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All About the Culture of South India

In this article, you will get to know about the entire culture of South India like its cities, lifestyle, food, dance, art, etc.

By pardeep Published 3 years ago 3 min read
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South India is known for its music and for its arts and rich literature. Madras or Chennai can be called the cultural capital and the soul can of Mother India. The city is built low in pleasant contrast to the ghoulish tall structures of Mumbai and Kolkata. It has vast open spaces and ample greenery. The majestic spacious Mount Road looks like a river, wide and deep. A stroll on the Marina beach in the evening with the sea glistening in your face is refreshing. The breeze soothes the body, refreshes the mind, sharpens the tongue, and brightens the intellect.

One can never feel dull in Chennai. The intellectual and cultural life of the city is something of a marvel. Every street corner of Chennai has a literary forum, a debating society, and music, dance, and dramatic club. The intelligent arguments, the sparkling wit, and dashing irony enliven both the political and the literary meetings. There is a young men's association that attracts brilliant speakers and equally brilliant listeners to its meetings. It is a treat to watch the speakers use their oratorical weapons. Chennai speakers are by and large sweet and urbane, though the cantankerous, fire-eating variety is quite often witnessed in political campaigning. The urbane speakers weave their arguments slowly like the unfolding of a leisurely Carnatic raga.

Music concerts and dance performances draw packed houses. There is hardly any cultural family in Chennai that does not learn and patronise music and dance in its pristine purity. Rukmani Devi Arundale's 'Kalakshetra' is a renowned international centre. It has turned out hundreds of celebrated maestros and dancers who have brought name and glory to our country. Carnatic music has a peculiar charm of its own. It has the moon's soft beauty and the moon's soft pace. Thousands of people flock to the temple 'maidans' to get drunk with the mellifluous melodies of their favourite singers. They sit out all night in the gruelling heat, swaying to the rhythm of 'nadaswaram' and rollicking with the measured beats of 'mridangam'. M.S. Subbulakshmi is considered to be the nightingale of the South.

The Gods might descend from heaven to see a South Indian damsel dancing. There are several varieties of South Indian dance - Bharatnatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, etc. Age cannot wither nor custom stales its beautiful variety. Bharatnatyam is the most graceful and enchanting dance form, whereas Kathakali is the most masculine and virile. South Indian dances combine voluptuousness with purity. Here, every muscle and fiber of the body vibrates into life, and as the tempo increases, a divine flame-like passion bodies forth as if making an assault on heaven.

South Indian dress, particularly of the males, is puritanically simple. There you cannot distinguish a judge from an 'ardali' by their dress. South Indian ladies too look charming and graceful in their colorful Kanjeevaram and Mysore silk sarees.

South Indian cuisine, especially 'dosa', 'idli' and 'vada' are so delicious that now we can enjoy them almost everywhere in India as well as in some foreign countries. The Madras 'idli', which was a favorite of Gandhiji, is served with 'sambhar' and ‘coconut 'chutney'.

A South Indian specialty is the banana leaf meal. It consists of about two to six vegetable dishes such as sambar, the portal (a dry stir-fried dish), rasam (a thin, tangy soup), buckwheat with curd, and steamed rice served with buttermilk, all of which A disposable and eco-friendly one. - Friendly banana leaf. Also, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the two states of South India which are very famous for their gold markets. Both these states are considered to be the largest gold market in India. South India accounts for 40 percent of the gold market share. This is much more than the combined contribution of East and West.

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pardeep

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