One of the world's oldest living civilizations, India has a rich and amazingly pluralistic culture. Nearly all religions in the world are thriving in India's secular state that guarantees freedom of expression and freedom to pursue religion and belief of one's choice. And at least a thousand languages are spoken by over one billion Indians. This diversity has spawned a unique composite and syncretic culture which is reflected in a dazzling variety of art forms, architecture, songs, dance, cinema, folk arts and literature. No wonder India is often called “a miniature of the world” and an “ethnological museum” where all creative forms of human expression can be found.

Contemporary Indian culture is an amalgam of the traditional and the modern. Go anywhere in India and one can find people chatting on their mobile phones or using modern gizmos while living a traditional life. Many people have ancient mantras or devotional songs as their mobile ringtone, underlining the intermingling of the spiritual in their contemporary existence. Family values and a sense of community continue to be central to Indian culture despite pressures of urbanization and modernity. Be it software engineers or entrepreneurs, who have put India on the knowledge map of the world, they deftly juggle native customs with technology and modern living.

The last six decades, reflecting progress in other areas of national life and India's emergence as a global player, have seen a revival and renewal of the five-millennia old Indian culture and an all-round flowering of Indian literature, music and dance. Indian paintings, sculpture and crafts, as well as Indian theatre and films, have experience great outbursts of creativity.

In the arena of the arts, there is a mind-boggling diversity of genres and traditions. Indian music displays a wide array of traditions and regional styles. Classical music largely encompasses the two genres – North Indian Hindustani, South Indian Carnatic traditions and their various offshoots in the form of regional folk music. Regionalised forms of popular music include film and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a well-known form of the latter. Two main schools of classical music — Hindustani and Carnatic - continue to survive through oral tradition being passed on by teachers to disciples. This has led to the existence of family traditions called gharanas and sampradayas. In tune with the syncretic spirit of Indian culture, a new fusion music blending Indian musical traditions with western instruments, has emerged and has found a following not only in India but in other parts of the world as well.

Dance in India has an unbroken tradition of over 2,000 years. Its themes are derived from mythology, legends and classical literature, two main divisions being classical and folk. Classical dance forms are based on ancient dance discipline and have set rules of presentation. Important among them are Bharata Natyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Manipuri, Kuchipudi and Odissi. Bharata Natyam, though it derives its roots from Tamil Nadu, has developed into an all-India form. Kathakali is a dance form of Kerala. Kathak is a classical dance form revitalised by the Mughal influence on Indian culture.

Manipur has contributed to a delicate, lyrical style of dance called Manipuri, while Kuchipudi is a dance form that originated in Andhra Pradesh. Odissi from Orissa, once practiced as a temple dance, is today widely performed by artistes across the country. Folk and tribal dances are of numerous patterns. Both classical and folk dances owe their present popularity to institutions like Sangeet Natak Akademi and other training institutes and cultural organisations. The Akademi gives financial assistance to cultural institutions and awards fellowships to scholars, performers and teachers to promote advanced study and training in different forms of dance and music, especially those which are rare.

Theatre in India is as old as her music and dance. Classical theatre survives only in some places. Folk theatre can be seen in its regional variants practically in every region. There are also professional theatres, mainly city-oriented. Besides, India has a rich tradition of puppet theatre, prevalent forms being puppets, rod puppets, glove puppets and leather puppets (shadow theatre). There are several semi professional and amateur theatre groups involved in staging plays in Indian languages and in English. Theatre in India often incorporates music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue. Often based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances, and contemporary social and political events, Indian theatre shows a wide array of regional forms including the bhavai of the state of Gujarat, the jatra of West Bengal, the nautanki and ramlila of North India, the tamasha of Maharashtra, the burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh, the terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu, and the yakshagana of Karnataka.

The Indian film industry is the largest in the world. Bollywood, based in Mumbai, makes commercial Hindi films and is the most prolific film industry in the world. Bollywood, with its trademark mix of drama, emotion, music and dance, has cast its spell not only in India but the world over. Cinema in a slew of regional languages like Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu is also thriving.

The Ministry of Culture plays a vital role in the preservation and promotion of art and culture. Its aim is to develop ways and means by which basic cultural and aesthetic values and perceptions remain active and dynamic among the people. It also undertakes programmes for the promotion of contemporary art. The department is a nodal agency for commemorating significant events and celebrating centenaries of great artists.

For more information on Indian culture, go to www.indiaculture.nic.in

Cultural Institutions

To promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country, the Government of India established Lalit Kala Akademi (National Akademi of Arts) at New Delhi in 1954. The Akademi has regional centres called Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendras at Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Garhi in New Delhi and Bhubaneswar with workshop facilities in painting, sculpture, print-making and ceramics.


The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) was founded on April 9, 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of independent India. ICCR is about a communion of cultures, a creative dialogue with other nations. To facilitate this interaction with world cultures, the Council has strived to articulate and demonstrate the diversity and richness of the cultures of India, both in and with other countries of the world.

The ICCR continues to encourage improvisation and experimentation with the new, while it pays homage to the classical as well as the folk forms of India's cultural expression.


The ICCR prides itself on being the pre-eminent instrument of cultural diplomacy and the sponsor of intellectual exchanges between India and partner countries. It is the Council's resolve to continue to symbolize India's great cultural and educational efflorescence in the years to come. The ICCR already has 18 cultural centres abroad and it is now planning more in places as diverse as Washington, Tokyo, Kathmandu and Dhaka.

For more, go to www.iccrindia.org

LALIT KALA AKADEMI
To promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country, the Government of India established the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Akademi of Arts) at New Delhi in 1954. The Akademi has regional centres called Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendras at Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Garhi in New Delhi and Bhubaneswar with workshop facilities in painting,sculpture,print-making and ceramics.

Since its inception, the Akademi has been organising national exhibitions of contemporary Indian art with 15 national awards, each of Rs 50,000. Every three years, the Akademi also organises Trienniale India, an International exhibition of contemporary art in New Delhi. The Akademi honours eminent artists and art historians every year by electing them as Fellows of the Akademi. To propagate Indian art outside, the Akademi regularly participates in International Bienniales and Trienniales abroad and also organises exhibitions of works of art from other countries. To foster contracts withartists from outside, it sponsors exchange of artists with other countries under the various Cultural Exchange Programmes and Agreements of the Government.

The Lalit Kala Akademi accords recognition to art institutions/associations and extends financial assistance to these bodies as well as State Academies. It also gives scholarships to deserving young artists belonging to its regional centres. Under its publication programme, the Akademi brings out monographs on the works ofIndian contemporary artists in Hindi and English and books on contemporary, traditional, folk and tribal arts authored by eminent writers and art critics. The Akademi also brings out bi-annual art journals, Lalit Kala Contemporary (English), Lalit Kala Ancient (English) and Samkaleen Kala (Hindi). Apart from these, it brings out large size multi-colour reproductions of contemporary paintings and graphics from time to time. The Akademi has started a regular programme on research and documentation. Scholars are given financial assistance to undertake projects in contemporary projects on various aspects of Indian society and culture.

SANGEET NATAK AKADEMI
Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, may be regarded as a pioneer in the process of creation of modern India that led politically to India’s freedom in 1947. The ephemeral quality of the arts, and the need for their preservation led to the adapting of a democratic system in which a common man had the opportunity to learn, practice and propagate the art. Within the first few decades of the twentieth century, public perception of responsibility for both preservation and development of the arts had started inclining towards the state.

The first comprehensive public appeal to government in this direction was made in 1945, when the Asiatic Society of Bengal submitted a proposal for the creation of a National Cultural Trust consisting of three academies - an Academy of Dance, Drama, and Music, an Academy of Letters, and an Academy of Art and Architecture.

The entire question was reconsidered after independence, in a Conference on Art held in Kolkata in 1949, and two Conferences, on Letters, and the other on Dance, Drama, and Music, held in New Delhi in 1951. These Conferences convened by the Government of India finally recommended the creation of three national academies: an Academy of Dance, Drama, and Music, an Academy of Letters and an Academy of Art.

SAHITYA AKADEMI

Sahitya Akademi is the Indian National Academy of Letters meant to promote the cause of Indian literature through publications, translations, seminars, workshops, cultural exchange programmes and literary meets organised all over the country. The Akademi was founded in March 1954 as an autonomous body fully funded by the Department of Culture. It was registered as a Society in 1956 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The Akademi has recognised 24 languages. It has an Advisory Board for each of the languages that suggests various programmes and publications in the concerned languages. There are four Regional Boards to promote regional interaction among the languages of the North, West, East and South. Besides its Head Office in New Delhi, it has four offices : in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

The Akademi has two Translation Centres at Bangalore and Kolkata, besides a Project Office at Shillong for promotion of oral and tribal literature and an Archives of Indian literature in Delhi. It maintains a unique multilingual library in New Delhi and at its regional offices at Bangalore and Kolkata, having about 1.5 lakh books in over 25 languages.The highest honour conferred by the Akademi on a writer is by electing him its Fellow. This honour is reserved for the ‘Immortals of Literature’ and limited to 21 at any given time. So far 66 writers have been elected Fellows of the Sahitya Akademi. It has so far recognised 850 authors and 283 translators with its Awards and Translation Prizes for distinguished contribution to literature, and given 31 Bhasha Sammans, awards meant to promote peripheral languages and Honorary Fellowships for foreign

scholars who have done significant work in Indian literature. The Akademi publishes books in 24 languages including translations of Award-winning works, monographs on the great pioneers of Indian literature, histories of literature, Indian and foreign classics in translation, anthologies of fiction, poetry and prose, biographies, Register of Translators, Who’s Who of Indian Writers, National Bibliography of Indian Literature and Encyclopedia of Indian Literature. So far, the Akademi has published over 4,000 books in these different categories. It has three journals, Indian Literature (bi-monthly in English), Samkaleena Bharatiya Sahitya (bi-monthly in Hindi) and Samskrita Pratibha (half-yearly in Sanskrit). Every year the Akademi publishes 250-300 books on an average. It has certain special projects like the Ancient Indian Literature, Medieval Indian Literature and Modern Indian Literature together constituting ten volumes of the best of Indian writing over five millennia.

Sahitya Akademi holds a number of regional, national and international seminars every year on various topics in literature, literary history and aesthetics.The Akademi also regularly holds Translation Workshops.The Akademi holds an annual week-long ‘Festival of Letters’, usually in February with Award-giving ceremony, Samvatsar Lecture and a National Seminar. The Akademi also introduced a new series of programmes entitled Sur Sahitya as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2004-05.

RAMAKRISHNA MISSION INSTITUTE OF CULTURE, KOLKATA

The Institute was conceived in 1936 as one of the permanent memorials to Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) on the occasion of his first birth centenary. It was formally established on 29 January 1938 as a branch centre of the Ramakrishna Mission founded by Swami Vivekananda to propagate the message of Vedanta as propounded by Sri Ramakrishna whose basic teachings stressed: (i) the equality of all religions; (ii) the potential divinity of man; and (iii) service to man as a way of worshipping God - a new religion for mankind.

Dedicated to promote the ideal of the unity of mankind, the Institute has endeavoured over the years to make people aware of the richness of the cultures of the World and also of the urgent need for inter-cultural appreciation, understanding and acceptance of each other’s points of view - an approach which is conducive to international understanding at the global level and national integration at home.

The key note of everything the Institute does is thus respect for others point of view and its assimilation and acceptance for one’s own enrichment.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA

The Anthropological Survey of India is a premier research organisation under the Ministry of Culture. It has completed 59 years of its existence and has adhered itself to its commitments to carry out anthropological researches in the area of bio-cultural aspects of the Indian population in general and on those who are referred to as the ‘‘Weakest of the Weak’’ in particular. Besides this there are other pertinent activities of the Survey, which include collection, preservation, maintenance; documentation and study of ethnographic materials as well as ancient human skeletal remains. Over the years the Survey generated information from the grass-root level through sustained research by its Head Office at Kolkata and also its seven Regional Centres, one Sub-regional Centre, one permanent field station and eight other field stations located in various parts of the country, besides a Camp Office at New Delhi.

During the Tenth Plan following, the National Projects are being studied namely, Cultural Dimension of Tourism in the Biosphere Reserve in addition to the locations of tourists interest.