Women- the cultural keeper of socio-cultural practices in Indian Communities

Case study - Yadav community, Haryana, India

Shashi Bala Research Scholar Department of Museology National Museum Institute, New Delhi, India

Yadav  woman  drawing  the  cultural  symbols  in  ‘Kua  Pujan’  ceremony    

Cultural Heritage in India

• Tangible Cultural Heritage

•  Intangible Cultural Heritage

Transmission of Intangible Cultural Heritage

•  Institutions documenting and preserving the tangible cultural heritage

o  Museums

o  Monuments

o  Cultural institution like Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), India

•  Institutions documenting and preserving the intangible cultural heritage

o  Few Museums like Indira Gandhi Rashtriyan Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal, India

o  Few institution like Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, India

Documentation  of    ICH  

Documentation  of    Tangible  Cultural  

Heritage  

Artifacts  

Monuments,  buildings    

Historical  sites  

Expressions  and  observation  of  social  and  cultural  practices  

Oral  transmission  

Documentation  of  Intangible  Cultural  Heritage  and  Tangible  Heritage  

Museum and their role in Intangible cultural heritage Some example: In Adoration of Krishna: Pichhwais of Shrinathji Sanaugavut: Inuit Art from the Canadian Artic was organized by the TAPI Collection at jointly organized by National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa National Museum from and National Museum, New Delhi and 8 December 2007 to 28 February 2008 National Museum Institute, New Delhi, India

at the National Museum, India from 27th September 2010 to 2nd January 2011.

Social practices, intangible culture representation and oral experience in Yadav Community, India

•  Historical Background

•  Cultural Continuity

•  Present Challenges

Social responsibilities Economical

responsibilities

Cultural role

Women are the custodian and keepers of intangible cultural heritage

Cultural practices of Yadav women • Interrelation of art objects and rituals

• Some cultural ceremonies

Using Krava in ‘Krava Choth’ Puja Small clay pots and diya in ‘Gowardhan Puja’

Interrelation of art objects and rituals

Women carry a Doghar (two big mud pots) in Kua Pujan ceremony

Some cultural ceremonies

North Indian community performing in ‘Chak Poojan’ ritual    

                       Chak Poojan is a marriage ceremony performed during the marriage of many north Indian communities such as Yadav Community of Haryana, India.

Tradition folksong and folkdance performed by the Yadav women on ‘Teej’ festival

Main difficulties faced by this community are: •  Members of this community are moving to the urban areas for better employment. • Women play an important role in performing the rituals and traditions. In cities women perform the rituals as a duty without knowing the significance and importance of the rituals. The guilt and ignorance is pushing city women to avoid performing these rituals. • Folk songs and dances are replaced by peppy Bollywood numbers. • Communication gap in transmitting the intangible cultural between the two generations.

For every community, documentation and transmission of its Intangible Cultural Heritage is significant in the social and cultural context and it needs proper methodologies and research tools. In the Indian context there are no specific guidelines or established systems other than ethnography and anthropological systems to identify and document the Intangible heritage. The intangible cultural heritage needs to be continuously documented and performed to ensure its preservance and continuity.

Shukriya      

(Thank  You)