the culture of india (understanding india)

[...]... Germanic language (also of the Indo European family) are the official languages of the nation The states that make up the Hindi belt lie in the northern part of the country—although even in this region there are wide variations in dialect The other official language, English, is a remnant of British rule Its use makes India one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world From the Englishlanguage... many features of their religion link them with the Naga and other hill tribes of Assam, but the growing influence of Hindu ideas and customs works toward assimilation into the caste society of the Assam plains Among the Garo, the village headman is usually the husband of the heiress, the senior woman of the landowning lineage He transmits his headman’s office to his sister’s son, who marries the headman’s... outside the Hindu caste system, 28 | The Culture of India neither acknowledging the superiority of Brahmans nor feeling bound by Hindu rules such as the ban on killing cows The highlands of Bastar in Madhya Pradesh are the home of three important Gond tribes: the Muria, the Bisonhorn Maria, and the Hill Maria The last, who inhabit the rugged Abujhmar Hills, are the least developed Their traditional type of. .. in the hands of men identified by these women and not in the hands of women themselves This system has been modified by the conversion of many Khasi to Christianity, by the consequent conflict of ritual obligations under the tribal religion and the demands of the new religion, and by the right of the people to make wills in respect of selfacquired property The Khasi speak a Mon-Khmer language of the. .. Most of them draw their subsistence from agriculture Others are pastoralists, craftsmen, or day labourers Along with the Gurung, Rai, and other Nepalese ethnic groups, they have won fame as the Gurkha soldiers of the British and Indian armies 34 | The Culture of India Maratha A major people of India, the Maratha (Mahratta, Mahratti) are famed in history as yeoman warriors and champions of Hinduism Their... centres in the cult of clan and village deities, together with ancestor worship   Ho The Ho, also called Larka Kol, are a tribal people of the state of Bihar in India, concentrated in the area of Kolhan on the lower Chota Nagpur Plateau They numbered about 1,150,000 in the late 20th century, mostly in Bihar and Orissa states of northeastern India They speak a language of the Munda family (of Austroasiatic... awaken the spirit of the first spouse Traditionally classified as a tribe, they were redesignated as a low 32 | The Culture of India Hindu caste, containing the subcastes Agri and Ahir Korku The tribal Korku people of central India are concentrated in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh At the end of the 20th century, they numbered about 560,000 However, poverty and restricted use of ancestral... a language of the Munda family (Austroasiatic) In religion the Korku are Hindus Their ceremonies resemble those of the low castes in that they employ their own priests and mediums instead of Brahmans Kota The Kota are a group of indigenous, Dravidian-speaking peoples of the Nilgiri Hills in the south of India They lived in seven villages totalling about 2,300 inhabitants during the 1970s; these were... in the jungles, each ruled by its own chief The youngest son of the chief inherited his father’s property, while the other sons were provided with wives from the village and sent out to found villages of their own The Kuki live an isolated existence in the bamboo forests, which provide them with their building and handicraft materials They grow rice, first burning off the jungle to clear the ground They... does the second element of Indian music, tala, a time measure The Hindustani classical music tradition, found mainly in North India, is based on the sitar and the tabla drums Ragas are based on seasons, times of day, and various moods The Karnatic tradition of South India features another lute-like instrument, the vina, in place of the sitar, and the double-ended mridangam drum instead of the tablas The . Characteristics of Indian Art 187 The Unity of Indian Art 187 The Materials of Indian Art 188 Indian and Foreign Art 188 Indian Art and Religion 188 The Artist and Patron 189 The Appreciation of Indian. (also of the Indo European family) are the ocial languages of the nation. The states that make up the Hindi belt lie in the northern part of the country—although even in this region there. The roots of 16 | The Culture of India classical language Sanskrit. Varieties of the Grantha alphabet are used to write a number of the Dravidian languages of South India. India s people have