- published: 15 Apr 2013
- views: 107762
The culture of India refers to the religions, beliefs, customs, traditions, languages, ceremonies, arts, values and the way of life in India and its people. India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food, and customs differ from place to place within the country. Its culture often labeled as an amalgamation of these diverse sub-cultures is spread all over the Indian subcontinent and traditions that are several millennia old.
Regarded by many historians as the "oldest living civilization of Earth", the Indian tradition dates back to 8000 BC, and has a continuous recorded history since the time of the Vedas, believed variously to be 3,000 to over 5,500 years ago. Several elements of India's diverse culture, such as Indian religions, yoga, and Indian cuisine, have had a profound impact across the world.
India is the birth place of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, collectively known as Indian religions. Indian religions, also known as Dharmic religions are a major form of world religions along with Abrahamic ones. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third and fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion followers altogether, and possibly as many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion followers. India is also the birthplace for the Lingayat and Ahmadiyya faiths.
Pakistani people or Pakistanis (Urdu: پاکستانی قوم) (Pakistani Qaum) are a nationality and pan-ethnic group who are the native citizens and residents of Pakistan. Pakistan's estimated population in 2011 is over 187 million making it the world's sixth most-populous country. Pakistan is in essence a multi-ethnic and multilingual nation that is home to people of diverse regional ethnicities and nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex demographics and history of Pakistan. As a result, Pakistanis do not consider their nationality as an ethnicity but as a citizenship of a Muslim state with various ethnicities comprising the "Pakistani people".
Pakistan has one of the world's fastest growing populations. Being a land mass that is transitionally localed both in South Asian, the Greater Middle East and Central Asia, the Pakistani people are a mixture of various ethnic groups. Furthermore, various ethnic groups, invading armies and the migrations to the region by people passing through on their way to and from South Asia have left their imprint on the population.