India is one of the world's largest repositories of music, dance, theatre, folk traditions, songs, performing arts, rites and rituals, paintings and writings that are known, collectively as "Intangible Cultural Heritage". India's cultural heritage is a source of inspiration to people everywhere. India's century old cultural exchanges with South East Asia continue to inspire people-to-people relationships. There is a visible impact of the Indian heritage on the scriptures and the way of life of the people of the Mekong region. There is deep conviction about the Buddhist traits of humility, gentleness, justice and charity. There are many similarities in languages of the region and Sanskrit. The Panchtantra and Jataka tales are narrated with great enthusiasm and are part of folklore. The Ramayan culture is visible all across South East Asia.
The common culture binding India with South East Asian Countries apart from Buddhism is the great epic of Ramayana. Angkor Wat has the great Ramayana Panel depicting the battle between Vanaras and the Asuras. SAARC remains an important component of India's cultural diplomacy representing multilateralism and people to people contacts. People to people exchanges are being promoted amongst the BRICS countries with the BRICS Culture Ministers meetings laying down the road map for collaboration. Cultural exchanges amongst the Member Nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is also being actively promoted in the fields of tourism, education, science, archaeology, music, dance and yoga. India's soft power status varies with the regions. In South East Asia, Buddhism links India to the people of the region.
In the Indian Ocean countries, Project Mausam (the monsoon) linked the people to common traits. There are several new links that have emerged - cricket ties with Australia and South Africa represented by Cricket connects exhibitions. The theoretical framework for the formulation of India's soft power status is best represented in the Government's new ideas - Digital India, Business Promotion, Yoga Diplomacy. UNESCO has also focused on building Peace through Cultural Diplomacy. The influence of - Mahatma Gandhi. Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr around the world, and the popularity of their ideas of harmonious co-existence amongst various layers of society is considerable.
India's cultural diplomacy is centered around
A. Ramayan
B. Multilateral engagements
C. Business Promotion
D. People to people contacts
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
