CULTURE OF INDIA

The culture of India : refers to the religions, beliefs, customs, traditions, languages, ceremonies, arts, values and the way of life in INDIA and its people.

India'slanguages, religions, dance, music, architectu re, food, and customs differ from place to place within the country. Its culture often labeled as an amalgamation of these diverse sub-cultures is spread all over the Indian subcontinent and traditions that are several millennia old.[1]

 Regarded by many historians as the "oldest living civilization of Earth", the Indian tradition dates back to 8000 BC,[2] and has a continuous recorded history since the time of the Vedas, believed variously to be 3,000 to over 5,500 years ago.[3] Several elements of India's diverse culture, such as Indian religions,yoga and Indian cuisine, have had a profound impact across the world.

 Religions and spirituality

India is the birth place of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively known as Indian religions
India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion still 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 practiced by around 13% of all Indians.[10] The country had over 23 million Christians, over 19 million Sikhs, about 8 million Buddhists and about 4 million Jains.[11]

 Family structure and marriage

It is a subject of numerous studies. , India has had a prevailing tradition of the joint family system( parents, children, the childrens spouses and their offspring, ) the oldest male member is the head in the joint Indian family system. He makes all important decisions and rules, and other family members abide by them.

 Arranged Marriage For centuries, arranged marriages have been the tradition in Indian society though men and women have always had the choice of who they want to marry. Even today, the majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other respected family-members, with the consent of the bride and groom. In most marriages the bride's family provide a dowry to the bride to safe guard herself and her children.

 Greetings:Namaste, namaskar or Namaskara or Namaskaram Other greetings include "Jai Shri Krishna", "Ram Ram", and Sat Shri Akal (Punjabi, used by followers of Sikhism), Jai Jinendra, a common greeting used across the Jain community and "Nama Shivaya".

 Festivals
India, being a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions. national holidays in India, the Independence Day, the Republic Day, the Gandhi Jayanti,and May Day are celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm across India. Navratri, Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga puja, Holi, Rakshabandhan and Dussehra. Several harvest festivals, such as Sankranthi, Pongal, Raja sankaranti swinging festival, and Onam,"Nuakhai" are also fairly popular

 Names and language

Indian names are based on a variety of systems and naming conventions, which vary from region to region. Names are also influenced by religion and caste and may come from the Indian epics wide variety of languages such as Angika Assamese Beary bashe Bengali Bodo Chhattisgarhi Dogri Garo Gujarati Standard Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Khasi Kokborok Konka ni Maithili Malayalam Manipuri Marathi Mizo Nepali Oriya Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Tulu Urdu

 Cuisine
indian thali (plate) with Naan bread,Daal, Raita, Shahi paneer, and Salad Kheer is a traditional Indian sweet dish

 Clothing
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 sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men Indian clothes are made from cotton which is ideal for the region's hot weather sandals Bindi sindoor

 Epics
The Rmyaa and the Mahbhrata are the oldest preserved and well-known epics of India. Dance: Indian dance includes eight classical dance forms, many in narrative forms with mythological elements. The eight classical forms accorded 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 Manipu r, odissi (orissi) of the state of Orissa and the sattriya of Assam

Music: filmi and Indipop Indian cinema Indian folk Sufi music ntyastra India's classical music

 Visual arts
Painting rock paintings of pre-historic times Madhubani painting, Mysore painting, Rajput painting, Tanjore painting, Mughal painting are some notable Genres of Indian Ar Architecture cave at Ellora the Taj Mahal Umaid Bhawan Palace in Rajasthan temple mound or stupa, temple spire or sikhara, temple tower or pagoda and temple gate or torana

 urban developments of India like Chandigarh, are notable. Lotus Temple

Sports and Martial arts

Cricket Kabaddi, Gilli-danda, and Kho kho

Popular media
Television Cinema Radio etc

Thank you