CULTURE
CULTURE OF INDIA
The culture of India has been shaped by the long history of India. It is absorption of customs, tradition and ideas. India’s great diversity of culture practices, languages, customs and tradition are examples of unique co-mingling. Religions practices are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
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TRADITION OF INDIA
(HINDUS)
India is a modern country yet the customs and traditions
are religiously followed in urban as well as rural Indians.
Indians Namesthe or Namaskar is the most popular form of greeting in India to welcome somebody. While doing Namaskar, both the palms are placed together. The right hand represents higher nature while right hand represents worldly and lower nature.
THILAK: - The Thilak is a ritual marked on the forehead. Indians call it as Kumkum. It is red in colour. Usually woman’s in north India puts kumkum after their marriage.
ARATHI: - It is performed as an act of veneration and love .It is often performed as a mark of worship to seek blessings from god.
GARLANDING: - Flower garlands are generally offered to god as a mark of respect and honour. The garlands made with white jasmine and orange marigold flowers.
BINDI: -A bindi is an auspicious mark worn by young girls and women. Bindi is derived from bindu a Sanskrit word, meaning dot.
NOSE PIN: - Many Indian women wear a pin studded with stones, called a nose pin.
MANGAL SUTHRA: - It is a necklace made out of black beads, worn only by married woman’s, as a mark of being married. It is tied by groom on his bride’s neck.
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TRADITIONAL FOOD OF NORTH INDIA
Food from north India is characterised by it’s thick, tasty ingredients. North Indian’s love chillies, saffron, milk, cottage cheese, ghee and nuts. Their meals are hearty and often include several dishes. Sweets are a huge favourite too.
The ultimate destination of foodies is the north zone of India. Most famous of all is the Mughal food. Jammu and Kashmir is blessed with the tradition of Wazwan, the fabulous aromatic banquet. Awadhi food is cooked in handison slow fire.
Food from Punjab, needs no introduction. Just have a bite of Makki di roti with sasson ka saag and down it with the famous Punjabi lassi and one will get the taste of food in Punjab’s land.
However, everyday meals of people in north zone of India consists of Chapatti, rice, lentils and vegetables. A large number of people are all very much fond of non-vegetarian food.
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TRADITIONAL FOOD OF SOUTH INDIA
The final tempting of oil , mustard, curry leaves, urad dal is almost the same for most of the dishes in Kerala, the staple food of people is fish accompanied by steaming rice of big size. Banana chips and jack fruit chips.
Andhra Pradesh is known for its spiciness and hotness. Kebabs and biriyanis are not to be missed. Homemade pickles, papad dry chutney etc are tradition of this area.
The final tempting of oil , mustard, curry leaves, urad dal is almost the same for most of the dishes in Kerala, the staple food of people is fish accompanied by steaming rice of big size. Banana chips and jack fruit chips.
Andhra Pradesh is known for its spiciness and hotness. Kebabs and biriyanis are not to be missed. Homemade pickles, papad dry chutney etc are tradition of this area.
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MUSIC OF INDIA
Music is the combination of song, instrument and dance. An Indian ancient book says about sixty four arts. These can be classified as fine arts, science and commers among fine arts. Music is considered to be the highest form. Music is divine art and it’s also called “gandharava vidhya”. Indian music is born out of Veda. Sama Veda is the base. The temples are the places which promote music. In the world every nation has its own musical method. Today three important musical methods are: western music, Karnatic music and Hindustani music. Western music is based on harmony and Indian music is melody.
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MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF INDIA
Some instruments are played by hands, wooden sticks, blowing air, strings….etc.
Chenda: the Chenda is a cylindered percussion instruments used widely in the state of Kerala, India. It is also used in some parts of Karnataka and it is known as Chande. The Chenda is mainly played for Hindu religious art forms of Kerala. The Chenda is Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Kanniyarkali and many other dances and rituals of Kerala.
Chenda it is played in dance-drama called Yakshagana in Karnataka. A chenda is made up of cylindrical wooden drum and has a length of 2 feet and a diameter of 1 feet. Both ends are covered with cow’s skin. Using two sticks the drummer play it. This instrument is famous for it’s loud sound.
Dhol: Dhol is especially played by Sikhs of Punjab and it is also used in other regions throughout south India and abroad including Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This percussion instrument’s head can be synthetic or goat’s skin. It was introduced by Indians. This dhol is used in bhagra music for expressing their happiness. They dhol is played using 2 wooden sticks it is usually made up of bamboo and cane wood.
iddakka:Iddaka is slung over the left shoulder and the right side of the instrument is beaten with a stick. The playing of Iddaka is mostly taught in India in kerela [kalamandalam and kshetra kala peetam]
Kanjira:It is known as kanjira or ganjira and it belongs to tambourine family. It has a circular frame made up of the jack fruit tree.
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FESTIVALS OF INDIA
India’s rich cultural and traditional backgrounds are Indian festivals. The colourful festivals are an important part of every Indians. The festivals play an important part in India. The rich culture in India attracts the western countries during the important festivals like onam, holi, durga pooja, etc.
Every one in India celebrates their festivals according to their customs and rituals. The common thing in India is that it is celebrated with humanity. Some of the common rituals are processions in street, decoration of homes and sacred places such as temples. Most of the religious festivals have prayer, traditions, customs and rituals. The celebration of each festival in India has its own unique legend and significances.
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RELIGION OF INDIA
QUESTION: What is RELIGION?
ANSWER: A RELIGION is based on a belief system about the ultimate powers. It conducts prayers, rituals, or other practices. The term ‘religion’ refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.
QUESTION: What are the native Indian religions?
ANSWER: Native Indian religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Hinduism accounts for 80% of the population of India.
QUESTION: Which are the 2 philosophical stream
thoughts of India?
ANSWER: Ancient India has 2 philosophical streams of thoughts, the shramana religions and the Vedic religion, parallel traditions that have existed side by side for thousands of years. Both Buddhism and Jainism are continuation of shramana traditions, where as modern Hinduism is continuation of Vedic tradition. About 2% of Indians belong to Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism has an ancient history of India and each has several thousands of Indian followers. The second religion is Islam.
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DRESSES OF INDIA
Female clothing
The traditional style of clothing in India varies from male to female. Girls wear long skirt and a blouse. Teenage girls wear half saree, a three piece set having a langa, a choli and stole put over like saree. Women usually wear full saree.
Male clothing
In western and central region men commonly wear dhoti and kurta. For special occasions men wear Shervani. In north India men also wear salwar kameez. The lungi is worn by men in many parts of India.
Tribal style
In tribal areas people wear salwar kameez, choli and other Indian dress.
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DANCES OF INDIA
There are many dances in India. Some are Kathakali, Kuchipudi…….etc.Classical dances of India usually always spiritual in content, although this is often true also of Folk dances.
Classical dances of Kerala are Kathakali and Mohini Attam.Kathakali laterally means story-play and is an elaborate dance depicting the victory of truth over falsehood. Striking feature of Kathakali is the use of elaborate make up and colourful costumes. This is to give special importance to that the characters are super-being from another world, and their make-up is easily recognizable to the trained eye as Satwik or God like, Raja Sik or Heroic, and Tama sic of Demonic. Dance done in Tamil Nadu is Bharatnatyam. Dance done in Andhra Pradesh is Kuchipudi.Dance done in Orissa is Odissi.Dance done in Uttar Pradesh is Kathak.Dance done in Manipur is Manipuri. Main qualities needed in dance are expressions, perfect steps, Chorio GraphyMudhras, costumes, make-up and energy.
India is known for its rich culture heritage which a dazzling variety of Indian dances which range from Indian classical dances that are deeply religious in content, to folk dances that are largely popular for its entertainment value
There are some well known classical Indian dances. They are kathakali, mohini attam, from Kerala, bharatanatyam from Tamil nadu, kuchipudi from Andhra Pradesh, odissi from orissa kathak from Uttar Pradesh and Manipuri from Manipur.
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