Culture

The invisible bonds that connect the nearly 30 million strong Indian diaspora are culture, traditions and the shared heritage. This is the biggest link that keeps generations of People of Indian Origin still feel deeply connected with their mother nation, reports Deepthy Menon At every PravasiBharatiyaDiwas, there is immense focus placed on keeping India’s cultural ties with its widespread diaspora alive and thriving. The seminar on India’s culture and heritage moderated by India’s Union Minister for Human Resources, Dr ShashiTharoor proved to be a global forum in representation too. Apart from eminent personalities of the Indian diaspora from world over ...

They say marriages are made in heaven and many couples want to create it an epic grandeur, and opt for exotic locales — from tranquil beaches to royal palaces. Weddings in India have always been a larger than life affair. Mritunjay Kumar explores some of the best destinations for weddings in India. Nowadays, bachelor hangouts in Goa and ethereal bridal showers in the pristine locale of the Himalayas are not enough to pump up the adrenaline rush, topping on the cake is to locate exquisite venue to say “I do”. We know your dream destination for wedding should be serene, ...

About the Series: Casteism in IndiaIn this series, Kanchan Banerjee attempts to find the origin of casteism in India along with Hinduism’s concept of varna classification and ostracism. He explores how the original varna system had an evolutionary plan embedded in it as expressed by various Indian thinkers and in what ways many modern thinkers’ works, especially in the fields of developmental psychology, are following a similar pattern to classify socio-psycho evolution of people and societies. It is assumed that it is known to most how negative impact casteism has on Indian society, polity and economy in recent past. A ...

“I never thought I’ll teach bharatnatyam to such an acclaimed actress like Hema Malini. Though she is senior to me, still she took me as her teacher. While working with her for her stage performances I learnt things that I did not learn even from my guru, says Hema Malini’s Bharatnatyam teacher S P Srinivasan. Srinivasan who comes from Srirangam, a small village near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, learnt dance at the Kalakshetra, Chennai, moved to Mumbai and trained Hema Malini and for a short period her daughters, Esha and Ahana Deol as well in Bharatnatyam. ...

Indians who are about 25-30years now have faced a unique set of circumstances. They were born between 1980-1985 and thus have literally grown up in the post 91′ era. Their growing up experiences and the world around them is not a progression of the reality of the earlier generation but indeed a new reality. A reality that in its urban context is characterized not only by cell phones, internets, malls, pubs, AC school buses, themed birthday bashes, rising rates of divorce, increasing salaries but also by mounting of expectations, stress and panic. Thus they end up experiencing a sense of ...

On March 30, 1949, the grand unification of the erstwhile princely states of Rajputana gave birth to Rajasthan in the Union of India. Since then, March 30th is celebrated as Rajasthan Diwas every year. The annual celebrations aim to showcase the desert state’s culture and heritage and revive the traditional sports, cuisines and folk-art. ...

With India’s phenomenal success in the business and technology sectors over the last two decades, studies of Indian culture, history, traditions, science, medicine, arts and religion have flooded American academia, with one notable trend emerging among them: the only voice unrepresented in the dialogue has been the indigenous one, leaving a wealth of information from the sub-continent largely unexplored. Among the institutions working to reverse this trend is the Center for Indic Studies at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Established in 2001, it seeks to diversify the academic conversation on India by bringing up a variety of traditionally marginalized voices, including ...

Let us look at the origin and meaning of the word caste. American Heritage Dictionary says: “an endogamous and hereditary social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, and economic position.” The word caste is derived from the Roman word casta (used in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian) which meant ‘pure’ or chaste (in Latin Casto; Cut off and separated’). It can also mean “lineage” or “race.” The Oxford English Dictionary recognizes caste as “each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society, distinguished by relative degrees of ritual purity and of social status” and as “any exclusive social class”. ...

Ratnadeep Banerji recounts the rite of passage of the making of Brajbhoomi and its resurgence after Krishna leela and rise of religious Mathura tourism. ‘In the middle of the city was a temple, larger and finer than the rest, to which neither painting nor description could do justice. The Sultan thus wrote respecting it: – “If anyone wished to construct a building equal to it, he would not be able to do so without expending a hundred million dinars, and the work would occupy two hundred years, even though the most able and experienced workmen were employed”. – Mahmud of ...

Spread over 12 acres, Hastinapur consists of a dozen Indian gods and an equal number of Argentines. Some of the Indian gods live in temples filled with the scent of incense sticks, while others stay outdoors, soaking in the fragrance of the flowers from the garden. Some are sitting or standing on the pedestals, and others hang on walls and pillars. Ganesh, Krishna, Surya, Narayana and Siva have their own temples. There is a temple for Pandavas too. Hastinapur is clearly a place fit for the gods …who should be pleased with its cleanliness, the serene and idyllic surroundings, complete ...