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With about 800
dialects and 15 officially recognised languages, several religions including Hinduism, Islam,
Christianity,
Jainism,
Buddhism, Sikhism, Zorastrianism and Judaism, various styles of art, architecture, literature, music
and dance, and
several lifestyles from the urban and rural to the tribal, India is a melting pot of cultural
diversity.
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| Indian music spans various traditions, from folk
songs and music which varies from region to region,
tribal music, classical and semi-classical traditions and
popular music. There are two recognised styles of classical
music -
the Hindustani (northern India) style and
the Carnatic style of South India. Each also has its dedicated
instruments - to
name just a few, Hindustani
music has the sitar, sarod, sur-bahaar, bansuri, shahnai and the violin
while Carnatic musicians
generally
use the veena, venu, nagasvaram, gottuvadyam or the violin as the main melody
instrument. Percussion and other
accompanying instruments are equally varied. Vocal traditions in both classical
styles are also different.
Broadly speaking,
Carnatic music is devotional in nature while the Hindustani style is
secular. Apart from
these traditions, there are various
semi-classical styles (such as ghazals and qawwalis) and also
a rich vein
of popular music typified in songs from Indian
films which are generally musicals. |
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Indian dance has an unbroken
tradition of over 2000 years, with themes drawn from
mythology, legends
and classical literature. It also can be broadly
divided into folk/tribal dances which
have many regional variations,
and the classical dances, which are based on ancient
texts and have rigid
rules of presentation. Some of the major
classical dance traditions are Bharata Natyam, Kathak, Odissi,
Manipuri, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam and Kathakali.
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Indian
literature can date its origins to the oral tradition of the Vedas and the great epics of India, which
are
still an integral
part of daily life. Poetry, drama, fiction, non-fiction and all other literary styles
have a
substantial corpus in each of
India's major languages and in quite a few dialects, while the oral
tradition also
continues through folk songs and dramas.
Theatre in India also has ancient historical roots,
though classical theatre
is performed very rarely nowadays, having been
overtaken by a vibrant tradition of
folk theatre (including puppet and
shadow theatre) and modern professional theatre, which
draws not only
dramas written in any Indian language but also
on non-Indian theatre from Shakespeare to Chekov to Andrew
Lloyd Webber, either in English or in translation.
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Indian art also has its
classical and folk traditions which are still vibrantly
alive, and covers the gamut
of genres from painting to sculpture to
handicrafts. Indian visual art has also been
influenced by
developments elsewhere in the world, and contemporary Indian art
is steadily developing its own
language in
trying to interpret the Indian ethos in as many mediums as possible.
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No overview of Indian culture can afford to ignore Indian cinema, with the first Indian movie having been
made in 1912, the first talkie in 1931, and with the largest output of feature films in the world today, from
pot-boilers to
films which have attracted international acclaim. The advent of cable has given new life to
television-oriented projects and
soap operas, comedy serials and the like are rapidly adding to the many
diverse
facets of Indian culture.
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