The ancient civilization in the Indian subcontinent stands as a unique testament to the resilience and continuity of its rich cultural heritage, setting it apart from the civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece. Unlike its counterparts, Indian civilization has experienced a remarkable preservation of its culture and traditions without significant breakdowns, extending seamlessly into the present day. The longevity of India’s cultural continuity can be attributed to various factors, such as the deep-rooted philosophical and religious underpinnings that have provided a stable framework for societal norms. Hinduism, Buddhism, and other indigenous belief systems have played a crucial role in shaping the ethos of the region, fostering a sense of continuity that has withstood the tests of time. Additionally, the assimilative nature of Indian society, accommodating various influences and diverse communities, has contributed to the adaptability and persistence of its cultural fabric. The endurance of practices, rituals, art forms, and languages over millennia underscores the exceptional ability of the Indian subcontinent to preserve its ancient heritage, marking it as a distinctive outlier in the broader tapestry of ancient civilizations.
Tag: Indian Culture.
Decoding the Question:
- In the Introduction, start your answer with a suitable introduction that describes the uniqueness of Indian Culture.
- In Body, discuss the path of history and how Indian culture evolved with time.
- Conclude the answer by briefly analyzing the character of Indian culture.
Answer:
The ancient civilization in the Indian subcontinent includes the Indus Valley Civilization, Vedic civilization, and the minor civilizations of the Indian heartland. The remarkable feature of Indian civilization is the amount of continuity, which is not evident elsewhere. The Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Greek cultures were lost with the superimposition of the new Christian and Islamic cultures in the region. The Indian subcontinent, on the other hand, assimilated all the cultural elements of the civilizations.
Indian culture has had an enduring character. Despite major changes and upheavals significant threads of continuity can be traced throughout Indian history right up to the present day. Harappan civilization flourished in the Indian subcontinent over 4500 years ago. Archaeologists have found evidence that cultures existed here even before the maturity phase of the Harappan civilization. This tells that India has a very long history.
Preservation of Culture and Tradition in Indian Civilizations:
Indus Valley:
- Religion: Phallus worship, such as Harappa’s fertility goddess statue with a woman with a plant growing from her embryo and Male Linga in Harappa. Indication of the practice of a fire cult in Lothal in a later phase and A god depicted as Pasupathi Mahadeva.
- Yoga – Pashupati Mahadeva’s seal indicates the Yogic pose.
- Weights and measurement: We find a precise system usually made of a stone called chert & usually a cubicle with no markings. Lower denominations of weights use the binary (1,2,4.. up to 12800); probably for weighing jewelry & beads, higher denominations followed the decimal system. India used a currency system based on binary with 16 Annas making 1 Rupee till modern times.
- Metal sculpting: The Harappans used the lost wax technique to make sculptures of copper, bronze & gold; ‘Dancing Girl’ from Mohenjo-Daro in tribhanga posture is the earliest bronze sculpture datable to 2500 BCE. Similar techniques are used all over the world today, especially in India.
- Agriculture: Indus Valley knew different irrigation methods, and used plough & (stone) sickles. They were the first to grow paddy and used Banawali- Plowshare. Rice is a staple for most Indians even today.
Vedic civilization:
- Language: The Aryans were the first to create literature in India. The Rig Veda is the oldest book in the world that survives today. It is written in Sanskrit which has the biggest impact on all present-day languages in India.
- Philosophy, Science, and Mathematics: With the development of writing, complex ideas could be preserved. These include ideas in Medicine, mathematics, Upanishadic thought, etc.
- Social Division: The Aryans initially divided the society into three groups: Warriors, priests & the common people; The Fourth division called Shudras appeared at the end of the Rig Vedic period (Xth Mandal). This practice continues even today.
- Patriarchal society: The structure of the family with the male head and the family is identified by its ‘Gotra’ started in the Vedic culture initially.
- Religion: Vedas formed the basis of religious thought in India, which included the fire cult as its most important feature as well as Animism and Fabianism.
- Polity: Initially the rule was based on consensus emerging in Sabha (general assembly) & Samiti (assembly – election of the king – council of elders); Later on, the Janpada system emerged with the emergence of kingdoms and eventually empires.
A remarkable feature of Indian culture is that along with continuity it has kept on changing, whereas the basic spirit of our culture continued. It has kept on discarding what was becoming irrelevant in the modern age. In the long history of India, there have been periods of ups and downs. As a result, movements have grown and reforms brought about. The reform movements in the Vedic religion brought about by Jainism and Buddhism in the sixth century BC and the religious and social awakening in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in modern India are a few examples when Revolutionary changes were brought about in Indian thought and practices. Yet the thread of basic philosophy of Indian culture continued and persists.
Thus, the Indian civilization has preserved the elements of the Indus Valley and Vedic civilizations in its religion, polity, language, philosophy, economy, and arts, unlike the other civilizations of the time. Therefore, India is rightly referred to as the melting pot of civilizations due to its remarkable capacity to absorb and assimilate cultures.
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