Unfolding the Indian cultural mosaic: a cross-cultural study of four regional cultures

This study aims at unravelling the various features of complex Indian culture. Based on our arguments that India cannot be used as a surrogate for single culture, we postulated that the various regions within India differ culturally as they differ along geographic, climatic, economic, linguistic and ethnic lines. The study compares the cultural values of four states namely Punjab in north, Tamil Nadu in south, Gujarat in west and West Bengal in eastern India. The states were chosen taking into account their geographical distance, different historical backgrounds and contrasting social patterns in the regions. Professor Geert Hofstede's values survey module (1994) has been employed to operationalise culture and to compare the regions on the five cultural dimensions.