INTERMIXING OF CULTURES

INTERMIXING OF CULTURES

India is a country of many diversities. We speak different languages, have various types of food, celebrate different festivals, practice different religions. But actually, if you think about it, we do many things that are similar except that we do them in different ways.

How do we explain Diversity?

A little more than two hundred years ago or long before the train, aeroplane, bus or car became a part of our lives, people travelled from one part of the world to another, in ships, on horses, on camels or on foot.

Often, they went in search of new lands, or new places to settle in, or for people to trade with. And because it took so long to travel, once they got to a place, people stayed there, often for a long time. Many others left their homes because there were famines and drought and they could not get enough to eat. Some went in search of work while others left because there was a war.

Sometimes, as they began to make their homes in new places, people began to change a little and at other times they managed to do things in the old ways. So their languages, food, music, religions became a mix of the old and the new, and out of this intermixing of cultures, came something new and different.

Activity:

List at least three different ways in which people in India do the following.

One of the possible answers has been provided for you already.

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS

HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS

The history of many places shows us how many different cultural influences have helped to shape life and culture there. Thus regions became very diverse because of their unique histories.

Similarly, diversity also comes about when people adapt their lives to the geographical area in which they live. For example, living near the sea is quite different from living in a mountainous area.

Not only do people have different clothing and eating habits, but even the kinds of work they do are different. In cities, it is often easy to forget how closely people's lives are tied to their physical surroundings. This is because in the city people seldom grow their own vegetables and grain. Instead, they depend on the market to buy all the food and other goods that they need.

Let us try to understand what we mean when we say that historical and geographical factors influence the diversity of a region. We can do this by reading about life in two different parts of the country, Kerala, and Ladakh.

Ladakh

Ladakh is a desert in the mountains in the east of Jammu and Kashmir. Very little agriculture is possible here since this region does not receive any rain and is covered in snow for a large part of the year. There are very few trees that can grow in the region. For drinking water, people depend on the melting snow during the summer months.

People here keep sheep and goats. The goats in this region are special because they produce pashmina wool. This wool is prized and pashmina shawls cost a lot of money. The people in Ladakh carefully collect the wool of the goats and sell this to traders from Kashmir. Pashmina shawls are chiefly woven in Kashmir.

People eat meat and milk products like cheese and butter. Each family owns some goats, cows, and dzos (yak-cows).

Being a desert did not mean that Ladakh did not attract its share of traders. It was considered a good trade route as it had many passes through which caravans travelled to what is today called Tibet. These caravans carried textiles and spices, raw silk, and carpets.

Buddhism reached Tibet via Ladakh. Ladakh is also called Little Tibet. Islam was introduced in this region more than four hundred years ago and there is a significant Muslim population here. Ladakh has a very rich oral tradition of songs and poems. Local versions of the Tibetan national epic the Kesar Saga are performed and sung by both Muslims and Buddhists.

Kerala

Kerala is a state in the southwest corner of India. It is surrounded by the sea on one side and hills on the other. A number of spices like pepper, cloves, and cardamoms are grown on the hills. It is spices that made this region an attractive place for traders. Jewish and Arab traders were the first to come here. The Apostle of Christ, St. Thomas is believed to have come here nearly 2000 years ago and he is credited with bringing Christianity to India.

Many Arab traders also came and settled down here. Battuta, who travelled here a little less than seven hundred years ago, wrote a travelogue in which he describes the lives of Muslims and says that they were a highly respected community. The Portuguese discovered the sea route to India from Europe when Vasco da Gama landed with his ship here.

Because of all these various historical influences, people in Kerala practice different religions such as Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

The fishing nets used here look exactly like the Chinese fishing nets and are called cheenavala. Even the utensil used for frying is called the cheenachatti, and it is believed that the word cheen could have come from China. The fertile land and climate are suited to growing rice and a majority of people here eat rice, fish, and vegetables.

Differences between Kerala and Ladakh

While Kerala and Ladakh are quite different in terms of their geographical features, the history of both regions has seen similar cultural influences. Both regions were influenced by Chinese and Arab traders. It was the geography of Kerala which allowed for the cultivation of spices and the special geographical location of Ladakh and its wool that drew traders to these regions. Thus history and geography are often tied to the cultural life of a region.

The influence of diverse cultures is not merely a thing of the past. Our present lives are all about moving from place to place for work and with each move, our cultural traditions and way of life slowly become part of the new place we are in. Similarly, in our own neighbourhoods we live close to people from several communities. Our daily lives are about the ways in which we do things together and hear stories about each other's lives, customs, and traditions.

Activity:

Look at the map of India in an Atlas and locate Kerala and Ladakh. Can you list three ways in which the different geographical locations of these two regions would influence the following?

The food people eat:

The clothes they wear:

The work they do:

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK