Preserving the cultural heritage of Assam

Dr Subhra Devi

(Department of Cultural Studies, Tezpur University. She can be reached at devi.su11@gmail.com)

Heritage simply means 'all the qualities, traditions, or features of life that have continued over many years and have been handed down from one generation to another, according to Collins Dictionary. It is the legacy from the past that we live with today. Heritage can be broadly divided into two groups — natural heritage and cultural heritage. Cultural heritage is very closely related to natural heritage. The foods we take, the house pattern and the raw materials used for various activities of day-to-day life are primarily dependent on the environment of the region and the natural resources and vegetation available around the natural habitat of the communities.

Assam is known for its rich cultural heritage. With varied ethnic communities having distinct languages, textiles, food habits, and ritualistic and musical performances, Assam is very rich in tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Let me be clear at this point that tangible heritage is the physical things —such as buildings, monuments, landscapes, manuscripts, sculptures, paintings, coins etc., and intangible culture are those which do not have physical existence and cannot be touched – such as folksongs or dance, rituals, language, and belief systems. With changing socio-economic situations several cultural elements are constantly disappearing. Different communities living side by side in a region often share their tradition and it is sometimes hard to differentiate the cultural traits. Commonly, cultural tradition always keeps on changing; "change is the only constant in tradition". However, there is always an extent of change that is admissible and allowed to safeguard the tradition. Of late, preservation and sustenance of multiculturalism are being emphasized all over the world, especially after the UNESCO convention of 2003.

The use of these cultural elements for resource generation, especially in terms of tourism and marketing of ethnic products can be a good option for financial resource generation and at the same time saving cultural tradition. In this context, we need a very strong database on the cultural heritage of the region at the first instance which can be used by all concerned —be it for tourism development, for preservation and conservation or, for marketing of ethnic products. However, the approach for documentation and conservation of each form of cultural heritage, namely intangible cultural heritage (performances, rituals, oral narratives and customs, songs and traditional techniques of production, e.g. weaving) and tangible cultural heritage (manuscripts and scripts, sculptures, jewellery, textiles, ethnic utensils and equipment, old coins, buildings and other architectural elements) is different.

However, in Assam, we do not have enough technical experts to deal with these issues. Some scholars study various aspects of culture, but we do not have a team of technical experts on documentation and conservation of heritage. This is the real issue to deal with documentation and preservation of cultural heritage in Assam. Moreover, the departments and directorates working on various aspects of culture need to work in coordination with one another, which is also lacking.

What is the solution then? The first and foremost requirement is to map the cultural traditions of Assam with professionals from each specialized field related to this exercise. It needs a holistic perspective to get a clear and complete picture.

Preparing a holistic long-term roadmap and at the same time fixing short-term goals with deadlines can be a good start. Again, collaborations among related departments e.g. cultural affairs, handloom and handicrafts, tourism, transport, digital media and related academic disciplines are very necessary to speed up the process and divide the responsibilities. This model is followed effectively in advanced countries to maximize the utilization of time and resources.

Saving ecology and natural resources are closely connected with the preservation of cultural traditions as mentioned in the introductory part of this article. Sustainable development of ethnic culture- through eco-tourism, rural tourism etc., can be a good option. The example of Asia's cleanest village Mawlynnong in Meghalaya and its tour around the 'living-root bridge' can show a roadmap in this direction. Using the tourism potential and scenic beauty of the region can help in economic resource generation. However, care must be so that this endeavour could not harm the ethnic communities of the region. Successful models are available in this aspect from countries like Vietnam etc.

Increasing skilled manpower in the heritage sector is a must. The ratio of heritage professionals to the amount of work needed to be done in this region is very poor. This is the primary cause of poor quality and very less quantity of work performed in this sector. For this, two simultaneous approaches are necessary— (1) for short-term action-oriented goals with short-term training in related areas and (2) for long-term goal-encouraging youth to take careers in the heritage preservation sector. Thus courses related to heritage documentation, heritage conservation, heritage management, archaeology, and museology are to be introduced as both short-term courses, and the full-fledged long-term course is very necessary and also linking these with the related departments like museums, archaeology, cultural affairs and tourism are very necessary. Even the engagement of experts or consultants in the government departments for a specific time can be an option as maintained in different countries. This approach is started in some states of India too which can be very effective for short-term goals and also preparing long-term plans. I Hope, Assam will soon march towards the desired goal under the able leadership.