, CONTENTS
S. NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.
01 INTRODUCTION 04
02 CLASSICAL DANCES 12
03 INDIAN ARCHITECTURE 26
04 ANCIENT INDIAN LITERATURE 48
05 INDIAN SCULPTURE 59
06 HINDUSTANI MUSIC 73
07 PAINTING 87
08 PUPPET 104
09 TRADITIONAL THEATRE 108
10 INDIAN RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHIES 112
11. INDIAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE 133
12. FAIRS AND FESTIVALS OF INDIA 163
, 1. INTRODUCTION
The word culture, from the Latin colo,-ere, with its root A culture, then, is by definition at least, a/set of cultural
meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of hu- objects. Anthropologist Leslie White asked: "What sort of
man activity and the symbolic structures that give such objects are they ? Are they physical objects? Mental ob-
activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" re- jects? Both? Metaphors? Symbols? Reifications?" In Sci-
flect different theoretical bases for understanding or criteria ence of Culture (1949), he concluded that they are objects
for evaluating, human activity. Anthropologists most com- "sui generis" that is, of their own kind. In trying to define
monly use the term "culture" to refer to the \uuNsvsaA that kind, he hit upon a previously unrealised aspect of
hvvman capacity to c\as,?Afy, cod\fy ai\A communicate symbolisation, which he called "the symbofate"- an object
their experiences symbolically. This capacity has long been created by the act of symbolisation. He thus defined culture
taken as a defining feature of the genus Homo. However, as "symbolates understood in an extra-somatic context."
primatologists such as Jane Goodall have identified aspects The key to this definition is the discovery of the syrnbolate.
of culture among our closest relatives in the animal king- Key Components of Culture
dom. Similarly, it has recently been determined that the Orca A common way of understanding culture.sees it as con-
pods have culture specific vocalisations and tastes for food. sisting of four elements that are "passed on from generation
Orcas used in theme parks are exclusively from pods that to generation by learning alone":
only feed on fish.
1. Values.
Defining "Culture" 2. Norms.
Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire 3. Institutions.
society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, lan- 4. Artifacts.
guage, religion, rituals, norms of behaviour and systems, of
Values comprise ideas about what in life seems impor-
belief. Various definitions of culture reflect differing theo-
tant. They guide the rest of the culture. Norms consist of
ries for understanding - or criteria for evaluating- human
expectations of how people will behave. in various situa-
activity. Sir Edward B. Tylor writing from the perspective of
tions. Each culture has methods, called sanctions, of en-
social anthropology in the UK in 1871 described culture in forcing its norms. Sanctions vary with the importance of the
the following way: "Culture or civilisation, taken in its wide norm; norms that a society enforces formally have the sta-
ethnographic sense, is that whole complex which includes tus of laws. Institutions are the structures of a society within
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other which values and norms are transmitted. Artifacts-things or
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of so- aspects of material culture-derive from a culture's values
ciety." and norms.
More recently, the United Nations Educational. Scien- Julian Huxley gives a slightly different division, into in-
tific and Cultural Organisation UNESCO (2002) described ter-related "mentifacts", "socifacts" and "artifacts", for ideo-
culture as follows:"... culture should be regarded as the set logical, sociological and technological subsystems respec-
of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional tively. Socialisation, in Huxley's view, depends on the belief
features of society or a social group and that it encompasses, subsystem. The sociological subsystem governs interac-
in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living tion between people. Material objects and their use make up
together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". the technological subsystem.
While these two definitions cover a range of meaning, As a rule, archaeologists focus on material culture,
they do not exhaust the many uses of the term "culture." In whereas cultural anthropologists focus on symbolic cul-
1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list ture, although ultimately both groups maintain interests in
of more than 200 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Criti- the relationships between these two dimensions. Moreover,
cal Review of Concepts and Definitions. anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to
consumption goods, but to the general processes which
These definitions and many others, provide a catalog of
produce such goods and give them meaning and to the so-
the element; of culture. The items catalogued (e.g., a law, a
cial relationships and practices in which such objects and
stone tool, a marriage) each have an existence .and life-line
processes become embedded.
of their own. They come into space-time at one set of coor-
dinates and go out of it another. While here, they change, Culture as Civilisation
so that one may speak of the evolution of 'the law or the Many people today have an idea of "culture" that de-
tool.
, veloped in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. just cultured in a different way. Thus social observers con-
This notion of culture reflected '.'inequalities' within Euro- trast the "high" culture of elites to "popular" or pop culture,
pean societies and between European powers and their colo- meaning goods and activities produced for and consumed
nies around the world. It identifies "culture" with by the masses. (Note that some classifications relegate both
"civilisation" and contrasts it with-"nature:" According to high and low cultures to the status of subcultures.)
this way of thinking, one can classify some countries as
Culture as Worldview
more civilised than other and some people as more cultured
than others. Some cultural theorists have thus tried to elimi- During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, especially
nate popular or mass culture from the definition of culture. those concerned with nationalist movements - such as the
Theorists such as Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) or the nationalist struggle to create a "Germany" out of diverse
Leavises regard culture as simply the result of "the best that principalities and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minori-
has been thought and said in the world" Arnold contrasted ties against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - developed a more
culture with social chaos or anarchy. On this account, cul- inclusive notion of culture as "worldview," In this mode of
ture links closely with social cultivation: the progressive thought, a distinct and incommensurable worldview
refinement of human behaviour. Arnold consistently uses characterises each ethnic group. Although more inclusive
the word 'his way: "... culture being a pursuit of our total than earlier views, this approach to culture still allowed for
perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters distinctions between 'civilised' and "primitive" or "tribal"
which most concern us, the best which hac; been thought cultures.
and said in the world". By the late 19th century, anthropologists had adopted
In practice, culture referred to elite goods and activities and adapted the term culture to a broader definition that
such as haute cuisine, high fashion or haute couture, mu- they could apply to a wider variety of societies. Attentive to
seum-caliber art and classical music and the word cultured the theory of evolution, they assumed that all human be-
described people who knew about and took part in these ings evolved equally and that the fact that all humans have
activities. For example, someone who used 'culture' in the cultures must in some way result from human evolution.
sense of 'cultivation' might argue that classical music is more They also showed some reluctance to use biological evolu-
refined than music produced by working-class people, such tion to explain differences between specific cultures -an
as punk rock or the indigenous music traditions of aborigi- approach that either exemplified a form of or segment of
nal peoples of Australia. society vis-a-vis other segments and the society as a whole,
they often reveal processes of domination and resistance;
People who use the term "culture".in this way tend not
to use it in the plural as "cultures". They do not believe that In the 1950s, subcultures - groups with distinctive char-
distinct cultures exist, each with their own internal logic and acteristics within a larger culture - began to be the subject of
values;, but rather that only a single standard of refinement study by sociologists. The 20th century also saw the
suffices, against which one can measure all' groups. Thus, popularisation of the idea of corporate culture - distinct and
according to this worldview, people with different customs malleable within the context of an employing organisation
from those who regard themselves as cultured do not usu- or a workplace.
ally count as "having a different culture," but are classed as Culture as Symbols
"uncultured." People lacking "culture" often seemed more
The symbolic view of culture, the legacy of Clifford
"natural," and observers often defended (or criticised) ele-
Geertz (1973) and Victor Turner (1967), holds symbols to be
ments of high culture for repressing "human nature".
both the practices of social actors and the context that gives
From the 18th century onwards, some social critics have such practices meaning.-Anthony P, Cohen (1985) writes of
accepted this contrast between cultured and uncultured, the "symbolic gloss" which allows social actors to use com-
but have stressed the interpretation of refinement and, of mon syrnbols to communicate and understand each other
sophistication as corrupting and unnatural developments while still imbuing these symbols with personal significance
that obscure and distort people's essential, nature. On this and meanings. Symbols provide the limits of cultured
account, folk music (as produced by working-class people) thought. Members of a culture rely on these symbols to
honestly expresses a natural way of life and classical music frame their thoughts and expressions in intelligible terms. In
seems superficial and decadent. Equally, this view often short, symbols make culture possible, reproducible and read-
portrays Indigenous peoples as 'noble savages' living au- able. They are the "webs of significance" in Weber's sense
thentic unblemished lives, uncomplicated and uncorrupted that, to quote Pierre Bourdieu (1977), "give regularity, unity
by tbe highly-stratified capitalist systems of the West. and systematicity to the practices of a group."
Today most social scientists reject the monadic concep-
tion of culture and the opposition of culture to nature. They Culture as a Stabilising Mechanism
recognise non-elites as just as cultured as elites (and non- Modern cultural theory also considers the possibility
Westerners as just as civilised)-simply regarding them as that (a) culture itself is a product of stabilisation tendencies
5
S. NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.
01 INTRODUCTION 04
02 CLASSICAL DANCES 12
03 INDIAN ARCHITECTURE 26
04 ANCIENT INDIAN LITERATURE 48
05 INDIAN SCULPTURE 59
06 HINDUSTANI MUSIC 73
07 PAINTING 87
08 PUPPET 104
09 TRADITIONAL THEATRE 108
10 INDIAN RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHIES 112
11. INDIAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE 133
12. FAIRS AND FESTIVALS OF INDIA 163
, 1. INTRODUCTION
The word culture, from the Latin colo,-ere, with its root A culture, then, is by definition at least, a/set of cultural
meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of hu- objects. Anthropologist Leslie White asked: "What sort of
man activity and the symbolic structures that give such objects are they ? Are they physical objects? Mental ob-
activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" re- jects? Both? Metaphors? Symbols? Reifications?" In Sci-
flect different theoretical bases for understanding or criteria ence of Culture (1949), he concluded that they are objects
for evaluating, human activity. Anthropologists most com- "sui generis" that is, of their own kind. In trying to define
monly use the term "culture" to refer to the \uuNsvsaA that kind, he hit upon a previously unrealised aspect of
hvvman capacity to c\as,?Afy, cod\fy ai\A communicate symbolisation, which he called "the symbofate"- an object
their experiences symbolically. This capacity has long been created by the act of symbolisation. He thus defined culture
taken as a defining feature of the genus Homo. However, as "symbolates understood in an extra-somatic context."
primatologists such as Jane Goodall have identified aspects The key to this definition is the discovery of the syrnbolate.
of culture among our closest relatives in the animal king- Key Components of Culture
dom. Similarly, it has recently been determined that the Orca A common way of understanding culture.sees it as con-
pods have culture specific vocalisations and tastes for food. sisting of four elements that are "passed on from generation
Orcas used in theme parks are exclusively from pods that to generation by learning alone":
only feed on fish.
1. Values.
Defining "Culture" 2. Norms.
Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire 3. Institutions.
society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, lan- 4. Artifacts.
guage, religion, rituals, norms of behaviour and systems, of
Values comprise ideas about what in life seems impor-
belief. Various definitions of culture reflect differing theo-
tant. They guide the rest of the culture. Norms consist of
ries for understanding - or criteria for evaluating- human
expectations of how people will behave. in various situa-
activity. Sir Edward B. Tylor writing from the perspective of
tions. Each culture has methods, called sanctions, of en-
social anthropology in the UK in 1871 described culture in forcing its norms. Sanctions vary with the importance of the
the following way: "Culture or civilisation, taken in its wide norm; norms that a society enforces formally have the sta-
ethnographic sense, is that whole complex which includes tus of laws. Institutions are the structures of a society within
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other which values and norms are transmitted. Artifacts-things or
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of so- aspects of material culture-derive from a culture's values
ciety." and norms.
More recently, the United Nations Educational. Scien- Julian Huxley gives a slightly different division, into in-
tific and Cultural Organisation UNESCO (2002) described ter-related "mentifacts", "socifacts" and "artifacts", for ideo-
culture as follows:"... culture should be regarded as the set logical, sociological and technological subsystems respec-
of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional tively. Socialisation, in Huxley's view, depends on the belief
features of society or a social group and that it encompasses, subsystem. The sociological subsystem governs interac-
in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living tion between people. Material objects and their use make up
together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". the technological subsystem.
While these two definitions cover a range of meaning, As a rule, archaeologists focus on material culture,
they do not exhaust the many uses of the term "culture." In whereas cultural anthropologists focus on symbolic cul-
1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list ture, although ultimately both groups maintain interests in
of more than 200 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Criti- the relationships between these two dimensions. Moreover,
cal Review of Concepts and Definitions. anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to
consumption goods, but to the general processes which
These definitions and many others, provide a catalog of
produce such goods and give them meaning and to the so-
the element; of culture. The items catalogued (e.g., a law, a
cial relationships and practices in which such objects and
stone tool, a marriage) each have an existence .and life-line
processes become embedded.
of their own. They come into space-time at one set of coor-
dinates and go out of it another. While here, they change, Culture as Civilisation
so that one may speak of the evolution of 'the law or the Many people today have an idea of "culture" that de-
tool.
, veloped in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. just cultured in a different way. Thus social observers con-
This notion of culture reflected '.'inequalities' within Euro- trast the "high" culture of elites to "popular" or pop culture,
pean societies and between European powers and their colo- meaning goods and activities produced for and consumed
nies around the world. It identifies "culture" with by the masses. (Note that some classifications relegate both
"civilisation" and contrasts it with-"nature:" According to high and low cultures to the status of subcultures.)
this way of thinking, one can classify some countries as
Culture as Worldview
more civilised than other and some people as more cultured
than others. Some cultural theorists have thus tried to elimi- During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, especially
nate popular or mass culture from the definition of culture. those concerned with nationalist movements - such as the
Theorists such as Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) or the nationalist struggle to create a "Germany" out of diverse
Leavises regard culture as simply the result of "the best that principalities and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minori-
has been thought and said in the world" Arnold contrasted ties against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - developed a more
culture with social chaos or anarchy. On this account, cul- inclusive notion of culture as "worldview," In this mode of
ture links closely with social cultivation: the progressive thought, a distinct and incommensurable worldview
refinement of human behaviour. Arnold consistently uses characterises each ethnic group. Although more inclusive
the word 'his way: "... culture being a pursuit of our total than earlier views, this approach to culture still allowed for
perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters distinctions between 'civilised' and "primitive" or "tribal"
which most concern us, the best which hac; been thought cultures.
and said in the world". By the late 19th century, anthropologists had adopted
In practice, culture referred to elite goods and activities and adapted the term culture to a broader definition that
such as haute cuisine, high fashion or haute couture, mu- they could apply to a wider variety of societies. Attentive to
seum-caliber art and classical music and the word cultured the theory of evolution, they assumed that all human be-
described people who knew about and took part in these ings evolved equally and that the fact that all humans have
activities. For example, someone who used 'culture' in the cultures must in some way result from human evolution.
sense of 'cultivation' might argue that classical music is more They also showed some reluctance to use biological evolu-
refined than music produced by working-class people, such tion to explain differences between specific cultures -an
as punk rock or the indigenous music traditions of aborigi- approach that either exemplified a form of or segment of
nal peoples of Australia. society vis-a-vis other segments and the society as a whole,
they often reveal processes of domination and resistance;
People who use the term "culture".in this way tend not
to use it in the plural as "cultures". They do not believe that In the 1950s, subcultures - groups with distinctive char-
distinct cultures exist, each with their own internal logic and acteristics within a larger culture - began to be the subject of
values;, but rather that only a single standard of refinement study by sociologists. The 20th century also saw the
suffices, against which one can measure all' groups. Thus, popularisation of the idea of corporate culture - distinct and
according to this worldview, people with different customs malleable within the context of an employing organisation
from those who regard themselves as cultured do not usu- or a workplace.
ally count as "having a different culture," but are classed as Culture as Symbols
"uncultured." People lacking "culture" often seemed more
The symbolic view of culture, the legacy of Clifford
"natural," and observers often defended (or criticised) ele-
Geertz (1973) and Victor Turner (1967), holds symbols to be
ments of high culture for repressing "human nature".
both the practices of social actors and the context that gives
From the 18th century onwards, some social critics have such practices meaning.-Anthony P, Cohen (1985) writes of
accepted this contrast between cultured and uncultured, the "symbolic gloss" which allows social actors to use com-
but have stressed the interpretation of refinement and, of mon syrnbols to communicate and understand each other
sophistication as corrupting and unnatural developments while still imbuing these symbols with personal significance
that obscure and distort people's essential, nature. On this and meanings. Symbols provide the limits of cultured
account, folk music (as produced by working-class people) thought. Members of a culture rely on these symbols to
honestly expresses a natural way of life and classical music frame their thoughts and expressions in intelligible terms. In
seems superficial and decadent. Equally, this view often short, symbols make culture possible, reproducible and read-
portrays Indigenous peoples as 'noble savages' living au- able. They are the "webs of significance" in Weber's sense
thentic unblemished lives, uncomplicated and uncorrupted that, to quote Pierre Bourdieu (1977), "give regularity, unity
by tbe highly-stratified capitalist systems of the West. and systematicity to the practices of a group."
Today most social scientists reject the monadic concep-
tion of culture and the opposition of culture to nature. They Culture as a Stabilising Mechanism
recognise non-elites as just as cultured as elites (and non- Modern cultural theory also considers the possibility
Westerners as just as civilised)-simply regarding them as that (a) culture itself is a product of stabilisation tendencies
5
