Indian culture

SOUTH INDIAN CULTURE LANGUAGE The Dravidian Family of Languages constitutes the largest linguistic group in southern India. It comprises of seventy three languages. The major languages spoken include Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. Tulu is spoken by about 1.5 million people in coastal Kerala and Karnataka and Konkani, an Indo-Aryan language, is spoken by half a million people in the Konkan coast. English is also widely spoken in urban areas of South India. Urdu is spoken by around 12 million Muslims in southern India. Tamil was the first language to be granted ‘classical language’, status by the Government of India in 2004. Other major languages declared classical were Kannada in 2008, Telugu in 2008 and Malayalam in 2013. RELIGION Hinduism forms the dominant religion in south India as well, with about 80% of the population adhering to it. The second most followed religion is Islam ...

SOUTH INDIAN CULTURE A more insightful learning of the South Indian culture would lead to the awareness of the various other heritages of the state that have been beautifully set apart from that of the rest of the country. LITERATURE S outh Indian literature dates back to over 2500 years ago with the oldest being the Sangam literature, dating back to 2500-2100 years ago. It is composed of three successive poetic assemblies known as Tamil Sangams which also include the oldest grammar treatise, Tholkappiyam as well as epics written in Tamil, Silappatikaram and Manimekalai that are read and remembered by the Tamilians, even today, with great appeal. Kannada literature has known to exist from the fourth century CE. Telugu literature can be traced back to the early 10th century period. distinct Malayalam literature came later in the 13th century. ARCHITECTURE The two pronounced styles of architecture in South India are the Dravidian style of Tamil Nadu and the Ve...

SOUTH INDIAN CULTURE- PUDUCHERRY A popular union territory in the southern area of India is that of Puducherry, which lies in the southern part of the peninsula. Previously known as Pondicherry, it was formed out of four territories, of former French India, geographically separated by surrounding alien territories of one or more states. These territories were Pondichéry, Karikal  (Karaikal),  Mahé  and  Yanam. It is named after the largest district, Puducherry. After bearing the name of Pondicherry throughout history, the territory changed its name to Puducherry in 2006. The areas of Puducherry district and Karaikal district are bound by the state of Tamil Nadu, while Yanam district and Mahé district are enclosed by the states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively. The territory’s crowded roads and swarming beaches are a mark of its position as third most densely populated of the st...

SOUTH INDIAN CULTURE - LAKSHADWEEP Several kilometres off the coast of India, a group of islands, that also forms one of the Union Territories of the country, is positioned in the Laccadive Sea. It holds the title of the smallest Union Territory of India and was formerly popular as  the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Aminidivi Islands . This Union Territory is now known as the Lakshadweep Islands. The region is a single Indian district with ten subdivisions and Kavaratti, serving as its capital. Lakshadweep is a cluster of twelve  atolls , t hree  reefs and five submerged banks, with a total of about thirty-nine islands and islets. Most inhabitants are descendants of migrants from the Malabar Coast and ethnically similar to coastal Kerala’s Malayali people while the Minicoy population is made of Mahls that are native to Maldives. Religion Different religious customs were known to be practiced by the islanders, before Islam was propounde...

SOUTH INDIAN CULTURE - TELANGANA On the centre-south stretch of the  Indian peninsula, situated on the elevated plane of the Deccan Plateau, is the state of Telangana. On 2 June 2014, it was separated from the north-western part of Andhra Pradesh to become the 29th state of the country. It is bound by the states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to the north, east, west and south, respectively. The state holds Hyderabad as its permanent historic capital, while housing other major cities like  Warangal, Nizamabad, Khammam and Karimnagar within its territory. Hyderabad and Warangal, prove to be the cultural hearts of the state with their notable wealth and renowned historical structures, some of them being Charminar, Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Chowmahalla Palace, Falaknuma Palace, Birla Mandir and Nagarjun sagar, Bhongir Fort, Wa...

INDIAN TRIBAL CULTURE – India is a country of varied people, languages, food, traditions, customs and beliefs, within the 3,287,263 square kilometres of land space. Each state has its own distinguished culture that stands out from the rest. In addition to this, there are the several tribal communities, native to various regions of the country. The indigenous tribes of India have existed as a part of its varied culture, right from the primitive years to present, modern day. However, as the rest of the country paced forward in the race of development and modernisation, most of the tribal communities have wished not to compete, while those who have chosen to participate have lagged behind to a great extent. The isolation of these communities and their unwillingness to interact with the rest of the inhabitants, has contributed to their steady decline. The number of tribes in the country, has thus, reduced to a great extent. Some of these tribes have been given legal recogn...

SOUTH INDIAN CULTURE- TAMIL NADU The state of Tamil Nadu makes the southern-most part of India where it is guarded by the other states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Pondicherry. Beyond its border lies the Indian Ocean in the south and the Bay of Bengal in the east. The state shelters historic buildings, multi-religious pilgrimage sites, hill stations and eight World Heritage sites, while the cultural heritage continues to develop through its flourishing music, dance, literature, theatre, cuisine, and other art forms that collectively make up the rich tradition of the state. Tamil Nadu is a land most known for its monumental ancient Hindu temples and classical form of dance Bharata Natyam. It houses cultural features like Bharatanatyam, Tanjore painting, and Tamil architecture which continue to be practised in the state. Dance The various dance forms prevalent in Tamil Nadu include, Bamber da...

FACTS Geographical Features of North India Himalayan mountain ranges bound India from North to East with territorial borders with Pakistan in North and with China, Myanmar ( Burma) and Bangladesh in North-East. Arabian Sea in the West and Bay of Bengal in the East makes it a geographical triangle ending at Southern tip in Indian Ocean with a total coastline of 7,000 sp.km. Its total Area is 3,287,263 sq km. However, North India constitutes Northern Himalayas and Indo-Gangetic plains only. North India is a gateway to Deccan (South) and deserts in west.  Climate of North India  is temperate in contrast to tropical monsoon in the south. 10 Basic Things That You Did Not Know About North India Any state above  Karnataka  and  Andhra Pradesh  is not considered as North India. We have East India, West India, North East India, North West India and North India. In short, Kolkata is in East India and the famous Mumbai is a west...

LITERATURE North India was the birthplace of  Kalidasa , who wrote classic  Sanskrit  plays like  Mālavikāgnimitram ,  Abhijñānaśākuntalam  and  Vikramōrvaśīyam  and poems like  Raghuvaṃśa ,  Kumārasambhava ,  Ṛtusaṃhāra  and  Meghadūta  in which the use of imagination and similes remains unequaled by any other literary work. Apart from these Sanskrit dramas,  Pāṇini 's  Ashtadhyayi  standardized Sanskrit grammar and phonetics and left an indelible mark on these aspects of Sanskrit. Panini was a grammarian from approximately 5th century BC, his Ashtadhyayi is looked upon as a masterpiece and as a study in brevity and completeness. Medieval North India had great literary scholars like  Tulsidas ,  Surdas ,  Chand Bardai ,  Amir Khusro  whose works  Ramcharitmanas ,  Sur Sagar ,  Prithiviraj Raso  and  Khamsa-e-Nizami  respectively cont...