Introduction
Culture is not a static collection of customs, symbols, and rituals; rather, it is a living, evolving process through which societies continuously define and redefine themselves. The phrase “Culture implies culture as a process” emphasizes that culture is not merely something people possess—it is something they actively create, transmit, and transform through their interactions, institutions, and imaginations. In the Indian context, this notion gains particular depth because of the country’s immense historical continuity, diversity of languages and traditions, and capacity for adaptation without losing a sense of identity.
This essay explores the dynamic and processual nature of culture, explains how this concept has been understood by scholars, and analyses how it manifests in India’s long civilizational journey. It examines the interplay between continuity and change, the mechanisms of cultural synthesis, and the ongoing dialogue between tradition and modernity that makes Indian culture one of the richest examples of cultural process in world history.
1. Understanding Culture as a Process
Culture, in its broadest sense, refers to the total way of life of a people—their beliefs, values, norms, arts, and institutions. But when we view culture as a process, we emphasize three key aspects:
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Continuity and Change – Culture is constantly shaped by historical experiences, new discoveries, and social interactions. It grows and modifies itself in response to time and circumstance.
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Interaction and Exchange – Cultural life develops through communication between individuals and groups. No culture is entirely isolated; it evolves through contact with others.
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Creation and Reinterpretation – Every generation reinterprets inherited traditions to suit contemporary realities.
The anthropologist Edward B. Tylor defined culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society.” But modern cultural theorists, such as Raymond Williams, extended this idea by asserting that culture is a “whole way of life” and a process of meanings and values lived in real contexts. Williams insisted that culture is “ordinary” and constantly made and remade in everyday life.
Thus, culture is not an artifact to be preserved in museums—it is a living, breathing force that evolves through people’s creative participation.
2. Theoretical Approaches to Culture as a Process
Different schools of thought have examined how culture operates as a process:
(a) Evolutionary Approach
This approach, rooted in early anthropology, sees culture as evolving from simple to complex forms. While somewhat Eurocentric in its origin, it helps us understand how human societies develop technologies, moral systems, and institutions progressively.
(b) Functionalist Approach
Associated with Bronislaw Malinowski and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, this school views culture as an interrelated system where each part serves a social function. Here, culture is a process of maintaining equilibrium between institutions.
(c) Diffusionist and Interactionist Approaches
These highlight how cultural elements spread through contact and exchange. India’s long history of trade, migration, and invasion demonstrates this process vividly.
(d) Marxist and Materialist Approaches
Culture, according to Marxist theory, evolves through the material conditions of life and the relations of production. It is both a reflection and a means of transforming social reality.
(e) Postmodern and Processual Perspectives
Contemporary scholars reject fixed notions of “high” or “pure” culture. Instead, they stress hybridity, negotiation, and reinterpretation—ideas that fit perfectly with India’s composite cultural fabric.
3. The Indian Perspective: Culture as an Ongoing Civilizational Dialogue
India’s culture cannot be defined by one religion, language, or region. It is the cumulative product of millennia of interaction among various communities—Aryan and Dravidian, Hindu and Buddhist, Persian and Mughal, British and indigenous.
(a) Historical Continuity
From the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2500 BCE) to the Vedic, Mauryan, Gupta, Mughal, and modern periods, India’s culture has shown remarkable continuity. Certain core values—such as reverence for knowledge, tolerance of diversity, and the sanctity of family life—have persisted even as forms of expression have changed.
(b) Assimilation and Synthesis
The process of cultural synthesis is one of India’s defining features. The meeting of Aryan and Dravidian traditions produced the Sanskritic–vernacular continuum; Buddhist and Jain ideas reshaped Hindu ethics; Islamic and Persian influences transformed Indian art, architecture, and literature; and the British encounter introduced new educational and political ideals.
This synthesis illustrates that Indian culture is not an essence but a process—a ceaseless conversation between diverse traditions.
4. Unity in Diversity: The Heart of Indian Cultural Process
The phrase “unity in diversity” encapsulates how India has turned difference into a source of strength. The cultural process in India operates through accommodation rather than exclusion.
(a) Linguistic Plurality
India’s 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects coexist, influencing one another through shared idioms, literary borrowings, and translations. The interaction between Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Tamil, Persian, and Hindi has created a multilingual web of cultural communication.
(b) Religious Coexistence
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, and Christianity have coexisted in India for centuries. Rather than rigid isolation, there has been continuous dialogue—visible in architecture (e.g., Indo-Islamic styles), music (fusion of Persian and Indian ragas), and philosophy (Bhakti and Sufi movements).
(c) Regional and Folk Traditions
Each region has its own distinctive arts, festivals, and cuisines, yet they contribute to a shared civilizational ethos. The Garba of Gujarat, Bihu of Assam, Kathakali of Kerala, and Chhau of Odisha express the same emotional universe in different artistic languages.
Thus, Indian culture as a process means the ongoing integration of diversity into a dynamic unity.
5. Culture and Civilization: The Dialectical Relationship
Culture and civilization are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings. Civilization refers to the material and institutional aspects—technology, governance, urbanization—while culture involves the spiritual and intellectual dimensions—values, beliefs, and aesthetics. Yet, the two evolve together.
In India, this relationship is visible in how spiritual ideals guided material development. For instance:
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The Mauryan civilization combined administrative efficiency with Buddhist compassion.
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The Gupta period fostered artistic excellence alongside scientific advancement.
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The Mughal era merged Persian sophistication with Indian sensibility, producing a refined composite civilization.
Hence, Indian civilization itself is the material expression of an evolving cultural process rooted in ethical and aesthetic values.
6. Mechanisms of Cultural Change in India
Culture changes through identifiable processes. In India, the following have played decisive roles:
(a) Sanskritization and Westernization
Sociologist M. N. Srinivas coined the term Sanskritization to describe how lower social groups adopt practices of higher castes. Later, Westernization introduced new institutions like parliamentary democracy and industrial education. Both are forms of cultural mobility within a processual framework.
(b) Urbanization and Industrialization
Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru have become centers of cultural fusion—where rural traditions meet global trends. Migration, cinema, and technology accelerate this process of hybridization.
(c) Media and Digital Culture
In the 21st century, Indian culture as a process extends into digital spaces. Social media, streaming platforms, and global collaborations create new cultural forms while reinterpreting the old (for example, folk songs remixed in pop formats).
(d) Globalization and Cultural Negotiation
Globalization has made culture more fluid. Indian food, yoga, and Bollywood spread worldwide, while foreign ideas reshape local lifestyles. This reciprocal flow reinforces the idea that culture is an ongoing negotiation, not a finished product.
7. Popular and Aristocratic Culture in India
The distinction between popular and aristocratic (or elite) culture illustrates how culture operates across social hierarchies but remains interconnected.
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Aristocratic culture historically flourished in royal courts, temples, and elite institutions—classical music, Sanskrit literature, miniature painting, etc.
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Popular culture evolved from folk songs, village drama, and oral storytelling—forms closer to common life.
However, the two have never been separate in India. Classical forms often borrow from folk idioms, and folk traditions reinterpret elite forms. For example:
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The Ramayana exists in both Valmiki’s Sanskrit version and numerous regional ballads.
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Classical Kathak dance has roots in folk storytelling traditions.
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Modern Bollywood blends Sanskritic, Persian, and Western influences to create a mass cultural expression.
Thus, the continuous interaction between elite and popular forms reinforces culture as a dynamic process of mutual transformation.
8. Convergent and Divergent Cultural Processes
Convergent Culture
India’s convergent tendencies are seen in its capacity to absorb and unify disparate influences. The syncretic Bhakti and Sufi movements, which cut across religious and linguistic barriers, exemplify convergence. They created a shared emotional and spiritual vocabulary transcending sectarian lines.
Divergent Culture
At the same time, regional and sectarian diversities preserve local uniqueness. Tamil classical literature (Sangam) or Manipuri dance are proud examples of divergence that enrich the whole without destroying unity.
Thus, Indian culture is a dialectic between convergence and divergence—each stimulating the other, ensuring both stability and innovation.
9. Culture as a Process of Meaning-Making
Culture operates not merely through external expressions but through meaning systems—symbols, myths, and collective memories. The Indian tradition excels in this symbolic communication:
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The concept of Dharma provides a moral structure adaptable to various contexts.
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The metaphor of the cosmic dance of Nataraja symbolizes the perpetual cycle of creation and destruction.
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The epics Mahabharata and Ramayana continuously reinterpret human dilemmas for new generations.
These examples demonstrate that the cultural process in India functions through reinterpretation rather than rigid repetition.
10. Modern Challenges and Transformations
While continuity defines Indian culture, the modern era poses challenges that test its adaptive strength.
(a) Cultural Homogenization
Global consumerism threatens local traditions, languages, and crafts. Yet, India’s strong regional identities resist total homogenization.
(b) Identity and Revivalism
Postcolonial India has witnessed renewed interest in indigenous knowledge systems—Ayurveda, classical dance, Sanskrit studies—which seek to reaffirm identity in a global context.
(c) Gender and Social Reform
The cultural process also involves internal critique. Movements for gender equality, Dalit rights, and environmental awareness reinterpret cultural values to align with human dignity and sustainability.
Thus, culture as a process includes the power to reform itself from within.
11. Education and the Transmission of Culture
Education is the primary means through which culture is reproduced and transformed. From the gurukula system to modern universities, Indian education has carried cultural values while incorporating new knowledge.
Today’s interdisciplinary curricula, including heritage studies and comparative philosophy, illustrate culture’s ongoing expansion into modern frameworks. The New Education Policy (2020) reflects an attempt to balance scientific progress with cultural rootedness—yet another example of culture as process.
12. Comparative Perspective: India and the World
Unlike many Western societies where cultural change is often marked by rupture (e.g., the Enlightenment or Industrial Revolution), Indian cultural evolution tends to be cumulative. New elements are added without erasing the old. The coexistence of ancient temples with skyscrapers, Sanskrit chants with digital art, or Vedic rituals with scientific education—all demonstrate India’s ability to harmonize contradiction.
This integrative nature makes India’s cultural process a model of civilizational resilience and adaptability.
Conclusion
To say that “culture implies culture as a process” is to recognize culture as an unfolding drama of human creativity. It grows through dialogue, adapts through conflict, and survives through renewal. In India, this process has produced not a monolithic identity but a plural unity—a civilization that thrives on multiplicity while maintaining coherence.
From the Rigvedic hymns to Bollywood cinema, from Upanishadic introspection to digital innovation, Indian culture remains a process of continuous becoming. Its essence lies not in preservation alone but in transformation guided by enduring values of tolerance, synthesis, and spiritual depth.
In understanding culture as a process, we understand India itself—not as a static heritage frozen in time, but as a living civilization, ever ancient and ever new.
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