Art and Culture of India
India
is the motherland of art, culture and architecture all across the globe
where each historical monument in the country like the forts, palaces,
caves, temples, mosques and churches reflect the glory of the era to which
they belonged. The Art and Culture Tour of India unravels an unforgettable
journey of the monuments of the olden times in India like the Taj Mahal in
Agra, Uttar Pradesh; Ajanta Ellora caves near Aurangabad in Maharashtra; the
mesmerising temples of Khajuraho and South India along with many more
structures portray the enriched architecture of India in the olden times.
Indian traditional art forms are the most evolved and cultured systems in
the world where carnatic music, classical dance styles like Bharathanatyam,
Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Kathak, Manipuri etc, theatre and various drama forms
including Harikatha and folk arts are amongst the traditional and ancient
art and entertainment forms today. Indian films of today were based on the
traditional arts in their formative years during 1930's and 40's. Indian
cinema especially Hindi and Tamil cinema have evolved as the largest film
industries in the world next only to Hollywood.
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Indian classical arts like classical music, classical dance, theatre
and drama possesses traditions and history dating back to several centuries
and Carnatic and Hindustani music have their roots in "Sama Veda"
one of the four Vedas which are the eternal and timeless scriptures from
which the religious and social ethos of the sub-continent evolved.
Bharatnatyam, a celebrated dance form too is based on authoritative sources
like "Natya Sastra" by the sage Bharata Muni and "Abhinaya
Darpana" by Nandi Kesava dating back to centuries before Christ.
Culture of India
Indian
culture is rich, diverse and unique in the whole world as the people in the
country belong to different religions, castes, creed; speak different
languages; enjoy different kind of cuisines. People belonging to different
religions celebrate different festivals with great enthusiasm and zeal.
The major religions followed within India are Hinduism (80%), Islam (14%),
Christianity (2.4%), Sikhism (2%), Buddhism( 0.7%), Jainism (0.5%). The
people belonging to different ethnic groups are Indo-Aryans(72%), Dravidians
(25%) and Others(3%). There are hundreds of tribal communities. There are
about 1600 languages spoken throughout the country.
Indian culture is so diverse that it is very difficult to explain it. Every
region and every state has a culture and tradition of its own. Even in one
single state different communities follow different customs. Every region
has it own cuisine, clothing, language, etc. The appearances of the people
too differ from one another depending on the region one belongs to. The
diverse climate and the diverse landscape too plays a major role in the
diverse culture of India.
People belonging to different regions celebrate different festivals all
round the year. Some of the important Hindu festivals celebrated are Holi,
Diwali, Dussehra, Ganesh Utsav; Muslim festivals celebrated are Iid and
Bakriid and the Christian festivals celebrated are Christmas, and Easter.