What do they and eat?

Some of the most popular Indian foods include rice,

lentils, vegetables, curry and chicken. Spices are a
main feature of Indian food, mainly cumin, cayenne
pepper, turmeric, black mustard seeds and coriander.
Other common foods eaten in India include wheat,
barley, bread, chickpeas, cheese, beans, yogurt,
coconut, cashews and almonds.
About half the people eat rice as their main, while the
remainder survive on wheat, barley, maize, and millet.
Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and Christians all eat meat, with
the important condition that the first three groups do
not consume pork. Lower-caste Hindus eat any meat
except beef, whereas members of the higher castes
and all Jains are normally vegetarian, with most even
avoiding eggs.
Indian cooking is also influenced by many other
countries. It is known for its large assortment of dishes
and its generous use of herbs and spices. Cooking
styles vary from region to region.
Wheat, Basmati rice and pulses with Chana (Bengal
gram) are important mains of the Indian diet. The food
is rich with curries and spices, including ginger,
coriander, cardamom, turmeric, dried hot peppers, and
cinnamon. Many Hindus are vegetarians, but lamb and
chicken are common in main dishes for non-
vegetarians.
Much of Indian food is eaten with fingers or bread.
There is a wide collection of breads served with meals,
including naan, a leavened, oven-baked flatbread, and
bhatoora, a fried, fluffy flatbread common in North India
and eaten with chickpea curry.
What do they wear?
The traditional Salwar-Kurta or the Salwar-Kameez was
the result of the practice followed by Muslim women to
wear divided garments during the Mughal time. This
dress has survived to this day and has a variant called
Chooridar in which the salwar is replaced by the
Chooridar a tapering pant with folds at the bottom.
The Lehenga is another dress that had its origins
during Mughal times. It was believed to be a dress that
defined Indian values completely, which is probably
why it has survived to this day. Even now, it makes use
of Mughal time patterns and designs though it has been
given many contemporary designs as well.
Although the people in India wear mixed clothing
depending on the region, many women wear saris while
men wear dhotis. The cultural traditions and society of
the regions populations as well as the climate and
geographical features of the region largely control what
people wear.
Mehndi or Hanna is a form of body art from Ancient
India, in which decorative designs are created on a
person's body, using a paste, created from the
powdered dry leaves of the henna plant. Henna is a
Cultural Symbol of Love, thats why it is mostly put on
at indian weddings.
What language/s are spoken in the country?
Hindi
English
Bengali
Telugu
Marathi
Tamil
Urdu
Kannada
Gujarati
Odia
Malayalam
Sanskrit
Hinduism
What religion or religions are found in the country
Islam
Christianity
Sikhism
Buddhism
Jainism
Zoroastrianism
Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%,
other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5%
(2000)
What are their beliefs?
India is identified as the origin of Hinduism and
Buddhism, the third and fourth largest religions. About
84 percent of the population identifies as Hindu. There
are many differences of Hinduism, and four main
groups Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakteya and Smarta. India
is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and
Sikhism
About 13 percent of Indians are Muslim, making it one
of the largest Islamic nations in the world. Christians
and Sikhs make up a small percentage of the
population, and there are even fewer Buddhists and
Jains.
Language
India has 28 states and seven territories. There is no
official language in India. The different states of India
have different official languages, some of them not
recognized by the central government. Some states
have more than one official language. It is a
misunderstanding that the majority of people in India
speak Hindi. Though many people speak Hindi in India,
59 percent of India residents speak something other
than Hindi. Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu are
some other languages spoken in the country.
Customs and celebrations
The country celebrates Republic Day (Jan. 26),
Independence Day (Aug. 15) and Mahatma Gandhi's
Birthday (Oct. 2). Diwali is the largest and most
important holiday to India. It is a five-day festival
known as the festival of lights because of the lights lit
during the celebration to symbolize the inner light that
protects them from spiritual darkness. Holi, the festival
of colours, also called the festival of love, is popular in
the spring.
Cultural India
In India, there is amazing cultural diversity throughout
the country. The South, North, and Northeast have their
own distinct cultures and almost every state has carved
out its own cultural niche. There is hardly any culture in
the world that is as diverse and exclusive as India. India
is a massive country, having variety of geographical
features and climatic conditions. India is home to some
of the most ancient cultures, including four major world
religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.
Indian culture is a merged mixture of changing styles
and influences. In the matter of cooking, for instance,
the North and the South are totally different. Festivals
in India are considered by colour, cheerfulness,
enthusiasm, prayers and rituals. In the realm of music,
there are varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical
music. The classical tradition of music in India includes
the Carnatic and the Hindustani music.
Cultural music
The music of India includes multiple varieties of Indian
classical music, folk music, Filmi and Indian pop. India's
classical music tradition, including Hindustani music
and Carnatic. Music in India began an important part of
socio-religious life.
Music has always been an important part of Indian life.
The range of musical wonder in India extends from
simple melodies to what is one of the most well-
developed "systems" of classical music in the world.
There are references to various string and wind
instruments, as well as several kinds of drums and
cymbals, in the Vedas.

Sitar is the most popular music

instruments of North India. The
Sitar has a long neck. Below the
frets of the Sitar are thirteen
sympathetic strings which are
tuned to the notes of the Raga. A
gourd, which acts as a resonator
for the strings is at the lower end
of the neck of the Sitar.
Social organisation
Societies may be divided roughly into those in which
the organization was loose, the units being families or
bands and descent being counted prevailingly in the
male line, and those which were divided into clearly
defined groups called clans, which were strictly
exogamic.
Where clans exist the distinctive character of each is
very strongly defined, and a man can become a
member only by birth, adoption, or transfer in
beginning from his mothers to his fathers clan.
Over the last ten years womens participation in India
workforce is on the decline.
Gender Roles
It is said that a woman must first obey her father, then
her husband, and then her son; this seems to be the
normal pattern as she goes through life. The opinion of
the male head of household is especially important in
the arrangement of marriages, because in most
religious communities these are effectively marriages
between two families.