🇮🇳 Traditions of India
353 traditions from India, best known first, across 60 cities and towns.
Indian traditions are built on a deep history of diverse religious practices, regional cuisines, and artistic expressions that have evolved over millennia. The most distinctive features include the central role of faith in daily life, the intricate variety of food shaped by geography and belief, and the enduring influence of ancient philosophical concepts like dharma and karma.
India is a land where ancient customs coexist with modern life. People here follow many different religions, each with its own rituals and festivals. Food plays a big part in social gatherings and religious observances. Art, music, and dance vary greatly from region to region. These traditions reflect a long history of cultural exchange and local innovation.
Faith and ritual
Religion shapes daily life for many Indians. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism originated here and share ideas like dharma and karma. Nonviolence is a key value in these native faiths. Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and other foreign religions also have followers. Atheism and agnosticism have a long history too. Religious tolerance is common, though tensions sometimes arise. Festivals mark the calendar year with prayers and community events.
The table and eating
Indian cuisine varies widely by region and religion. Staples include rice, wheat flour, lentils, and millet. Spices like turmeric, cardamom, and cumin are essential. Cooking often involves frying onion, garlic, and ginger paste in oil. Religious beliefs influence diet; Hindus may avoid beef, Muslims avoid pork, and Jains eat only plant foods. New world ingredients like tomatoes and potatoes were adopted centuries ago. Meals are often shared family style using hands or spoons.
Arts and expression
Music, dance, and architecture show India's long cultural history. Classical forms exist alongside folk traditions. Dance styles vary by region, often telling stories from mythology. Music uses specific scales and rhythms unique to the area. Architecture reflects influences from various periods and cultures. Literature spans many languages and genres. These arts are kept alive through practice and performance in communities across the country.
Life cycle rites
Birth, marriage, and death are marked by specific rituals. These ceremonies often involve family and community members. Religious leaders may officiate at weddings and funerals. Birth celebrations welcome the new child into the community. Marriage unions two families as well as individuals. Death rituals focus on honoring the deceased and guiding their spirit. These rites reinforce social bonds and spiritual beliefs.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Culture of India", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
The table in India
Foods and drinks by the moment they belong to.
Cities, towns and villages of India
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreShadow play
A storytelling art using flat puppets and light to cast moving silhouettes on a screen.Performance
🇮🇳 Puri, India and 1 morePattachitra
A cloth scroll painting tradition from eastern India featuring mythological stories and folk tales.Performance
🇮🇳 IndiaWarli painting
Sacred white rice paste murals made on red clay walls in western IndiaCraft
🇫🇷 Paris, France and 3 moreFête de la Musique
An annual celebration where people play music in public spaces on the summer solstice.Festival
🇮🇳 Jammu, IndiaBhangra
A Punjabi harvest dance, first kept by farmers and now performed worldwidePerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaPandavani
A folk singing tradition from central India that retells episodes of the Mahabharata epic through music and theatrical nPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDandiya Raas
A stick dance from Gujarat performed in pairs during the festival of NavaratriPerformance
🇮🇳 Goa, India and 2 moreShehnai
A traditional reed instrument played at weddings and temple festivals across IndiaPerformance
🇮🇳 Thrissur, IndiaThrissur Pooramതൃശ്ശൂര് പൂരം
A grand Kerala temple gathering with elephant pageantry, percussion, and fireworksFestival
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreGhazalغَزَل
A short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South AsiaPerformance
🇮🇳 Kolkata, IndiaJana Gana Mana
India's national anthem, from a Bengali hymn of 1911, sung at civic occasionsCeremony
🇮🇳 Thrissur, IndiaPulikaliപുലിക്കളി
Painted tigers and leopards dance through Thrissur on the fourth day of OnamPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreGiddhaਗਿੱਧਾ
A lively circle dance of women from the Punjab region, performed with clapping and call-and-response songs.Performance
🇵🇰 Islamabad, Pakistan and 2 moreQawwaliقَوّالی
Devotional Sufi singing from South Asia, led by hereditary parties at shrinesPerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaSatsangसत्सङ्ग
Sitting in the company of truth, to hear, sing and meditate in northern IndiaSpiritual
🇮🇳 IndiaTheyyam
A sacred ritual dance and divine invocation from North Malabar in IndiaSpiritual
🇮🇳 Vrindavan, IndiaRaslilaरासलीला (Rāsalīlā)
A traditional Indian dance and folk theatre performance depicting the divine love of Krishna and the gopis.Performance
🇮🇳 Guwahati, IndiaBihu dance
A folk dance from Assam that celebrates spring, fertility and the new year with energetic movement and music.Performance
🇵🇰 Karachi, Pakistan and 2 moreSouth Asian truck art
The craft of painting and adorning cargo trucks and buses across India and Pakistan.Craft
🇮🇳 Thrissur, IndiaPanchavadyamപഞ്ചവാദ്യം
A Kerala temple orchestra of five instruments that builds rhythm from slow to fast over two hoursPerformance
🇮🇳 Thrissur, IndiaKerala mural painting
Frescoes of Hindu deities painted on temple and palace walls in Kerala, India.Performance
🇮🇳 Alappuzha, IndiaNehru Trophy Boat Race
An annual longboat race held on Punnamada Lake in Kerala, India.Festival
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreTribal youth dormitoryMorung
A communal house where a tribe's unmarried young people sleep, learn and serveRite of passage
🇮🇳 Amritsar, India and 1 moreGatkaਗੱਤਕਾ (Gurmukhi) / گَتّکا (Shahmukhi)
A Sikh martial art of stick-fighting and sword dance from the Punjab region.Performance
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreBeating Retreat
A military ceremony of music and drill held at sunset to mark the end of a day or a festival.Ceremony
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 1 moreAlpanaআলপনা (Alpona)
A Bengali floor painting tradition using rice flour paste to mark festivals and rituals.Performance
🇮🇳 Mysuru, India and 2 moreVijayadashamiविजयदशमी (Vijayadaśamī)
A Hindu festival marking the end of Navaratri, celebrating the victory of good over evil across India and Nepal.Festival
🇮🇳 Kochi, India and 5 moreOnamഓണം
A ten-day harvest festival in Kerala celebrating the return of King Mahabali with feasts, flower carpets and boat races.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Guwahati, IndiaBihuবিহু (Assamese)
Three annual festivals in Assam marking the new year, crop cycles and harvest with dance, music and feasts.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Kolkata, IndiaDurga Puja in Kolkataকলকাতার দুর্গাপূজা
The grand annual autumn festival honouring the mother goddess Durga across KolkataSpiritual
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreSohrai
A harvest and cattle observance kept by indigenous communities in eastern IndiaSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Guwahati, IndiaBohag Bihu
A multi-day Assamese New Year festival of cattle rites, music, gifts and feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇳 Kohima, IndiaHornbill Festival
A ten-day December gathering of Nagaland's ethnic groups, held at Kisama near KohimaFestival
🇮🇳 Chidambaram, India and 1 moreThiruvathira
A Hindu festival celebrating Shiva's cosmic dance, observed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala with fasting, processions, and dancFestival
🇮🇳 IndiaKoodiyattamകൂടിയാട്ടം
An ancient Sanskrit temple drama and dance tradition from Kerala, IndiaPerformance
🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 6 moreBoishakhi Melaবৈশাখী মেলা
A Bengali New Year fair in London each May, with a parade, music and food stallsFestival
🇮🇳 Ahmedabad, India and 1 moreGarbaगर्भ
A Gujarati circle dance performed around a sacred flame during the festival of NavratriPerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaBharatanatyam
A South Indian temple dance of set poses, hand gestures and rhythm, now danced on stagePerformance
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreChapchar KutChapchâr Kût
A spring festival of dance and food kept by the Mizo people in Mizoram, India.Festival
🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaSitalsasthiଶୀତଳ ଷଷ୍ଠୀ
A festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and ParvatiFestival
🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 moreBaul traditionবাউল
A Bengali devotional minstrel path uniting mystic poetry, music and dancePerformance
🇮🇳 Varanasi, India and 5 moreRamlilaरामलीला
Open-air community plays staged across autumn nights, recounting the journey of Rama.Performance
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreLast Post
A bugle call sounded at military funerals and remembrance services across the Commonwealth to honour those who died in sPerformance
🇮🇳 Baripada, IndiaChhau dance
A masked dance of eastern India, blending martial steps with epic storiesPerformance
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreCham danceའཆམ་
A masked monastery dance of Tibetan Buddhism, staged at festivals to teach and blessSpiritual
🇪🇸 Seville, Spain and 5 moreAzulejo
Painted, tin-glazed ceramic tiles that cover walls and floors across Portugal and SpainCraft
🇾🇪 Hadhramaut, Yemen and 1 moreJambiyaجنبية
A short curved dagger worn at the waist by Yemeni men, its handle a sign of statusDress
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Jambiya: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bhangra: Jimmysekhon25, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Vijayadashami: DiplomatTesterMan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ghazal: Poem by Sa'di of Shiraz (13th century). 19th century manuscript, Public domain, source
- Onam: Jiteshgt, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jana Gana Mana: Rabindranath Tagore, Public domain, source
- Pulikali: Felix Francis, CC BY 2.0, source
- Bihu: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Qawwali: Saswat swarup mishra, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Theyyam: Shagil Kannur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Durga Puja in Kolkata: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- South Asian truck art: Alexandros.Papadopoulos, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Bohag Bihu: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Baul tradition: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- Thiruvathira: Kalakki at Malayalam Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, source
- Chapchar Kut: Ramesh Lalwani, CC BY 2.0, source
- Garba: anurag agnihotri, CC BY 2.0, source
- Koodiyattam: Sreekanthv at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ramlila: Ankit Gupta, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dandiya Raas: User:psubhashish, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shehnai: TAPAS KUMAR HALDER, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hornbill Festival: Vikramjit Kakati, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pattachitra: Unknown, Public domain, source
- Warli painting: Omrmankar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pandavani: Suyash Dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Alpana: Tripan123, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Boishakhi Mela: Ripon Miah, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Beating Retreat: Beating Retreat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bharatanatyam: Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, source
- Gatka: Simon Speed, Public domain, source
- Tribal youth dormitory: Aravind Manickam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nehru Trophy Boat Race: Varghesepunnamada, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kerala mural painting: Sivavkm, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bihu dance: Digantatalukdar, CC0, source
- Raslila: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matsukin/, CC BY 2.0, source
- Giddha: University of the Fraser Valley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Fête de la Musique: dalbera, CC BY 2.0, source
- Shadow play: Museu Valencià d'Etnologia, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Panchavadyam: Mahesh K, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Thrissur Pooram: Rameshng, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Azulejo: Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cham dance: Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, source
- Chhau dance: Skasish, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Last Post: User:EnEdC, Public domain, source