Our Cultural Heritage

 Our Cultural Heritage

For thinking minds to blossom, for arts and sciences to develop, a primary condition is a safe and secure society. A rich culture is impossible in a community of nomads where people struggle for life. India has got all the gifts of nature. Nature yielded enough food and man did not have to toil very hard for meeting the basic needs.

Before we proceed further, let us understand what Culture is.

Culture is the storehouse of symbols, ideas and materials products associated with a social system. In India, great civilisation and culture have flourished from time immemorial. The diversity of India is tremendous. It is a land of many languages. It is home to many ethnic groups. But there are certain common links which act as threads and effect unity among diversity. India has many great traditions.

Cultural heritage stands for things that have been passed on from earlier generations to the present generation. Of special significance are the works of literature, music and art in all its forms and shades. India has a rich cultural heritage. It is a healthy blend of various cultures.

The Indus Valley Civilisation(Harappan Civilisation)is among the oldest and the most developed civilisations of the world. The people were fairly advanced and had access to public baths, neat and clean clothes , good towns with wide roads and other facilities. They even had a script which closely resembles those of the Dravidian languages.

The Vedas are the earliest documents of the human mind that the world processes. It gives us abundant information. In them, we find freshness, simplicity,and charm and an effort to understand the  mysteries of the world.

Ancient Indians epics, namly Ramayana, and the Mahabharta hold the eternal lesson of victory of good over evil. The Bhagavad Gita is a book full of philosophical principles. Lord Buddha (563-483 B.C.) preached passions. Hinduism has a large number of gods and goddesses, besides the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. It allows its followers to worship god in any form they like.

Guru Nanak Dev(1469-1539), the founder of Sikhism laid supreme stress on true faith, simplicity, and purity of life and religious tolerance. Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Christianity, and Islam are among the major religions followed n India. Traditionally, tolerance of all faiths is a part of our cultural heritage. India is a secular country and the state treats all religions equally.

Indian Paintings and sculpture left a deep impact on different civilisations. Rock caves in Hoshangabad, Mirzapur, Bhimbetka are witness to the paintings of primitive men. The paintings of the Ajantha caves are a rare piece of work. Many painters emerged during the British colonial era. Amrita Shergil, Jamini Roy and Rabindra Nath Tagore were the pioneers of modern paintings. The Ashoka pillar, the Sanchi stupa, the temples at konark, Khajuraho, and Mahabalipuram are unique works of Indian sculpture. Jama Masjid, Red Fort, Taj Mahal, and Humayun’s Tomb show a blend of Indian and Mughal architecture. All these marvels were created during the Mughal period of Indian History.

Music is one of the oldest forms of expression of human thoughts and emotions. Indian music is based on the concept of ragas and talas. There are two major schools of classical music- the Carnactic and the Hindustani. Indian musicians like Bhimsen Joshi , M.S.Subbulakshmi , Kishori Amonkar, Pt. Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pt. Ravi Shankar and others have popularized our music in India and abroad.

Dance in India has an unbroken tradition of over 2,000 years. Its themes are derived from mythology, legends and classical literature. There are two main forms of dance in India. These are folk dance and classical dance. The Indian style dance is based on rasa, bhava and abhinaya. They are not just the movement of legs and arms, but of the whole body. Most of the Just classical dances were conceived and nurtured in the temples. They attained their full stature there. Classical dance forms are based on ancient dance discipline. Most of the Indian classical dance styles are depicted on the walls and pillars of famous Indian temples. There are five main classical dance forms namely, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kathak and Odissi. Other prominent dances are Kuchipudi and Mohiniattam. Some well-known classical dancers are Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sonal Man Singh, Birju Maharaj. Gopi Krishna, Guru Bipin Sinha, Javeri Sisters, Kelucharan Mahapatra, etc.

India has a rich literary heritage which includes regional literature. Regional literature, in fact, has often contributed to the fostering of a national identity and a national culture. India has always been a linguistically diverse community. Even in ancient times, there was no common language which was spoken by all Indians.

Sanskrit was the language of the elite whereas Prakrit and Ardha Magadhi civilisation were commonly spoken by the masses. During the Mughal rule, Persian witness took the place of Sanskrit as the court language while Urdu and Hindustani were the languages of the common masses in North India. However, the colonial n Dravidian languages continued to flourish in the south.

Kalidasa's Abhijnana Shakuntalam and Meghdutam, Vishakhadatta's Mrichchhakatikam, and Jaideva's Geet Govindam are rated very highly for their literary excellence. The period from mid-14th century to mid-17 century was dominated by the Bhakti Kavyas or devotional poetry. Kabir, ing the Mugh Surdas and Tulsidas were famous poets of this era. The modern period of Hindi was ushered in by Bhartendu Harishchandra. Poets like Maithili dia. Aryabhe Sharan Gupt, Jayashankar Prasad, Sumitra Nandan Pant, Surya Kant Tripathi 'Nirala', Munshi Premchand and Mahadevi Verma have made rich contributions to modern Hindi Literature. India has produced a number of literary marvels in English as well. These were Toru Dytt, Nissim Ezekiel, Sarojini Naidu, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, to name a few. Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel prize for his collection of poems 'Gitanjali'.

It is true that India has a rich cultural heritage and that Indians have excelled in different spheres.However, it should also be acknowledged that we have inherited some negative aspects of our culture as well. Division of society on the basis of division of labor gave birth to the caste system. The caste system created a gulf among people leading to disunity and conflicts in the society. Child marriage, sati, untouchability, dowry, female infanticide and many other social evils were born in the Indian society. The widows in many parts of our country are condemned to a life of misery.

The philosophical thoughts of Raja Rammohan Roy, Dayanand Saraswati Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have contributed a lot to eliminate the negative elements from Indian culture. Since independence, Indians have been keen on promoting their sense of national identity and cultural unity.

 

Culture is dynamic, cross currents of other cultures always influence the culture of a country. It is more so in the present day world, where boundaries virtually have ceased to exist. Let us keep our windows and doors open to other cultures and to their healthy influence, but we should stand steady and not be swept off our feet against its onslaught.

(Sources: Editorials of Indian Express And Art & culture by Nitin Singhania)