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Culturally
Yours
As students of Social Anthropology are wont to put it, culture is what puts the human race apart from the animal kingdom and while different definitions can be given to what culture is all about, there is one point that cannot be delineated from the concept of culture and that is, culture encompasses the way of life of a group of people or community.
Language, dress, art, food habit etc all go to form the main crux of culture and when we talk about the concept of culture, can we view or study the culture of a people in complete isolation ? This question becomes all that more relevant because today, in this fast shrinking world of satellite TV and internet, where MacDonald’s and Coca Cola have become household names, cultural onslaught or invasion have become the catchword and fashion statement of quite a few organizations and individuals.
Not so long ago the country had a person in a Maharashtra Minister who was seen as a crusader against anything that was deemed to go against the culture of the Indian people. It is a different matter that the particular Minister had as many detractors as admirers but his presence could not be ignored and herein lies the question of whether the culture of any people can be kept isolated from outside influence.
Social Anthropologists have even gone to the extent of classifying culture into material culture and non- material culture. To these social scientists, material culture is more prone to outside influence while it takes time for the non-material culture to come under the influence of outside factors. Intrinsic in this study and conclusion of the social scientists is the point that no culture of any society or group of people is free from influences of other people. With the concept of the Global Village gaining credibility, we see the walls surrounding any group of people crumbling by the day and today when we talk of culture it is seen as a dynamic concept which should move with the time, of course without losing its real essence.
Perhaps nothing reflects the dynamism and the accommodative spirit of a culture more than the culture of the Manipuri people. As a write up submitted to this paper pointed out, the Manipuri Rasa dance which is well known throughout the world is a mixture of Vaishnavism, which is not native to the place of Manipur, and the indigenous dances of Manipur. The very word Manipur too has a Sanskrit origin, as suggested by some thinkers.
We refer to these examples because, our culture is today so rich because throughout history the Manipuri people never lived in isolation but had good contacts with its neighbors and knew how to incorporate the ‘foreign’ element with the native practices. Let us remember that our culture withstood the onslaught of the Seven Years Devastation and this more than testifies the strength and beauty of our culture.
However, all these good points come to naught when promoting or propagating our culture is reduced to an exercise of jingoistic rituals. That jingoism is threatening to rear its ugly head can be borne by the number of self appointed cultural czars who have taken it upon themselves to protect and promote the culture of our society. Nothing could be more dangerous than this trend. Moreover who should decide what is good or bad for our culture, is a question we ought to ask now.
Tolerance, the ability to soak in the influence of others and convert it to our benefits has been some of the outstanding features of the Manipuri society and these points can be forgotten only at our own peril. Our point of argument is this; if there is any threat perception to our culture then by all means that threat should be met and dealt with firmly. However if in the name of protecting our culture, jingoism is allowed to prosper then it would defeat the very essence of the culture of the Manipuri people.
(Courtesy: The
Sangai Express)
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