Foundations of Indian Culture

Summary
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• Culture : Set of practices , values, behavioral
patterns , materials , art forms which are passed
on from one generation to generation.

• The roots of Indian Culture are found in Vedas

and the direction / goal is “Know Thyself”

• Vedas are ancient literature , which are the

treasure house of all knowledge
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• There are four vedas namely , Rig Veda, Sama Veda,
Yajurveda and Atharvana Veda

• Rigveda deals with hymns related to forces that govern

the nature – like rain, air, fire etc.

• Sama Veda – Wisdom of Chants and effectiveness of

chanting Mantras .

• Yajur Veda Wisdom of Sacrifices'

• Atharavana Veda – A set of hymns containing wisdom of

family of Athravanas. Wisdom of leading prosperous life.
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• Each Veda consists of Four parts
- 1. The Mantra Samhita – collection of hymns on
a particular subject.
- 2. The Bramhanas – Set of Rituals
- 3. The Aranyanka – Philosophical explanations
of Mantras and the Rituals
- 4. The Upanishads – The knowledge portion ,
the operating / application part of the concepts
mentioned in the earlier parts. ( As this is the
last part it is called as Vedanta. )
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• Four Upavedas:
• Archery (Dhanurveda), associated with the
Rigveda
• Music and dance (Gāndharvaveda), associated
with the Samaveda
• Medicine (Āyurveda), associated with the
Atharvaveda
• Architecture (Sthapatyaveda), associated with
the Yajurveda.
• Some scriptures consider “Arthashastra” as a
upaveda .
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Indian Culture can be classified into to two types
namely
• A. Material Culture
• B. Mind Culture.
Material Culture refers the kind of artefacts and the
kind of material that were being used for day to day
life.

Cow was a the chief economic driver of the society.

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• Mind culture refers to the attitude and approach
towards life by the people.
• The path followed for meeting the purpose of life was
very well defined and the people had the freedom to
follow any path they like to reach the goal.
• Mind was systematically trained to accept the four
pillar model for achieving the ultimate goal.
• The four pillars being Dharma, Artha, Kama and
Moksha.
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• knowledge was never sold but shared without attaching
any monetary value.
• The education was in Gurukula. The training was tailor
made to suit the individual and transform an individual to
lead an effective and efficient life and understand the self
• Thus the Indian Culture is unique and has a very
structured and scientific approach to human life , which
mainly focuses discipling the body mind complex.
• The Upanishads form an integral part of all practices in
day to day affairs.
• Indian culture is ancient, scientific and relevant for all
times in the existence of mankind.