“Civilization is what we have, culture is what we are”—Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. India is a nation with a unique identity among the world nations. Because any nation will have a single tradition and culture but we are the nation with diverse traditions and multi cultures. The things which depict Indian culture are its Dances, Music, Literature and many more. Due to globalization several things pervaded into India from the western world. These things brought a drastic change in certain common aspects like food habits and dress wear. Of course wearing the dress which we feel comfortable may not be an offence but ignoring the things like traditional wear on festivals and auspicious occasions should be considered with serious attention. Apart from these two, we are neglecting many things which were once considered as unique talents of India.
Dance—India possessed different styles of dances like Kuchapudi, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Manipuri and Odissi etc. Certain people considered these as their profession and used to earn their living by giving performances in auditoriums. Similar is the case with music.
Music—no way inferior to western music India has its own vocal and instrumental music. The vocal includes carnatic and Hindustani styles. The instrumental includes veena (often referred as analogy to goddess saraswati), tabala, mrudangam and shehnai. These days the teachers of these instruments are saying that the instrument veena isn’t attracting more students because students are feeling it is too heavier to carry from one place to another.
Literature—Rabindranath Tagore, the man whose works are applauded by western people was felicitated him with prestigious Nobel Prize for his work Gitanjali. Since then no Indian received that prize which doesn’t mean our ability to write is reduced. We are underestimating ourselves and we are very interested in reading the books of J.K.Rowling but not the books written by Indian authors. How many of us know the names of Arundati Roy and Arvind Adiga who won the prestigious literary award—Man Booker Prize.
What reasons made Indian culture to lose its glory and legacy:
1. In this competitive world, every parent is expecting their child to focus on academics as much time as possible in which these activities are not part.
2. Majority of education includes works of western people (except local language and social studies).
3. Lack of support for artists of these talents.
CONCLUSION:
As someone said “too much of anything is good for anything”, the enthusiasm to learn things of other nations is not wrong, but they should not be done at the expense of our traditions and culture. If people like Lata Mangeskar, S.P.Balasubramanium and Ilayraja might have thought that way, we have lost many songs which are considered as jewels. The works of great poet Kalidas, whom we consider as Shakespeare of India, are unknown to many young Indians. The sole reason for which today Indians are venerated on world stage is just because of the vintage of this nation. It is the duty of young citizens of India to restore the glory by encouraging the artistic performances of these traditional aspects and giving them more importance instead of considering as the things that decorate the curriculum vitae.
Dance—India possessed different styles of dances like Kuchapudi, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Manipuri and Odissi etc. Certain people considered these as their profession and used to earn their living by giving performances in auditoriums. Similar is the case with music.
Music—no way inferior to western music India has its own vocal and instrumental music. The vocal includes carnatic and Hindustani styles. The instrumental includes veena (often referred as analogy to goddess saraswati), tabala, mrudangam and shehnai. These days the teachers of these instruments are saying that the instrument veena isn’t attracting more students because students are feeling it is too heavier to carry from one place to another.
Literature—Rabindranath Tagore, the man whose works are applauded by western people was felicitated him with prestigious Nobel Prize for his work Gitanjali. Since then no Indian received that prize which doesn’t mean our ability to write is reduced. We are underestimating ourselves and we are very interested in reading the books of J.K.Rowling but not the books written by Indian authors. How many of us know the names of Arundati Roy and Arvind Adiga who won the prestigious literary award—Man Booker Prize.
What reasons made Indian culture to lose its glory and legacy:
1. In this competitive world, every parent is expecting their child to focus on academics as much time as possible in which these activities are not part.
2. Majority of education includes works of western people (except local language and social studies).
3. Lack of support for artists of these talents.
CONCLUSION:
As someone said “too much of anything is good for anything”, the enthusiasm to learn things of other nations is not wrong, but they should not be done at the expense of our traditions and culture. If people like Lata Mangeskar, S.P.Balasubramanium and Ilayraja might have thought that way, we have lost many songs which are considered as jewels. The works of great poet Kalidas, whom we consider as Shakespeare of India, are unknown to many young Indians. The sole reason for which today Indians are venerated on world stage is just because of the vintage of this nation. It is the duty of young citizens of India to restore the glory by encouraging the artistic performances of these traditional aspects and giving them more importance instead of considering as the things that decorate the curriculum vitae.
