Culture is a state of being cultivated or refined. Culture is created out of the values that dominate a society. Social customs, religious or spiritual concepts, education, all come together to create what we call culture. Thus everything from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to the cave art of Ajanta and Ellora come together to create the enigma of Indian culture. Rich thoughts are essential to produce richness of cultural content.
People complain of the deterioration of whatever we understand by culture. The extent of truth in this accusation can be challenged. The lament about the lack of cultural ethos usually comes from those quarters of tradition that do not quite appreciate the wind of modernism seeking to destroy castles of convention.
‘Ring out the old, ring in the new,’ said Tennyson. So, are the traditional in the rich tapestry of Indian culture to sing their swan song and fade away? Is the wisdom of generations to be discarded as the utopian idealism of myopic orthodoxy? In that case, the wisdom of the Vedas and the Upanishads is to be trashed.
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India culture traces its origin back to almost the beginning of human civilisation. When you talk about Indian culture, you have to go back to the Hindu roots of the Rig Veda. Hinduism, the Sanatan Dharma, has no known date of origin. The Vedic rishis through generations of spiritual research and meticulous study of matter, energy and spirit evolved the wisdom of the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Gita. No aspect of human existence, from the basic values of life to education, medical science (ayurveda), astronomy (jyotisha) is left untouched. Thus were the beginnings of what we refer to as the Indian culture today.
It is worth remembering here that Christianity arrived in South India in the first century AD much before it spread throughout Europe. The spread of Islam, courtesy the Delhi Sultanate and followed by the Mughal Empire, had a profound impact on Indian culture. Thus Indian culture as we understand it today blends the ideas of different religions and hence cultures.
From the Buddhism of Ashoka to the Hinduism of the Guptas, from the music of the Sufis to the humanitarianism of the Bhakti movement, from the simple wisdom of Guru Nanak to the Khalsa of Gobind Singh, from the glorious ‘jowhar’ of the Rajput women to the fight against evils like ‘Sati’ by Rammohan and Vidyasagar, Indian culture has truly come a long way.
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The strength of Indian culture has always been in its broad heartedness, its ability to accept and assimilate whole-heartedly. It is this that made our founding fathers declare India a ‘Sovereign, Secular, Socialist, Democratic Republic’. As Indians, we need to ensure that the richness of our heritage is not left in a shambles.
Our identity should not be thwarted by narrow disintegrative tendencies and a cheap surrender before buffoonery masquerading as modernity. Touching the feet of his/her elder to mark every joyous occasion, humility and grace being our precious ornaments, to move from tamas (darkness) to jyoti (light) being our aim, Indian culture has evolved with the eternal values of life as its basis. This is no myth, but a reality.