Heritage
Cultural heritage of a people refers to the social and religious attitudes, beliefs, principles and conventions of behaviour inherited from the tradition stretching back to remote antiquity. It also includes in its connotations intellectual and artistic manifestations in the form of language, literature, visual and plastic art and music developed by the society from generation to generation. Viewed in this light, our cultural heritage is immensely vast and varied.
India is the cradle of one of the earliest civilizations of the world. The archeological excavations at Mohenjodaro in the present day Pakistan and at Harappa (Gujarat, India) have revealed the existence of an urban civilization about 5000 years old. People lived in cities and had access to public baths, wide roads and engaged in maritime trade. Religion of the people in the Indus Valley had a strong element of worship of the mother goddess which links it to the present day worship of goddess Durga in the most parts of our country.
People also used coins made of precious metals as a means of commercial exchange. Indus Valley Civilization was completely destroyed in some natural upheaval like flood. The script used by the people living in the north western part of India about 5000 years back has greater resemblance with the Dravidian languages than with the Indo-European languages like Sanskrit and Hindi. It can, therefore, be safely assumed that Indus Valley civilization was a native growth and predated the Aryans by a couple of millennia.
India has given to the world two of its most ancient and extant religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism is an amalgam of myriad cults and beliefs. Unlike other world religions like Christianity and Islam which have some central figures in Christ and Mohammad and almost total dominance of the Bible and the Koran, Hinduism has a vast pantheon of Gods besides the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Polytheism and monotheism exist side by side and even the
India is the cradle of one of the earliest civilizations of the world. The archeological excavations at Mohenjodaro in the present day Pakistan and at Harappa (Gujarat, India) have revealed the existence of an urban civilization about 5000 years old. People lived in cities and had access to public baths, wide roads and engaged in maritime trade. Religion of the people in the Indus Valley had a strong element of worship of the mother goddess which links it to the present day worship of goddess Durga in the most parts of our country.
People also used coins made of precious metals as a means of commercial exchange. Indus Valley Civilization was completely destroyed in some natural upheaval like flood. The script used by the people living in the north western part of India about 5000 years back has greater resemblance with the Dravidian languages than with the Indo-European languages like Sanskrit and Hindi. It can, therefore, be safely assumed that Indus Valley civilization was a native growth and predated the Aryans by a couple of millennia.
India has given to the world two of its most ancient and extant religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism is an amalgam of myriad cults and beliefs. Unlike other world religions like Christianity and Islam which have some central figures in Christ and Mohammad and almost total dominance of the Bible and the Koran, Hinduism has a vast pantheon of Gods besides the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Polytheism and monotheism exist side by side and even the