Cultural History Of India

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.John Keay (2012), ''India: A History'', 2nd Ed – Revised and Updated, Grove Press / Harper Collins, , see Introduction and Chapters 3 through 11Mohammada, Malika (2007), ''The foundations of the composite culture in India'', Aakar Books, Influences from the Muslim world and the West (primarily the United Kingdom) significantly affected the culture during the second millennium.

Ancient era

The culture of the Indo-Aryans became the main culture of ancient India; however, a variety of indigenous groups were also present which interacted with the Indo-Aryans.

The geography of the Indian subcontinent shaped the region's interactions with the world, as the northern mountain ranges restricted contact with the rest of Asia, and the Indian Ocean to the south enabled Indian sailors to trade and export their culture and religion. It has often been argued that the bounteousness of the natural environment in the subcontinent, coupled with the inevitability of the vicious impact of certain natural cycles such as the monsoon, made Indians more attracted towards comforts while becoming more accepting of a challenging fate.

Indo-Muslim era

Colonial era

Western culture was introduced into India through a variety of means, as British colonialism and Christian missionaries sought to reshape local culture. The struggle for cultural and political supremacy played out in a variety of ways, such as in sports, which was later picturised in the 2001 film Lagaan. The most noticeable legacy of this period is the English language which emerged as the administrative and lingua franca of India and Pakistan (and which also greatly influenced the native languages) followed by the blend of native and gothic/sarcenic architecture. The modern Indian city came into shape, as seen in the history of modernisation and community synthesis in Bombay (now Mumbai).

British archaeologists and cultural enthusiasts played a significant role during the colonial era in rediscovering and publicising some of India's pre-Islamic heritage, which had begun to disappear during the Indo-Muslim period, as well as preserving some of the Mughal monuments.

By the late colonial era, the nationalist movement had begun to chalk out a path forward for India. Under Gandhi's leadership, the movement reached a greater level of creativity in drawing upon foreign and precolonial heritage. Jawaharlal Nehru, who went on to become India's first Prime Minister, likened India's culture to an "ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously" in his book The Discovery of India.

Contemporary era

Early postcolonial Indian culture was based around the struggle of having to build a new nation, which was shaped by the 1947 experience of decolonisation from British rule and the partition from Pakistan. Nirad C. Chaudhuri argued in 1954 that the Westernisation of India had actually peaked after India's independence, brought on by a Westernised ruling class and inducing deeper changes in the way of life of Indians than were perceived by most observers.

In the 21st century, competing forms of nationalism, be they civic, religious (see Hindutva), ethnocultural or otherwise, have increasingly shaped cultural debates in India and its neighbours.

See also

* Asian relations with Northeast India

References

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