South Indian Culture

About South Indian Culture

This group is about south India and its people and places.

An Overview about South India:

South Indian culture is about the south India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. South India lies in the peninsular Deccan Plateau and is bounded by the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal in the west, south and east respectively. The geography of the region is diverse, encompassing two mountain ranges— the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats and a plateau heartland. Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra and Kaveri rivers are important non-perennial sources of water.

Inhabitants of South India are referred to as South Indians. The largest linguistic groups in South India include the Telugus, Tamils, Kannadigas, Malayalis, Tulus, Kodavas and Konkanis. The estimated population of South India is 233 million. About 83% of South Indians follow Hinduism. Islam has the second-highest number of followers in the region, with 11%, while 5% follow Christianity.

Agriculture is the single largest contributor to the regional net domestic product, while Information technology (IT) is a rapidly growing industry. Literary and architectural styles, evolved over two thousand years, differ from other parts of the country. Politics in southern India is dominated by smaller regional political parties rather than by national political parties.

Origin of the words-South India:

Apart from the English language terms South India and Peninsular India, southern India has been known by several other historic names. The region has been referred to as the Deccan (from the Sanskrit word Dakshina meaning south). This term currently refers only to the area covered by the Deccan Plateau, a major geographic feature of the region. The Carnatic is an English term derived from "Karnād" or "Karunād", meaning black country. The terms Karnād and Carnatic have long outgrown particular association with the plateau and refer to all of South India, including the coasts, the eastern of which is named the Carnatic coast. The name Karnātaka is derived from the same root. A majority of South Indians speak one of the four Dravidian languages— Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.

Cultural tradition and heritage:

South Indians tradition is essentially the celebration of the eternal universe through the celebration of the beauty of the body, and motherhood, which is exemplified through their dance, clothing, and sculptures.

Traditional South Indian Clothing:

South Indian women traditionally wear the Saree while the men wear dhoti, which could be either a white pancha or a colourful lungi with typical south Indian patterns.
South Indian women traditionally wear the sari while the men wear a white dhoti or a colourful lungi with typical south Indian patterns or designs.
The sari, being an unstitched wrap, enhances the shape of the wearer while only partially covering the midriff. In Indian philosophy, the navel of the Supreme Being is considered as the source of life and creativity. Hence by tradition, the stomach and the navel is to be left unconcealed, though the philosophy behind the costume has largely been forgotten. This makes the realization of sharira-mandala, where in Angikam bhuvanam yasya (the body is your world) unites with the shaarira-mandala (the whole universe), as expressed in the Natyashastra.

These principles of the sari, also hold for other forms of wraps, like the lungi or mundu or panchey (a white lungi with colourful silk borders in kannada) worn by men. The lungi can be wrapped over clockwise or anticlockwise and can be tied at the back or fixed just along the waist line. It's sometimes lifted till knee and tied at the waist leisurely or just held in hand to speed up walking. In parts of north Karnataka men wear kachche panchey where it is tied at back by taking it between legs. Similar pattern is seen in women. All over the peninsular coastal region men wear coloured lungis and women wear sari in a way tying it at back.

South Indian Cuisine:

Rice is the staple diet, while fish is an integral component of coastal South Indian meals. Coastal areas like the state of Kerala and the city of Mangalore are known for their seafood.

Coconut is an important ingredient in Kerala whereas Andhra Pradesh cuisine is characterized by pickles and spicy curries. Hyderabadi cuisine a legacy of the past is popular for its Biryani.

Dosa, Idli, Uttapam are popular throughout the region.

There are large coffee estates in southern Karnataka and parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. South Indian coffee is generally quite robust, and coffee is a preferred drink throughout the Malabar region.

Carnatic Music:

The music of South India is known as Carnatic music, which includes rhythmic and structured music by composers like Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Tyagaraja, Annamacharya, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Shyama Shastri, Subbaraya Shastri, Mysore Vasudevachar and Swathi Thirunal. The contemporary singer Dr. K. J. Yesudas is a cultural ambassador of Carnatic music.

The motion picture industry has emerged as an important platform in South India, over the years portraying the cultural changes, trends, aspirations and developments experienced by its people. Some movie classics like Nammukku paarkkaan munthiri thoppukal (1986) by Padmarajan, Adi Shankara (1984) by director G V Iyer, and Perumthachan (1990) by Ajayan have gained worldwide acclaim.

Dance:
South India is home to several distinct dance forms — the Koodiyattam, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, Yakshagana, Theyyam, Ottamthullal, Oppana, Kerala Natanam and Mohiniaattam.

The Bharatanatyam is the celebration of the eternal universe through the celebration of the beauty of the body. This is done through its tenets of having a perfectly erect posture, a straight and pout curving stomach, a well rounded and proportionate body mass- to the body structure, very long hair and curvaceous hips. These tenets bring to life the philosophy of Natyashastra, ‘Angikam bhuvanam yasya’ (The body is your world). This is elaborated in the araimandi posture, wherein the performer assumes a half sitting position with the knees turned sideways, with a very erect posture. In this fundamental posture of the Bharatanatyam dance, the distance between the head and the navel becomes equal to that between the earth and the navel. In a similar way the distance between the outstretched right arm to the outstretched left arm becomes equal to the distance between the head and the feet, thus representing the "Natyapurusha", the embodiment of life and creation.

South Indian Architecture:

South India boasts of having two enchanting styles of rock architecture, the pure Dravida style of Tamil Nadu and the Vesara style (also called Karnata Dravida style) present in Karnataka. The inspirational temple sculptures of Mahabalipuram, Tanjore,Hampi, Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole, Belur, Halebidu, Lakkundi, Shravanabelagola.

Art:

Madhuri and the mural paintings of Travancore and Lepakshi temples, also stand as a testament to South Indian culture. The paintings of Raja Ravi Varma are considered classic renditions of many a scenes of South Indian life and mythology. There are several examples of Dravidian mural paintings in the Mattancherry Palace and the Shiva kshetram in Ettamanoor. South India is home, as of April 2006, to 5 of the 26 World Heritage listed sites in India.

Sculptures:

Sculptures became one of the finest medium of South Indian expression after the human form of dance. In this medium it was possible to etch the three dimensional form in time. The traditional South Indian sculptor starts his sculpture of the divinities from the navel which is always represented unclothed by the sari. A koshta or grid of the sculpture would show the navel to be right at the centre of the sculpture, representing the source of the union of the finite body and the infinite universe. Sculptures adorn many of the temples around the complexes and also inside them. They are also depiction of dance steps of various stylizations and have served to preserve dance forms and revive it.

Customs and Heritage:

The main spiritual traditions of South India include both Shaivite and Vaishnavite branches of Hinduism, although Buddhist and Jain philosophies had been influential several centuries earlier. Shravanabelagola in Karnataka is a popular pilgrimage center for Jains.

Ayyavazhi is spread significantly across South India. Its followers are more densely populated in South Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

There is a large Muslim community in South India, particularly in the Malabar coast, which can trace its roots to the ancient maritime trade between Kerala and Omanis and other Arabs.

Christianity has flourished in coastal South India from the times of St. Thomas the Apostle who is believed to have come to Kerala and established the Syrian Christian tradition today called as Saint Thomas Christians or Nasranis.

Kerala is also home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world who are supposed to have arrived in the Malabar Coast during the time of King Solomon. The oldest surviving Jewish synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations is the Paradesi Synagogue in Kochi, Kerala.

Literature:

South India has a literary tradition reaching back over two thousand years. The first known literature of South India are the poetic Sangams, which were written in Tamil around two to one and a half thousand years ago.

The Kannada classic Kavirajamarga, written in 850 CE by King Amoghavarsha I, makes references to Kannada literature of King Durvinita in early sixth century CE. Tamil Buddhist commentators of the tenth century CE, Nemrinatham makes references to Kannada literature of fourth century CE Distinct Malayalam and Telugu literary traditions developed in the following centuries.

The artistic expressions of the South Indian people show their admiration of the magnificence of nature and its rhythms. Some of the works include Silappadhikaram by Ilango Adigal, Tholkappiam written by Tholkappiar, Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukural and Kumaravyasa's Karnata Bharata Katamanjari and Pampa's Vikramarjuna Vijaya. Contemporary Kannada writers have received seven Jnanapith awards which is the highest for any Indian language.

Philosophy:

In South Indian literature and philosophy, women are considered very powerful. A married woman is regarded as auspicious, her Shakti or mother-feminine power, protects and empowers her husband and their children.

About this group:

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From the Editors, Associate Editors and Associates

Content source:

Complied from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Referred links:

South India
South Indian Culture

Group ICON Photo Credits:

South Indian Culture group likes to thank Mr. Prem Anandh, (a.k.a. Anandham) for the photo provided for the group ICON!