Culture is a symbolic, continuous, cumulative and progressive process. In the words of Green, culture means “the socially transmitted system of idealized ways of knowledge, practice and beliefs along with the artifacts that knowledge and practices produce and maintain as they change times.”
Culture is the short-hand version of the rules that guide the way of life of people. It is the common learned way of life shared by members of a society. In a word, culture is the expression of finer aspects of the life style of a group. As Johann Von Herder says, “the culture of a people is the blood of its being.”
In the famous words of Arnold J.Toynbee, “civilization is a movement – not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour.” This is true especially in the context of India. Though one of the oldest of ancient civilizations, India is the only example of a continuous process of the growth and evolution of its ancient civilization. In a word, Indian civilization is a continuum and, therefore, unique. As such, the culture of India has always been integral in its approach. ‘
It has never been one-sided. One of the greatest scholars on the culture of India, Basham has this to say on the subject,”…. in no other part of the ancient world were the relations of man and man, and of man and the state, so fair and humane. In no other early civilization were slaves so few in number, and in no other ancient lawbook are their rights so well protected as in the Arthasastra. India was a cheerful land, whose people, each finding a niche in a complex and slowly evolving social system, reached a higher level of kindliness and gentleness in their mutual relationships than any other nation of antiquity.”