INDIA A LAND OF CULTURES

India is a land of myriad and exquisite cultures and subcultures. For a civilization which stretches its roots to as far back as several millennia ago, India has emerged as a cultural colossus today.

JAY MANIYAR*

India is a land of myriad and exquisite cultures and subcultures. For a civilization which stretches its roots to as far back as several millennia ago, India has emerged as a cultural colossus today. The Oxford Learners’ Dictionary defines the word ‘culture’ as “the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social organization of a particular country or group”. In India’s case, this definition falls woefully short as India was, is, and has always been much, much more than the tenets that comprise the definition. India’s cultural hierarchy has involved a host of dimensions that, till date, mark its cultural identity(s). India is also home to a variety of subcultures, often defined as cultures that exist within the ambit of overarching cultures but tend to differ in views and beliefs.

A basic case for India’s cultural vastness is fundamentally based in its religions and the festivals that mark their hypotheses. The world has been left in much awe of India’s cultural heterogeneity when its religious expositions have enchanted and mesmerised countries with a deep interest in what the make of India is. To describe India as a ‘land of cultures’ is to synonymise the pot and the kettle. The taking of the proverbial fish to the pond is the congruence between India and cultures. India cannot live without its varied set of cultures, while its cultures and subcultures are bland and meek in the absence of India.

Cultures comprise diverse religions with principles and identities unique to them and those that have amassed a number of followers and believers, belief systems encompassing rules and norms that cater to said cultures, common behaviour that results in the portrayal and depiction of cultures in various strata of society, and tenets of cultures such as festivals and ceremonies that take place within the essence and ambit of time.