Daily life and social customs

Family and kinship

For almost all Indians the family is the most important social unit. There is a strong preference for extended families, consisting of two or more married couples (often of more than a single generation), who share finances and a common kitchen. Marriage is virtually universal, divorce rare, and virtually every marriage produces children. Almost all marriages are arranged by family elders on the basis of caste, degree of consanguinity, economic status, education (if any), and astrology. A bride traditionally moves to her husband’s house. However, nonarranged “love marriages” are increasingly common in cities.

Within families, there is a clear order of social precedence and influence based on gender, age, and, in the case of a woman, the number of her male children. The senior male of the household—whether father, grandfather, or uncle—typically is the recognized family head, and his wife is the person who regulates the tasks assigned to female family members. Males enjoy higher status than females; boys are often pampered while girls are relatively neglected. This is reflected in significantly different rates of mortality and morbidity between the sexes, allegedly (though reliable statistics are lacking) in occasional female infanticide, and increasingly in the abortion of female fetuses following prenatal gender testing. This pattern of preference is largely connected to the institution of dowry, since the family’s obligation to provide a suitable dowry to the bride’s new family represents a major financial liability. Traditionally, women were expected to treat their husbands as if they were gods, and obedience of wives to husbands has remained a strong social norm. This expectation of devotion may follow a husband to the grave; within some caste groups, widows are not allowed to remarry even if they are bereaved at a young age.

Hindu marriage has traditionally been viewed as the “gift of a maiden” (kanyadan) from the bride’s father to the household of the groom. This gift is also accompanied by a dowry, which generally consists of items suitable to start a young couple in married life. In some cases, however, dowries demanded by grooms and their families have become quite extravagant, and some families appear to regard them as means of enrichment. There are instances, a few of which have been highly publicized, wherein young brides have been treated abusively—even tortured and murdered—in an effort to extract more wealth from the bride’s father. The “dowry deaths” of such young women have contributed to a reaction against the dowry in some modern urban families.

A Muslim marriage is considered to be a contractual relationship—contracted by the bride’s father or guardian—and, though there are often dowries, there is formal reciprocity, in which the groom promises a mahr, a commitment to provide his bride with wealth in her lifetime.

Beyond the family the most important unit is the caste. Within a village all members of a single caste recognize a fictive kinship relation and a sense of mutual obligation, but ideas of fictive kinship extend also to the village as a whole. Thus, for example, a woman who marries and goes to another village never ceases to be regarded as a daughter of her village. If she is badly treated in her husband’s village, it may become a matter of collective concern for her natal village, not merely for those of her own caste.

Festivals and holidays

Virtually all regions of India have their distinctive places of pilgrimage, local saints and folk heroes, religious festivals, and associated fairs. There are also innumerable festivals associated with individual villages or temples or with specific castes and cults. The most popular of the religious festivals celebrated over the greater part of India are Vasantpanchami (generally in February, the exact date determined by the Hindu lunar calendar), in honour of Sarasvati, the goddess of learning; Holi (February–March), a time when traditional hierarchical relationships are forgotten and celebrants throw coloured water and powder at one another; Dussehra (September–October), when the story of the Ramayana is reenacted; and Diwali (Divali; October–November), a time for lighting lamps and exchanging gifts. The major secular holidays are Independence Day (August 15) and Republic Day (January 26).

Cuisine

India does not have a single cuisine. Its wide variety of climates, soil types, cultures, and religions, as well as influences from other countries, produce a diverse range of cuisines that can be grouped under the term Indian cuisine. As a whole, Indian cuisine can be dated to the prehistoric period, and it can be found around the world wherever there is a significant Indian diaspora. Pulses (edible seeds from plants of the legume family) and grains are among the key portions of the Indian diet. Dal, a Hindi word that refers to both raw and cooked lentils, may be the closest thing India has to a national dish. The cuisine of northern India shows the influence of the Islamic conquest. Dairy products such as milk, ghee, and paneer (cottage cheese) are commonly used there, and many vegetables are cooked in yogurt or onion-and-tomato–based gravies. The cuisine of northeastern India is rice-based—rice is grown on terraced fields in the region’s hilly terrain—and freshwater fish appears in many dishes, as does pork, beef, mutton, and chicken. In southern India rice is the staple food, and it is eaten with sambhar, a watery stew comprising lentil, tamarind, and vegetables. Southern India is also home to a range of diverse cuisines—Andhra, Tamil, Chettinad, Kerala, and Mangalore, among others. The west coast of India also has distinct cuisines that vary across Goa (where rice and fish are the staples), Maharashtra, and Gujarat (which is predominantly vegetarian). Spices and herbs are a predominant feature of Indian cooking, and spices indigenous to India were an important driver of European exploration of the world in the 15th and 16th centuries. Food is typically eaten by hand across India, with minimal use of cutlery.