The culture of India is among the world's oldest, reaching back about 5,000 years.

Many
sources describe it as "Sa Prathama Sanskrati Vishvavara" the first and the supreme
culture in the world. India is a very diverse country, and different regions have their own
distinct cultures. Language, religion, food and the arts are just some of the various aspects of
Indian culture. Here is a brief overview of the culture of India.
Language
India has 28 states and seven territories, and each has at least one official language. While the
national languages are Hindi and English, there are about 22 official languages and nearly
400 living languages spoken in various parts of the country. Most of the languages of India
belong to two families, Aryan and Dravidian.
Religion
India is identified as the birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism. A huge majority 84
percent of the population identifies as Hindu. There are many variations of Hinduism, and
four predominant sects Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakteya and Smarta.
About 13 percent of Indians are Muslim, making it one of the largest Islamic nations in the
world. Christians and Sikhs make up a small percentage of the population, and there are even
fewer Buddhists and Jains.
Food
Indian cuisine boasts Arab, Turkish and European influences. It is known for its large
assortment of dishes and its liberal use of herbs and spices. Cooking styles vary from region
to region.
Wheat, Basmati rice and pulses with chana (Bengal gram) are important staples of the Indian
diet. The food is rich with curries and spices, including ginger, coriander, cardamom,
turmeric, dried hot peppers, and cinnamon, among others. Chutneys thick condiments and
spreads made from assorted fruits and vegetables such as tamarind and tomatoes and mint,
cilantro and other herbs are used generously in Indian cooking.
Many Hindus are vegetarians, but lamb and chicken are common in main dishes for nonvegetarians.
Much of Indian food is eaten with fingers or bread used as utensils. There is a wide array of
breads served with meals, including naan, a leavened, oven-baked flatbread, and bhatoora, a
fried, fluffy flatbread common in North India and eaten with chickpea curry.
Architecture
The most well-known example of Indian architecture is the Taj Mahal, built by Mughal
emperor Shah Jahan to honor his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It combines elements from
Islamic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Indian architectural styles. India also has many ancient
temples.

Arts
India is well known for its film industry, which is based in Mumbai and is often referred to as
Bollywood. The country began as a major producer of movies in the 1930s. Today the films
are known for their elaborate singing and dancing and Bollywood produces more films per
year than Hollywood.
Indian dance has a tradition of more than 2,000 years. The major classical dance traditions
Bharata Natyam, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam and Kathakali draw
on themes from mythology and literature and have rigid presentation rules.
Clothing
Indian clothing is closely identified with the colorful silk saris worn by many of the countrys
women. The traditional clothing for men is the dhoti, an unstitched piece of cloth about 5
yards long that is tied around the waist and legs. Men also wear a kurta, a loose shirt that is
worn about knee-length. For special occasions, men wear a sherwani, which is a long coat
that is buttoned up to the collar and down to the knees.
Customs and celebrations
The country celebrates Republic Day (Jan. 26), Independence Day (Aug. 15) and Mahatma
Gandhi's Birthday (Oct. 2). There are also a number of Hindu festival that are celebrated,
including Diwali, a five-day festival known as the festival of lights and marks a time of
home-based family celebrations.

Family structure and marriage

For generations, India has had a prevailing tradition of the joint family system. It is a system
under which extended members of a family parents, children, the childrens spouses and
their offspring, etc. live together. Usually, 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. [23]
In a 1966 study, Orenstein and Micklin analysed India's population data and family structure.
Their studies suggest that Indian household sizes had remained similar over the 1911 to 1951
period. Thereafter, with urbanisation and economic development, India has witnessed a break
up of traditional joint family into more nuclear-like families.[24][25]
Sinha, in his book, after summarising the numerous sociological studies done on Indian
family, notes that over the last 60 years, the cultural trend in most parts of India has been an
accelerated change from joint family to nuclear families, much like population trends in other
parts of the world. The traditional large joint family in India, in the 1990s, accounted for a
small percent of Indian households, and on average had lower per capita household income.
He finds that joint family still persists in some areas and in certain conditions, in part due to
cultural traditions and in part due to practical factors.[24] Youth in lower socio-economic
classes are more inclined to spend time with their families than their peers due to differing
ideologies in rural and urban parenting. [26]

Arranged Marriage
For centuries, arranged marriages have been the tradition in Indian society. Even today, the
majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other respected familymembers. In the past, the age of marriage was young, especially in Rajasthan, but this is
rising with modernisation and there are now laws which govern the age of marriage.[27]
In most marriages the bride's family provide a dowry to the bridegroom. Traditionally, the
dowry was considered a woman's share of the family wealth, since a daughter had no legal
claim on her natal family's real estate. It also typically included portable valuables such as
jewellery and household goods that a bride could control throughout her life.[28] Historically,
in most families the inheritance of family estates passed down the male line. Since 1956,
Indian laws treat males and females as equal in matters of inheritance without a legal will.[29]
Indians are increasingly using a legal will for inheritance and property succession, with about
20 percent using a legal will by 2004.[30]
In India, the divorce rate is low 1% compared with about 40% in the United States.[31][32]
These statistics do not reflect a complete picture, though. There is a dearth of scientific
surveys or studies on Indian marriages where the perspectives of both husbands and wives
were solicited in-depth. Sample surveys suggest the issues with marriages in India are similar
to trends observed elsewhere in the world. The divorce rates are rising in India. Urban
divorce rates are much higher. Women initiate about 80 percent of divorces in India.[33]
"Opinion is divided over what the phenomenon means: for traditionalists the rising
numbers portend the breakdown of society while, for some modernists, they speak of
a healthy new empowerment for women."[34]
Recent studies suggest that Indian culture is trending away from traditional arranged
marriages. Banerjee et al. surveyed 41,554 households across 33 states and union territories
in India in 2005. They find that the marriage trends in India are similar to trends observed
over last 40 years in China, Japan and other nations.[35] The study found that fewer marriages
are purely arranged without consent and that the majority of surveyed Indian marriages are
arranged with consent. The percentage of self-arranged marriages (called love marriages in
India) were also increasing, particularly in the urban parts of India. A 2006 article reported
that between 10 and 20 percent of marriages in urban India were self-arranged.[36]

Wedding rituals
A Hindu wedding ritual in progress. The bride and the groom are seated together, receiving
instructions from the priest. The sacred square fire container (yajna kund) is behind the priest.
Weddings are festive occasions in India with extensive decorations, colors, music, dance,
costumes and rituals that depend on the religion of the bride and the groom, as well as their
preferences.[37] The nation celebrates about 10 million weddings per year,[38] of which over
80% are Hindu weddings.
While there are many festival-related rituals in Hinduism, vivaha (wedding) is the most
extensive personal ritual an adult Hindu undertakes in his or her life.[39][40] Typical Hindu
families spend significant effort and financial resources to prepare and celebrate weddings.
The rituals and process of a Hindu wedding vary depending on region of India, local

adaptations, resources of the family and preferences of the bride and the groom. Nevertheless,
there are a few key rituals common in Hindu weddings - Kanyadaan, Panigrahana, and
Saptapadi; these are respectively, gifting away of daughter by the father, voluntarily holding
hand near the fire to signify impending union, and taking seven steps before fire with each
step including a set of mutual vows. After the seventh step and vows of Saptapadi, the couple
is legally husband and wife.[40][41][42] Indian Sikh weddings and Jain weddings have similar
rituals as Hindus, but with some key differences. The rituals are sometimes called by different
names as well; for example, the steps ritual in front of fire is called Laava Phere by Sikhs
instead of Saptapadi.
Indian Muslims celebrate a traditional Islamic wedding following customs similar to those
practiced in the Middle East. The rituals include Nikah, payment of financial dower called
Mahr by the groom to the bride, signing of marriage contract, and a reception.[43] Indian
Christian weddings follow customs similar to those practiced in the Christian countries in the
West.
Festivals
India, being a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, celebrates holidays and
festivals of various religions. The three national holidays in India, the
Independence Day, the Republic Day and the Gandhi Jayanti, are celebrated with
zeal and enthusiasm across India. In addition, many Indian states and regions
have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic
demographics. Popular religious festivals include the Hindu festivals of Navratri,
Diwali, Maha Shivratri, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga puja, Holi, Ugadi,
Rakshabandhan, and Dussehra. Several harvest festivals such as Sankranthi,
Pongal, Raja sankaranti swinging festival, and Onam, "Nuakhai" are also fairly
popular.

Music
Music is an integral part of India's culture. Natyasastra, a 2000-year-old Sanskrit text,
describes five systems of taxonomy to classify musical instruments.[106] One of these ancient
Indian systems classifies musical instruments into four groups according to four primary
sources of vibration: strings, membranes, cymbals, and air. According to Reis Flora, this is
similar to the Western theory of organology. Archeologists have also reported the discovery
of a 3000-year-old, 20-key, carefully shaped polished basalt lithophone in the highlands of
Odisha.[107]
The oldest preserved examples of Indian music are the melodies of the Samaveda (1000 BC)
that are still sung in certain Vedic rauta sacrifices; this is the earliest account of Indian
musical hymns.[108] It proposed a tonal structure consisting of seven notes, which were named,
in descending order, as Krusht, Pratham, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturth, Mandra and Atiswr.
These refer to the notes of a flute, which was the only fixed frequency instrument. The
Samaveda, and other Hindu texts, heavily influenced India's classical music tradition, which
is known today in two distinct styles: Carnatic and Hindustani music. Both the Carnatic
music and Hindustani music systems are based on the melodic base (known as Rga), sung to
a rhythmic cycle (known as Tla); these principles were refined in the ntyastra (200 BC)
and the dattilam (300 AD).[109]

The current music of India includes multiple varieties of religious, classical, folk, popular and
pop music.
Prominent contemporary Indian musical forms included filmi and Indipop. Filmi refers to the
wide range of music written and performed for mainstream Indian cinema, primarily
Bollywood, and accounts for more than 70 percent of all music sales in the country.[110]
Indipop is one of the most popular contemporary styles of Indian music which is either a
fusion of Indian folk, classical or Sufi music with Western musical traditions.[
The culture of India (or) Indian culture can be best expressed as comprising the
following
Humanity - The mildness of the Indians has continued till date, despite the
aggressiveness of the Muslim conquerors and the reforming zeal of the British, the
Portuguese and the Dutch. The Indians are noted for their humanness and calm
nature without any harshness in their principles and ideals.
Tolerance - Gandhijis satyagraha principle or Ahimsa - freedom without taking a drop
of blood, worked wonders and gave credit to India in the international arena. Swami
Vivekananda in his famous Chicago Speech on the 11th of September, 1893 spoke
of this.
Unity - India is a conglomeration of men and women of various castes and creed. It
is a fusion of old traditional values and the modern principles, thus satisfying all the
three generations in the present India. The Elite businessman and the common
vendor on the road share the same news and worship the same deity .
Secularism - India is a secular coun country as stated in its Constitution. There is
freedom of worship throughout the length and breadth of India without any breeches
or violations of any others religious beliefs. The Hindus, The Muslims, The
Christians, and The Sikhs in times of calamity and during festivities come openly
together to share their thoughts despite their religious affinities. The catholicity of the
Indian culture can be best understood by the fact that hundreds of Hindus visit the
Velankanni shrine or the Nagore Dargah in Tamilnadu.
Closely knit Social system - The Indian Social System is mostly based on the Joint
family System, but for some of the recently cropped nuclear families. The families
are closely knit with Grandfathers, fathers, sons and grandsons sharing the same
spirit, tradition and property.

Western culture is a body of knowledge derived from reason.

This foundation of reason has made possible a vast accumulation of understanding related to reality
or nature, including human nature.

This understanding is represented in several core ideals and values, which include individualism,
happiness, rights, capitalism, science and technology.
Western culture can also be referred to as advanced culture; this is because its ideas and values
promote the development and sustainment of advanced civilization.

Brief History
Western culture began in Ancient Greece. There and in the Roman civilization it developed until the
start of the Middle Ages when it largely vanished from Europe. During the Middle Ages, Western
culture resided, instead, in the Arab / Persian world to a modest degree.
Then the rediscovery of Western culture in Europe in the Late Middle Ages prompted the
Renaissance. Western cultures continuing development then led to the Scientific Revolution, the
Enlightenment, the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and to what is considered today as
modern civilization.

Where Western Culture Is

Today, Western culture has at least some presence in nearly all nations of the world. It does not
currently exist, however, anywhere in a perfect and complete form. Wherever Western culture exists,
it is at least partially mixedand often largely mixedwith non-Western culture.
Western culture currently dominates in many Western and Central European nations and several
nations settled by Europeans and their descendants. Western culture also significantly exists in many
Asian nations, such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, and it is increasingly influential in
India and China.
It has only a modest presence in most of the rest of Asia as well as Latin America and Eastern
Europe. In much of both Africa and the Middle East, Western culture currently has little meaningful
presence.

Western Culture Transcends Geography and Race

Since Western culture is based on objective reality and universal human nature, it is open to
everyone, transcending both geography and race.[1]
In other words, Western culture is humanitys culture. Contrary to conventional belief, one does not
need to be Caucasian or of European descent to admire Western culture or, indeed, even help to
build it. Any individual or society on earth can adopt it and thereby become Westernized. [2]
Indeed, millions of people each year with no ancestral ties to Europe recognize the universal appeal
of Western culture. They do so by immigrating to and immersing themselves in nations where
Western culture has meaningful presence. Or they personally embrace and promote Western culture
in the nations where they live.
These adopters of Western culture understand that truth is truth, ideals are ideals and values are
valuesand it does not matter from where such things come or who originally discovered or identified
them. In other words, adopters of Western culture know, on some level, that culture is an intellectual
matter, not an issue of geography or raceor, for that matter, an issue of ethnicity, language, class,
national origin or gender.

Race and Culture No Connection

The fact that Europeans or Caucasians largely developed Western or advanced culture does not
mean that they are innately superior or only they are capable of creating it.

One needs simply to know that North African, Near Eastern and Middle Eastern individuals developed
the first civilizations or civilized cultures. And while these cultures flourished, Europeans or
Caucasians had generally not yet developed beyond savagery.
Further, significant elements of Western culture came from other parts of the world, including the first
civilizations and Asia. Also, individuals of all races, ethnicities and many national origins have
contributed to the development of Western culture over the centuries and continue to do so today.
And if current trends continue, Western culture may be taken to new heights in Asia in this century or
the coming centuries rather than in areas dominated by Caucasians or people of European ancestry.
It is also worth noting that the Aztec and Inca cultures of Central and South America, respectively,
were in some ways nearly as advanced as European culture at the time, despite the fact that they
were relatively young. Had the Aztec and Inca civilizations not been conquered and had more time to
develop, it is conceivable that their cultures may have come to rival, even surpass, European culture.
All of this is to show that race has nothing (or at most virtually nothing) to do with a cultures level of
development. A certain race may appear to be more advanced at a given time, but, over the broad
view of history, it is clear that no race is superior or innately more capable than others.
Individuals of any race could have conceivably created the first civilized culturesand individuals of
any race could have conceivably first developed Western or advanced culture. In other words,
Western culture is in no way inherently Caucasian or European.
The level of a cultures development is ultimately explained, not by race, but by the fundamental ideas
of the cultureparticularly by the degree to which reason is embraced as the guide to thought and
action.[3]

Western Culture Superior?

Many people strongly disagree with the belief that a culture can be considered better than others.
They do so because they view a cultures level of development as a product of race. As a result, they
view any claim of cultural superiority as a claim of racial superiorityand, accordingly, condemn the
idea of cultural superiority as racist. However, as we have seen, a cultures level of development is not
a product of race.
People also object to the idea of cultural supremacy because they do not believe that culture can be
judged objectively. This, too, is incorrect. The proper standard for objectively evaluating a culture is by
the degree to which its core values are for or against human life. [4] A pro-human life culture recognizes
the requirements of proper human survival, namely the values of reason, individualism, happiness,
rights and capitalism.[5]
In other words, pro-human life culture is Western culture. And the extent to which a nation embraces
Western culture is the extent to which it is free, prosperous, modern and peacefulthat is, supportive
of human life. One need only look at life expectancies around the world to see that this is true.