Chappatis, Paratha and Tandoori all produced using wheat.
Loads of oil, ghee, spread alongside rich flavours is utilized as the vehicle for cooking
which loan the north Indian food an exceptionally solid flavour.
Meat also appreciates an exceptional spot in north Indian cuisine. An assortment of
Kebabs and Biriyanis (a tantalizing marinade of rice and meat) bear the Mughal
heritage.

South Indian Cuisine

South Indian cuisine is distinguished by a more noteworthy emphasis on rice as the
staple grain, the universality of sambar (likewise called saaru, a vegetable stew
dependent on a stock made with tamarind and toovar dal) and rasam (additionally
called rasa, a soup arranged with tamarind juice or tomato, pepper and different
flavours), an assortment of pickles, and the liberal utilization of coconut and
particularly coconut oil and curry leaves. The dosa, poori, idli, vada, bonda and bajji
are regular South Indian top choices and are for the most part expended as breakfast.
Hyderabadi biryani, a well-known kind of biryani, mirrors the assorted variety of
south Indian cuisine.
7. CLOTHING
Traditional clothing in India enormously shifts across various parts of the nation and
is influenced by nearby culture, topography, atmosphere and rustic/metropolitan
settings. Well known styles of dress include hung articles of clothing, for example,
sari for women and dhoti or lungi or panche (in Kannada) for men. Sewed garments
are also well known, for example, churidar or salwar kameez for women, with dupatta
(long scarf) tossed over shoulder completing the outfit. Salwar is frequently baggy,
while churidar is a tighter cut.
8. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Richness of any culture can been seen and acknowledged but when it comes to
language and writing it is to be perused and heard. We need to acknowledge and
invest wholeheartedly in this particular part of our culture. India has 22 authority
dialects – 15 of which are Indo-European. The 2001 enumeration of India discovered
122 first dialects in dynamic use.
Sanskrit has profoundly affected the dialects and literature of India. Hindi, India's
most communicated in language, is a "Sanskritised register" of the Khariboli tongue.
Odia is India's sixth traditional language notwithstanding Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannada and Malayalam.
9. PERFORMING ARTS
India has had a long romance with the art of dance. The Hindu Sanskrit messages
Nātyaśāstra (Science of Dance) and Abhinaya Darpana (Mirror of Gesture) are
assessed to be from 200 BCE to early hundreds of years of the first thousand years.
Indian dance includes eight classical dance structures, numerous in account structures
with mythological components. The eight classical structures concurred classical
dance status by India's National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama are:
Bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil Nadu, Kathak of Uttar Pradesh, Kathakali and
Mohiniattam of Kerala, Kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, Yakshagana of Karnataka,
Manipuri of Manipur, Odissi (Orissi) of the state of Odisha and the Sattriya of Assam.
Indian drama and theatre has a long history close by its music and dance. Kalidasa's
plays like Shakuntala and Meghadoota are a portion of the more established dramas,
following those of Bhasa. One of the most seasoned surviving theater conventions of
the world is the 2,000-year-old Kutiyattam of Kerala. It carefully follows the Natya
Shastra and Nātyāchārya Māni.
Music is an integral part of India's culture. Natyasastra, a 2000-yearold Sanskrit text,
portrays five frameworks of scientific categorization to group musical instruments.
One of these antiquated Indian frameworks arranges musical instruments into four
gatherings according to four essential wellsprings of vibration: strings, layers,
cymbals, and air. According to Reis Flora, this is like the Western hypothesis of
organology. Archaeologists have additionally announced the disclosure of a 3000-
year-old, 20-key, painstakingly moulded cleaned basalt lithopone in the highlands of
Odisha.
The most established saved instances of Indian music are the melodies of the
Samaveda (1000 BC) that are still sung in certain Vedic Śrauta penances; this is the
soonest record of Indian musical hymns.
10. VISUAL ARTS
10.1 Painting
Cave paintings from Ajanta, Bagh, Ellora and Sittanavasal and temple
paintings vouch for a love of naturalism. Generally early and medieval art in India is
Hindu, Buddhist or Jain. A newly made coloured floor design (Rangoli) is as yet a
typical sight outside the doorstep of many (generally South Indian) Indian homes.
Raja Ravi Varma is one of the classical painters from medieval India.
Pattachitra, Madhubani painting, Mysore painting, Rajput painting, Tanjore painting,
Mughal paintings are some remarkable Genres of Indian Art.

10.2 Sculptures
The first sculptures in India go back to the Indus Valley civilisation, where
stone and bronze figures have been found. Afterward, as Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Jainism grew further, India created some very intricate bronzes just as temple
carvings. Some gigantic shrines, for example, the one at Ellora were not built by using
blocks but cut out of strong stone.

10.3 Architecture
Indian architecture envelops a huge number of articulations over reality,
continually absorbing ground-breaking thoughts. The outcome is an evolving scope of
architectural creation that in any case retains a certain measure of continuity across
history. A portion of its soonest creation are found in the Indus Valley Civilisation
(2600–1900 BC) which is portrayed by very much arranged urban communities and
houses. Religion and kingship don't appear to have assumed a significant function in
the planning and format of these towns.
11. SPORTS AND MARTIAL ARTS
Field hockey was viewed as the public round of India, but this has been as of
late denied by the Government of India, clarifying on a Right to Information Act
(RTI) recorded that India has not announced any game as the public game.
Cricket is viewed as the most well-known game in India. Football is famous in the
Indian state of West Bengal.
Chess is generally accepted to have originated in north-western India during the
Gupta Empire, where its initial structure in the sixth century was known as
chaturanga. Different games which originated in India and continue to remain well
known in wide parts of northern India include Kabaddi, Gilli-danda, and kho.
Customary southern Indian games include Snake vessel race and Kuttiyum kolum.
Outstanding amongst other known types of antiquated Indian martial arts is the
Kalarippayattu from Kerala. This old fighting style originated in southern India in the
twelfth century BCE and is viewed as one of the most established surviving martial
arts.
12. POPULAR MEDIA
12.1 Television
Indian television started off in 1959 in New Delhi with tests for instructive
broadcasts. Indian small screen programming started off during the 1970s. Around
then there was just a single public channel Doordarshan, which was government
claimed. 1982 saw upset in TV programming in India, with the New Delhi Asian
games, India saw the shading rendition of TV, that year. The Ramayana and
Mahabharata were some among the well-known television arrangement created. By
the late 1980s an ever increasing number of individuals started to possess television
sets. In spite of the fact that there was a single channel, television programming had
arrived at immersion. Consequently the legislature opened up another channel which
had part public programming and part provincial. This channel was known as DD 2
later DD Metro. The two channels were broadcast terrestrially.
In 1991, the administration freed its business sectors, opening them up to satellite
television. Since then, there has been a spray in the quantity of channels accessible.
 Today, Indian small screen is a tremendous industry without anyone else, and has
thousands of projects in all the states of India.

12.2 Cinema
Bollywood is the informal name given to the famous Mumbai-based Film
industry in India. Bollywood and the other major cinematic centre points (in Bengali
Cinema, Oriya entertainment world, Assamese, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi,
Tamil, Punjabi and Telugu) establish the more extensive Indian entertainment world,
whose yield is viewed as the biggest on the planet regarding number of movies
delivered and number of tickets sold.

13. PERCEPTIONS OF INDIAN CULTURE

India's diversity has inspired numerous writers to pen their view of the nation's
culture. These writings paint a complex and regularly conflicting image of the culture
of India. India is one of the ethnically and religiously various nations on the planet.
The idea of 'Indian culture' is an exceptionally intricate and confused issue. Since
Indian residents are isolated into different ethnic, religious, caste, linguistic and
regional groups. It makes the real factors of "Indianness" amazingly confounded.
This is the reason the origination of Indian character represents certain challenges and
surmises a progression of presumptions about what briefly the articulation "Indian"
signifies. Be that as it may, notwithstanding its tremendous heterogeneous synthesis,
the making of a type of common or shared Indian culture is the consequence of some
 inherent internal powers, for example, a strong Constitution, all inclusive grown-up
establishment, adaptable government structure, mainstream instructive strategy and so
on and by certain recorded occasions, for example, Indian Independence Movement,
Partition, wars against Pakistan and so on.

14. SOME FACTS ABOUT INDIA

 When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago,
Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley
Civilization)

 The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which
were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the
river Indus as the Sindhu.

 Chess was invented in India.

 Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.

 The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in
100 B.C.

 India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the
world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.

 Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of

Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.

 The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin.
They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.

 Varanasi, also known as Banaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord
Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in
the world today.

 Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

CONCLUSION
Probably the most seasoned civilisation on the planet, India is a mosaic of multicultural
encounters. With a rich heritage and myriad attractions, the nation is among the most well-
known traveller destinations on the planet. It covers a territory of 32, 87,263 sq. km,
extending from the snow-secured Himalayan statures to the tropical rain woods of the south.
As the seventh biggest nation on the planet, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked
off as it is by mountains and the ocean, which give the nation a distinct geological element.

Fringed by the Great Himalayas in the north, it extends southwards and at the Tropic of
Cancer, tightens into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the
Arabian Sea on the west. As you venture to every part of the breadth of the nation, you are
welcomed by assorted subtleties of cuisines, beliefs, arts, creates, music, nature, lands, clans,
history and experience sports. India has a hypnotizing conflation of the old and the new. As
the bustling old bazaars hobnob with chic shopping centres, and superb landmarks go with
sumptuous heritage lodgings, the quintessential voyager can outwit the two universes. Head
to the mountains, appreciate a beach retreat or cruise through the brilliant Thar, India has
alternatives aplenty for all.

REFERENCES

 www.incredibleindia.org
 www.wikipedia.in
 www.toppr.com
 www.britannica.com
  www.enotes.com

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