View source for Culture of India

{{short description|Overview of the culture of India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Indian culture}}
'''Indian culture''' is the [[cultural heritage|heritage]] of [[social norms]], [[ethical value]]s, [[tradition]]al customs, [[belief systems]], [[political system]]s, [[Cultural artifact|artifacts]] and [[technology|technologies]] that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse [[Indian subcontinent]]. The term also applies beyond India to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to India by immigration, colonisation, or influence, particularly in [[South Asia]] and [[Southeast Asia]]. India's [[Languages of India|languages]], [[Religion in India|religions]], [[Dance in India|dance]], [[Music of India|music]], [[Architecture of India|architecture]], [[Indian cuisine|food]] and customs differ from place to place within the country.

Indian culture, often labelled as a combination of several cultures, has been influenced by a history that is several millennia old, beginning with the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] and other early cultural areas.<ref name="John Keay 2011">John Keay (2012), ''India: A History'', 2nd Ed – Revised and Updated, Grove Press / Harper Collins, {{ISBN|978-0-8021-4558-1}}, see Introduction and Chapters 3 through 11</ref><ref name="Mohammada, Malika 2007">Mohammada, Malika (2007), ''The foundations of the composite culture in India'', Aakar Books, {{ISBN|81-89833-18-9}}</ref> Many elements of Indian culture, such as [[Indian religions]], [[Indian mathematics|mathematics]], [[Indian philosophy|philosophy]], [[Indian cuisine|cuisine]], [[Languages of India|languages]], [[Dance in India|dance]], [[Music of India|music]] and [[Cinema of India|movies]] have had a profound impact across the [[Indosphere]], [[Greater India]] and the world. Specifically Southeast Asian and Himalayan influence on early India, had lasting impacts on the formation of Hinduism and Indian mythology. Hinduism itself formed from various distinct folk religions, which merged during the [[Vedic period]] and following periods.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lévi|first1=Sylvain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dx5dzJGGBg0C&q=austroasiatic+influence+on+india&pg=PR15|title=Pre-Aryan and Pre-Dravidian in India|last2=Przyluski|first2=Jean|last3=Bloch|first3=Jules|date=1993|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0772-9|language=en}}</ref> Especially [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic groups]], such as early [[Munda languages|Munda]] and [[Mon Khmer]], but also [[Tibetic languages|Tibetic]] and other [[Tibeto-Burmese]] groups, left noteworthy influence on local Indian peoples and culture. Several scholars, such as Professor Przyluski, among others, concluded that there is a significant cultural, linguistic, and political Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic) influence on early India, which can also be observed by Austroasiatic loanwords within Indo-Aryan languages and [[rice cultivation]], which was introduced by East/Southeast Asian rice-agriculturalists using a route from Southeast Asia through Northeast India into the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Asian Educational Services">{{Cite book|last1=Lévi|first1=Sylvain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dx5dzJGGBg0C&q=austroasiatic+influence+on+india&pg=PR15|title=Pre-Aryan and Pre-Dravidian in India|last2=Przyluski|first2=Jean|last3=Bloch|first3=Jules|date=1993|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0772-9|language=en|quote=It has been further proved that not only linguistic but also certain cultural and political facts of ancient India, can be explained by Austroasiatic (Mon-Khmer) elements.}}</ref><ref name="science.org">{{Cite web|title=How rice farming may have spread across the ancient world|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/how-rice-farming-may-have-spread-across-ancient-world|access-date=2021-10-26|website=www.science.org|language=en}}</ref> The [[British Raj]] further influenced Indian culture, such as through the widespread introduction of the [[English language]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-08-15 |title=British legacy alive and kicking in India |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-independence-legacy-idUSSP29531720070815 |access-date=2022-04-09}}</ref> and a local [[Indian English|dialect]] developed..

==Religious culture==
{{main|Indosphere|Greater India|Hinduism in Southeast Asia}}
{{Infobox
| title = [[Indian religions]] have shaped Indian culture
| image = 
{{image array|perrow=2|width=199|height=250
| image1 = Khajuraho - Kandariya Mahadeo Temple.jpg|thumb|caption1=[[Hindu]] [[Kandariya Mahadeva Temple]]
| image2 = Palitana.jpg|caption2=[[Jain]] [[Palitana Temples]]
| image3 = Mahabodhitemple.jpg|caption3=[[Buddhist]] [[Mahabodhi Temple]]
| image4 = Golden Temple India.jpg|caption4=[[Sikh]] [[Golden Temple]]
}}
}}
[[Indian religions|Indian-origin religions]] [[Hinduism]], [[Jainism]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Sikhism]],<ref name=relind1>Adams, C. J., [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-38030/classification-of-religions Classification of religions: Geographical], [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], 2007. Accessed: 15 July 2010</ref> are all based on the concepts of [[dharma]] and [[karma]]. [[Ahimsa]], the philosophy of nonviolence, is an important aspect of native Indian faiths whose most well known proponent was [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who used civil disobedience to unite India during the [[Indian independence movement]]{{snd}}this philosophy further inspired [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] during the American [[civil rights movement]]. Foreign-origin religion, including [[Abrahamic religion]]s, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are also present in India,<ref name=relind2>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/15570274.2016.1184437|title = Faith and Foreign Policy in India: Legal Ambiguity, Selective Xenophobia, and Anti-minority Violence| journal=The Review of Faith & International Affairs| volume=14| issue=2| pages=31–39|year = 2016|last1 = Bauman|first1 = Chad M.| url=https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers/969| doi-access=free}}</ref> as well as [[Zoroastrianism]]<ref name=hou100>{{harvnb|Houtsma|1936|p=100}}, Volume 2</ref><ref name="st163">Stepaniants Marietta, 2002, The Encounter of Zoroastrianism with Islam, journal=Philosophy East and West, volume 52, issue 2, University of Hawai'i Press, page 163.</ref> and [[Baháʼí Faith]]<ref name="affolter">{{cite journal |first=Friedrich W. |last=Affolter |title=The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Bahá'ís of Iran |journal=War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=75–114 |year=2005|url=http://bahai-library.com/pdf/a/affolter_ideological_genocide.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Mottahedeh, Roy 1985, p.238">Mottahedeh, Roy, ''The Mantle of the Prophet : Religion and Politics in Iran'', One World, Oxford, 1985, 2000, p.238</ref> both [[Persecution of Zoroastrians|escaping persecution by Islam]]<ref name="ann205">Ann K. S. Lambton, 1981, State and government in medieval Islam: an introduction to the study of Islamic political theory: the jurists, Routledge, page 205, {{ISBN|9780197136003}}.</ref><ref name=mb878 >Meri Josef W., Bacharach Jere L., 2006, Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, index, series: Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, volume = II, Taylor & Francis, pages 878, {{ISBN|9780415966924}}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/zoroastrian/history/persia_1.shtml#h4 |title=Under Persian rule|work=BBC|access-date=16 December 2009}}</ref> have also found shelter in India over the centuries.<ref>"Desh Pardesh: The South Asian Presence in Britain", p. 252, by Roger Ballard</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bahai.org/human-rights/iran/iran-update/international-reaction.html|title=Situation of Baha'is in Iran|access-date=18 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527014619/http://news.bahai.org/human-rights/iran/iran-update/international-reaction.html|archive-date=27 May 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

India has 28 [[indian states|states]] and 8 [[Union territory|union territories]] with different culture and it is the second most populated country in the world.<ref name="asaw">{{cite book |last1=Kenoyer |first1=Jonathan Mark |author-link1=Jonathan Mark Kenoyer |last2=Heuston |first2=Kimberley |date=May 2005 |title=The Ancient South Asian World |url=http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryWorld/Ancient/Other/~~/dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5NTE3NDIyOQ== |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517422-9 |oclc=56413341 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120093649/http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryWorld/Ancient/Other/~~/dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5NTE3NDIyOQ%3D%3D |archive-date=20 November 2012  }}</ref> The Indian culture, often labeled as an amalgamation of several various cultures, spans across the [[Indian subcontinent]] and has been influenced and shaped by a history that is several thousand years old.<ref name="John Keay 2011"/><ref name="Mohammada, Malika 2007"/> Throughout the history of India, Indian culture has been heavily influenced by [[Dharma|Dharmic]] religions.<ref name="Finding Lost">Nikki Stafford [https://archive.org/details/findinglostunoff0000staf/page/174 <!-- quote="dharmic religions" origin india. --> Finding Lost], ECW Press, 2006 {{ISBN|1-55022-743-2}} p. 174</ref> Influence from East/Southeast Asian cultures onto ancient India and early Hinduism, specifically [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic groups]], such as early [[Munda languages|Munda]] and [[Mon Khmer]], but also [[Tibetic languages|Tibetic]] and other [[Tibeto-Burmese]] groups, had noteworthy impact on local Indian peoples and cultures. Several scholars, such as Professor Przyluski, Jules Bloch, and Lévi, among others, concluded that there is a significant cultural, linguistic, and political Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic) influence on early India, which can also be observed by Austroasiatic loanwords within Indo-Aryan languages and [[rice cultivation]], which was introduced by East/Southeast Asian rice-agriculturalists using a route from Southeast Asia through Northeast India into the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Asian Educational Services"/><ref name="science.org"/> They have been credited with shaping much of Indian [[philosophy]], [[literature]], [[architecture]], [[art]] and [[music]].<ref name="Om Prakash">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzpYb5UOeiwC|page=3 |chapter=1 |title=Cultural History of India |publisher=New Age International Limited Publications |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-224-1587-2}}</ref> [[Greater India]] was the historical extent of Indian culture beyond the [[Indian subcontinent]]. This particularly concerns the spread of [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[architecture]], [[Public administration|administration]] and [[writing system]] from India to other parts of [[Asia]] through the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Silk Road]] by the travelers and maritime traders during the early centuries of the [[Common Era]].<ref>''Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor'', by Keat Gin Ooi p.642</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">''Hindu-Buddhist Architecture in Southeast Asia'' by Daigorō Chihara p.226</ref> To the west, [[Greater India]] overlaps with [[Greater Persia]] in the [[Hindu Kush]] and [[Pamir Mountains]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/regional-history-1500/justice-punishment-and-medieval-muslim-imagination?format=HB |title=Justice, Punishment and the Medieval Muslim Imagination |series=Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization |last=Lange |first=Christian |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-88782-3 |date=10 July 2008 }} Lange: "Greater Persia (including Khwārazm, Transoxania, and Afghanistan)."</ref> Over the centuries, there has been a significant fusion of cultures between [[Buddhism|Buddhists]], [[Hinduism|Hindus]], [[Islam|Muslim]]s, [[Jainism|Jains]], [[Sikhism|Sikhs]] and various tribal populations in India.<ref name="Dunn">{{cite book |last = E. Dunn |first = Ross |title = The adventures of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveller of the fourteenth century |publisher = University of California Press, 1986 |isbn = 978-0-520-05771-5 |year = 1986 |url = https://archive.org/details/adventuresofibnb00ross_0 }}</ref><ref name="Tharoor">{{cite book |last = Tharoor |first = Shashi |title = India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond |publisher=Arcade Publishing, 2006 |isbn = 978-1-55970-803-6 |year = 2006 }}</ref>

India is the birthplace of [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism and Hinduism|Buddhism]], [[Jainism]], [[Sikhism]], and [[Religion in India|other religions]].  They are collectively known as Indian religions.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/findinglostunoff0000staf |url-access=registration |id=. |first=Nikki |last=Stafford |publisher=ECW Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-55490-276-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/findinglostunoff0000staf/page/174 174] |title=Finding Lost: The Unofficial Guide |access-date=5 December 2013}}</ref> Indian religions are a major form of world religions along with [[Abrahamic]] ones. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third and fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion followers altogether,<ref name="googleil">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XC9bwMMPcwC&q=hinduism%20one%20billion&pg=PA359 |page=359 |chapter=45 |title=What Is Hinduism?Modern Adventures Into a Profound Global Faith |publisher=Himalayan Academy Publications |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-934145-00-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nrn.org.np/speeches/rmshakya.html |title=Non Resident Nepali – Speeches |publisher=Nrn.org.np |access-date=1 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225084929/http://www.nrn.org.np/speeches/rmshakya.html |archive-date=25 December 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/forum/story/2008/03/080323_tibet_analysis.shtml |title=BBCVietnamese.com |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |access-date=1 August 2010}}</ref> and possibly as many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion followers.<ref name="googleil"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm |title=Religions of the world: numbers of adherents; growth rates |publisher=Religioustolerance.org |access-date=1 August 2010}}</ref> Followers of Indian religions – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists make up around 80–82% population of India.

[[India]] is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion plays a central and definitive role in the life of many of its people. Although India is a secular [[Hinduism|Hindu-majority]] country, it has a [[Islam in India|large Muslim]] population. Except for [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[Meghalaya]], [[Nagaland]], [[Mizoram]] and [[Lakshadweep]], Hindus form the predominant population in all 27 states and 9 union territories. Muslims are present throughout India, with large populations in [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Bihar]], [[Maharashtra]], [[Kerala]], [[Telangana]], [[Andhra Muslims|Andhra Pradesh]], [[West Bengal]] and [[Assam]]; while only [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]] and [[Lakshadweep]] have majority Muslim populations.  [[Christians]] are other significant minorities of India.

Because of the diversity of religious groups in India, there has been a history of turmoil and violence between them. India has been a theatre for violent religious clashes between members of different religions such as [[Hindus]], [[Christians]], [[Muslims]], and [[Sikhs]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Migheli|first=Matteo|date=February 2016|title=Minority Religious Groups and Life Satisfaction in India|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.12143|journal=Australian Economic Review|volume=49|issue=2|pages=117–135|doi=10.1111/1467-8462.12143|s2cid=156206888|issn=0004-9018}}</ref> Several groups have founded various national-religious political parties, and in spite of government policies minority religious groups are being subjected to prejudice from more dominant groups in order to maintain and control resources in particular regions of India.<ref name=":0" />

According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the [[Demographics of India|population of India]] practice [[Hinduism]]. [[Islam]] (14.2%), [[Christianity]] (2.3%), [[Sikhism]] (1.7%), [[Buddhism]] (0.7%) and [[Jainism]] (0.4%) are the other major religions followed by the people of India.<ref name=indiareligion2011>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/india-has-79-8-percent-hindus-14-2-percent-muslims-2011-census-data-on-religion-2407708.html| title= India has 79.8% Hindus, 14.2% Muslims, says 2011 census data on religion | magazine=First Post| date= 26 August 2015 | access-date= 22 September 2015}}</ref> Many [[Tribal religions of India|tribal religions]], such as [[Sarnaism]], are found in India, though these have been affected by major religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.<ref name=fcrel/> Jainism, [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Judaism]], and the [[Baháʼí Faith]] are also influential but their numbers are smaller.<ref name=fcrel/> [[Atheism]] and [[agnostics]] also have visible influence in India, along with a self-ascribed tolerance to other faiths.<ref name=fcrel>{{cite book | last=Clothey | first=Fred | title=Religion in India : a historical introduction | publisher=Routledge | location=London New York | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-415-94024-5}}</ref> According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Centre, India will have world's largest populations of Hindus and Muslims by 2050. India is expected to have about 311 million Muslims making up around 19–20% of the population and yet about 1.3 billion Hindus are projected to live in India comprising around 76% of the population.

[[Atheism]] and [[agnosticism]] have a long history in India and flourished within [[Śramaṇa|Śramaṇa movement]]. The ''[[Cārvāka]]'' school originated in India around the 6th century BCE.<ref>Ramkrishna Bhattacharya (2011), Studies on the Cārvāka/Lokāyata, Anthem Press, {{ISBN|978-0857284334}}, pages 26–29</ref><ref>Johannes Quack (2014), ''Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199812615}}, page 50 with footnote 3</ref> It is one of the earliest form of [[Materialism|materialistic]] and [[Atheism|atheistic]] movement in ancient India.<ref>KN Tiwari (1998), Classical Indian Ethical Thought, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120816077}}, page 67;<br />Roy W Perrett (1984), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1398916 The problem of induction in Indian philosophy], Philosophy East and West, 34(2): 161–174;<br />{{harv|Bhattacharya|2011|pp=21–32}};<br />{{harv|Radhakrishnan|1957|pp=187, 227–234}};<br />Robert Flint, {{Google books|7es0AQAAIAAJ|Anti-theistic theories|page=463}}, Appendix Note VII – Hindu Materialism: The Charvaka System; William Blackwood, London;</ref><ref name=vvraman>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2012.01274.x | volume=47 | title=Hinduism and science: some reflections | year=2012 | journal=Zygon | pages=549–574 | last1 = Raman | first1 = Varadaraja V.| issue=3 }} Quote (page 557): "Aside from nontheistic schools like the [[Samkhya]], there have also been explicitly atheistic schools in the Hindu tradition. One virulently anti-supernatural system is/was the so-called Charvaka school.",</ref> [[Sramana]], [[Buddhism]], [[Jainism]], [[Ājīvika]] and some schools of [[Hinduism]] consider atheism to be valid and reject the concept of [[Creator deity#Buddhism|creator deity]], [[Vedas|ritualism]] and [[superstitions]].<ref name="wayoflife">{{Cite book | last = Chakravarti| first = Sitansu| title = Hinduism, a way of life| publisher = Motilal Banarsidass Publ.| year = 1991| page = 71| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J_-rASTgw8wC&pg=PA71| isbn = 978-81-208-0899-7| access-date=9 April 2011}}</ref><ref name="Joshi">{{cite journal |last=Joshi |first=L.R. |year=1966 |title= A New Interpretation of Indian Atheism |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=16 |issue=3/4 |pages=189–206|doi= 10.2307/1397540 |jstor=1397540}}</ref><ref name=moor>{{cite book|first1= Sarvepalli|last1= Radhakrishnan|first2= Charles A.|last2= Moore|title= A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy|publisher= Princeton University Press|year= 1957|edition= Twelfth Princeton Paperback printing 1989|pages= [https://archive.org/details/sourcebookinindi00radh/page/227 227–249]|isbn= 978-0-691-01958-1|url= https://archive.org/details/sourcebookinindi00radh/page/227}}</ref> India has produced some notable [[Irreligion in India|atheist politicians]] and [[Irreligion in India|social reformers]].<ref name="secularism">{{cite book|first=Phil|last=Zuckerman|title=Atheism and Secularity|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z1hbaAHsAlUC&pg=RA1-PA139|access-date=7 September 2013|date=21 December 2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-35182-2|chapter=Chapeter 7: Atheism and Secularity in India}}</ref> According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, 81% of Indians were religious, 13% were not religious, 3% were convinced [[atheist]]s, and 3% were unsure or did not respond.<ref name=gallup2012>{{cite web|title=Global Index Of Religion And Atheism |url=http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf |publisher=WIN-Gallup |access-date=3 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016062403/http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdf |archive-date=16 October 2012  }}</ref><ref name="World Religions p. 259">''Oxford Dictionary of World Religions'', p. 259</ref>

==Philosophy==
{{Main|Indian philosophy}}

{{Infobox
| title = [[Indian philosophy|Indian philosophical traditions]] 
| image = 
{{image array|perrow=2|width=180|height=150
| image1 = Yajnavalkya and Janaka.jpg|caption1=Earliest [[Hindu philosophy]] were arranged and codified by Hindu [[Vedic period|Vedic]] sages, such as [[Yajnavalkya]] (c. 8th century BCE), who is considered one of the [[History of philosophy|earliest philosophers]] in [[recorded history]], after [[Aruni]] (c. 8th century BCE).<ref name=benami9>Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), ''A comparative history of world philosophy: from the Upanishads to Kant'', Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 9-11</ref>
| image2 = Jain statues, Gwalior.jpg|caption2=[[Jain philosophy]] were propagated by 24 [[Tirthankara]]s, notably [[Parshvanatha]] (c. 872 – c. 772 BCE) and [[Mahavira]] (c. 549–477 BCE). 
| image3 = Rock-cut Lord --Buddha-- Statue at Bojjanakonda near Anakapalle of Visakhapatnam dist in AP.jpg|caption3=[[Buddhist philosophy]] was founded by [[Gautama Buddha]] (c. 563–483 BCE).
| image4 = GuruGobindSinghJiGurdwaraBhaiThanSingh.jpg|caption4=[[Sikh philosophy]] was crystalised in [[Guru Granth Sahib]] enshrined by [[Guru Gobind Singh]] (c. 1666–1708 CE). 
}}
}}
Indian philosophy comprises the philosophical traditions of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. There are six schools of orthodox [[Hindu philosophy]]—[[Nyaya]], [[Vaisheshika]], [[Samkhya]], [[Yoga (philosophy)|Yoga]], [[Mīmāṃsā]] and [[Vedanta]]—and four [[Heterodoxy|heterodox]] schools—[[Jainism|Jain]], [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], [[Ājīvika]] and [[Cārvāka]] – last two are also schools of Hinduism.<ref>{{Harvnb|Flood|1996|pp=82, 224–49}}</ref><ref>For an overview of this method of classification, with detail on the grouping of schools, see: {{harvnb|Radhakrishnan|Moore|1989}}</ref> However, there are other methods of classification; Vidyarania for instance identifies sixteen schools of Indian philosophy by including those that belong to the [[Shaivism|Śaiva]] and [[Raseśvara]] traditions.<ref name="cowell">Cowell and Gough, p. xii.</ref> Since [[medieval India]] (ca.1000–1500), schools of Indian philosophical thought have been classified by the Brahmanical tradition{{sfn|Nicholson|2010}}<ref name="Chatterjee and Datta, p. 5">Chatterjee and Datta, p. 5.</ref> as either orthodox or non-orthodox – [[Āstika and nāstika|āstika or nāstika]] – depending on whether they regard the [[Vedas]] as an infallible source of knowledge.<ref name="World Religions p. 259"/>

The main schools of Indian philosophy were formalized chiefly between 1000 BCE to the early centuries of the [[Common Era]]. According to philosopher [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]], the earliest of these, which date back to the composition of the [[Upanishads]] in the [[Vedic period#Later Vedic period (c. 1000 – c. 600 BCE)|later Vedic period (1000–500 BCE)]], constitute "the earliest philosophical compositions of the world."<ref>p 22, ''The Principal Upanisads'', Harper Collins, 1994</ref> Competition and integration between the various schools were intense during their formative years, especially between 800 BCE and 200 CE. Some schools like Jainism, Buddhism, Śaiva, and [[Advaita Vedanta]] survived, but others, like [[Samkhya]] and [[Ājīvika]], did not; they were either assimilated or became extinct. Subsequent centuries produced commentaries and reformulations continuing up to as late as the 20th century. Authors who gave contemporary meaning to traditional philosophies include [[Shrimad Rajchandra]], [[Swami Vivekananda]], [[Ram Mohan Roy]], and [[Swami Dayananda Saraswati]].{{Sfn|Clarke|2006|p=209}}

==Family structure and marriage==
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| caption2 = Bride in [[Sari]] and Groom in [[Sherwani]] in a Hindu Indian wedding
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For generations, India has had a prevailing tradition of the [[joint family system]]. It is when extended members of a family – parents, children, the children's spouses, and their offspring, etc. – live together. Usually, the oldest male member is the head of the joint Indian family system. He mostly makes all important decisions and rules, and other family members are likely to abide by them. With the current economy, lifestyle, and cost of living in most of the metro cities are high, the population is leaving behind the joint family model and adapting to the nuclear family model. Earlier living in a joint family was with the purpose of creating love and concern for the family members. However, now it's a challenge to give time to each other as most of them are out for survival needs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Indian Families |url=http://www.factsaboutindia.org/indian-families.html |publisher=Facts About India |access-date=11 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110730125635/http://www.factsaboutindia.org/indian-families.html |archive-date=30 July 2011 }}</ref> Rise in the trends of nuclear family settings has led to a change in the traditional family headship structure and older males are no longer the mandated heads of the family owing to the fact that they mostly live alone during old age and are far more vulnerable than before.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Srivastava |first=Shobhit |last2=Chauhan |first2=Shekhar |last3=Patel |first3=Ratna |last4=Kumar |first4=Pradeep |last5=Purkayastha |first5=Naina |last6=Singh |first6=S. K. |date=March 2022 |title=Does Change in Family Structure Affect the Household Headship among Older Adults in India? A Gendered Perspective |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12126-020-09401-x |journal=Ageing International |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1007/s12126-020-09401-x |issn=0163-5158}}</ref>

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.<ref name=rs1>{{cite book |title=Dynamics of Change in the Modern Hindu Family |year=1993 |publisher=South Asia Books |first=Raghuvir |last=Sinha |isbn=978-81-7022-448-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Hindu Joint Family: The Norms and the Numbers |first1=Henry |last1=Orenstein |first2=Michael |last2=Micklin |journal=Pacific Affairs |volume=39 |issue=3/4 |quote=Autumn, 1966 |jstor=2754275 |pages=314–325 |year=1966 |doi=10.2307/2754275 }}</ref>
Sinha, in his book, after summarising the numerous sociological studies done on the 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 traditionally 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.<ref name=rs1/>
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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Verma |first1=Suman |last2=Saraswathi |first2=T.S. |title=Adolescence in India|year=2002|publisher=Rawat Publications|page=112}}</ref> With the spread of education and growth of economics, the traditional joint-family system is breaking down rapidly across India and attitudes towards working women have changed.

===Arranged marriage===
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File: Shy smile of a bride in a Hindu wedding.jpg|Shy smile of a bride in a Hindu Indian wedding
File:Bride by prakhar.jpg|Indian bride on her wedding day
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Arranged marriages have long been the norm in Indian society. Even today, the majority of Indians have their marriages planned by their parents and other respected family members. In the past, the age of marriage was young.<ref>{{cite web|last=Heitzman|first=James|title=India: A Country Study.|url=http://countrystudies.us/india/|publisher=US Library of Congress|access-date=26 December 2012}}</ref> The average age of marriage for women in India has increased to 21 years, according to the 2011 Census of India.<ref>[http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_new/upload/women_men_2012_31oct12.pdf Women and men in India 2012] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012024158/http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_new/upload/women_men_2012_31oct12.pdf |date=12 October 2013 }} CSO/Census of India 2011, Government of India, pp xxi</ref> In 2009, about 7% of women got married before the age of 18.<ref>K. Sinha [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Nearly-50-fall-in-brides-married-below-18/articleshow/11829410.cms Nearly 50% fall in brides married below 18] The Times of India (10 February 2012)</ref>

In most marriages, the bride's family provides 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 jewelry and household goods that a bride could control throughout her life.<ref>{{cite web|last=Heitzman|first=James|title=India: A Country Study|url=http://countrystudies.us/india/86.htm|publisher=US Library of Congress|access-date=26 December 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Landmark step to gender equality|first=Bina|last=Agarwal|date=25 September 2005|url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2005/09/25/stories/2005092500050100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001005528/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2005/09/25/stories/2005092500050100.htm|url-status=dead|work=[[The Hindu]]|archive-date=1 October 2007}}</ref> Indians are increasingly using a legal will for inheritance and property succession, with about 20 percent using a legal will by 2004.<ref>{{cite news|title=Avoid disputes, write a will|newspaper=The Times of India|date=4 August 2004|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Avoid-disputes-write-a-Will/articleshow/802650.cms}}</ref>

In India, the divorce rate is low — 1% compared with about 40% in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|title=India moves to make it easier for couples to divorce|work=BBC News|date=10 June 2010|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10284416}}</ref><ref>[http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/mar/default.htm Marriage and Divorce data by Country – United Nations database]</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|first=Sangeeta|last=Pisharoty|title=Marriages are in trouble|publisher=The Hindu newspaper|date=15 May 2010|url=http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article429761.ece|access-date=19 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124084417/http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article429761.ece|archive-date=24 November 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{blockquote|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 healthy new empowerment for women.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090204010909/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/1499679/Divorce-soars-in-India%27s-middle-class.html Divorce soars in India's middle class]</ref>}}

Recent studies suggest that Indian culture is trending away from traditional arranged marriages. [[Manjistha Banerji|Banerjee]] et al. surveyed 41,554 households across 33 [[States and territories of India|states and union territories in India]] in 2005. They find that the marriage trends in India are similar to trends observed over the last 40 years in China, Japan, and other nations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Is Education Associated with a Transition towards Autonomy in Partner Choice? A Case Study of India |first1=Manjistha |last1=Banerji |first2=Steven |last2=Martin |first3=Sonalde |last3=Desai |year=2008 |publisher=University of Maryland & NCAER |url=http://ihds.umd.edu/IHDS_papers/PartnerChoice.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214920/http://ihds.umd.edu/IHDS_papers/PartnerChoice.pdf |archive-date= 3 March 2016 }}</ref> 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) was also increasing, particularly in the urban parts of India.<ref>David Pilling (6 June 2014) [http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/beba2500-eb2c-11e3-bab6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz34JegEXnD Review – ‘India in Love’, by Ira Trivedi; ‘Leftover Women’, by Leta Hong] The Financial Times</ref>

===Wedding rituals===
[[File: Hindu marriage ceremony offering.jpg|thumb|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.<ref name=ft2008>[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7498e59c-2233-11dd-a50a-000077b07658.html#axzz2aqrbE3eF Sari nights and henna parties], Amy Yee, The Financial Times, 17 May 2008</ref> The nation celebrates about 10 million weddings per year,<ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57376057/indias-love-affair-with-gold/ India's love affair with gold], CBS News, 12 February 2012</ref> of which over 80% are [[Hindu wedding]]s.

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.<ref name="rjb1969">Hindu Saṁskāras: Socio-religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments, Rajbali Pandey (1969), see Chapter VIII, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0396-1}}, pages&nbsp;153–233</ref><ref name="jgl2001">The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, James G. Lochtefeld (2001), {{ISBN|978-0-8239-3179-8}}, Page 427</ref> Typical Hindu families spend significant effort and financial resources to prepare and celebrate weddings. The rituals and processes of a Hindu wedding vary depending on the region of India, local adaptations, resources of the family and preferences of the bride and the groom. Nevertheless, there are a few [[Hindu wedding#Key rituals|key rituals]] common in [[Hindu wedding]]s – ''[[Kanyadan|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 circles before firing with each circle including a set of mutual vows. [[Mangala sutra|Mangalsutra]] necklace of bond that a Hindu groom ties with three knots around the bride's neck in a marriage ceremony. The practice is an integral part of a marriage ceremony as prescribed in [[Manusmriti]], the traditional law governing Hindu marriage. After the seventh circle and vows of ''[[Hindu wedding#Saptapadi – short form|Saptapadi]]'', the couple is legally husband and wife.<ref name="jgl2001" /><ref>History of Dharmasastra, Vaman Kane (1962)</ref><ref name="prabhu2011">P.H. Prabhu (2011), ''Hindu Social Organization'', {{ISBN|978-81-7154-206-2}}, see pages&nbsp;164–165</ref> Sikhs get married through a ceremony called [[Anand Karaj]]. The couple walks around the holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib four times. Indian Muslims celebrate a traditional [[Islamic marital practices#Indian subcontinent|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 a marriage contract, and a reception.<ref name="Zawaj">[http://www.zawaj.com/weddingways/three_days.html Three Days of a Traditional Indian Muslim Wedding], zawaj.com</ref> Indian [[Wedding|Christian weddings]] follow customs similar to those practiced in the Christian countries in the West in states like Goa but have more Indian customs in other states.

==Festivals==
{{Main|Festivals in India}}
<gallery widths="180" heights="200">
File:Deepawali-festival.jpg|Homes, buildings and temples are decorated with festive lights, [[Diya (lamp)|diya]], for [[Diwali]], the festival of lights.<ref>[http://www.ibtimes.com/diwali-2013-hindu-festival-lights-celebrated-all-over-world-photos-1450014 Diwali 2013: Hindu Festival Of Lights Celebrated All Over The World] Nadine DeNinno, International Business Times (November 02 2013)</ref>
File:Samaj gathering during Lathmar hoil.jpg|Color drenched [[Gopi]]s during the [[Holi]] celebrations in [[Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi|Krishna Temple, Mathura]]
File:Navratri garba at Ambaji temple.jpg|The [[Navaratri]] festival is an occasion of classical and folk dance performances at Hindu temples. Pictured is the [[Ambaji]] Temple of [[Gujarat]].
File:Bihu dance Assam. jpg.jpg|The [[Bihu]] festival is an [[Assamese people|Assamese]] tradition; it coincides with [[Vaisakhi]] in north India, which is observed by Sikhs and Hindus.
File:Lalbaug cha raja.jpg|Procession  of the famous “Lalbaug cha Raja” [[Ganesha]] idol during the [[Ganesh Chaturthi]] festival in [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]]
File:Kerala boatrace.jpg|[[Vallamkali]] snakeboat races are a part of [[Onam]] festival tradition.
File:Dahi Handi.JPG|Dahi Handi, a [[Krishna Janmashtami]] festive tradition, in progress near [[Adi Shankara]]charya Road, [[Mumbai, India]]
File:Durga Puja 2015.JPG|[[Durga Puja]] is a multi-day festival in Eastern India that features elaborate temple and stage decorations (''[[pandal]]s''), scripture recitation, performance arts, revelry, and processions.{{sfn|James G. Lochtefeld|2002|p=208}}
File:Angami 1863b.jpg|The [[Hornbill Festival]], [[Kohima]], Nagaland. The festival involves colourful performances, crafts, sports, food fairs, games and ceremonies.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nagaland's Hornbill Festival|url=http://www.uniindia.com/~/nagaland-hornbill-festival-held-international-strongest-and-fittest-men/States/news/1429681.html|access-date=9 December 2018}}</ref>
File:ꯍꯤꯍꯣꯟꯂꯤꯕꯤ ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯅꯤꯡꯉꯣꯜ ꯅꯤꯡꯊꯤꯖꯕꯤ.jpg|[[Meitei people|Meitei]] women in boat race [[Hiyang Tannaba]] festival, [[Manipur]]
File:People offering Namaz on the occasion of Id-Ul-Zuha, at Jama Masjid, in New Delhi on August 12, 2019 (1).jpg|Muslims offering [[Namaz]] on the occasion of [[Eid-ul-Fitr]], at [[Jama Masjid]] [[Delhi]]
File:Floats_for_Goa_carnaval.jpg|[[Carnival in Goa]] or ''Viva Carnival'' is a Celebration prior to fasting season of Lent. It refers to the festival of [[carnival]], or [[Mardi Gras]], in the Indian state of [[Goa]].
File:Mahamastakabhisheka at Shravanabelagola in August 2018 2.jpg|thumb|[[Gommateshwara statue]] during the Grand Consecration [[Mahamastakabhisheka]] in August 2018 at [[Shravanabelagola]], [[Karnataka]]. [[Mahamastakabhisheka]] is held every 12 years and it is considered [[Jainism]]'s one of the most auspicious festival or celebration.
</gallery>
[[File:Diya deepak Diwali rangoli in goa.JPG|thumb|left|250px|[[Rangoli]] artwork is usually made during [[Diwali]] or [[Tihar (festival)|Tihar]], [[Onam]], [[Pongal (festival)|Pongal]] and other Hindu festivals in the Indian subcontinent.]]
India, being a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions. The three [[Public holidays in India|national holidays in India]], the [[Independence Day (India)|Independence Day]], the [[Republic Day (India)|Republic Day]] and the [[Gandhi Jayanti]], are celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm across India. In addition, many [[States of India|Indian states]] and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic demographics. Popular religious festivals include the Hindu festivals of [[Navratri]], [[Janmashtami]], [[Diwali]], [[Maha Shivratri]], [[Ganesh Chaturthi]], [[Durga Puja]], [[Holi]], [[Rath Yatra]], [[Ugadi]], [[Vasant Panchami]], [[Rakshabandhan]], and [[Durga Puja|Dussehra]]. Several [[harvest festival]]s such as [[Makar Sankranti]], [[Sohrai]], [[Pusnâ]], [[Hornbill Festival|Hornbill]], [[Chapchar Kut]], [[Thai Pongal|Pongal]], [[Onam]] and [[Raja Parba|Raja sankaranti swinging festival]] are also fairly popular.

India celebrates a variety of festivals due to the large diversity of India. Many Religious festivals like Diwali (Hindu) Eid (Muslim) Christmas (Christian), etc. are celebrated by all. The government also provides facilities for the celebration of all religious festivals with equality and grants road bookings, security, etc. providing equality to the diverse religions and their festivals..

[[File:Chapchar Kut cheraw dance 2014.webm|thumb|300px|[[Chapchar Kut]] [[cheraw dance]] in [[Mizoram]]. Chapchar Kut festival is celebrated during March after completion of their most arduous task of Jhum operation i.e., jungle-clearing (clearing of the remnants of burning).]]
The Indian New Year festival is celebrated in different parts of India with a unique style at different times. [[Ugadi]], [[Bihu]], [[Gudhi Padwa]], [[Puthandu]], [[Vaisakhi]], [[Pohela Boishakh]], [[Vishu]] and [[Vishuva Sankranti]] are the New Year festival of different part of India.

Certain festivals in India are celebrated by multiple religions. Notable examples include [[Diwali]], which is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains across the country and [[Vesak|Buddha Purnima]], [[Krishna Janmashtami]], [[Ambedkar Jayanti]] celebrated by Buddhists and Hindus. Sikh festivals, such as [[Guru Nanak Jayanti]], [[Baisakhi]] are celebrated with full fanfare by Sikhs and Hindus of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] and [[Delhi]] where the two communities together form an overwhelming majority of the population. Adding colours to the culture of India, the [[Dree Festival]] is one of the tribal festivals of India celebrated by the Apatanis of the Ziro valley of [[Arunachal Pradesh]], which is the easternmost state of India. [[Nowruz]] is the most important festival among the Parsi community of India.

[[Islam in India]] is the second largest religion with over 172 million Muslims, according to India's 2011 census.<ref name=indiareligion2011/> The Islamic festivals which are observed and are declared public holiday in India are; [[Eid ul Fitr|Eid-ul-Fitr]], [[Eid ul Adha|Eid-ul-Adha]] (Bakri Eid), [[Milad un Nabi|Milad-un-Nabi]], [[Mourning of Muharram|Muharram]] and [[Shab-e-Barat]].<ref name=ph10>{{cite web|title=Central Government Holidays|publisher=Government of India|year=2010|url=http://india.gov.in/govt/pdf/govt_holiday_list_10.pdf}}</ref> Some of the Indian states have declared regional holidays for the particular regional popular festivals; such as [[Arba'een]], [[Jumu'ah-tul-Wida]] and [[Shab-e-Qadar]].

[[Christianity in India]] is the third-largest religion with over 27.8 million Christians, according to  India's 2011 census.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Reporter|first=B. S.|date=26 August 2015|title=India's population at 1.21 billion; Hindus 79.8%, Muslims 14.2%|work=Business Standard India|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-s-population-at-1-21-billion-hindus-79-8-muslims-14-2-115082600038_1.html|access-date=18 February 2021}}</ref> With over 27.8 million Christians, of which 17 million are Roman Catholics, India is home to many Christian festivals. The country celebrates [[Christmas]] and [[Good Friday]] as public holidays.<ref name=ph10/>

Regional and community fairs are also a common festivals in India. For example, [[Pushkar Fair]] of Rajasthan is one of the world's largest markets of cattle and livestock.

==Greetings==
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Kubera Namaste, 13th century Keshava temple Somanathpur.jpg
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| image2 = A Namaste relief at Thirunelli Maha Vishnu temple Kerala India.jpg
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| footer = '''Left''': Hindu god Kubera on the left with a person in Namaste pose (13th century [[Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura]], [[Karnataka, India]]). Namaste or [[Añjali Mudrā]] are common in historic Hindu temple reliefs.<br />'''Right''': Entrance pillar relief ([[Thrichittatt Maha Vishnu Temple]], [[Kerala, India]])
}}
Indian greetings are based on [[Añjali Mudrā]], including [[Pranāma]] and [[Puja (Hinduism)|Puja]].

Greetings include ''Namaste (Hindi,Sanskrit and Kannada)'', ''Nômôskar'' in [[Odia language|Odia]], ''Khulumkha'' ([[Kokborok language|Tripuri]]), ''[[Namaskar]] ([[Marathi language|Marathi]]),'' ''Namaskara ''(Kannada and Sanskrit), ''Namaskaram'' ([[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Malayalam language|Malayalam]]), ''Vanakkam'' ([[Tamil language|Tamil]]), ''Nômôshkar'' ([[Bengali language|Bengali]]), ''Nomoskar'' ([[Assamese language|Assamese]]), ''Aadab'' ([[Urdu]]), and ''Sat Shri Akal'' ([[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]). All these are commonly spoken greetings or salutations when people meet and are forms of farewell when they depart. Namaskar is considered slightly more formal than Namaste but both express deep respect. Namaskar is commonly used in India and [[Nepal]] by [[Hindus]], Jains and Buddhists, and many continue to use this outside the [[Indian subcontinent]]. In Indian and Nepali culture, the word is spoken at the beginning of written or verbal communication. However, the same hands folded gesture may be made wordlessly or said without the folded hand gesture. The word is derived from ''[[Sanskrit]]'' (''Namah''): to [[bowing (social)|bow]], reverential [[salutation (greeting)|salutation]], and [[respect]], and (te): "to you". Taken literally, it means "I bow to you".<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=namaste&searchmode=none Namaste] Douglas Harper, Etymology Dictionary</ref> In Hinduism it means "I bow to the divine in you."<ref>Ying, Y. W., Coombs, M., & Lee, P. A. (1999), the Family intergenerational relationship of Asian American adolescents, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 5(4), pp 350–363</ref><ref>Lawrence, J. D. (2007), The Boundaries of Faith: A Journey in India, Homily Service, 41(2), pp 1–3</ref> In most Indian families, younger men and women are taught to seek the blessing of their elders by reverentially bowing to their elders. This custom is known as [[Pranāma]].

[[File:An Oberoi Hotel employee doing Namaste, New Delhi.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Pressing hands together with a smile to greet [[Namaste]] – a common cultural practice in [[India]].]]
Other greetings include ''Jai Jagannath'' (used in [[Odia language|Odia]]) ''Ami Aschi'' (used in [[Bengali language|Bengali]]), ''Jai Shri Krishna'' (in [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] and the [[Braj Bhasha]] and [[Rajasthani languages|Rajasthani]] dialects of [[Hindi]]), ''Ram Ram/(Jai) Sita Ram ji'' ([[Awadhi]] and [[Bhojpuri]] dialects of [[Hindi]] and other [[Bihari languages|Bihari dialects]]), and ''[[Sat Sri Akaal|Sat Sri Akal]]'' ([[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]; used by followers of [[Sikhism]]), ''[[As-salamu alaykum]]'' ([[Urdu]]; used by follower of [[Islam]]), ''[[Jai Jinendra]]'' (a common greeting used by followers of [[Jainism]]), ''[[Jai Bhim]]'' (used by followers of [[Ambedkarism]]), ''Namo Buddhay'' (used by followers of [[Buddhism]]), ''Allah Abho'' (used by followers of the [[Baháʼí Faith]]), ''[[Shalom aleichem]]'' (used by followers of [[Judaism]]), ''Hamazor Hama Ashobed'' (used by followers of [[Zoroastrianism]]), ''Sahebji'' ([[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]; used by the [[Parsi]] people), ''Dorood'' ([[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]; used by the [[Irani (India)|Irani]] people), ''[[Om Namah Shivaya]]/Jai Bholenath'' Jaidev (used in [[Dogri language|Dogri]] and [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], also used in the city of [[Varanasi]]), ''Jai Ambe Maa/Jai Mata di'' (used in [[Eastern India]]), ''Jai Ganapati Bapa'' (used in [[Marathi language|Marathi]] and [[Konkani language|Konkani]]), etc.

These traditional forms of greeting may be absent in the world of business and in India's urban environment, where a handshake is a common form of greeting.<ref>Cf. Messner, W. (2013). India – Intercultural Skills. A Resource Book for Improving Interpersonal Communication and Business Collaboration. Bangalore: Createspace, p. 92.</ref>

==Animals==
{{See also|Wildlife of India|Animal husbandry in India|Cattle in religion}}
{{Infobox
| title = Cows in Indian culture 
| image = 
{{image array|perrow=2|width=180|height=180
| image1 = Cowmeenakshi.jpg|caption1=Cows depicted in the decorated [[gopuram]] of the [[Kapaleeshwarar Temple]] in [[Chennai]].
| image2 = Open mantapa (hall) in Kalleshvara temple at Bagali 1.JPG|caption2=Cow statue located at the open hall looking into the eastern doorway of the [[Kalleshvara Temple, Bagali|Kalleshvara Temple]].
}}
}}
The varied and rich [[wildlife of India]] has a profound impact on the region's popular culture. Common name for wilderness in India is [[Jungle]] which was adopted by [[Anglo-Indian people|Britons living in India]] to the English language. The word has been also made famous in ''[[The Jungle Book]]'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]]. India's wildlife has been the subject of numerous other tales and fables such as the ''[[Panchatantra]]'' and the ''[[Jataka tales]]''.<ref>[http://www.spectrumcommodities.com/education/commodity/statistics/cattle.html Symbolism in Indian culture] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509171551/http://www.spectrumcommodities.com/education/commodity/statistics/cattle.html |date=9 May 2006 }}</ref>

In Hinduism, the cow is regarded as a symbol of ''[[ahimsa]]'' (non-violence), [[mother goddess]] and bringer of good fortune and wealth.<ref>{{cite book|title=South Asian folklore |first1=Peter J. |last1=Claus |first2=Sarah |last2=Diamond |author3=Margaret Ann Mills |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ienxrTPHzzwC|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year= 2003|isbn=978-0-415-93919-5}}</ref> For this reason, cows are revered in Hindu culture and feeding a cow is seen as an act of worship. This is why beef remains a taboo food in mainstream Hindu and Jain society.<ref>Peter H. Marshall. ''[[Nature's Web: Rethinking Our Place on Earth]]''. M.E. Sharpe, 1996 {{ISBN|1-56324-864-6}} p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=p5SRPcoelt4C&pg=PA26 26]</ref>

The Article 48 of the present Indian Constitution says that the state shall endeavor to prohibit slaughtering and smuggling of cows.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=3 August 2020 |archive-date=22 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422232838/https://www.india.gov.in/sites/upload_files/npi/files/coi_part_full.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> As of January 2012, cow remains a divisive and controversial topic in India. Several states of India have passed laws to protect cows, while many states have no restrictions on the production and consumption of beef. Some groups oppose the butchering of cows, while other secular groups argue that what kind of meat one eats ought to be a matter of personal choice in a democracy. [[Madhya Pradesh]] enacted a law in January 2012, namely the Gau-Vansh Vadh Pratishedh (Sanshodhan) Act, which makes cow slaughter a serious offence.

Gujarat, a western state of India, has the Animal Preservation Act, enacted in October 2011, that prohibits the killing of cows along with buying, selling and transport of beef. In contrast, Assam and Andhra Pradesh allow butchering of cattle with a fit-for-slaughter certificate. In the states of West Bengal and Kerala, consumption of beef is not deemed an offence. Contrary to stereotypes, a sizeable number of Hindus eat beef, and many argue that their scriptures, such as Vedic and Upanishadic texts do not prohibit its consumption. In southern Indian state Kerala, for instance, beef accounts for nearly half of all meat consumed by all communities, including Hindus. Sociologists theorise that the widespread consumption of cow meat in India is because it is a far cheaper source of animal protein for the poor than mutton or chicken, which retail at double the price. For these reasons, India's beef consumption post-independence in 1947 has witnessed a much faster growth than any other kind of meat; currently, India is one of the five largest producers and consumers of cattle livestock meat in the world. A beef ban has been made in Maharashtra and other states as of 2015. While states such as Madhya Pradesh are passing local laws to prevent cruelty to cows, other Indians are arguing "If the real objective is to prevent cruelty to animals, then why single out the cows when hundreds of other animals are maltreated?"<ref>{{cite web|title=Indians split over cow ban|publisher=Asia Times| date=6 January 2012| url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NA06Df05.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105213257/http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NA06Df05.html| url-status=unfit| archive-date=5 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Cow slaughter ban: Using sensitivities to politically polarising ends works against democracy|date=10 January 2012|newspaper=The Economic Times|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/cow-slaughter-ban-using-sensitivities-to-politically-polarising-ends-works-against-democracy/articleshow/11430557.cms}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Livestock and poultry: world markets and trade|date=October 2011|publisher=United States Department of Agriculture|url=http://www.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/livestock_poultry.pdf|access-date=10 January 2012|archive-date=3 October 2012|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6B8yrhk6H?url=http://www.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/livestock_poultry.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Cuisine==
{{Main|Indian cuisine}}
{{multiple image
 | right
 | direction = vertical
 | footer = [[Indian cuisine]] is diverse, ranging from very spicy to very mild, varying with seasons in each region. These reflect the [[Agriculture in India|local agriculture]], [[Climate of India|regional climate]], culinary innovations and cultural diversity. Food in India is sometimes served in [[thali]] – a plate with rice, bread and a selection of sides. Above are thali samples.
 | image1 = Rajasthani food.jpg
 | image2 = '8' A Thali, a traditional style of serving meal in India.jpg
 | image3 = A lunch platter of Assamese cuisine.jpg
 | image4 = Bengali Fish meal.jpg
 | image5 = Vegetarian Curry.jpeg
}}
Indian food is as diverse as India. Indian cuisines use numerous ingredients, deploy a wide range of food preparation styles, cooking techniques, and culinary presentations. From salads to sauces, from vegetarian to meat, from spices to sensuous, from bread to desserts, Indian cuisine is invariably complex. Harold McGee, a favourite of many Michelin-starred chefs, writes "for sheer inventiveness with the milk itself as the primary ingredient, no country on earth can match India."<ref>{{cite book |title=On food and cooking|first=Harold |last=McGee |isbn= 978-0-684-80001-1 |year=2004 |publisher=Scribner |url=http://www.curiouscook.com/site/on-food-and-cooking.html}}</ref>

{{quotation|I travel to India at least three to four times a year. It's always inspirational. There is so much to learn from India because each and every state is a country by itself and each has its own cuisine. There are lots of things to learn about the different cuisines – it just amazes me. I keep my mind open and like to explore different places and pick up different influences as I go along. I don't actually think that there is a single state in India that I haven't visited.&nbsp;
Indian food is a cosmopolitan cuisine that has so many ingredients. I don't think any cuisine in the world has got so many influences on the way that Indian food has. It is a very rich cuisine and is very varied. Every region in the world has its own sense of how Indian food should be perceived.|[[Atul Kochhar]], the first Indian to receive two [[Michelin star]]s<ref name=ak1>{{cite web|title=Interview with Atul Kochhar|publisher=Spice Diary|date=April 2011|url=http://spicediary.com/2011/04/26/my-interview-with-atul-kochhar/}}</ref>}}
{{quotation|...&nbsp;it takes me back to the first Christmas I can remember, when the grandmother I hadn't yet met, who was Indian and lived in England, sent me a box. For me it still carries the taste of strangeness and confusion and wonder.|[[Harold McGee]], author of ''[[On Food and Cooking]]''<ref>{{cite web|title=Zapping the holiday candy|first=Harold|last=McGee|date=December 2010|url=http://www.curiouscook.com/site/2010/12/zapping-the-holiday-candy.html#more}}</ref>}}

[[File:New Punjab Club food spread.jpg|thumb|A typical varieties of North Indian dishes in a restaurant]]

According to [[Sanjeev Kapoor]], a member of Singapore Airlines' International Culinary Panel, Indian food has long been an expression of world cuisine. Kapoor claims, "if you looked back in India's history and study the food that our ancestors ate, you will notice how much attention was paid to the planning and cooking of a meal. Great thought was given to the texture and taste of each dish."<ref>{{cite web|title=Modern Spice|year=2009|publisher=Indian Cuisine|pages=59–62|url=http://www.orissany.com/priority-mag-spore-air.pdf|access-date=12 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916043356/http://www.orissany.com/priority-mag-spore-air.pdf|archive-date=16 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> One such historical record is {{IAST|Mānasollāsa}}, ({{lang-sa|मानसोल्लास}}, The Delight of Mind), written in the 12th century. The book describes the need to change cuisine and food with seasons, various methods of cooking, the best blend of flavours, the feel of various foods, planning and style of dining amongst other things.<ref>{{cite book |title=Royal Life in Manasollasa (Translated)|author=P. Arundhati|isbn=978-81-85067-89-6|publisher=Sundeep Prakashan|year=1995|pages=113–178}}</ref>

India is known for its love of food and spices. Indian cuisine varies from region to region, reflecting the local produce, cultural diversity, and [[Demographics of India|varied demographics]] of the country. Generally, Indian cuisine can be split into five categories – [[North Indian cuisine|northern]], [[South Indian cuisine|southern]], eastern, western, and northeastern. The diversity of Indian cuisine is characterised by the differing use of many [[list of Indian spices|spices]] and herbs, a wide assortment of recipes and cooking techniques. Though a significant portion of Indian food is [[vegetarian]], many Indian dishes also include meats like [[chicken]], [[mutton]], [[beef]] (both cow and buffalo), [[pork]] and fish, egg and other seafood. Fish-based cuisines are common in eastern states of India, particularly [[West Bengal]] and the southern states of [[Kerala]] and [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Banerji|first=Chitrita|title=Bengali Cooking: Seasons and Festivals|year=1997|publisher=Serif|isbn=978-1-897959-50-3}}</ref>

[[File:Chum chums.jpg|thumb|Some Indian confectionery [[Sweets of the Indian subcontinent|desserts]] from hundreds of varieties. In certain parts of India, these are called ''mithai'' or sweets. Sugar and desserts have a long history in India: by about 500 BCE, people in India had developed the technology to produce sugar crystals. In the local language, these crystals were called ''khanda'' (खण्ड), which is the source of the word ''candy''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sugar: A Bittersweet History|publisher=Penguin|year=2010|first=Elizabeth|last=Abbot|isbn=978-1-590-20297-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/sugarbittersweet0000abbo}}</ref>]]
Despite this diversity, some unifying threads emerge. Varied uses of spices are an integral part of certain food preparations and are used to enhance the flavour of a dish and create unique flavours and aromas. Cuisine across India has also been influenced by various cultural groups that entered India throughout history, such as the [[Central Asia]]ns, [[Arabs]], [[Mughal people|Mughals]], and [[Colonialism in India|European colonists]]. Sweets are also very popular among Indians, particularly in [[West Bengal]] where both [[Bengali Hindus]] and [[Bengali Muslims]] distribute sweets to mark joyous occasions.

[[File:Chicken tikka masala.jpg|left|thumb|[[Chicken tikka masala]] is an Indian dish which became the national dish of The [[United Kingdom]]. It was made popular by Indian Immigrants living in Britain.]]

Indian cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines across the globe.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-19130531_ITM|title=Indian food now attracts wider market. | work=Asia Africa Intelligence Wire | date=16 March 2005}}</ref> In most Indian restaurants outside India, the menu does not do justice to the enormous variety of Indian cuisine available – the most common cuisine served on the menu would be [[Punjabi cuisine]] ([[chicken tikka masala]] is a very popular dish in the United Kingdom). There do exist some restaurants serving cuisines from other regions of India, although these are few and far between. Historically, Indian spices and herbs were one of the most sought after trade commodities. The [[spice trade]] between India and Europe led to the rise and dominance of Arab traders to such an extent that European explorers, such as [[Vasco da Gama]] and [[Christopher Columbus]], set out to find new trade routes with India leading to the ''[[Age of Discovery]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Spice_Trade.html|title=The History of the Spice Trade in India|author=Louise Marie M. Cornillez|date=Spring 1999}}</ref> The popularity of ''[[curry]]'', which originated in India, across Asia has often led to the dish being labeled as the "pan-Asian" dish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meatlessmonday.com/site/PageServer?pagename=dyk_curry |title=Meatless Monday: There's No Curry in India |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416005252/http://www.meatlessmonday.com/site/PageServer?pagename=dyk_curry |archive-date=16 April 2009 }}</ref>

Regional Indian cuisine continues to evolve. A fusion of East Asian and Western cooking methods with traditional cuisines, along with regional adaptations of fast food are prominent in major Indian cities.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Changing Popular Culture of Indian Food|first=Ashis|last=Nandy|doi=10.1177/0262728004042760|journal=South Asia Research|date=May 2004|volume=24|number=1|pages=9–19|s2cid=143223986}}</ref>

[[File:Sadhya DSW.jpg|left|thumb|a typical Kerala ''[[Sadya]]'' on plaintain leaf]]

[[File:Chicken Hyderabadi Biryani.JPG|thumb|[[Hyderabadi biryani]]]]

The cuisine of [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Telangana]] consists of the [[Telugu cuisine]], of the [[Telugu people]] as well as [[Hyderabadi cuisine]] (also known as Nizami cuisine), of the [[Hyderabadi Muslims|Hyderabadi Muslim community]].<ref name="Dubey and Pat">{{cite book|title=The Indian cuisine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xiwkbgJbSQC|publisher=PHI Learning|last=Dubey|first=Krishna gopal|page=233|isbn=978-81-203-4170-8|year=2011|access-date=28 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="Pat">{{cite book|title=India: food & cooking: The ultimate book on Indian cuisine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orHWFRMKf4EC|publisher=[[New Holland Publishers]]|last=Chapman|first=Pat|pages=38–39|isbn=978-18-453-7619-2|year=2009|access-date=7 July 2012}}</ref> [[Hyderabadi cuisine|Hyderabadi food]] is based heavily on non-vegetarian ingredients while, [[Telugu cuisine|Telugu food]] is a mix of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian ingredients. Telugu food is rich in spices and chillies are abundantly used. The food also generally tends to be more on the tangy side with tamarind and lime juice both used liberally as souring agents. Rice is the staple food of Telugu people. Starch is consumed with a variety of curries and lentil [[soup]]s or [[broth]]s.<ref name="Edelstein2011">{{cite book|title=Food, Cuisine, and Cultural Competency for Culinary, Hospitality, and Nutrition Professionals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQoWQTVcpVIC&pg=PA276|last=Edelstein|first=Sari|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|isbn=978-1-4496-1811-7|page=276|access-date=4 June 2012|year=2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Andhra Pradesh cuisine|url=http://www.indianfoodforever.com/andhra/|access-date=4 June 2012|publisher=Indianfoodforever.com}}</ref> Vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods are both popular. Hyderabadi cuisine includes popular delicacies such as ''[[Hyderabadi Biryani|Biryani]]'', ''[[Hyderabadi Haleem|Haleem]]'', ''[[Baghara baingan]]'' and ''Kheema,'' while Hyderabadi day to day dishes see some commonalities with Telanganite Telugu food, with its use of tamarind, rice, and lentils, along with meat.<ref name="Edelstein2011" /> [[Yogurt]] is a common addition to meals, as a way of tempering [[Piquance|spiciness]].<ref name="Dum Pukht cooking">{{cite web|title=Dum Pukht cooking|url=http://www.theflavoursofhistory.com/appendix9more.htm|work=Compendium of food terms|publisher=theflavoursofhistory.com|access-date=4 June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402220521/http://theflavoursofhistory.com/appendix9more.htm|archive-date=2 April 2012}}</ref>

{{multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | align = centre 
 | footer = [[Nimatnama-i-Nasiruddin-Shahi]] (Book of Recipes), written about 1500 C.E, documents the fine art of making ''[[Kheer]]'', a milk-based dessert of India: Select the cows carefully; to get quality milk, pay attention to what the cows eat; feed them sugar canes; use this milk to make the best ''Kheer''. While, another popular variant is [[Phirni]].
 | image1 = Nimmatnama-i Nasiruddin-Shahi 283.jpg
 | image2 = Kheer.jpg
 | image3 = Phirni.jpg
 }}

==Clothing==
{{Main|Clothing in India}}
Traditional clothing in India greatly varies across different parts of the country and is influenced by local culture, geography, climate, and rural/urban settings. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as [[sari]] and ''mekhela sador'' for women and [[dhoti]] or [[lungi]] or panche (in Kannada) for men. Stitched clothes are also popular such as [[churidar]] or ''salwar-kameez'' for women, with ''dupatta'' (long scarf) thrown over shoulder completing the outfit. The salwar is often loose fitting, while churidar is a tighter cut.<ref name=mc1/> The [[dastar]], a headgear worn by [[Sikh]]s is common in [[Punjab]].

Indian women perfect their sense of charm and fashion with makeup and ornaments. [[Bindi (decoration)|Bindi]], [[mehendi]], earrings, [[bangle]]s and other jewelry are common. On special occasions, such as marriage ceremonies and festivals, women may wear cheerful colours with various ornaments made with gold, silver or other regional stones and gems. [[Bindi (decoration)|Bindi]] is often an essential part of a Hindu woman's make up. Worn on their forehead, some consider the ''bindi'' as an auspicious mark. Traditionally, the red bindi was worn only by married Hindu women, and coloured bindi was worn by single women, but now all colours and glitter have become a part of women's fashion. Some women wear [[sindoor]] – a traditional red or orange-red powder (vermilion) in the parting of their hair (locally called ''mang''). Sindoor is the traditional mark of a married woman for Hindus. Single Hindu women do not wear ''sindoor''; neither do over 1 million Indian women from religions other than Hindu and agnostics/atheists who may be married.<ref name=mc1>{{cite book |last = Chary |first = Manish |title = India: Nation on the Move |publisher = iUniverse|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjI6IZt8tuwC |isbn = 978-1-4401-1635-3}}</ref> The make up and clothing styles differ regionally between the Hindu groups, and also by climate or religion, with Christians preferring Western and Muslim preferring the Arabic styles.<ref>{{cite book |last = Tarlo |first = Emma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8wyM5heEc9gC |title = Clothing matters: dress and identity in India |publisher = C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|year= 1996 |isbn = 978-1-85065-176-5}}</ref> For men, stitched versions include [[kurta]]-[[pajama|pyjama]] and European-style trousers and shirts. In urban and semi-urban centres, men and women of all religious backgrounds, can often be seen in jeans, trousers, shirts, suits, kurtas and variety of other fashions.<ref>{{cite book |last = Craik |first = Jennifer|url=https://archive.org/details/faceoffashioncul0000crai |url-access = registration |title = The face of fashion: cultural studies in fashion |publisher = Routledge|year= 1994 |isbn = 978-0-203-40942-8}}</ref>

<gallery widths="150" heights="200" mode="packed">
File:Styles of Sari.jpg|Illustration of different styles of [[sari]], [[gagra choli]] and [[shalwar kameez]] worn by women in India
File:Didarganj Yakshi statue in the Bihar Museum.jpg|The [[Didarganj Yakshi]] depicting the ''[[dhoti]] wrap''
File:Rajput Sherwani 2014-04-23 04-27.JPG|''[[Achkan]]'' [[sherwani]] and ''[[churidar]]'' (lower body) worn by [[Arvind Singh Mewar]] and his kin during a [[Hindu wedding]] in [[Rajasthan, India]]
File:DWIJEN (43).jpg|An [[Assamese people|Assamese]] girl wearing [[mekhela sador]], 2010 and [[Bindi (decoration)|bindi]] on the centre of her forehead.
File:Pakhi Hegde at Smt Netaji film launch (6).jpg|Indian actress [[Pakhi Hegde]] wearing a string-sleeve [[choli]] and [[sari]]
File:Shriya Saran at the launch of T P Aggarwal's trade magazine 'Blockbuster' 10.jpg|Indian actress [[Shriya Saran]] in woman's [[kameez]] with [[dupatta]] draped over the neck and decorative [[Bindi (decoration)|bindi]] on the centre of her forehead
File:Priyanka on the ramp for Mijwan fashion show.jpg|Indian actress [[Priyanka Chopra]] wearing a [[lehenga]] and [[gagra choli]], [[Navel in popular culture#Indian culture|exposing the midriff and navel, which has long been a fashion with Indian women in popular culture]]<ref name="Mukulika">Banerjee, Mukulika & Miller, Daniel (2003) ''The Sari''. Oxford; New York: Berg {{ISBN|1-85973-732-3}}</ref>
File:Its relatives from sikh community weddings.png|thumb|[[Sikh]] man and women wearing [[Turban]]
File:Traditional Hajong Argon and Pathin.jpg|Traditional [[Hajong people|Hajong]] [[Pathin]] and [[Argon (clothing)|Argon]] from [[Northeast India]]
File:Subhas Chandra Bose in traditional formal clothing.jpg|Indian nationalist [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] wearing India's traditional costume [[Dhoti|dhuti]] and [[Kurta|panjabi]].
File:Jawaharlal Nehru on horseback in Achkan and chooridar.jpg|[[J. L. Nehru]] wearing [[Nehru jacket]] and Chooridar.
File:Maharani Ourmilla Of Jubbal.jpg|[[Gayatri Devi|Maharani Gayatri Devi]], in Nivi sari. The Nivi style drape was created during the [[British Raj|colonial era]] of [[History of India|Indian history]] in order to create a fashion style which would conform to the [[Victorian era|Victorian-era]] sensibilities
File:Varma Raja Ravi-Lady with Veena.jpg|thumb|right|[[Malayali]] lady wearing [[Mundum Neriyathum]]. Painted by [[Raja Ravi Varma]], c. 1900.
File:Nocte Couple.jpg|[[Nocte]] [[Naga people|Naga]] couple in their traditional attire
</gallery>

==Languages and literature==
{{main|Indian literature}}

===History===
{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;"
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; Literary tradition in India
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<gallery>
File:Rigveda MS2097.jpg|''[[Rigveda]]'' ([[padapatha]]) manuscript in [[Devanagari]], early 19th century. After a scribal benediction (''"śrīgaṇéśāyanamaḥ ;; Aum(3) ;;"''), the first line has the opening words of RV.1.1.1 (''agniṃ ; iḷe ; puraḥ-hitaṃ ; yajñasya ; devaṃ ; ṛtvijaṃ''). The [[Vedic accent]] is marked by underscores and vertical overscores in red.
File:AsokaKandahar.jpg|Literary records suggest India had interacted in languages of other ancient civilisations. This inscription is from the Indian emperor [[Ashoka]], carved in stone about 250 BCE, found in Afghanistan. Inscriptions are in [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], with ideas of non-violence against men and all living beings, as the doctrine of [[Eusebeia]] – spiritual maturity.
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{{quotation|The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from ''some common source'', which, perhaps, no longer exists; there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit&nbsp;... |Sir William Jones, 1786<ref name=jones>{{Cite book| publisher = Printed for C. S. Arnold| last = Jones| first = Sir Arbor| page = 28| title = Discourses delivered before the Asiatic Society: and miscellaneous papers, on the religion, poetry, literature, etc., of the nations of India| year = 1824|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mNk_5vKDvj8C}}</ref>}}

The [[Rigveda|Rigvedic]] [[Sanskrit]] is one of the oldest attestations of any [[Indo-Aryan languages]], and one of the earliest attested members of the [[Indo-European languages]]. The discovery of Sanskrit by early European explorers of India led to the development of comparative Philology. The scholars of the 18th century were struck by the far-reaching similarity of Sanskrit, both in grammar and vocabulary, to the classical languages of Europe. Intensive scientific studies that followed have established that Sanskrit and many Indian derivative languages belong to the family which includes English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Celtic, Greek, Baltic, Armenian, Persian, Tocharian, and other Indo-European languages.<ref name=burrow1>{{cite book|title=Sanskrit Language|first=Thomas|last=Burrow|year=2001|isbn=978-81-208-1767-8|publisher=Motilal}}</ref>

[[Tamil language|Tamil]], one of India's major classical language, descends from [[Proto-Dravidian language|Proto-Dravidian]] languages spoken around the third millennium BCE in peninsular India. The earliest inscriptions of Tamil have been found on pottery dating back to 500 BC. [[Tamil literature]] has existed for over two thousand years<ref name="companion">{{Harvnb|Zvelebil|1992|p=12}}: "...&nbsp;the most acceptable periodisation which has so far been suggested for the development of Tamil writing seems to me to be that of A Chidambaranatha Chettiar (1907–1967): 1. Sangam Literature – 200BC to AD 200; 2. Post Sangam literature – AD 200 – AD 600; 3. Early Medieval literature – AD 600 to AD 1200; 4. Later Medieval literature – AD 1200 to AD 1800; 5. Pre-Modern literature – AD 1800 to 1900"</ref> and the earliest [[Epigraphy|epigraphic]] records found date from around the 3rd century BCE.<ref name="Maloney1970">{{Harvnb|Maloney|1970|p=610}}</ref>

{{multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | align = left
 | footer = Language families in India and its neighbouring countries. India has 22 official languages – 15 of which are [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]. The 2001 census of India found 122 [[first language]]s in active use. The second map shows the distribution of Indo-European languages throughout the world.
 | image1 = South Asian Language Families.jpg
 | image2 = Indo-European languages distribution.png
 }}
The evolution of language within India may be distinguished over three periods: old, middle and modern Indo-Aryan. The classical form of old Indo-Aryan was ''Sanskrit'' meaning polished, cultivated and correct, in distinction to ''Prakrit'' – the practical language of the migrating masses evolving without concern to proper pronunciation or grammar, the structure of language changing as those masses mingled, settled new lands and adopted words from people of other native languages. ''Prakrita'' became middle Indo-Aryan leading to ''Pali'' (the language of early Buddhists and Ashoka era in 200–300 BCE), ''Prakrit'' (the language of Jain philosophers) and ''Apabhramsa'' (the language blend at the final stage of middle Indo-Aryan). It is ''Apabhramsa'', scholars claim,<ref name=burrow1/> that flowered into Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, and many other languages now in use in India's north, east and west. All of these Indian languages have roots and structures similar to Sanskrit, to each other and to other Indo-European languages. Thus we have in India three thousand years of continuous linguistic history recorded and preserved in literary documents. This enables scholars to follow language evolution and observe how, by changes hardly noticeable from generation to generation, an original language alters into descendant languages that are now barely recognisable as the same.<ref name=burrow1/>

{| class="wikitable floatright"
| width="200" |{{Photomontage
| photo1a = (1) Bandanna Sweet Pink.jpg{{!}}Bandanna
| photo1b = A platinum bangle with diamonds.jpg{{!}}Bangle
| photo2a = Bungalow, on the B4313, near Rosebush - geograph.org.uk - 1000849.jpg{{!}}Bungalow
| photo2b = Hair wash with shampoo.jpg{{!}}Shampoo
| spacing = 1
| size = 200
| foot_montage =Numerous words from India entered English vocabulary during the [[British Raj|British colonial era]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18796493 Hobson-Jobson: The words English owes to India] M.J. Campion, BBC News (11 July 2012)</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PQYYAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases] Yule and Burnell (1903);
* For Anglo-Indian word database: [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/hobsonjobson/ Digital Searchable Version at University of Chicago]
* See Wordnik link in: [https://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2012/11/indo-european Happy Diwali] The Economist (14 November 2012); Wordnik claims about 2000 English words are sourced from different Indian languages. Hobson-Jobson above lists over 2300 Indian words, as well as non-Indian words from East Asia, Persia and other regions in the British Empire that expanded English vocabulary.</ref> Examples: [[bandana]], [[bangle]]s, [[bungalow]] and [[shampoo]].
}}
|}
Sanskrit has had a profound impact on the languages and literature of India. [[Hindi]], India's most spoken language, is a "Sanskritised register" of the [[Delhi dialect]]. In addition, all modern Indo-Aryan languages, [[Munda languages]] and [[Dravidian languages]], have borrowed many words either directly from Sanskrit (''[[tatsama]]'' words), or indirectly via middle Indo-Aryan languages (''[[tadbhava]]'' words).<ref name = Staal>{{Harvnb|Stall|1963|p=272}}</ref> Words originating in Sanskrit are estimated to constitute roughly fifty percent of the vocabulary of modern Indo-Aryan languages,<ref name=Chatterji>{{Harvnb|Chatterji|1942}}, cited in {{Harvnb|Stall|1963|p=272}}</ref> and the literary forms of (Dravidian) [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Malayalam]] and [[Kannada language|Kannada]]. [[Tamil language|Tamil]], although to a slightly smaller extent, has also been significantly influenced by Sanskrit.<ref name = Staal/> Part of the [[List of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages|Eastern Indo-Aryan languages]], the [[Bengali language]] arose from the eastern [[Middle Indic languages]] and its roots are traced to the 5th-century BCE [[Ardhamagadhi]] language.<ref name=jain>{{Harvnb|Shah|1998|p=11}}</ref><ref name=keith>{{Harvnb|Keith|1998|p=187}}</ref>

Another major Classical Dravidian language, [[Kannada]] is attested epigraphically from the mid-1st millennium AD, and literary [[Old Kannada literature|Old Kannada]] flourished in the 9th- to 10th-century [[Rashtrakuta Dynasty]]. Pre-old Kannada (or ''Purava Hazhe-Gannada'') was the language of [[Banavasi]] in the early Common Era, the [[Satavahana]] and [[Kadamba Dynasty|Kadamba]] periods and hence has a history of over 2000 years.<ref>Kamath (2001), p. 5–6</ref><ref>(Wilks in Rice, B.L. (1897), p490)</ref><ref name="pai">Pai and Narasimhachar in Bhat (1993), p103</ref><ref name="Tamil_epigraphy1">{{cite web |title=Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674012271 |first=Iravatham|last=Mahadevan|work=Harvard University Press |access-date= 4 December 2020}}</ref> The [[Ashoka rock edict]] found at [[Brahmagiri archaeological site|Brahmagiri]] (dated 230 BCE) has been suggested to contain a word in identifiable Kannada.<ref name="isila">The word ''Isila'' found in the Ashokan inscription (called the Brahmagiri edict from Karnataka) meaning to ''shoot an arrow'' is a Kannada word, indicating that Kannada was a spoken language in the 3rd century BCE (Dr. D.L. Narasimhachar in Kamath 2001, p5)</ref> [[Odia language|Odia]] is India's 6th classical language in addition to Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/odia-gets-classical-language-status/article5709028.ece Odia gets classical language status] The Hindu</ref> It is also one of the 22 official languages in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution. Odia's importance to Indian culture, from ancient times, is evidenced by its presence in Ashoka's Rock Edict X, dated to be from 2nd century BC.<ref>Schwarzschild (1972), Some Unusual Sound-Changes in Prākrit, Journal of the American Oriental Society, pp 100–104</ref><ref>Dash (2012). Soma-vamsi yayati in tradition and medieval Oriya literature, Studies in History, 28(2), pp 151–177</ref>

The language with the largest number of speakers in India is [[Hindi]] and its various dialects. Early forms of present-day [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] developed from the [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages|Middle Indo-Aryan]] ''[[apabhraṃśa]]'' [[vernacular]]s of present-day [[North India]] in the 7th–13th centuries. During the time of [[Islamic rulers in the Indian subcontinent|Islamic rule in parts of India]], it became influenced by [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref name="brown2008">{{Citation | title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World |first1=Keith |last1=Brown |first2=Sarah |last2=Ogilvie | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-08-087774-7 | publisher=Elsevier | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC | quote=Apabhramsha seemed to be in a state of transition from Middle Indo-Aryan to the New Indo-Aryan stage. Some elements of Hindustani appear ... the distinct form of the lingua franca Hindustani appears in the writings of Amir Khusro (1253–1325), who called it Hindwi[.]}}</ref> The Persian influence led to the development of [[Urdu]], which is more Persianized and written in the [[Persian alphabet|Perso-Arabic script]]. Modern [[Hindi|standard Hindi]] has a lesser Persian influence and is written in the [[Devanagari|Devanagari script]].

During the 19th and 20th centuries, [[Indian English literature]] developed during the [[British Raj]], pioneered by [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[Mulk Raj Anand]] and [[Premchand|Munshi Premchand]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6-xCwAAQBAJ|title=Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, and the British Raj: Some Untold Stories|last=Doulah|first=A. B. M. Shamsud|date=29 February 2016|publisher=Partridge Publishing Singapore|isbn=9781482864038|language=en}}</ref>

In addition to Indo-European and Dravidian languages, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages are in use in India.<ref name="nature.com">{{cite journal|title=Reconstructing Indian population history|first1=David|last1=Reich|journal=Nature|volume=461|pages=489–494|date=24 September 2009| doi=10.1038/nature08365|pmid=19779445|issue=7263|pmc=2842210|display-authors=1|last2=Thangaraj|first2=Kumarasamy|last3=Patterson|first3=Nick|last4=Price|first4=Alkes L.|last5=Singh|first5=Lalji|bibcode=2009Natur.461..489R}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Northeast Indian Passageway: A Barrier or Corridor for Human Migrations?|author=Cordaux|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=21|year=2008|pages=1525–1533|doi=10.1093/molbev/msh151|display-authors=1|issue= 8|author2=<Please add first missing authors to populate metadata.>|pmid=15128876|doi-access=free}}</ref> The 2011 Linguistic Survey of India states that India has over 780 languages and 66 different scripts, with its state of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] with 90 languages.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/language-survey-reveals-diversity/article4938865.ece Language survey reveals diversity], The Hindu, Shiv Sahay Singh (22 July 2013)</ref>

===Epics===
The [[Mahabharata|Mahābhārata]] and the [[Ramayana|Rāmāyaṇa]] are the oldest preserved and well-known epics of India. Versions have been adopted as the epics of Southeast Asian countries like Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven books (''{{IAST|kāṇḍas}}'') and 500 [[canto]]s (''{{IAST|sargas}}''),<ref>{{Harvnb|Dutt|2004}}, p.198</ref> and tells the story of Rama (an incarnation or [[Avatar]] of the Hindu preserver-god [[Vishnu]]), whose wife [[Sita]] is abducted by the [[Rakshasa|demon]] king of [[Lanka]], [[Ravana]]. This epic played a pivotal role in establishing the role of [[dharma|dhárma]] as a principal ideal guiding force for Hindu way of life.<ref name = Brockington>{{Harvnb|Brockington|2003}}</ref> The earliest parts of the Mahabharata text date to 400 BC<ref name=Brockington_1>Brockington (1998, p. 26)</ref> and is estimated to have reached its final form by the early [[Gupta Empire|Gupta period]] (c. 4th century AD).<ref>Van Buitenen; The Mahabharata – 1; The Book of the Beginning. Introduction (Authorship and Date)</ref> Other regional variations of these, as well as unrelated epics include the Tamil [[Ramavataram]], Kannada ''Pampa Bharata'', Hindi ''[[Ramacharitamanasa]]'', and Malayalam ''[[Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan|Adhyathmaramayanam]]''. In addition to these two great Indian epics, there are [[The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature]] composed in classical [[Tamil language]] — ''[[Manimegalai]]'', ''[[Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi]]'', ''[[Silappadikaram]]'', ''[[Valayapathi]]'' and ''[[Kundalakesi]]''.

<gallery widths="180" heights="200">
File:Kurukshetra.jpg|A manuscript illustration of the [[Battle of Kurukshetra]], fought between the [[Kauravas]] and the [[Pandavas]], recorded in the Mahābhārata
File:Battle at Lanka, Ramayana, Udaipur, 1649-53.jpg|The ''Battle at Lanka, Ramayana'' by [[Sahibdin]]. It depicts the monkey army of the protagonist Rama (top left, blue figure) fighting [[Ravana]]—the demon-king of the [[Lanka]]—to save Rama's kidnapped wife, Sita. The painting depicts multiple events in the battle against the three-headed demon general [[Trishira|Trisiras]], in the bottom left. Trisiras is beheaded by Hanuman, the monkey-companion of Rama.
File:Rama and Hanuman fighting Ravana, an album painting on paper, c1820.jpg|[[Rama]] and [[Hanuman]] fighting [[Ravana]] from [[Ramavataram]], <small>an album painting on paper from Tamil Nadu, c. 1820 CE</small>
File:Puhar-ILango.jpg|[[Ilango Adigal]] is the author of ''[[Silappatikaram]],'' one of the [[The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature|five great epics]] of [[Tamil literature]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Prince ILango Adigal, Shilappadikaram (The anklet Bracelet), translated by Alain Damelou. Review.|journal=Artibus Asiae|volume=37|issue=1/2|date=1975|pages=148–150|last=Rosen|first=Elizabeth S.|jstor=3250226|doi=10.2307/3250226}}</ref>
File:Kalighat Krishna killing Vakasura.jpg|Krishna killing [[Bakasura]], still of ''[[Harivamsa]]'' from Mahabharata.
</gallery>

==Performing arts==
===Dance===
{{Main|Dance in India}}
[[File:Classical dances of India.jpg|thumb|300px|Dance in India includes classical (above), semiclassical, folk and tribal.]]
{{quotation|Let drama and dance (Nātya, नाट्य) be the fifth vedic scripture. Combined with an epic story, tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom, it must contain the significance of every scripture, and forward every art.|First chapter of ''Nātyaśāstra'', sometime between 200 BCE – 200 CE.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Natyashastra|publisher = Sanskrit Documents| url=http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/natya01.pdf}}</ref><ref name=mog17>{{cite book|title=The Mirror of Gesture|author=Coormaraswamy and Duggirala|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1917|page=4|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924012568535#page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref>}}

India has had a long romance with the art of dance. The Hindu Sanskrit texts ''[[Nātyaśāstra]]'' (Science of Dance) and ''[[Abhinaya Darpana]]'' (Mirror of Gesture) are estimated to be from 200 BCE to early centuries of the 1st millennium CE.<ref name=mog17/>{{Sfn|Natalia Lidova|2014}}{{Sfn|Tarla Mehta|1995|pp=xxiv, 19–20}}

The Indian art of dance as taught in these ancient books, according to Ragini Devi, is the expression of inner beauty and the divine in man.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dance Dialects of India|first=Ragini|last=Devi|year=2002|publisher=Motilal|isbn=978-81-208-0674-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dancedialectsofi0000ragi}}</ref> It is a deliberate art, nothing is left to chance, each gesture seeks to communicate the ideas, each facial expression the emotions.

[[File:Mohiniyattam at Kerala School Kalolsavam 2019 02.jpg|thumb|[[Mohiniyattam]] at [[Kannur]] district school kalothsavam 2019]]

[[Dance of India|Indian dance]] includes eight classical dance forms, many in narrative forms with [[Hindu mythology|mythological]] elements. The eight classical forms accorded [[Indian classical dance|classical dance status]] by India's ''[[Sangeet Natak Academi|National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama]]'' are: ''[[bharatanatyam]]'' of the state of [[Tamil Nadu]], ''[[kathak]]'' of [[Uttar Pradesh]], ''[[kathakali]]'' and ''[[mohiniattam]]'' of [[Kerala]], ''[[kuchipudi]]'' of [[Andhra Pradesh]], ''[[yakshagana]]'' of [[Karnataka]], ''[[Manipuri dance|manipuri]]'' of [[Manipur]], ''[[odissi]] (orissi)'' of the state of [[Odisha]] and the ''[[Sattriya dance|sattriya]]'' of [[Assam]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-65370 "South Asian arts: Techniques and Types of Classical Dance"]</ref><ref>[http://mudra.tv/channel_detail.php?chid=2 "Indian Dance Videos: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Bhangra, Garba, Bollywood and various folk dances"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820050237/http://mudra.tv/channel_detail.php?chid=2 |date=20 August 2009 }}</ref>

[[File:Bhangra-dance.jpg|alt=|thumb|right|250px|[[Bhangra (dance)|Bhangra]] dancers in [[Punjab, India]]]]

In addition to the formal arts of dance, Indian regions have a strong free form, folksy dance tradition. Some of the [[Indian folk dance|folk dances]] include the ''[[Bhangra (dance)|bhangra]]'' of [[Punjab region|Punjab]]; the ''[[bihu]]'' of [[Assam]]; the zeliang of [[Nagaland]]; the [[Jhumair]], [[Domkach]], [[Chhau dance|chhau]] of [[Jharkhand]]; the [[Ghumura Dance]], [[Gotipua]], [[Mahari dance]] and [[Dalkhai]] of [[Odisha]]; the {{transliteration|hi|qauwwalis}}, {{transliteration|hi|birhas}} and {{transliteration|hi|charkulas}} of [[Uttar Pradesh]]; the jat-jatin, nat-natin and saturi of [[Bihar]]; the ''[[ghoomar]]'' of [[Rajasthan]] and [[Haryana]]; the ''[[dandiya]]'' and ''[[garba (dance)|garba]]'' of [[Gujarat]]; the kolattam of [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Telangana]]; the ''[[yakshagana]]'' of [[Karnataka]]; ''[[lavani]]'' of [[Maharashtra]]; ''[[Dekhnni]]'' of [[Goa]]. Recent developments include adoption of international dance forms particularly in the urban centres of India, and the extension of Indian classical dance arts by the Kerala Christian community, to tell stories from the Bible.<ref>{{cite web|title=India – Kalai Kaviri and Christu Dance Centre |year=2010 |publisher=International Christian Dance Fellowship |url=http://www.icdf.com/redeeming-our-culture-pg3.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116063520/http://www.icdf.com/redeeming-our-culture-pg3.php |archive-date=16 November 2012 }}</ref>

[[File:Saila and Karma dance by Gonds.jpg|thumb|Tribal [[Gonds|Gondi]] [[Karma Naach]], [[Chhattisgarh]].]]
[[File:Cham dance during Dosmoche festival in Leh Palace DSCN5692 1.jpg|thumb|[[Cham dance]] during [[Dosmoche]] festival in [[Leh Palace]]]]

===Drama ===
{{Main|Theatre in India}}
<gallery widths="180" heights="200">
File:Kathakali -Play with Kaurava.jpg|[[Kathakali]] one of the classical theatre forms from [[Kerala, India]]
File:Rasa Lila in Manipuri dance style.jpg|''[[Rasa lila]]'' theatrical performance in [[Manipuri dance|Manipuri dance style]]
File:Bhavai Artist.jpg|thumb|[[Bhavai]] Artist, [[Gujarat]]
File:Akrura1.jpg|[[Yakshagana]] An Ancient dance drama of [[Tulunadu]].
File: Bharat-s-tiwari-photography-IMG 6635 June 11, 2017.jpg|thumb|[[Koodiyattam]] performer ''[[Kapila Venu]]''
File:A still from play 'Nati Binodoni'.jpg|A still from play 'Nati Binodoni', Bengali Jatra Theatre. [[Jatra (theatre)|Jatra]] is a popular folk-theatre form of [[Bengali theatre|Bengali]] and Odia Theatre.
</gallery>
Indian drama and theatre has a long history alongside its music and dance. [[Kālidāsa|Kalidasa]]'s plays like [[Shakuntala]] and [[Meghadoot]]a are some of the older dramas, following those of Bhasa. [[Kutiyattam]] of Kerala, is the only surviving specimen of the ancient Sanskrit theatre, thought to have originated around the beginning of the [[Common Era]], and is officially recognised by [[UNESCO]] as a [[Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity]]. It strictly follows the [[Natya Shastra]].<ref>{{cite book
 | title = Nātyakalpadrumam|page=6
 | author = Māni Mādhava Chākyār
 | publisher = Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi
 | year = 1996
|title-link=Nātyakalpadrumam
 |author-link=Māni Mādhava Chākyār
 }}</ref> Nātyāchārya [[Māni Mādhava Chākyār]] is credited for reviving the age old drama tradition from extinction. He was known for mastery of [[Rasa (aesthetics)|Rasa Abhinaya]]. He started to perform the Kalidasa plays like ''[[Abhijñānaśākuntala]]'', ''[[Vikramorvaśīya]]'' and ''[[Mālavikāgnimitra]]''; Bhasa's ''[[Swapnavāsavadatta]]'' and ''[[Pancharātra]]''; [[Harsha]]'s ''[[Nagananda]]''.<ref>[http://sites.google.com/site/natyacharya/articles K. A. Chandrahasan, ''In pursuit of excellence '' (Performing Arts)], "[[The Hindu]]", Sunday 26 March 1989
</ref><ref>''Mani Madhava Chakkyar: The Master at Work'' (film- English), Kavalam N. Panikar, [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], New Delhi, 1994</ref>

===Music===
{{Main|Music of India}}
 {{multiple image
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Music is an integral part of India's culture. [[Natya Shastra|Natyasastra]], a 2000-year-old Sanskrit text, describes five systems of taxonomy to classify musical instruments.<ref>{{cite book|title=Classification of musical instruments (South Asia : The Indian Subcontinent – Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 5) |editor-first=Alison|editor-last=Arnold|year=1999|page=319|publisher=Routledge; Har/Com edition|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|first=Reis |last=Flora |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&q=musical+instrument+discovered+india&pg=PA319}}</ref> 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 [[Sankarjang|highlands of Odisha]].<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=P. Yule |author2=M. Bemmann |title=Klangsteine aus Orissa-Die frühesten Musikinstrumente Indiens?|journal=Archaeologia Musicalis|volume=2|issue=1 |year=1988|pages=41–50|url=http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/volltexte/2008/177/}}</ref>

[[File:Jodhpur RIFF.jpg|thumb|Group of Dharohar [[Indian folk music|folk music]]ians performing in [[Mehrangarh Fort]], [[Jodhpur]], India]]
The oldest preserved examples of Indian music are the melodies of the ''[[Samaveda]]'' (1000 BC) that are still sung in certain Vedic [[Shrauta|Śrauta]] sacrifices; this is the earliest account of Indian musical hymns.<ref>{{cite book | author=Emmie te Nijenhuis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrgfAAAAIAAJ | title=Indian music, Part 2, Volume 6 | publisher=BRILL | isbn=978-90-04-03978-0 | year=1974}}</ref> It proposed a tonal structure consisting of seven notes, which were named, in descending order, as ''Krusht'', ''Pratham'', ''Dwitiya'', ''Tritiya'', ''Chaturth'', ''Mandra'' and ''Atiswār''. These refer to the notes of a flute, which was the only fixed frequency instrument. The Samaveda, and other [[Hindu]] texts, heavily influenced [[Indian classical music|India's classical music]] tradition, which is known today in two distinct styles: [[Carnatic music|Carnatic]] and [[Hindustani music]]. Both the Carnatic music and Hindustani music systems are based on the melodic base (known as [[raga|Rāga]]), sung to a rhythmic cycle (known as [[Tala (music)|Tāla]]); these principles were refined in the [[Natyashastra|nātyaśāstra]] (200 BC) and the [[dattilam]] (300 AD).<ref>A Study of Dattilam: A Treatise on the Sacred Music of Ancient India, 1978, p. 283, Mukunda Lāṭha, Dattila</ref>

The current music of India includes multiple varieties of religious, classical, [[folk music|folk]], filmi, rock and pop music and dance. The appeal of traditional classical music and dance is on the rapid decline, especially among the younger generation.

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.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8405891.stm | work=BBC News | title=Plans to start India music awards | date=10 December 2009 | access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> Indipop is one of the most popular contemporary styles of Indian music which is either a fusion of [[Indian folk music|Indian folk]], classical or [[Sufi music]] with Western musical traditions.<ref>{{cite book
 | first=Asha| last=Kasbekar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv7Uk0UcdM8C
 | title=Pop culture India!: media, arts, and lifestyle
 | publisher=ABC-CLIO|year= 2006
 | isbn=978-1-85109-636-7}}</ref>

==Visual arts==
{{Main|Indian art}}

===Painting===
{{Main|Indian painting}}
<gallery widths="180" heights="200">
File:Meister des Mahâjanaka Jâtaka 001.jpg|The [[Jataka tales]] from [[Ajanta Caves]]
File:Indischer Maler um 1650 (I) 001.jpg|Painting of [[Radha]], the companion of the Hindu god [[Krishna]]
File:Indischer Maler um 1710 001.jpg|[[Hindu]] iconography shown in [[Pattachitra]]
File:Raja Ravi Varma - Mahabharata - Shakuntala.jpg|[[Raja Ravi Varma]]’s ''[[Shakuntala (Raja Ravi Varma)|Shakuntala]]'' (1870); oil on canvas
File:Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore.jpg|Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), a nephew of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, and a pioneer of the Bengal School of Art
</gallery>
Cave paintings from [[Ajanta Caves|Ajanta]], [[Bagh Caves|Bagh]], [[Ellora Caves|Ellora]] and [[Sittanavasal]] and temple paintings testify to a love of naturalism. Most early and medieval art in India is Hindu, Buddhist or Jain. A freshly made coloured floor design ([[Rangoli]]) is still a common sight outside the doorstep of many (mostly South Indian) Indian homes. [[Raja Ravi Varma]] is one of the classical painters from medieval India.

[[Pattachitra]], [[Madhubani painting]], [[Mysore painting]], [[Rajput painting]], [[Tanjore painting]] and [[Mughal painting]] are some notable Genres of Indian Art; while [[Nandalal Bose]], [[M. F. Husain]], [[S. H. Raza]], [[Geeta Vadhera]], [[Jamini Roy]] and B. Venkatappa<ref name="venka">Kamath (2003), p. 283</ref> are some modern painters. Among the present day artists, Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamacnahri, [[Devajyoti Ray]] and Shibu Natesan represent a new era of Indian art where global art shows direct amalgamation with Indian classical styles. These recent artists have acquired international recognition. [[Jehangir Art Gallery]] in [[Mumbai]], [[Mysore Palace]] has on display a few good Indian paintings.

===Sculpture===
{{Main|Sculpture in India}}
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">

File:MET DP702288.jpg|Woman riding two bulls (bronze), from [[Kausambi]], c. 2000-1750 BCE
File:Ellora cave10 001.jpg|The 5th-century Buddhist ''vishvakarma'' cave at [[Ellora Caves|Ellora]], [[Maharashtra]]
File:WLA lacma Celestial Nymph ca 1450 Rajasthan.jpg|Marble Sculpture of female, c. 1450, [[Rajasthan]]
File: Elephanta Caves (27804449706) (cropped).jpg|The Colossal [[trimurti]] at the [[Elephanta Caves]]
File:Bahubali Shravana Belagola.jpg|The iconic 57&nbsp;ft high monolithic [[Gommateshwara statue|Statue of Gommateshwara]], [[Shravanabelagola]], 10th Century
File:Bhutesvara Yakshis Mathura reliefs 2nd century CE front.jpg|[[Bhutesvara Yakshis]], reliefs from [[Mathura]], 2nd century CE
File:Pretty sculptures.jpg| Intricately carved sculptures on the exterior of one of the [[Khajuraho Group of Monuments]]
File:Thiruvalluvar Statue at Kanyakumari 02.jpg|The [[Thiruvalluvar Statue]], or the Valluvar Statue, is a 133-feet (40.6 m) tall [[stone sculpture]] of the Tamil poet and philosopher [[Tiruvalluvar]]
</gallery>
The first [[sculptures]] in India date back to the [[Indus Valley civilisation]], where stone and bronze figures have been discovered. Later, as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism developed further, India produced some extremely intricate [[bronze]]s as well as temple carvings. Some huge shrines, such as the one at [[Ellora Caves|Ellora]] were not constructed by using blocks but carved out of solid rock.

Sculptures produced in the northwest, in [[stucco]], [[schist]], or [[clay]], display a very strong blend of Indian and Classical [[Hellenistic]] or possibly even [[Greco-Roman]] influence. The pink [[sandstone]] sculptures of [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]] evolved almost simultaneously. During the [[Gupta period]] (4th to 6th centuries) sculpture reached a very high standard in execution and delicacy in modeling. These styles and others elsewhere in India evolved leading to classical Indian art that contributed to Buddhist and Hindu sculptures throughout Southeast Central and East Asia.

===Architecture===
{{Main|Architecture of India}}
{{see also|Ancient Indian architecture|Indian rock-cut architecture|Indian vernacular architecture}}
<gallery widths="150" heights="150">
File:Ellora Cave 16 si0308.jpg|[[Kailasa temple, Ellora|Kailasa temple]] is one of the largest [[Indian rock-cut architecture|rock-cut]] ancient [[Hindu]] temples located in [[Ellora]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]].
File:Big Temple-Temple.jpg|The granite [[Gopuram|tower]] of [[Brihadeeswarar Temple]] in [[Thanjavur]] was completed in 1010 CE by [[Raja Raja Chola I]].
File:Warangal fort.jpg|[[Kakatiya Kala Thoranam]] (Warangal Gate) built by the [[Kakatiya dynasty]] in ruins<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5889/|title=The Glorious Kakatiya Temples and Gateways|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|language=en|access-date=2019-03-23}}</ref>
File:Le temple de Chennakesava (Somanathapura, Inde) (14465165685).jpg|[[Chennakesava Temple, Somanathapura|Chennakesava Temple]] is a model example of the [[Hoysala architecture]].
File:Chaturbhuj Temple, Orchha.jpg|[[Chaturbhuj Temple (Orchha)|Chaturbhuj Temple]] at [[Orchha]], is noted for having one of the [[List of tallest Gopurams#Tallest Vimana|tallest Vimana]] among [[Hindu temple]]s standing at 344 feet. It was the tallest structure in the Indian subcontinent from 1558 CE to 1970 CE.
File:TajMahalbyAmalMongia.jpg|Considered to be an "unrivalled architectural wonder", the [[Taj Mahal]] in [[Agra]] is a prime example of [[Indo-Islamic architecture]]. One of the world's [[Wonders of the World|seven wonders]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7ZHUhSEleYC|last = Bindloss|first = Joe|title = India|publisher = Lonely Planet|year= 2007|isbn = 978-1-74104-308-2}}</ref>
File:Tawang Monastery (Tibetan Buddhist).jpg|[[Tawang Monastery]] in [[Arunachal Pradesh]], was built in the 1600s and is the largest monastery in India and second largest in the world after the [[Potala Palace]] in [[Lhasa]], [[Tibet]].
File:Vikramjit-Kakati-Rumtek.jpg|[[Rumtek Monastery]] in [[Sikkim]] was built under the direction of [[Changchub Dorje, 12th Karmapa Lama]] in the mid-1700s.<ref>Achary Tsultsem Gyatso; Mullard, Saul & Tsewang Paljor (Transl.): A Short Biography of Four Tibetan Lamas and Their Activities in Sikkim, in: Bulletin of Tibetology Nr. 49, 2/2005, p. 57.</ref>
File:Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata.jpg|[[Victoria Memorial, Kolkata]]
File:Thakur Dalan of Itachuna Rajbari at Khanyan.jpg|Thakur Dalan of [[Itachuna|Itachuna Rajbari]], Khanyan
File:Hawa Mahal Final 1.jpg|[[Hawa Mahal]] in [[Jaipur]] city, [[Rajasthan]]
File:Patwon ki Haveli Jaisalmer.jpg|Patwon ki Haveli, [[Jaisalmer]]. Rows of sandstone [[haveli]] in [[Rajasthan]]
File:MEENAKSHI TEMPLE-VIEW FROM WEST SIDE TOWER.jpg|ravidian style in form of Tamil architecture of [[Meenakshi Temple]]
File:Charminar-Pride of Hyderabad.jpg|The [[Charminar]], built in the 16th century by the [[Qutb Shahi dynasty|Golconda Sultanate]].
File:Amer Fort Entrance.jpg|[[Pietra Dura]] and Jaali works on  [[Amer Fort]] Entrance, [[Jaipur]]
File:Ralong Monastry (36).jpg|[[Ralang Monastery]], [[Sikkim]]
File:Humayun's tomb by Shagil Kannur 4.jpg|[[Humayun's Tomb]], [[Delhi]], the first fully developed [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] imperial tomb, 1569–70 CE
File:Chhatrapati_shivaji_terminus,_esterno_01.jpg|[[Façade]] of the [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus]], [[Mumbai]]
File:I'timād-ud-Daulah, Agra.jpg|Pachin Kari or [[Pietra Dura]] on [[Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah]]
File:The Stone Chariot,Hampi.jpg|The Stone Chariot in [[Hampi]]
</gallery>
Indian architecture encompasses a multitude of expressions over space and time, constantly absorbing new ideas. The result is an evolving range of architectural production that nonetheless retains a certain amount of continuity across history. Some of its earliest production are found in the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] (2600–1900 BC) which is characterised by well-planned cities and houses. [[Religion]] and kingship do not seem to have played an important role in the planning and layout of these towns.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5892/|title=Dholavira: A Harappan City - UNESCO World Heritage Centre|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref>

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|image1     = Rani ki vav1.jpg
|caption1   = [[Rani ki vav|Rani ki Vav]] (The Queen's stepwell) at [[Patan, Gujarat|Patan]], [[Gujarat]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/922|title=Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen's Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref>
|image2     = View of Lord Nataraja at Temple museum.JPG
|caption2   = Hall of Thousand Pillars at [[Meenakshi Amman Temple]]
}}
During the period of the [[Mauryan]] and [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]] empires and their successors, several Buddhist architectural complexes, such as the caves of [[Ajanta Caves|Ajanta]] and [[Ellora Caves|Ellora]] and the monumental [[Sanchi]] [[Stupa]] were built. Later on, South India produced several Hindu temples like [[Chennakesava Temple]] at [[Belur, Karnataka|Belur]], the [[Hoysaleswara temple|Hoysaleswara Temple]] at [[Halebidu]], and the [[Chennakesava Temple at Somanathapura|Kesava Temple]] at [[Somanathapura]], [[Brihadeeswara Temple]], [[Thanjavur]] built by Raja Raja Chola, the [[Sun Temple]], [[Konark]], [[Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (Srirangam)|Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple]] at [[Srirangam]], and the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] [[stupa]] (Chinna Lanja dibba and Vikramarka kota dibba) at [[Bhattiprolu]]. [[Rajput kingdoms]] oversaw the construction of [[Khajuraho Group of Monuments|Khajuraho Temple Complex]], [[Chittor Fort]] and [[Chaturbhuj Temple (Orchha)|Chaturbhuj Temple]], etc. during their reign. [[Angkor Wat]], Borobudur and other [[Buddhist]] and [[Hindu]] temples indicate strong Indian influence on South East Asian architecture, as they are built in styles almost identical to traditional Indian religious buildings.

The traditional system of [[Vaastu Shastra]] serves as India's version of [[Feng Shui]], influencing town planning, architecture, and ergonomics. It is unclear which system is older, but they contain certain similarities. Feng Shui is more commonly used throughout the world. Though Vastu is conceptually similar to Feng Shui in that it also tries to harmonise the flow of energy, (also called life-force or [[Prana]] in Sanskrit and [[Qi|Chi]]/[[Qi|Ki]] in Chinese/Japanese), through the house, it differs in the details, such as the exact directions in which various objects, rooms, materials, etc. are to be placed.

With the advent of Islamic influence from the west, Indian architecture was adapted to allow the traditions of the new religion, creating the [[Indo-Islamic architecture|Indo-Islamic]] style of architecture. The [[Qutb Minar complex|Qutb complex]], a group of monuments constructed by successive sultanas of the [[Delhi Sultanate]] is one of the earliest examples. [[Fatehpur Sikri]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/255|title=Fatehpur Sikri|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref> [[Taj Mahal]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252|title=Taj Mahal|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref> [[Gol Gumbaz]], [[Red Fort of Delhi]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/231|title=Red Fort Complex|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref> and [[Charminar]] are creations of this era, and are often used as the stereotypical symbols of India.

British colonial rule in India saw the development of [[Indo-Saracenic]] style and mixing of several other styles, such as European Gothic. The [[Victoria Memorial (India)|Victoria Memorial]] and the [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus]] are notable examples.

Indian architecture has influenced eastern and southeastern Asia, due to the spread of Buddhism. A number of Indian architectural features such as the temple mound or [[stupa]], temple spire or [[shikhara]], temple tower or [[pagoda]] and temple gate or [[torana]], have become famous symbols of Asian culture, used extensively in [[East Asia]] and [[South East Asia]]. The central spire is also sometimes called a [[Gopuram|vimanam]]. The southern temple gate, or [[gopuram]] is noted for its intricacy and majesty.

Contemporary [[Architecture of India|Indian architecture]] is more cosmopolitan. Cities are extremely compact and densely populated. Mumbai's [[Nariman Point]] is famous for its [[Art Deco]] buildings. Recent creations such as the [[Lotus Temple]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5921/|title=Bahá'í House of Worship at New Delhi - UNESCO World Heritage Centre|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref> [[Golden Pagoda, Namsai|Golden Pagoda]] and [[Akshardham (Delhi)|Akshardham]], and the various modern urban developments of India like [[Bhubaneswar]] and [[Chandigarh]], are notable.

==Sports and martial arts==

===Sports===
{{Main|Sports in India}}
{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;"
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; Sports in India
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<gallery>
File:Cricket being played on a Summer Morning in India.jpg|[[Cricket]] was introduced to India by the British. Now it is the country's most popular sport.
File:Kerala boatrace.jpg|The annual [[Snake boat race]] is performed during [[Onam]] Celebrations on the [[Pamba River]] at [[Aranmula]] near [[Pathanamthitta]].
</gallery>
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File:Sania Mirza (5993143538).jpg|[[Sania Mirza]], a former world No. 1 in women's tennis doubles.
File:Game-asia-kabadi.jpg|[[Kabaddi]], is a [[contact sport]] that originated in [[ancient India]]. It is one of the most popular sports in India.
</gallery>
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[[Field hockey]] was considered to be the national game of India, but this has been recently denied by the [[Government of India]], clarifying on a [[Right to Information Act|Right to Information Act (RTI)]] filed that India has not declared any sport as the national game.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/No-records-to-state-hockey-as-national-game/Article1-907069.aspx |title=No records to state hockey as national game |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=2 August 2012 |access-date=1 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105023836/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/No-records-to-state-hockey-as-national-game/Article1-907069.aspx |archive-date=5 January 2013  }}</ref><ref name="Gooptu">{{cite journal|title=Cricket or cricket spectacle? Looking beyond cricket to understand Lagaan |first=S |last=Gooptu |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport|year=2004}}</ref><ref name="Karafin">{{cite book |title=South India |first1=Amy |last1=Karafin |first2=Anirban |last2=Mahapatra |year=2009 |publisher=Lonely Planet|page=69}}</ref> At a time when it was especially popular, the [[India men's national field hockey team|India national field hockey team]] won the 1975 [[Hockey World Cup|Men's Hockey World Cup]], and 8 [[Gold medal|gold]], 1 [[Silver medal|silver]], and 2 [[Bronze medal|bronze]] medals at the Olympic Games. However, field hockey in India no longer has the following that it once did.<ref name="Karafin"/>

[[Cricket]] is considered the most popular sport in India.<ref name="Gooptu"/> The [[India national cricket team]] won the [[1983 Cricket World Cup]], the [[2011 Cricket World Cup]], the [[2007 ICC World Twenty20]], the [[2013 ICC Champions Trophy]] and shared the [[2002 ICC Champions Trophy]] with [[Sri Lanka]]. Domestic competitions include the [[Ranji Trophy]], the [[Duleep Trophy]], the [[Deodhar Trophy]], the [[Irani Trophy]] and the [[NKP Salve Challenger Trophy|Challenger Series]]. In addition, [[Board of Control for Cricket in India|BCCI]] conducts the [[Indian Premier League]], a [[Twenty20]] competition.

[[association football|Football]] is popular in the Indian state of Kerala also considered as home of football in India.The city of [[Kolkata]] is the home to the largest stadium in [[India]], and the second [[List of stadiums by capacity|largest stadium in the world]] by capacity, [[Salt Lake Stadium]].National clubs such as [[Mohun Bagan A.C.]], [[Kingfisher East Bengal F.C.]], [[Prayag United S.C.]], and the [[Mohammedan Sporting Club (Kolkata)|Mohammedan Sporting Club]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal: India's all-consuming rivalry |url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/stories/classicderby/news/newsid=1414458.html |publisher=[[FIFA]] |access-date=7 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122032920/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/stories/classicderby/news/newsid%3D1414458.html |archive-date=22 November 2011  }}</ref>

[[Chess]] is commonly believed to have originated in northwestern India during the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta empire]],<ref name=Leibs92>Leibs (2004), p. 92</ref><ref name=RobinsonEstes34>Robinson & Estes (1996), p. 34</ref><ref name="Murray">{{cite book
 | last=Murray
 | first=H. J. R.
 | author-link=H. J. R. Murray
 | title=A History of Chess
 | publisher=Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press)
 | year=1913
 | isbn=978-0-936317-01-4
 | oclc=13472872
 | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchess00murr
 }}</ref><ref>Bird 1893, p. 63</ref> where its early form in the 6th century was known as ''[[chaturanga]]''. Other games which originated in India and continue to remain popular in wide parts of northern India include [[Kabaddi]], [[Gilli-danda]], and [[Kho kho]]. Traditional southern Indian games include [[Snake boat race]] and [[Kuttiyum kolum]]. The modern game of [[polo]] is derived from [[Manipur, India]], where the game was known as 'Sagol Kangjei', 'Kanjai-bazee', or 'Pulu'.<ref name="manipurpolo">{{cite web|title=Polo History | url = http://www.indiapolo.com/Polopedia/History/history.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indianpolo.com/manipurpolo/history.asp |title=Manipur Polo – Indianpolo.com, polo, polo in india |publisher=Indianpolo.com |date=25 March 2007 |access-date=25 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211023839/http://www.indianpolo.com/manipurpolo/history.asp |archive-date=11 February 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
It was the anglicised form of the last, referring to the wooden ball that was used, which was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west. The first polo club was established in the town of [[Silchar]] in Assam, India, in 1833.

In 2011, India inaugurated a privately built [[Buddh International Circuit]], its first motor racing circuit. The 5.14-kilometre circuit is in [[Greater Noida]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], near [[Delhi]]. The first [[Formula One]] [[Indian Grand Prix]] event was hosted here in October 2011.<ref>[http://zeenews.india.com/sports/motorsports/buddh-international-circuit-unveiled-amidst-cheers_731009.html "Buddh International Circuit unveiled amidst cheers"] 19 October 2011, Zee News</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/10/12704.html|work=Formula1.com|publisher=[[Formula One Group|Formula One Administration]]|date=28 October 2011|access-date=28 October 2011|title=India: Friday practice – selected team and driver quotes}}</ref>

===Indian martial arts===
{{Main|Indian martial arts}}
{{multiple image
| align = left
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| header = Indian martial arts
| width = 200
| image1 = JasmineSimhalan-kalaripayatt-silamb.gif
| caption1 = [[Jasmine Simhalan]] performing steps and postures [[Silambam]] and [[Kalarippayattu]], [[ancient India]] martial arts
| image2 = Yoga prayer by the Sea.jpg
| caption2 = [[Yoga]] originated in India. [[Patañjali]], in India's ancient books, suggests yoga's goal is to help one focus, reflect upon, know and express one's highest self.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Yoga System of Pantanjali, see Book First: Concentration |author=James Haughton Woods |year=1914 |publisher=Harvard University Press |url=https://archive.org/stream/yogasystemofpata00wooduoft#page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Yoga with Weights for Dummies |first1=Sherri |last1=Baptiste |first2=Megan |last2=Scott |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-74937-0 |year=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/yogawithweightsf00bapt_0 }}</ref> India's cultural journey with yoga is now popular in many parts of the world.
| total_width = 
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}}
One of the best known forms of ancient Indian martial arts is the ''[[Kalarippayattu]]'' from [[Kerala]]. This ancient fighting style is mentioned in [[Sangam literature]] 400 BCE and 600 CE and is regarded as one of the oldest surviving martial arts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.phillipzarrilli.com/downloads/actualizing_power.pdf|title=Actualizing Power and Crafting a Self in Kalarippayattu|last=Zarrilli|first=Phillip B.|publisher=Journal of Asian Martial Arts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628182657/http://www.phillipzarrilli.com/downloads/actualizing_power.pdf|archive-date=28 June 2007|url-status=dead|access-date=3 February 2019}}</ref><ref name="Zarilli1998">{{cite book |last=Zarrilli |first=Phillip B. |title=When the Body Becomes All Eyes: Paradigms, Discourses and Practices of Power in Kalarippayattu, a South Indian Martial Art |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-563940-7 |location=Oxford}}</ref> In this form of martial arts, various stages of physical training include [[ayurveda|ayurvedic]] massage with [[sesame oil]] to impart suppleness to the body (''uzichil''); a series of sharp body movements so as to gain control over various parts of the body (''miapayattu''); and, complex sword fighting techniques (''paliyankam'').<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww-qCQAAQBAJ&q=paliyankam&pg=PA54|title=Know Your India: "Turn a New Page to Write Nationalism"|publisher= Vij Books India Pvt Ltd.|author= Dr Ahmad Sayeed|isbn=9789384318680|date=4 October 2014}}</ref>[[Silambam]], which was developed around 200 AD, traces its roots to the [[Sangam period]] in southern India.<ref name="Raj">{{cite book |last=Raj|first=J. David Manuel |title=The Origin and the Historical Developlment of Silambam Fencing: An Ancient Self-Defence Sport of India |year=1977 |publisher=College of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Univ. of Oregon |location=Oregon |pages=44, 50, 83}}</ref> Silambam is unique among Indian martial arts because it uses complex footwork techniques (''kaaladi''), including a variety of spinning styles. A [[bamboo]] staff is used as the main weapon.<ref name="Raj" /> The ancient Tamil [[Sangam literature]] mentions that between 400 BCE and 600 CE, soldiers from southern India received special martial arts training which revolved primarily around the use of [[spear]] (''vel''), [[sword]] (''val'') and [[shield]] (''kedaham'').<ref>{{cite book
 | first=Thomas A.| last=Green|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v32oHSE5t6cC
 | title=Martial arts of the world: en encyclopedia. R – Z, Volume 2
 | publisher=ABC-CLIO|year= 2001
 | isbn=978-1-57607-150-2}}</ref>

Among eastern states, ''[[Paika akhada]]'' is a martial art found in [[Odisha]]. ''Paika akhada'', or ''paika akhara'', roughly translates as "warrior gymnasium" or "warrior school".<ref name="iakoweb">{{cite web|title=Paika Akhada|url=http://www.iakoweb.com/pakhada.html|publisher=Indian Association of Kickboxing Organisations|access-date=9 February 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712234507/http://www.iakoweb.com/pakhada.html|archive-date=12 July 2011}}</ref> In ancient times, these were training schools of the peasant militia. Today's [[Paika akhada]] teach physical exercises and martial arts in addition to the Paika dance, performance art with rhythmic movements and weapons being hit in time to the drum. It incorporates acrobatic manoeuvres and use of the [[khanda (sword)|khanda (straight sword)]], [[pata (sword)|patta (guantlet-sword)]], sticks, and other weapons.

In northern India, the ''[[musti yuddha]]'' evolved in 1100 AD and focussed on mental, physical and spiritual training.<ref>{{cite book
 | first=Jim| last=Ollhoff|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9GmhwcHTRoC
 | title=Martial Arts Around the Globe
 | publisher=ABDO Group|year= 2008
 | isbn=978-1-59928-979-3}}</ref> In addition, the ''Dhanur Veda'' tradition was an influential fighting arts style which considered the [[bow (weapon)|bow]] and the [[arrow]] to be the supreme weapons. The ''Dhanur Veda'' was first described in the 5th-century BCE [[Vishnu Purana|Viṣṇu Purāṇa]]<ref name="Zarilli1998"/> and is also mentioned in both of the major ancient Indian epics, the ''Rāmāyaṇa'' and ''Mahābhārata''. A distinctive factor of Indian martial arts is the heavy emphasis laid on meditation (''[[Dhyana in Hinduism|dhyāna]]'') as a tool to remove fear, doubt and anxiety.<ref>{{cite book
 | first=Sulaiman| last=Sharif|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BrttF8DY3JcC
 | title=50 Martial Arts Myths
 | publisher=new media entertainment ltd|year= 2009
 | isbn=978-0-9677546-2-8}}</ref>

Indian martial arts techniques have had a profound impact on other martial arts styles across Asia. The 3rd-century BCE ''[[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali]]'' taught how to meditate single-mindedly on points located inside one's body, which was later used in [[martial arts]], while various [[mudra]] finger movements were taught in [[Yogacara]] Buddhism. These elements of [[yoga]], as well as finger movements in the ''nata'' dances, were later incorporated into various martial arts.<ref name=Svinth>J. R. Svinth (2002). [http://ejmas.com/kronos A Chronological History of the Martial Arts and Combative Sports.] ''Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences''</ref> According to some historical accounts, the South Indian Buddhist monk [[Bodhidharma]] was one of the main founders of the [[Shaolin Kungfu]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Cephas, Shawn |date=Winter 1994 | title = The Root of Warrior Priests in the Martial Arts | journal = Kungfu Magazine }}</ref>

==Popular media==

===Television===
{{Main|Television in India}}
{{See also|List of Indian television stations}}
[[File:IIFA Toronto 2011 (10).jpg|thumb|Bollywood actors at [[International Indian Film Academy Awards]], Toronto 2011]]
Indian television started off in 1959 in New Delhi with tests for educational telecasts.<ref name=tvhistory>{{cite web| url =http://www.indiantelevision.com/indianbrodcast/history/historyoftele.htm| title =A Snapshot of Indian Television History| publisher =Indian Television Dot Com Pvt Ltd| access-date = 1 June 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=INDIA|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|year=2002|url=http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=india|access-date=26 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825030126/http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=india|archive-date=25 August 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Indian small screen programming started off in the mid-1970s. Only one national channel, the government-owned [[Doordarshan]] existed around that time. The year 1982 marked a revolution in TV programming in India, as the New Delhi Asian games became the first to be broadcast on the colour version of TV. The [[Ramayana]] and [[Mahabharat]] were among the popular television series produced. By the late 1980s television set ownership rapidly increased.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Patrick D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKuzDgAAQBAJ&q=1980S+INDIA+TELEVISION+OWNERSHIP+INCREASED&pg=PT68|title=The Media Commons: Globalization and Environmental Discourses|date=29 March 2017|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-09958-8|language=en}}</ref> Because a single channel was catering to an ever-growing audience, television programming quickly reached saturation. Hence the government started another channel that had part of national programming and part regional. This channel was known as DD 2 (later DD Metro). Both channels were broadcast terrestrially.

In 1991, the government liberated its markets, opening them up to [[cable television]]. Since then, there has been a spurt in the number of channels available. Today, the Indian small screen is a huge industry by itself and offers hundreds of programmes in almost all the regional languages of India. The small screen has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind, some even attaining national fame for themselves. TV soaps enjoy popularity among women of all classes. Indian TV also consists of Western channels such as [[Cartoon Network]], [[Nickelodeon]], [[HBO]], and [[FX (TV channel)|FX]]. In 2016 the list of TV channels in India stood at 892.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiantelevision.com/regulators/ib-ministry/total-of-television-channels-in-india-rises-to-892-with-three-cleared-in-june-160709|title=Total of television channels in India rises to 892, with three cleared in June|date=9 July 2016|website=Indian Television Dot Com|language=en|access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>

===Cinema===
{{Main|Cinema of India}}
{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;"
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File:Raja Harishchandra.jpg|A scene from ''[[Raja Harishchandra]]'' (1913), the first full-length Indian motion picture
File:Phalke.jpg|Producer-director-screenwriter [[Dadasaheb Phalke]], the "father of Indian cinema"
</gallery>
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''[[Bollywood]]'' is the informal name given to the popular [[Mumbai]]-based [[film|film industry]] in India. Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs (in [[Cinema of West Bengal|Bengali Cinema]], [[Oriya film industry]], Assamese, Kannada, [[Malayalam Cinema|Malayalam]], Marathi, [[Tamil language|Tamil]], Punjabi and [[Telugu language|Telugu]]) constitute the broader [[Cinema of India|Indian film industry]], whose output is considered to be the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced and number of tickets sold.

India has produced many cinema-makers like [[S.S.Rajamouli]], [[Satyajit Ray]], [[Mrinal Sen]], [[J. C. Daniel]], [[K. Viswanath]], [[Ram Gopal Varma]], [[Bapu (director)|Bapu]], [[Ritwik Ghatak]], [[Guru Dutt]], [[Adoor Gopalakrishnan]], [[Shaji N. Karun]], [[Girish Kasaravalli]], [[Shekhar Kapoor]], [[Hrishikesh Mukherjee]], [[Nagraj Manjule]], [[Shyam Benegal]], [[Shankar Nag]], [[Girish Karnad]], [[G. V. Iyer]], [[Mani Ratnam]], and [[K. Balachander]] (see also: [[List of Indian film directors|Indian film directors]]). With the opening up of the economy in recent years and consequent exposure to world cinema, audience tastes have been changing. In addition, multiplexes have mushroomed in most cities, changing the revenue patterns.

==Perceptions of Indian culture==
{{Main|Stereotypes of South Asians}}
[[File:Naga Girl.jpg|thumb|left|200px|An [[Ao Naga]] girl in her traditional attire in [[Nagaland]], [[Northeast India]].]]
[[File:SHAD SUK MYNSIEM.jpg|thumb|[[Khasi people|Khasi]] women in ''Shad suk Mynsiem'' festival, [[Meghalaya]]]]
India's diversity has inspired many writers to pen their perceptions of the country's culture. These writings paint a complex and often conflicting picture of the culture of India. India is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse countries in the world. The concept of "Indian culture" is a very complex and complicated matter. Indian citizens are divided into various ethnic, religious, caste, linguistic and regional groups, making the realities of "Indianness" extremely complicated. This is why the conception of Indian identity poses certain difficulties and presupposes a series of assumptions about what concisely the expression "Indian" means. However, despite this vast and heterogeneous composition, the creation of some sort of typical or shared Indian culture results from some inherent internal forces (such as a robust Constitution, universal adult franchise, flexible federal structure, secular educational policy, etc.) and from certain historical events (such as Indian Independence Movement, Partition, wars against Pakistan, etc.) [[Hindu Sanskriti Ankh]] is an ancient series of books originally from northern part of India highlighting the Bharatiya sanskriti, that is, the culture of India.

According to industry consultant Eugene M. Makar, for example, traditional Indian culture is defined by a relatively strict social hierarchy. He also mentions that from an early age, children are reminded of their roles and places in society.<ref name="makar">{{cite book|title=An American's Guide to Doing Business in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QB43fNiTKkC|first=Eugene M.|last=Makar|year=2008|isbn=978-1-59869-211-2}}</ref> This is reinforced, Makar notes, by the way, many believe gods and spirits have an integral and functional role in determining their life. Several differences such as religion divide the culture. However, a far more powerful division is [[Caste system in India|the traditional Hindu bifurcation into non-polluting and polluting occupations]]. Strict social taboos have governed these groups for thousands of years, claims Makar. In recent years, particularly in cities, some of these lines have blurred and sometimes even disappeared. He writes important family relations extend as far as 1 [[gotra]], the mainly patrilinear lineage or clan assigned to a Hindu at birth. In rural areas & sometimes in urban areas as well, it is common that three or four generations of the family live under the same roof. The [[patriarch]] often resolves family issues.<ref name="makar"/>

Others have a different perception of Indian culture. According to an interview with [[C. K. Prahalad|C.K. Prahalad]] by [[Des Dearlove]], author of many best selling business books, modern India is a country of very diverse cultures with many languages, religions, and traditions. Children begin by coping and learning to accept and assimilate in this diversity. Prahalad – who was born in India and grew up there – claimed, in the interview, that Indians, like everyone else in the world, want to be treated as unique, as individuals, want to express themselves and seek innovation.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=On the verge of something extraordinary|first=Des|last=Dearlove|author-link=Des Dearlove| journal=Business Strategy Review|date=Spring 2009|pages=17–20|url=http://bsr.london.edu/lbs-article/109/index.html}}</ref> In another report, Nancy Lockwood of [[Society for Human Resource Management]], the world's largest human resources association with members in 140 countries, writes that in the past two decades or so, social change in India is in dramatic contrast to the expectations from traditional Indian culture. These changes have led to Indian families giving education opportunities to girls, accepting women working outside the home, pursuing a career, and opening the possibility for women to attain managerial roles in corporate India. Lockwood claims that change is slow, yet the scale of cultural change can be sensed from the fact that of India's 397 million workers, 124 million are now women. The issues in India with women empowerment are similar to those elsewhere in the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=Perspectives on Women in Management in India|first=Nancy|last=Lockwood|publisher=Society for Human Resource Management|year=2009|url=http://www.shrm.org/Research/Articles/Articles/Documents/09-0677_India_Women_Ldrshp_FNL.pdf|access-date=9 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305033706/http://www.shrm.org/Research/Articles/Articles/Documents/09-0677_India_Women_Ldrshp_FNL.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to [[Amartya Sen]], the India born Nobel Laureate in Economics, the culture of modern India is a complex blend of its historical traditions, influences from the effects of colonial rule over centuries and current Western culture – both collaterally and dialectically. Sen observes that external images of India in the West often tend to emphasise the difference – real or imagined – between India and the West.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity|first=Amartya|last=Sen|year=2005|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-312-42602-6|url=https://www.amazon.com/Argumentative-Indian-Writings-History-Identity/dp/tags-on-product/031242602X}}</ref> There is a considerable inclination in the Western countries to distance and highlight the differences in Indian culture from the mainstream of Western traditions, rather than discover and show similarities. Western writers and media usually misses, in important ways, crucial aspects of Indian culture and traditions. The deep-seated heterogeneity of Indian traditions, in different parts of India, is neglected in these homogenised descriptions of India. The perceptions of Indian culture, by those who weren't born and raised in India, tend to be one of at least three categories, writes Sen:
* Exoticist approach: it concentrates on the wondrous aspects of the culture of India. The focus of this approach of understanding Indian culture is to present the different, the strange and as Hegel put it, "a country that has existed for millennia in the imaginations of the Europeans."
* Magisterial approach: it assumes a sense of superiority and guardianship necessary to deal with India, a country that James Mill's historiography thought of as grotesquely primitive culture. While a great many British observers did not agree with such views of India, and some non-British ones did, it is an approach that contributes to some confusion about the culture of India.
* Curatorial approach: it attempts to observe, classify and record the diversity of Indian culture in different parts of India. The curators do not look only for the strange, are not weighed by political priorities, and tend to be freer from stereotypes. The curatorial approach, nevertheless, has an inclination to see Indian culture as more special and extraordinarily interesting than it actually may be.

The curatorial approach, one inspired by a systematic curiosity for the cultural diversity of India within India, is mostly absent.

[[Susan Bayly]], in her book, observes that there is a considerable dispute in India and Orientalist scholars on perceived Indian culture. She acknowledges that many dispute claims of the pervasiveness of caste and strict social hierarchy in modern India. Bayly notes that much of the Indian subcontinent was populated by people for whom the formal distinctions of caste and strict social hierarchies were of only limited importance in their lifestyles.<ref>{{cite book|title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age|first=Susan|last=Bayly|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-521-79842-6|url=http://www.cambridge.org/9780521264341}}</ref>

Tanisha Rathore from ''Thousand Miles Online Magazine'' wrote, "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi (since his government 2014) has taken many initiatives for a better environment, like to throw the trash in dustbins. I don't understand how graduates, post-graduates and sometimes doctorates fail to understand this; Trash should be thrown in bins which a toddler easily understands. Is this the successive evolution of the human brain in its educational years?"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thousandmilessite.in/coexistence-with-nature/|title=Coexistence With Nature {{!}} Articles|date=25 February 2019|website=Thousand Miles|language=en-GB|access-date=3 March 2019}}</ref>

According to Rosser, an American sociologist, Americans of South Asian origins feel the Western perception of the culture of India has numerous stereotypes. Rosser notes that the discourse in much of the United States about the culture of India is rarely devoted to independent India. People quickly make sweeping and flawed metaphysical assumptions about its religion and culture but are far more circumspect when evaluating civil society and political culture in modern India. It is as if the value of South Asia resides only in its ancient contributions to human knowledge whereas its pathetic attempts to modernise or develop are to be winked at and patronised.<ref name=rosser1>{{cite journal|title=Stereotypes in Schooling: Negative Pressures in the American Educational System on Hindu Identity Formation |journal=Teaching South Asia, A Journal of Pedagogy |volume=1 |issue=1 |date=Winter 2001 |pages=23–76 |url=http://www.sdstate.edu/projectsouthasia/Resources/vol-i.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208094030/http://www.sdstate.edu/projectsouthasia/Resources/vol-i.cfm |archive-date= 8 December 2015 }}</ref> Rosser conducted numerous interviews and summarised the comments. The study reports a stark contrast between Western perceptions of the culture of India, versus the direct experience of the interviewed people. For example:

{{quotation|The presentation of South Asians is a standard pedagogic approach which runs quickly from the "Cradle of Civilisation"—contrasting the Indus Valley with Egypt and Mesopotamia—on past the Aryans, who were somehow our ancestors— to the poverty-stricken, superstitious, polytheistic, caste-ridden Hindu way of life&nbsp;... and then somehow magically culminates with a eulogy of Mahatma Gandhi. A typical textbook trope presents standard Ancient India Meets the Age of Expansion Approach with a colour photo of the Taj Mahal. There may be a sidebar on ahimsa or a chart of connecting circles graphically explaining samsara and reincarnation or illustrations of the four stages of life or the Four Noble Truths. Amid the dearth of real information, there may be found an entire page dedicated to a deity such as Indra or Varuna, who admittedly are rather an obscure vis-à-vis the beliefs of most modern Hindus.|A South Asian in America<ref name=rosser1/>}}

==See also==

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[North Indian culture]]
* [[South Indian culture]]
* [[Culture of the Indian subcontinent]]
* [[Customs and etiquette in Indian dining]]
* [[Indian religions]]
* [[Lists of Indian people]]
* [[South Asian ethnic groups]]
* [[Atithi Devo Bhava]]
* [[Cultural Zones of India]]
* [[Glossary of Indian culture]]
{{div col end}}

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|40em}}
*[[Aurobindo|Ghose, Aurobindo]]. 1998. The foundations of Indian culture. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
*{{cite book|first=Natalia|last=Lidova|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0071 |title= Natyashastra }}
*{{cite book |first=Natalia |last=Lidova |title=Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TKarwqJJP0C |date=1994 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1234-5 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Williams|first=Drid|title=In the Shadow of Hollywood Orientalism: Authentic East Indian Dancing|url=http://jashm.press.illinois.edu/12.3/12-3IntheShadow_Williams78-99.pdf|journal=Visual Anthropology|volume=17|issue=1|year=2004|pages=69–98|doi=10.1080/08949460490274013|s2cid=29065670|access-date=1 August 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121105/http://jashm.press.illinois.edu/12.3/12-3IntheShadow_Williams78-99.pdf|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |first=Tarla |last=Mehta |title=Sanskrit Play Production in Ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l7naMj1UxIkC |year=1995 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1057-0 }}
*{{cite book |author=Emmie Te Nijenhuis |author-link=Emmie te Nijenhuis |title=Indian Music: History and Structure |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrgfAAAAIAAJ |year=1974 |publisher=BRILL Academic |isbn=978-90-04-03978-0 }}
*Gupta, S. P., & Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. (2011). The roots of Indian art: A detailed study of the formative period of Indian art and architecture, third and second centuries B.C., Mauryan and late Mauryan. Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation.
*{{cite book |first=Kapila |last=Vatsyayan |title=Bharata, the Nāṭyaśāstra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zKW1PAAACAAJ |year=2001 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=978-81-260-1220-6 }}
*{{cite book| first=Kapila | last=Vatsyayan |title=Classical Indian dance in literature and the arts |year=1977 |publisher=Sangeet Natak Akademi |oclc= 233639306}}, [http://library.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/toc/z2008_2719.pdf Table of Contents]
* Public Broadcasting System, USA (2008). [https://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/teachers/lessons/ The story of India – history and culture]
* Sharma, Ram Sharan (2005), ''[[India's Ancient Past]]'', (Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-568785-9}}).
* Bajpai, Shiva (2011). ''[http://www.himalayanacademy.com/media/books/the-history-of-hindu-india/the-history-of-hindu-india.pdf The History of India – From Ancient to Modern Times]'', (Himalayan Academy Publications (Hawaii, USA), {{ISBN|978-1-934145-38-8}})
* A.L. Basham, The Wonder That was India, {{ISBN|0-330-43909-X}}, Picador London
* Auboyer, Jeannine (2002). ''Daily Life in Ancient India, from 200 BC to 700 AD.'' (originally published in French in 1961), Phoenix Press, London {{ISBN|1-84212-591-5}}
* Dalmia, Vasudha and Rashmi Sadana (editors), ''The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-51625-9}}
* Grihault, Nicki. ''Culture Smart! India: A Quick Guide to Customs and Etiquette''. {{ISBN|1-85733-305-5}}.
* Henderson, Carol E. (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=CaRVePXX6vEC Culture and Customs of India]''. Greenwood Publishing Group. {{ISBN|0-313-30513-7}}.
* [[V.S. Naipaul|Naipaul, V.S]], ''India: A Million Mutinies Now'', {{ISBN|0-7493-9920-1}}.
* Nilakanta Sastri, A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-560686-8}}
* [[Mark Tully|Tully, Mark]]. ''No Full Stops in India''. {{ISBN|0-14-010480-1}}
* Patra, Avinash (2012), ''[https://oxford.academia.edu/AvinashPatra/Books/1917989/The_Spiritual_Life_and_Culture_of_India The Spiritual Life and Culture of India]'', Oxford University Press, England.
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |editor-surname=Chattopadhyaya |editor-given=D. P. |editor-link=D. P. Chattopadhyaya |title=[[Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture|History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization]] |volume=15-volum + parts Set |place=Delhi |publisher=[[Centre for Studies in Civilizations]]}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140304205437/http://www.indiaculture.nic.in/indiaculture/ Ministry of Culture], Government of India, Links to some cultural sites and available grants for understanding the cultural diversity and society of India
* [https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/in/ India and World Cultural Heritage] A UNESCO site describing cultural heritage sites of India
* [http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00311&cp=IN India's intangible cultural heritage] Another UNESCO site dedicated to Indian dance and other cultural heritage

{{India topics}}
{{Life in India}}
{{Culture of Asia}}

[[Category:Arts in India|Arts in India]]
[[Category:Indian culture| ]]
[[Category:Indian society| ]]