Traditional Cultural Practices and its Changing Landscape in the Alaknanda Valley, Garhwal Himalaya
Main Article Content
Abstract
The Alaknanda Valley has a rich cultural heritage. It is home to the Panch Badris, Panch Kedars, and Panch Prayags. Additionally, it is renowned for the Dwadas Jyotirlinga and Shakti Peeth. Known as 'Dev Bhumi,' it is considered the land of Gods and Goddesses. People worship various forms of nature, including trees, water, and land, along with all folk deities. They celebrate fairs and festivals throughout the year, aligning with the changing seasons and the sun's position in the northern and southern hemispheres. This study illustrates the rich cultural heritage of the Alaknanda Valley and its evolving landscape. The author visited the entire valley, participated in numerous cultural events, and interviewed priests and local people engaged in agriculture. The findings of this study indicate that the traditional cultural heritage of the Alaknanda Valley underwent significant decline during the 1980s. This situation persisted until 2010, after which efforts to restore cultural traditions began. At present, the region's rich cultural heritage has been largely revived to its pre-1980s state. Local people play a crucial role in preserving cultural practices by actively participating in the celebration of fairs and festivals every month. The culture of the Alaknanda Valley is deeply connected to nature and its conservation. Therefore, maintaining this rich cultural heritage requires its continued practice in traditional ways.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC-SA) license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
References
Atkinson, E. T. (1882). The Himalayan Gazetteer, Cosmo Publications, New Delhi
Bakker, H. (1990). The History of Sacred Places in India as Reflected in Traditional Culture.
Berreman GD (1963). Hindus of the Himalaya, Berkeley: University of California Press, p 430.
Bharati, A. (1970). Pilgrimage sites and Indian civilization. In: Elder JW, Britain, ed. Stuart Hall & Tony Jefferson, London: 1976, 9-74, here p. 10.
Census of India (2011) Registrar General of India, Publication, New Delhi
Chris Barker (2008). Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed., London, p. 41.
Dabral, S. P. (1968). Uttarakhand Ka Itihaas (Part 1) Beer Gatha Prakashan, Dogadda, Kotdwar. editor. Chapters in Indian Civilization. Volume 1. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Gazetteer of India (1909) Dehradun District. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 11, p.213-214
Grossberg, Lawrence (1997). Bringing It All Back Home: Essays on Cultural Studies, Durham, NC, p. 16.
Grossberg, Lawrence, Cary Nelson & Paula A. Treichler (1992). Cultural Studies: An Introduction, in: Cultural Studies, eds. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson & Paula A. Treichler, New York, 1-16, here p. 5.
Grotzbach E (1994) Hindu-heiligtümer als pilgerziele im hochhimalaya. Erdkunde 48(3):48
Hausner, S. (2007). Wandering with sadhus: ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas. Indiana University
Jha, M. (1991). Social Anthropology of Pilgrimage. New Delhi, India: Inter-India
Kandari OP & Gusain OP (Eds.) (2001) Garhwal Himalaya: Nature, Culture & Society. Srinagar, Garhwal: Transmedia
Kroeber AL (1931). The Cultural Area and Age Area Concepts of Clark Wissler" In Rice, Stuart A. (ed.) Methods in Social Science pp. 248–265. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Messerschmidt, D. A. (1992). Muktinath: Himalayan Pilgrimage, A Cultural and New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar Publications. Google Scholar
Pant R and Samal PK (1999). Role of Culture in Sustainable Living and Factors for its Disintegration, ENVIS Bulletin Vol 7 No. 1: 11-15
Rana TS and Datt B (2008). Ethno-botanical observation among Jaunsaris of Jaunsar-Bawar, Dehra Dun (UP), India, International Journal of Pharmacognosy 35(5):371-374
Raymond, Williams (1958). Culture is Ordinary, in: Conviction, ed. Norman MacKenzie, London, 74-92, here p. 75.
Sati, V. P. (2004). Uttaranchal: Dilemma of Plenties and Scarcities, New Delhi, published by Mittal Publications, ISBN –81-7099-898-0
Sati, V. P. (2015). Pilgrimage Tourism in Mountain Regions: Socio-Economic Implications in the Garhwal Himalaya, South Asian Journal of Tourism and Heritage, Vol 8(1) Pp: 164-182
Sati, V. P. (2018). Carrying Capacity Analysis and Destination Development: A Case Study of Gangotri Tourists/Pilgrims’ Circuit in the Himalaya, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research Vol. 23 (3): 312-322, DOI: 10.1080/10941665.2018.1433220
Sati, V. P. (2019). Himalaya on the Threshold of Change. Springer International Publishers, Switzerland, ISBN 978-3-030-14179-0, P. 250.
Sati, V. P. (2023). Cultural Processions in the Central Himalaya: Historical and Spiritual Significance, E-Journal of Cultural Studies, 16(4): 50-64, https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/ecs/
Sati, V. P. (2023). Natural and Cultural Diversity in the Himalaya, Springer Brief Series, Cham Switzerland, ISBN: 978-3-031-39362-4.
Sati, V. P. (2023). Pilgrimage to the Himalaya: Historical Perspectives and Present Scenario. Journal of Tourism and Sustainability, 6(2): 39-48, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8044493
Sati, V. P. (2023). Pilgrimage tourism in Uttarakhand Himalaya: pilgrims’ inflows and trends. Journal of multidisciplinary academic tourism. 8 (2): 109-117, https://doi.org/10.31822/jomat.2023-8-2-109
Sati, V. P. (2024). Exploring Uttarakhand’s Temples and Divine Paths: Sacred Sanctuaries, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, ISBN: 978-1-0364-0664-6.
Sati, V. P. 2021. The Ganges: Cultural, Economic, and Environmental Significance, Springer, Cham, Switzerland, p. 240, ISBN: 978-3-030-79116-2.
Sax, W. S. (1991). Mountain Goddess: Gender and Politics in a Himalayan Pilgrimage.
Schwartzberg JE (1978). Historical Atlas of South Asia, University of Chicago, 1978.
Sharma, D. D. (2009). Cultural History of Uttarakhand, Indira Gandhi National Centres for the Arts, New Delhi, P. 417, ISBN: 81-246-0434-7
Singh Rana PB (2013) Pilgrimage-tourism: perspective and vision. In: His, Hindu tradition of pilgrimage: sacred space and system. Dev Publishers, New Delhi, pp 305–332. ISBN (13): 978–93–81406–25–0
Stuart Hall (1997). Introduction, in: Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, ed. Stuart Hall, London, 1-11, here p. 2.
Taylor, Frederick Winslow (1895). A piece rate system, paper presented to the Detroit meeting of the ASME, Taylor collection, folder, 19A.
Tylor E. B. (1871). Primitive Culture, Murray, London.
UTDB. (2024). Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Annual Report, Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
Walton, H.G. (1910). A Gazetteer of Garhwal Himalaya. Natraj Publishers, Dehradun