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Indian Culture and Tradition
Introduction: The fabric of Indian culture is woven with
customs and tradition. Tradition, if followed in the right perspective can
never be a hindrance to progress unless orthodoxy creeps in and a person is
shackled with obstinacy.
High degree of spirituality and honor: Traditional and
customary practices are an important part of Indian culture. Tradition is
also an approach followed over the years and handed down from generation to
generation, ensuring that it leads to a high degree of spirituality and honor.
Indians are proud of its culture. In our country it is
traditional to respect elders, be truthful and honest and also to help out
others in need. It is also considered traditional to celebrate our cultural
festivals and religious activities with the family and neighbors. Tradition
leads to the right approach to marriage and death in the family, as has been
followed over centuries.
Joint Family Tradition: We still retain the tradition of joint family system
in our society as part of our culture. This tradition, where the eldest in the
family lays down rules, which are followed by all members of the family, is the
reason that the family life is not chaotic.
Advantages of Joint Family system: A joint family system, as per tradition, has a lot of
advantages. All family members are specifically delegated responsibilities
which lead to sharing and no one is burdened. At the time of crisis or when in
need of advice, all the family members can sit together and the final solution,
as a result of this discussion, is more often than not the right one.
This traditional
approach results in the younger members learning from the experience of their
seniors and also respecting them due to it.
The other aspect of
traditional joint family is that strength lies in numbers. Even if a family
member is ill or goes out of station to work, he has the mental confidence of
his family being looked after and being safe, the prime factor today.
Disintegration of Joint Families in India: One can imagine the state of affairs where each individual member
of the family takes his own decision regardless of the difficulty of others. It
certainly would lead to chaos and disrupt peace of mind and it is not
traditional to do so.
The latter is the reason
for the disintegration of joint family systems in our society and even
brothers prefer to live apart after getting married.
Religious activities: Religious activities are deeply engrossed in Indian culture.
These activities are lavish household affairs with everyone contributing their
mite. These traditional activities result in persons learning about their
heritage, religion and other spiritualities in the company of seniors. There
are several rituals in any such religious functions which is difficult to
understand in the right perspective and the present generation, moving away
from tradition, try to be sarcastic about them. However, if tried to understand
logically and learning from experience, we discover the nuances which are
thoroughly scientific and meant for purification of the body and soul.
Horoscope matching for marriages: Our marriages, which are generally arranged by elders, are
mostly settled on the basis of horoscopes. This is our tradition, but the logic
is that people the world over believe in stars and their effect on them. Our
marriages are also performed according to specific rites, which are very
logical, due to which couples believe that it is a lifelong union. The
percentage of separation and divorce is thus comparatively low among Indian
communities.
Many Religions: In India, tradition has always been to welcome different streams
of thought. This is why, Indian culture has witnessesed so many religions
intermingling and prospering over the ages without bias.
Hinduism, Jainism,
Islam, Buddhism, the Khalsa Panth, and Christianity, to name a few, have been
in India over the centuries and it is a part of our tradition that we have not
tried to enforce any specific religion on the masses. Our culture teaches
tolerance and we have progressed not in spite of it but due to it.
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