Santal Medicine

Identification and Enhancement of Cultural Heritage : An Internal Necessity in the Management of Development

Preamble : Cultural Heritage is not cast in stone; it is a living reality. It has a past, a present, and a future. It follows a particular way of discovering the ground : the tangible and the intangible forms that constitute the core of a culture. Both in its form and essence, Cultural Heritage has a greater degree of reality. It is not the frozen property of any particular culture. In time, it transcends its empirical segregation and individualization, and becomes a part of the heritage of the entire World.

Objective : Cultural Development operates today, via mass media, on a world scale. Very often, the technocentric model of development, evolved in developed countries, is prescribed for underdeveloped countries. What is introduced is often the opposite illusion : a foreign technology and an alien Cultural Value, based primarily on quantitative and materialistic growth. Nobody can remain content with the mere import of a new technology and an alien Cultural Value, but must be capable of acting in accordance with it. These countries find their Cultural Identities threatened. While technologies raise tremendous hopes, failures and frustrated expectations of development lead to : cultural tensions, widening of the gaps between the “haves” and “have not”, risks of deterioration and destruction of the environment and of the Cultural Identities. Their capacity of self-germination and growth is dangerously reduced. The task ahead is to find out a way to grow towards fulfilment, by rediscovering the self within, i.e. Assertion and Enhancement of Cultural Heritage, with a view to enable existing cultures and new technologies to co-habit successfully. This project, involving a study and analysis of both the tangible and intangible heritage of India, will cover all aspects pertaining to Culture and Development.

Assumptions : a) The people of India constitute a single class of Cultural Heritage. b) Their Cultural Heritage is the pole around which the true life revolves. c) Faced with the danger of ‘free-wheeling’ culture, borne along the imported high technology and conspicuous consumerism as evident in urbanized populations, several of them are looking for alternative models of rural life (such as the Sarvodaya model in India and Sri Lanka). India, with 15 official languages and over 300 dialects, is an ideal example of a global village. Its cross-cultural and multicultural aspects, should be studied and asserted, in the context of Cultural Development. In order to discuss the crucial matter in terms of Cultural Heritage, it is essential to explore a number of basic facts (Elements or Trails) from rural life (India’s majority population) as well as city life, the population that sets urbanization as the ultimate goal of Cultural Development.

Plan of Action : Identifying the tangible and intangible heritage in the 25 States and 7 Union Territories. Mapping India’s Cultural Heritage. Suggesting the use of Cultural Heritage as a development tool. Determining the inner potentiality of village life. Drawing up a technical document for development planners and researchers.

The project was launched in December 1998. Two pilot studies have been conducted : one in North India (U.P.) and another in South India (Kerala). Work has begun in other states as well.

Poonam Mathur

 

 

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