This Hindi phrase meaning "welcome" is commonly used as a greeting, with hands pressed together in front of the chest.
This traditional Indian garment consists of an unstitched cloth draped around the body, typically 5 to 9 yards long.
Located in Agra, this white marble mausoleum was built by Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
This language, written in Devanagari script, is the most widely spoken language in India and one of two official languages of the central government.
This Hindu festival of lights, celebrated in autumn, involves lighting oil lamps called diyas, bursting fireworks, and worshipping the goddess Lakshmi.
This freestanding stone tower in Fatehpur Sikri, built by Akbar to commemorate his victory over Gujarat, is one of the tallest gates in the world at 54 meters.
This ten-day festival celebrating the birth of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha is celebrated with great fervor in Maharashtra, with massive public processions culminating in the immersion of clay idols in water.
This Dravidian language is spoken primarily in southern India and is one of the official languages of India.
This spring festival celebrates the arrival of the new harvest and is marked by lighting bonfires and throwing colored powder.
This ancient language, considered the liturgical language of Hinduism and Buddhism, is the root of many modern Indian languages.
This practice of sitting cross-legged on the floor while eating is common in Indian homes and restaurants, often on a banana leaf in South India.
This spring festival marking the Punjabi New Year involves energetic dancing, dhol drums, and celebrates the harvest season.
This stringed instrument, often associated with Ravi Shankar, has a long neck and produces the distinctive sound of Indian classical music.
This epic poem, attributed to Valmiki, tells the story of a prince's exile and his quest to rescue his wife from the demon king Ravana.
This festival marking the Hindu new year involves flying colorful kites, especially popular in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
This Maharashtrian New Year, also called Gudi Padwa, involves raising a decorated pole outside homes to mark the beginning of spring.
In Indian classical music, this is the term for a melodic framework consisting of specific ascending and descending note patterns.
This Bengali New Year celebrated on April 14th or 15th is known for processions, traditional foods, and the phrase "Shubho Noboborsho."
This classical dance form from Tamil Nadu is known for its fixed upper torso, bent legs, and intricate footwork, often performed in Hindu temples.
This classical dance form from Kerala is known for its elaborate costumes, colorful makeup, and dramatic storytelling based on Hindu epics.
This ornate stepwell in Gujarat, built by Queen Udayamati in the 11th century, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.
This 1938 novel by Mulk Raj Anand depicts the life of a young sweeper in colonial India and is considered a pioneering work of Indian social realism.
This epic poem, composed in Sanskrit around the 4th century, tells the story of a young merchant's journey and is considered one of the earliest surviving works of Indian drama.
Built by Maharaja Jai Singh II in the 18th century, these five astronomical observatories in cities including Jaipur and Delhi are called by this Sanskrit name meaning 'instrument for measuring the harmony of the heavens.'
This classical singer from the Kirana gharana was known as the "Mozart of India" and popularized khayal singing.
This tabla virtuoso collaborated with George Harrison and popularized Indian classical music in the West alongside Ravi Shankar.
This group of Hindu and Jain temples in Madhya Pradesh, built by the Chandela dynasty between 950 and 1050 CE, is renowned for its erotic sculptural panels celebrating human life and love.
This New Year celebrated by Malayalis in Kerala falls in mid-April and features the Vishu Kani arrangement of auspicious items.
This Parsi New Year celebration, whose name means "new day," is observed on different dates and features traditional dishes like Ravo and Sev.
This Salman Rushdie novel, which won the Booker Prize in 1981, follows two children born at the exact moment of India's independence on August 15, 1947.
This dance form from Kerala features elaborate hand gestures, intricate footwork, and colorful face makeup, and is often performed during temple festivals.
This Sanskrit epic poem, attributed to Vyasa, contains the Bhagavad Gita and is the longest epic poem ever written.
This 4th-century Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa tells the story of a king who falls in love with a hermitage girl and faces tragic consequences due to a curse.
This elaborate ritual theatre form from Kerala, performed exclusively in temples, uses the ancient dramatic language of Koodiyattam conventions and enacts stories from the Narasimha avatar, with a single performer portraying multiple characters over several nights.
This Hindustani vocalist from the Agra gharana, nicknamed 'Aftab-e-Mousiqui' meaning 'Sun of Music,' was a dominant figure in khayal singing during the early 20th century.
This classical dance form from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, performed traditionally by devadasis in temples, is characterized by graceful sculpturesque poses and intricate abhinaya, and was revived in the 20th century by Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastry.
This classical dance form from Odisha, characterized by its tribhangi posture involving three body bends and fluid movements, draws its themes primarily from the life of Lord Jagannath and Radha-Krishna.
This 11th-century Sun Temple in Odisha, built by King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, is designed as a colossal chariot with 24 intricately carved stone wheels and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This classical dance form from Manipur, rooted in Vaishnavite traditions, is characterized by its soft, graceful movements, cylindrical costumes called potloi, and devotional themes centered on Radha and Krishna.
This exquisite white marble mausoleum in Aurangabad, built by Aurangzeb for his wife Rabia-ud-Daurani in the 17th century, rivals the Taj Mahal in its architectural elegance and is often called the 'Taj of the Deccan.'
This 1938 novel by Mulk Raj Anand chronicles the life of a young man named Munoo as he navigates poverty and exploitation across Indian society, from rural villages to urban factories.
This Sanskrit drama by Bhasa tells the story of a merchant's son who falls in love with a slave girl and must navigate class boundaries and social conventions.
This 12th-century Kannada poet and social reformer founded the Anubhava Mantapa, a spiritual parliament, and composed hundreds of prose poems called vachanas challenging caste hierarchy.
This 15th-century Kashmiri mystic poetess, devoted to Lord Shiva, composed verses in Kashmiri known as 'vakhs' and is revered as the mother of the Kashmiri language and a saint of the Shaivite tradition.
This 16th-century musician at the court of Emperor Akbar is credited with inventing the sitar and the tabla, and is considered one of the 'Navaratnas' or nine gems of Akbar's court.
This 1881 novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay features the character Kyma and is considered one of the first major works of Bengali fiction.
This Sanskrit treatise on statecraft and governance, attributed to a royal advisor in the Mauryan Empire, outlines principles of diplomacy, military strategy, and administration.
This instrumental form, developed in the Lucknow gharana during the 18th century, is characterized by slow, deliberate plucking of strings and emphasizes the resonance of each note.