SHORT NOTE ON INDIAN CULTURE
CULTURE CONSISTS OF DEVELOP INDERSTANDINGS OF LITERATURE, MUSIC, AND VARIOUS ARE FORMS. TYPE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE WAYS OF LIVING HELP TO MAKE UP A CULTURE. THE TERM CULTURE REFERS TO A STATE OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OR MANNERS. THE SOCIAL AS CULTURE. INDIAN CULTURE IS RICH AND DIVERSE AND AS A RESULT UNIQUE IN ITS VERY OWN WAY. OUR MANNERS, WAY OF COMMUNICATING WITH ONE ANOTHER, ETC., ARE ONE OF THE IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF OUR CULTURE. EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE ACCEPTED MODERN MEANS OF LIVING, IMPROVED OUR LIFESTYLE, OUR VALUES AND BELIEFS STILL REMAIN UNCHANGED. A PERSON CAN CHANGE HIS WAY OF CLOTHING, WAY OF EATING AND LIVING BUT THE RICH VALUES IN A PERSON ALWAYS REMAINS UNCHANGED BECAUSE THEY ARE DEEPLY ROOTED WITHIN OUR HEARTS, MIND, BODY, AND SOUL WHICH WE RECEIVE FROM OUR CULTURE.
INDIAN CULTURE TREATS GUESTS AS GOD AND SERVES THEM AND TAKES CARE OF THEM AS IF THEY ARE A PART AND PARCEL OF THE FAMILY ITSELF. EVEN THOUGH WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO EAT, THE GUESTS ARE NEVER LEFT HUNGRY AND ARE ALWAYS LOOKED AFTER BY THE MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY. ELDERS ARE THE DRIVING FORCE FOR ANY FAMILY AND HENCE THE LOVE AND RESPECT FOR ELDERS COMES FROM WITHIN AND IT NOT ARTIFICIAL. AN INDIVIDUAL TAKES BLESSINGS FROM HIS ELDERS BY TOUCHING THEIR FEET. ELDERS DRILL AND PASS ON THE INDIAN CULTURE WITHIN US WE GROW.
"RESPECT ONE ANOTHER" IS ANOTHER LESSON THAT IS TAUGHT FROM THE BOOKS OF INDIAN CULTURE. ALL PEOPLE ARE A LIKE AND RESPECTING ONE ANOTHER IS ONES DUTY. IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES THE RELATION BETWEEN THE BOSS AND THE EMPLOYEE IS LIKE A MASTER THE SLAVE AND IS PURELY MONETARY WHEREAS IN INDIAN CULTURE THE RELATION BETWEEN THE BOSS AND THE EMPLOYEES IS MORE LIKE HOMELY RELATIONS UNLIKE FOREIGN COUNTRIES. HELPFUL NATURE IS ANOTHER STRIKING FEATURE IN OUR INDIAN CULTURE. RIGHT FROM OUR EARLY DAYS OF CHILDHOOD WE ARE TAUGHT TO HELP ONE ANOTHER IN NEED OF HELP AND DISTRESS. IF NOT MONETARY THEN AT LEAST IN KIND OR NON-MONETARY WAYS. INDIAN CULTURE TELLS US TO MULTIPLY AND DISTRIBUTE JOY AND HAPPINESS AND SHARE SADNESS AND PAIN. IT TELLS US THAT BY ALL THIS WE CAN DO DEVELOP CO-OPERATION AND BETTER LIVING AMONGST OURSELVES AND SUBSEQUENTLY MAKE THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN. EVEN THOUGH INDIA IS A COUNTRYOF VARIOUS RELIGIONS AND CASTE OUR CULTURE TELLS UR JUST ONE THING "PHIR BHI DIL HAI HIDUSTANI".
THE MAIN FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE CULTURE
CULTURE IS DETERMINED AND SHAPED HISTORICALLY AND SOCIALLY, IT, IN ITS TUNE, INFLUENCES THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE OR NATION.
CULTURE, SOCIETY AND HISTORY : TO BEGIN WITH, CULTURAL IS THE LIFE AND MIND OF A SOCIETY AT ANY GIVEN TIME IN HISTORY. THE CULTURE OF A PARTICULAR SOCIETY OR AGE CANNOT BE SEPERATED FROM ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT. THE CONTINUITY, CHANGE OR TRANSFORMATION IN CULTURAL TRADITIONS IS INFLUENCED BY THE SOCIAL. ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AT ANY GIVEN TIME AND VICE VERSA.
TO GIVE A FEW EXAMPLE, THE GROWTH AND CHANGES IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION ARE INSEPARABLY LINKED WITH THE EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGES WITHIN THE VEDIC CIVILIZATION IN INDIA. THE VEDIC CIVILIZATION WHICH GAVE BIRTH TO THE VARNASHRAM AND THE CASTE SYSTEM HAS, TURN, EXERTED GREAT INFLUENCE OF INDIAN CULTURE. THE CASTE SYSTEM - AN INESCAPABLE ASPECT OF OUR SOCIETY THROUGH HISTORY, HAS ASSUMED CHANGES, MODIFICATIONS AND FLEXIBILITY TO SUIT THE CHANGING NEEDS OF THE VARIOUS RULING GROUPS IN INDIA. THE EARLY DRAVIDAN CIVILIZATION HAS BEEN AN IMPORTANT INFLUENCE BECAUSE OF ITS CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE IN A SPECIFIC HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT. THE FLOWERING OF ART AND LITERATURE AS WELL AS THE BUDDHIST MONUMENTS OF THE MAURYA AND GUPTA PERIOD WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE PROSPERITY AND INCREASE IN COMMERCE DURING THAT PERIOD. THE SAME CAN BE SAID FOR THE CHOLA TEMPLES OR THE VIJAYNAGAR STRUCTURES.
THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT HAS AS ITS BASIS THE GROWTH OF TRADE AND COMMERCE AND THE CONSEQUENT GROWTH OF TOWNS IN THE 14 THE AND 15TH CENTUIES, WHICH MOTIVATED A QUESTIONING OF THE CASTE RESTRICTIONS IN CERTAIN OCCUPATIONS IN THE NAME OF RELIGION. THE PREACHINGS OF BHAKTI SAINTS IN THE PEOPLE'S LANGUAGE AND THEIR COMPILATION MADE POSSIBLE THE GROWTH OF BRAJ, AWADHI, RAJASTHANI, GUJARATI, MARATHI, PUNJABI, KASHMIRI AND OTHER REGIONAL LITERATURES. THE ENOMOUS EXPENDITURE INVOLVED IN THE MAGNIFICENT ARCHITECTURE OF THE MUGHALS WAS POSSIBLE ONLY BECAUSE OF THE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED STATE SHARE IN THE SURPLUS PRODUCTION DURING MUGHAL RULE. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW MUSICAL FORMS AND THEIR POPULAZATION OF THE COURTS, TRANSLATION OF IMPORTANT TEXTS OF THE WORLD, AS WELL AS GROWTH OF NEW TECHNIQUES IN PRODUCTION WERE IMMENSELY HELPED BY THE COURT PATRONAGE GENERATED BY THIS INCREASED SURPLUS. THE CONCEPTS OF EQUALITY AS PART OF ANTIP-CASTE AND PEASANT ECONOMIC STRUGGLES, THE MOVEMENT FOR WOMEN'S EDUCATION AND EMANCIPATION, A SCIENTIFIC TEMPER, SECULARISM, A DEMOCRATIC CULTURE AND THE CULTURE OF DEMOCRACY TOOK SHAPE IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERNITY THAT CAME WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN INDIA, AS A RESULT OF THE IMPACT OF BRITISH CONQUEST.
POLITICAL STRUCTURES AND THEIR
IMPACT ON CULTURE
POLITICAL STRUCTURES HAVE ALSO HAD AN IMPACT ON OUR CULTURE THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY. FOR EXAMPLE, THE PERIODS OF POLITICAL DECENTRALIZATION OF THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND LATER, THE MUGHAL EMPIRE, RESULTED IN THE GROWTH OF REGIONAL CULTURES. SIMILARLY THE PERIODS OF CENTRALIZATION, SUCH AS THE MUGHAL AND THE MODERN PERIODS, HELPED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPOSITE, SYNCRETIC TRADITION THAT HAS THE SEMBLANCE OF A NATIONAL CULTURE. THE RELIGION PROFESSED BY A RULER CAN INSPIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ART FORMS BEARING THOSE RELIGIOUS EXPRESSIONS. IT DOES NOT, HOWEVER, MEAN THAT OTHER FORMS WERE SUPPRESSED. SIMILARLY A MORE LIBERAL, DEMOCRATIC AND SECULAR RULE MAY WITNESS THE GROWTH OF NON-RELIGIOUS ARE FORMS AS SEEN IN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY INDIA. AN OPPRESSIVE RULE CAN ALSO STIMULATE CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS OF PROTEST AS SEEN DURING HE COLONIAL RULE.
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