CAUGHT BETWEEN WORLDS 

- MALANA VILLAGE, HP

 Hands on experience... by Parikshit Sharma 

I stood on a stone lined path as my guide told me to wait, “Don’t touch anything here and wait till I come back” he said. And in the next five minutes I spent waiting for him, I stood bemused as lackadaisical old men sitting in the proximity began to lay their watchful eyes on me. I still couldn’t believe I was in the picturesque Parvati valley in Himachal. I had reached this small Himalayan hamlet after a thirty minute “trek” on a cemented trail which left me panting as I ascended from an altitude of 2200m to 3100m.Compared to other shrine villages in the valley Malana is different. And I could certainly see that in just five minutes, eventually my guide came back and I spent my entire day in Malana. The entire day’s happenings left me with a stream of ambivalent thoughts and forced me to deliberate about what I encountered.

Malana has been drawing travellers such as Penelope Chetwood daughter of Lord Chetwood; Commander in chief of colonial India to western bag-packers and social scientist /anthropologists. 

View from a local home with dope trees.

Travelling in Himachal has caught my fancy ever since I was a little child. The pristine beauty of tranquil evergreen forests, pellucid blue skies and serene valleys vivaciously brought to life by the torrid white waters of glacial rivers has made me a tenacious admirer of this great hill state. My trips in Himachal over the years have been essential in forming my understanding of Himachali traditions, cultures and social/hegemonic structures. And it was Malana with its rather peculiar social structure and its unique mystical identity has long intrigued me and eventually provoked me to go to there.

Tales, myths and mysteries work in tandem to accentuate the exotic and esoteric identity of this village. It is a popular myth that Malanis (inhabitants of Malana) are descendants of soldiers from Alexander’s army who averted the treacherous journey back by taking refuge in the Parvati valley. However this popular myth has been debunked by recent DNA typing of the inhabitants, the haplotypes of the Malanis resemble that of Indo-Aryans who predated the former by roughly a thousand years. Although it has been ascertained that Malanis’ have an Indo-Aryan origin, the indigenous language kanashi is so arcane that it is spoken only in Malana and only by Malanis. Outsiders; who in Malani tradition are untouchables and forbidden to speak this Language. Kanashi is today an endangered language as classified by Ethnologue. Its peculiar amalgam between Sanskrit and Burmese- Tibetan dialects distinguishes it from Indo-Aryan Himachali dialects as well as other Tibetan- Burmese dialects of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur districts. As the legend goes-Jamlu; a sage from the early Aryan period conjured the reward of Hindu God Shiva and was told to settle in the Himalayan paradise of Malana. When he got there he was confronted with a demon and eventually they had entered a treaty wherein Malanis would follow the norms and guidelines laid down by Jamlu and follow the lifestyle of the latter. The guidelines which Jamlu laid down were the formulating blocks of the existing social structure. The title of “World’s oldest democracy,” has long been a famous exposition Malana has received in travel blogs, books and researches.

A make-shift local gambling game.

Malana is today caught between worlds; the present day Malanis face a challenge to keep their identity as descendants of Jamlu and confront development and rapid changes in the world around them. Geographical isolation, huge language barriers, and a regressive hegemony along with a notorious marijuana trade circle have transformed the social milieu into a convoluted discourse. This can be felt as soon as one reaches Malana. I started my hike one a dusty road built by the Malana-2 Hydropower project. Though the project has brought the Malanis’ close to rest of the world it has perturbed the tranquil equilibrium of the inhabitants. Present generations are attracted towards the job opportunities which the projects provide. 

A Hydro Power plant in Malana

   
 However, they have been far from successful at work due to lack of education, cannabis addiction and persistent absenteeism. In addition their culture to regard all outsiders as untouchables and recondite language make it really difficult for them to cooperate with the staff.

Hydropower is not to blame here, India’s mistaken modernity and the trend to perceive technological acquaintance as development is the main cause of this difficult situation faced today.

Written by - Parikshit Sharma

Parikshit Sharma is a passionate trekker and poet from Shimla. He is currently pursuing his 12th standard from Mahindra United World College, Pune.
 The above article is based on experiences of his recent visit to Malana.