Sunday, 30 March 2008
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Laughter : Silly but Divine
A Serious look at Laughter
Who died when Gandhi[ji] was shot?
a. Sonia Gandhi b. Indira Gandhi c. Rajiv Gandhi d. none
If you haven’t been confronted with a question of this kind before, there’s a good chance that you are now emitting a series of short vowels or silly sound – ‘ha-ha-ha’ or ‘tee-hee-hee’- that sounds similar to the noise from a detuned windpipe.
Anyone who sees or hears you will be curious to know about what they are missing. If men are from ‘Mars’ and women are from ‘Venus’, I would continue that laughter makes their living meaningful and interesting on Earth.
Earth is not a planet without laughter. In this fast track world with technisized ‘sex’ and ‘business’ lingo, though it is hard to find ‘grand children’ on the laps of ‘grand parents’ listening to the funny stories of the failures of their dadas and mammas in the leisure, still ‘laughers’ with wafers at hand in malls, city-parks and monuments have become the culture of the day.
The ‘L’ syndrome in its new avatars - SMS’, MMS’- still has its impact and market today. Laughing groups, funny corners, laughter gardens and fun schools have become an ineluctable factor of our (post)modern cities and towns.
Laughter, we all do it – at a conservative estimate adults up to 20 times a day and children up to 200. We laugh for a variety of reasons – hearing a funny joke, hissing a ‘funny’ gossip about celebrities, inhaling a laughing gas, being tickled or simply because the one next to us is laughing, because laughing is the most contagious and infectious disease.
Toby Temple the hero of Sidney Sheldon’s “A Stranger in the Mirror” became a ‘star’, a ‘big hit comedian’ because of the bigger laughs, screams, cheers and claps that followed a giggle of a middle-aged woman from the crowd. It is such a contagious one, it has no preventive vaccinations.
Our ad-lib laughs are not humour. Though the dividing line between them is thin, John Morreall, one of the few contemporary laughter theorists, gives a finer distinction: that ‘laughter’ results from a pleasant psychological shift whereas ‘humour’ results from a pleasant cognitive shift. The produced comics – ‘Tom and Jerry’, ‘Scooby Doo’, ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ etc., are some of the examples of humour.
Most of our laughter, to be precise according to Robert Provine - a neurobiologist, 80% of our laughter, has nothing to do with humour. Nevertheless the fact is that we laugh and it means more to our existence than a fleeting sense of amusement. Often we are surprised by the explanations given by gelotologists on the significance and function of laughter in the development and fulfilment of ourselves on several levels. It occupies a special place in the practice of medicine.
The famous old saying ‘Laughter is the best Medicine’ has become the cliché of every contemporary medical practitioner. It is used as a powerful tool to the sick patients: to ease, to manage pain, and to cope with traumatic health and emotional issues. Even in the field of education researchers have proved humour to be one of the effective strategies in the classroom.
Despite the development of the importance of humour or laughter by gelotologists and psycho-spiritual sermons by laugh-masters in their shrines of humour, laughter is understudied in the discipline of philosophy.
However, today there is a sustained philosophical curiosity about the workings of laughter and humour. The contemporary theorists of laughter are very adamant about this topic because they believe that to understand our laughter is to go a long way toward understanding humanity. This discipline was pioneered by Plato and Aristotle, the giant pillars of whole western tradition of philosophy, with their critical and philosophical approach to laughter in western tradition of philosophy.
Aristotle regarded philosophy as a science that concerned with the discoveries of how one is to live well, and so even more than Plato he was interested in a philosophical analysis of laughter. Though his minor proposition, “only human animal laughs”, incited him to cover philosophy of laughter, has been disproved by researchers, up until the middle of the eighteenth century, his conceptions governed the theories of laughter. Moreover, there is also a medieval rumour that he had written a now lost book on ‘comedy’.
Almost every major figure from Plato in the western tradition of philosophy and Buddha in the eastern tradition of philosophy has proposed a theory on laughter and humour. But after 2500 years of discussion there has been a little consensus about what constitutes humour or laughter. The philosophical study of humour and laughter has been focused on the development of a satisfactory objective definition of them in the western tradition of philosophy.
Laughter has not always received the positive colouring it enjoys in today’s free societies.
Lack of resources tie my hand from writing about the eastern minds’ contribution to philosophy of laughter. Several scholars have identified over 100 types of humour theories but basically their propositions revolve around the questions: Why do we find a particular thing funny and what is the purpose of humour in human life?
These humour theories are broadly classified into three neatly identifiable groups: incongruity, superiority and relief theory. Laughter has not always received the positive colouring it enjoys in today’s free societies.
Plato and Aristotle, both deny the inherent value of laughter in the human experience and give into the belief that laughter is a malicious response to the ignorance of others. Thus Plato husks laughter from the guardians of his ideal city-state and pushes humour to the extent as unbecoming of a good citizen.
Aristotle continues this classical critique in his works. In the ‘Poetics’, he declares laughter as induced by observing the ridiculousness of others and ‘humour’ as provoked by comedies that imitates the personas of men worse than the average.
Both promoted the ‘superiority theory of laughter’. Superiority theory is the oldest of the theories of laughter. It plainly states that laughter is a result of observing the ridiculousness in others regarding one’s own status as outstanding in the light of another’s fault.
It was later developed by Thomas Hobbes who lived until the middle of the 15th century. “The passion of laughter”, he writes in his book ‘Human Nature’, “is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves by comparing with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.” The popular form of laughter practised in our societies, I am afraid, succumbs to superiority theory.
Though it helps one to appreciate the value of oneself or it is social corrective, helping people to recognise behaviours that are inhospitable to human flourishing, it is inappropriate and devastating.
Since one’s ‘laughter’ or ‘pleasure’ is at the ‘defects’ inherent in an ‘imperfect’ human condition, it destroys the relationship between people, damages persons’ dignity and self-worth. Chances are ripe for this sort of laughter to stimulate a ‘communal violence’ by becoming a mockery, ridicule or sarcasm based on race, religion, nationality and sexual orientation.
Relief theory, the second hypothesis about laughter, describes humour as a tension-release factor. Not defining humour, it discusses the essential structures and psychological process that produce laughter.
The two most prominent relief theorists are Herbert Spencer and Sigmund Freud. Laughter according to them results from sudden release of pent up nervous (sexual, intellectual and emotional) energy, helping one to liberate oneself from his or her store of anxiety and mental discomfort.
Both subscribe to the belief that laughter is vital for a healthy life. This has lead to the invention of new and beneficial therapies practised by doctors, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals using humour and laughter to help patients cope or treat a variety of physical, mental and spiritual issues.
In reality, most of our perceived funniness falls under the third hypothesis – Incongruity theory. Several philosophers favour it. This promotes the idea that laughter is an intellectual reaction to something that is unexpected, illogical or abnormal in some other way.
From everyday experience, the laws of cause and effect make impression upon the mind that a normal, harmonious order is present in the world. When a situation occurs that disrupts this harmony, sometimes laughter is the first response to this state of deviation from the normal. An ‘incongruity’ occurs when this harmony is broken and the ridiculousness of the situation may produce laughter.
I am living in a religious house. Animals and plants are unwritten rule in our religious houses. Though we do not have an animal husbandry, we grow a handful of dogs, pigs, hen and unavoidably also cats and rats. Animals do not normally talk, at least if I am not mistaken, the human languages (Tamil, English, Telugu, Hindi and so on).
Suppose one day, like the white boar of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, our pigs look into the eyes of the one attending them and say very clearly, “Rayappa, how are you doing?” It might trigger a surprised laughter as a reaction to the incongruity of the situation that ‘a pig just spoke’.
Since one’s ‘laughter’ or ‘pleasure’ is at the ‘defects’ inherent in an ‘imperfect’ human condition, it destroys the relationship between people, damages persons’ dignity and self-worth.
Although every theory of laughter devises explanations for our laughter, none of us can totally support the entire philosophy of laughter. Except for its omniscient ‘Authour’ every theorist has elbow room to deepen his or her reflections on laughter.
For example, the innocent laughter of babies and the ubiquitous, non-humourous, irrational and childlike spirit in our daily laughter continues to remain a mystery to be pondered at. Though Morreall attempts to explain it in his book ‘Talking Laughter Seriously’ with his new theory – “laughter is a pleasant psychological shift”, I am sure you will nod with me approving its limitedness. However, these theories have intuited us to have a serious look at the quality of our laughter.
Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ represents laughter as an attitude towards the world, towards life and towards oneself and surprisingly ‘holy’. Laughter is not a learned behaviour. There is a host of evolutionary theories explaining how ‘laughter’ began seven million years ago.
When a situation occurs that disrupts this harmony, sometimes laughter is the first response to this state of deviation from the normal.
It is neither a merit nor an act of our own. We may find this hard to believe, but the fact is that much of our laughter is involuntary. Sometimes we cannot help laughing. In some humourous situations we are overcome by laughter. It comes to us. May be that is the reason why Nietzsche refers to it as one’s attitude and as well as ‘holy’, because one’s attitude is spontaneous outer expression of oneself.
It is ‘holy’ because such a liberative habit unique to human beings (I consider it so because it is more than an irrational instinct) is surely a gift from God.
I am sure, now you will join me in saying that laughter is much more than a passing human phenomenon.
Dr. Mel Bornis in his e-article – ‘Are You Suffering from a Laugh Deficiency Disorder’, basing himself on the sharing of one of his patients who due to his sense of humour survived the inhuman Nazi death camps - proclaims laughter as ‘freedom’.
Let us then begin a new story of laughter. ‘Laughter’ is a good place to start our own philosophy of laughter. Let us – learn to laugh! For it is more than silly, is divine. Sathish
Most of our laughter, to be precise according to Robert Provine - a
neurobiologist, 80% of our laughter, has nothing to do with humour.
Who died when Gandhi[ji] was shot?
a. Sonia Gandhi b. Indira Gandhi c. Rajiv Gandhi d. none
If you haven’t been confronted with a question of this kind before, there’s a good chance that you are now emitting a series of short vowels or silly sound – ‘ha-ha-ha’ or ‘tee-hee-hee’- that sounds similar to the noise from a detuned windpipe.
Anyone who sees or hears you will be curious to know about what they are missing. If men are from ‘Mars’ and women are from ‘Venus’, I would continue that laughter makes their living meaningful and interesting on Earth.
Earth is not a planet without laughter. In this fast track world with technisized ‘sex’ and ‘business’ lingo, though it is hard to find ‘grand children’ on the laps of ‘grand parents’ listening to the funny stories of the failures of their dadas and mammas in the leisure, still ‘laughers’ with wafers at hand in malls, city-parks and monuments have become the culture of the day.
The ‘L’ syndrome in its new avatars - SMS’, MMS’- still has its impact and market today. Laughing groups, funny corners, laughter gardens and fun schools have become an ineluctable factor of our (post)modern cities and towns.
Laughter, we all do it – at a conservative estimate adults up to 20 times a day and children up to 200. We laugh for a variety of reasons – hearing a funny joke, hissing a ‘funny’ gossip about celebrities, inhaling a laughing gas, being tickled or simply because the one next to us is laughing, because laughing is the most contagious and infectious disease.
Toby Temple the hero of Sidney Sheldon’s “A Stranger in the Mirror” became a ‘star’, a ‘big hit comedian’ because of the bigger laughs, screams, cheers and claps that followed a giggle of a middle-aged woman from the crowd. It is such a contagious one, it has no preventive vaccinations.
Our ad-lib laughs are not humour. Though the dividing line between them is thin, John Morreall, one of the few contemporary laughter theorists, gives a finer distinction: that ‘laughter’ results from a pleasant psychological shift whereas ‘humour’ results from a pleasant cognitive shift. The produced comics – ‘Tom and Jerry’, ‘Scooby Doo’, ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ etc., are some of the examples of humour.
Most of our laughter, to be precise according to Robert Provine - a neurobiologist, 80% of our laughter, has nothing to do with humour. Nevertheless the fact is that we laugh and it means more to our existence than a fleeting sense of amusement. Often we are surprised by the explanations given by gelotologists on the significance and function of laughter in the development and fulfilment of ourselves on several levels. It occupies a special place in the practice of medicine.
The famous old saying ‘Laughter is the best Medicine’ has become the cliché of every contemporary medical practitioner. It is used as a powerful tool to the sick patients: to ease, to manage pain, and to cope with traumatic health and emotional issues. Even in the field of education researchers have proved humour to be one of the effective strategies in the classroom.
Despite the development of the importance of humour or laughter by gelotologists and psycho-spiritual sermons by laugh-masters in their shrines of humour, laughter is understudied in the discipline of philosophy.
However, today there is a sustained philosophical curiosity about the workings of laughter and humour. The contemporary theorists of laughter are very adamant about this topic because they believe that to understand our laughter is to go a long way toward understanding humanity. This discipline was pioneered by Plato and Aristotle, the giant pillars of whole western tradition of philosophy, with their critical and philosophical approach to laughter in western tradition of philosophy.
Aristotle regarded philosophy as a science that concerned with the discoveries of how one is to live well, and so even more than Plato he was interested in a philosophical analysis of laughter. Though his minor proposition, “only human animal laughs”, incited him to cover philosophy of laughter, has been disproved by researchers, up until the middle of the eighteenth century, his conceptions governed the theories of laughter. Moreover, there is also a medieval rumour that he had written a now lost book on ‘comedy’.
Almost every major figure from Plato in the western tradition of philosophy and Buddha in the eastern tradition of philosophy has proposed a theory on laughter and humour. But after 2500 years of discussion there has been a little consensus about what constitutes humour or laughter. The philosophical study of humour and laughter has been focused on the development of a satisfactory objective definition of them in the western tradition of philosophy.
Laughter has not always received the positive colouring it enjoys in today’s free societies.
Lack of resources tie my hand from writing about the eastern minds’ contribution to philosophy of laughter. Several scholars have identified over 100 types of humour theories but basically their propositions revolve around the questions: Why do we find a particular thing funny and what is the purpose of humour in human life?
These humour theories are broadly classified into three neatly identifiable groups: incongruity, superiority and relief theory. Laughter has not always received the positive colouring it enjoys in today’s free societies.
Plato and Aristotle, both deny the inherent value of laughter in the human experience and give into the belief that laughter is a malicious response to the ignorance of others. Thus Plato husks laughter from the guardians of his ideal city-state and pushes humour to the extent as unbecoming of a good citizen.
Aristotle continues this classical critique in his works. In the ‘Poetics’, he declares laughter as induced by observing the ridiculousness of others and ‘humour’ as provoked by comedies that imitates the personas of men worse than the average.
Both promoted the ‘superiority theory of laughter’. Superiority theory is the oldest of the theories of laughter. It plainly states that laughter is a result of observing the ridiculousness in others regarding one’s own status as outstanding in the light of another’s fault.
It was later developed by Thomas Hobbes who lived until the middle of the 15th century. “The passion of laughter”, he writes in his book ‘Human Nature’, “is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves by comparing with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.” The popular form of laughter practised in our societies, I am afraid, succumbs to superiority theory.
Though it helps one to appreciate the value of oneself or it is social corrective, helping people to recognise behaviours that are inhospitable to human flourishing, it is inappropriate and devastating.
Since one’s ‘laughter’ or ‘pleasure’ is at the ‘defects’ inherent in an ‘imperfect’ human condition, it destroys the relationship between people, damages persons’ dignity and self-worth. Chances are ripe for this sort of laughter to stimulate a ‘communal violence’ by becoming a mockery, ridicule or sarcasm based on race, religion, nationality and sexual orientation.
Relief theory, the second hypothesis about laughter, describes humour as a tension-release factor. Not defining humour, it discusses the essential structures and psychological process that produce laughter.
The two most prominent relief theorists are Herbert Spencer and Sigmund Freud. Laughter according to them results from sudden release of pent up nervous (sexual, intellectual and emotional) energy, helping one to liberate oneself from his or her store of anxiety and mental discomfort.
Both subscribe to the belief that laughter is vital for a healthy life. This has lead to the invention of new and beneficial therapies practised by doctors, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals using humour and laughter to help patients cope or treat a variety of physical, mental and spiritual issues.
In reality, most of our perceived funniness falls under the third hypothesis – Incongruity theory. Several philosophers favour it. This promotes the idea that laughter is an intellectual reaction to something that is unexpected, illogical or abnormal in some other way.
From everyday experience, the laws of cause and effect make impression upon the mind that a normal, harmonious order is present in the world. When a situation occurs that disrupts this harmony, sometimes laughter is the first response to this state of deviation from the normal. An ‘incongruity’ occurs when this harmony is broken and the ridiculousness of the situation may produce laughter.
I am living in a religious house. Animals and plants are unwritten rule in our religious houses. Though we do not have an animal husbandry, we grow a handful of dogs, pigs, hen and unavoidably also cats and rats. Animals do not normally talk, at least if I am not mistaken, the human languages (Tamil, English, Telugu, Hindi and so on).
Suppose one day, like the white boar of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, our pigs look into the eyes of the one attending them and say very clearly, “Rayappa, how are you doing?” It might trigger a surprised laughter as a reaction to the incongruity of the situation that ‘a pig just spoke’.
Since one’s ‘laughter’ or ‘pleasure’ is at the ‘defects’ inherent in an ‘imperfect’ human condition, it destroys the relationship between people, damages persons’ dignity and self-worth.
Although every theory of laughter devises explanations for our laughter, none of us can totally support the entire philosophy of laughter. Except for its omniscient ‘Authour’ every theorist has elbow room to deepen his or her reflections on laughter.
For example, the innocent laughter of babies and the ubiquitous, non-humourous, irrational and childlike spirit in our daily laughter continues to remain a mystery to be pondered at. Though Morreall attempts to explain it in his book ‘Talking Laughter Seriously’ with his new theory – “laughter is a pleasant psychological shift”, I am sure you will nod with me approving its limitedness. However, these theories have intuited us to have a serious look at the quality of our laughter.
Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ represents laughter as an attitude towards the world, towards life and towards oneself and surprisingly ‘holy’. Laughter is not a learned behaviour. There is a host of evolutionary theories explaining how ‘laughter’ began seven million years ago.
When a situation occurs that disrupts this harmony, sometimes laughter is the first response to this state of deviation from the normal.
It is neither a merit nor an act of our own. We may find this hard to believe, but the fact is that much of our laughter is involuntary. Sometimes we cannot help laughing. In some humourous situations we are overcome by laughter. It comes to us. May be that is the reason why Nietzsche refers to it as one’s attitude and as well as ‘holy’, because one’s attitude is spontaneous outer expression of oneself.
It is ‘holy’ because such a liberative habit unique to human beings (I consider it so because it is more than an irrational instinct) is surely a gift from God.
I am sure, now you will join me in saying that laughter is much more than a passing human phenomenon.
Dr. Mel Bornis in his e-article – ‘Are You Suffering from a Laugh Deficiency Disorder’, basing himself on the sharing of one of his patients who due to his sense of humour survived the inhuman Nazi death camps - proclaims laughter as ‘freedom’.
Let us then begin a new story of laughter. ‘Laughter’ is a good place to start our own philosophy of laughter. Let us – learn to laugh! For it is more than silly, is divine. Sathish
Nurturing the Gift of
Rich Article - 1
Nultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Often though, what is considered cultural heritage by one generation may be rejected by the next generation, only to be revived by a succeeding generation.
Physical or “tangible cultural heritage” includes buildings and historic places, monuments, artifacts, etc., that are considered worthy of preservation for the future. These include objects significant to the archaeology, architecture, science or technology of a specific culture. “Natural heritage” is also an important part of a culture, encompassing the countryside and natural environment, including flora and fauna. These kind of heritage sites often serve as an important component in a country’s tourist industry, attracting many visitors from abroad as well as locally.
The heritage that survives from the past is often unique and irreplaceable, which places the responsibility of preservation on the current generation. Smaller objects such as artworks and other cultural masterpieces are collected in museums and art galleries. Grass roots organizations and political groups have been successful in gaining the necessary support to preserve the heritage of many nations for the future.
A broader definition includes intangible aspects of a particular culture, often maintained by social customs during a specific period in history. The ways and means of behaviour in a society often, form as rules for operating in a particular cultural climate. These include social values and traditions, customs and practices, aesthetic and spiritual beliefs, artistic expression, language and other aspects of human activity. The significance of physical artifacts can be interpreted against the backdrop of socioeconomic, political, ethnic, religious and philosophical values of a particular group of people. Naturally, intangible cultural heritage is more difficult to preserve than physical objects.
There are examples of apologies by the pope for the past of the Catholic Church or of the Australian government to the aborigines.
Heritage as a term
Though it seems to represent what is ‘dead’, heritage is very much a living idea - it is about the present and the future as much as the past. An object or an activity can be considered today ‘heritage’. Heritage has become both affective and moral. But as a term representing both what should be valued and conserved publicly from the past, and as an attitude of respect to it, seems to be a late 20th century development. Many contemporary dictionaries give no prominence to this meaning or sometimes do not even record it.
The word heritage without doubt is a living term whose meaning is still developing - its definition is certainly not fixed yet. Heritage therefore as an attitude to the past is very much a product of our own historical period. As the world continues to change, both the concept itself and what it includes will continue to shift too.
Wealth of Heritage
World Heritage Department of Environment and Conservation came out with the significance of our heritage, “World Heritage sites are natural and cultural sites of universal significance to mankind. Each has been chosen for their enormous value to the people of the world and represent our greatest natural and cultural treasures.” Some of the sites include famous places known to all people, such as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and our own Great Barrier Reef. World Heritage is about recognizing these sites and their universal significance. It is also about ensuring that their enormous heritage value is passed on to future generations.
Benoy K. Behl, art historian, film-maker and photographer, has done pioneering work in documenting India’s art heritage. He has taken over 30,000 photographs of Indian monuments and art objects and made 100 documentaries on art history. His exhibitions have been held in 24 countries.
Why know Heritage at all?
“It is rightly said that the nation or the society, which does not know its heritage, cannot fully comprehend its present and hence is unable to steer its future. India’s most valued and revered gift not only to Herself but also to the entire humanity is its profound and timeless heritage,” says Naganath R. Ramdasi on the importance of understanding and nurturing the cultural heritage of one’s own society.
By knowing heritage we learn to appreciate the wealth of our land. French scholar Romain Rolland expressed, “If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.”
We learn also to appreciate other people. We begin to take in whatever is good for our culture and for the rest of the world. On scientific heritage of India, Albert Einstein once remarked, “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”
While the commentaries of Max Muller and Will Durant are well known, Mark Twain said, “India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.” Such realization helps us to treasure our own contribution to the world at large. Thus we begin to appreciate ourselves. This helps us to move forward to the next phase in history.
Forms of Heritage
“The World’s most valued and revered gift is not only to herself but also to the entire humanity known for its profound and timeless heritage. Heritage encompasses almost every aspect of human inquiry, exploration and existence covering philosophy and religion, language and literature, metaphysics and sciences, polity and social living, habitat and architecture, dance and music, and arts and crafts,” says Ramdasi.
Summed up here are some of the most common forms of heritage.
Aboriginal heritage includes Aboriginal sites, objects and remains. Maritime heritage includes underwater sites such as shipwrecks and land sites such as lighthouses, jetties and whaling stations. Movable cultural heritage includes historical objects, which are in the country. Many movable objects are housed in museums, which have a variety of methods for recording and managing their collections. The many types of natural heritage includes wilderness, coastlines and estuaries, native vegetation and threatened species.
Heritage, above all is a confident assertion of values and attitudes rather than the intrinsic nature of a historical object.
Ways to Keep Alive Heritage
Keeping heritage alive is a herculean task. Apart from talking about them to people and visiting those heritage sites, people should have a proper understanding of them.
Above all applying them in our lives particularly those good old customs and traditions which are essential to create a harmonious self and community. The Frontline states, “One of the remarkable aspects of early Indian art is that the focus was not on individuals and there were no portraits, even of the kings who were its patrons. In fact, Chitrasutra states that eternal themes and not personalities are the fitting subject of art.”
We see a vision of the world and the roots of a culture that has survived for more than 5,000 years.
Can Heritage be Only Positive?
Does heritage have to be positive? The word has inherited some appalling events in the 20th century like genocides and natural calamities among many others. There are the lost heritages e.g. the descendants of slaves, a present people whose past heritage is somehow cut off; or the holocaust, a past heritage without a present people.
Are we responsible for the past - do we have a corporate or even individual responsibility for it? There are examples of apologies by the Popes for the past of the Catholic church or of the Australian government to the aborigines; the British government is notoriously slow in this e.g. with regard to Ireland or its role in the slave trade. All very difficult and sensitive areas and nobody comes away with ‘clean hands’.
In an article to the Frontline, Benoy K. Behl wrote, “The art of ancient India brings before us a vision of great compassion. It is a view of the world that sees a harmony in the whole of creation. It sees the same that is in each of us, in the animals, the flowers, the trees, the leaves and even in the breeze that moves the leaves. All that there is, is seen to be a reflection of the One.”
From the early river valley civilization onwards, we see the foundations of the art of one of the oldest civilizations of the world. We see a vision of the world and the roots of a culture that has survived for more than 5,000 years.
What makes it so fascinating is that this is a culture that continues to this day.
All the learning about cultural heritage is not for making one an intellectual; but, to understand oneself against the complexities of the universe and against the passing of bygone years.
Glorious Steve
“I am convinced that the world is not a mere bog in which men and women trample- Charles Austin Beard US Historian
themselves in the mire and die. Something magnificent is taking place here amid
the cruelties and tragedies, and the supreme challenge to intelligence is that
of making the noblest and best in our curious heritage prevail.”
Nultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Often though, what is considered cultural heritage by one generation may be rejected by the next generation, only to be revived by a succeeding generation.
Physical or “tangible cultural heritage” includes buildings and historic places, monuments, artifacts, etc., that are considered worthy of preservation for the future. These include objects significant to the archaeology, architecture, science or technology of a specific culture. “Natural heritage” is also an important part of a culture, encompassing the countryside and natural environment, including flora and fauna. These kind of heritage sites often serve as an important component in a country’s tourist industry, attracting many visitors from abroad as well as locally.
The heritage that survives from the past is often unique and irreplaceable, which places the responsibility of preservation on the current generation. Smaller objects such as artworks and other cultural masterpieces are collected in museums and art galleries. Grass roots organizations and political groups have been successful in gaining the necessary support to preserve the heritage of many nations for the future.
A broader definition includes intangible aspects of a particular culture, often maintained by social customs during a specific period in history. The ways and means of behaviour in a society often, form as rules for operating in a particular cultural climate. These include social values and traditions, customs and practices, aesthetic and spiritual beliefs, artistic expression, language and other aspects of human activity. The significance of physical artifacts can be interpreted against the backdrop of socioeconomic, political, ethnic, religious and philosophical values of a particular group of people. Naturally, intangible cultural heritage is more difficult to preserve than physical objects.
There are examples of apologies by the pope for the past of the Catholic Church or of the Australian government to the aborigines.
Heritage as a term
Though it seems to represent what is ‘dead’, heritage is very much a living idea - it is about the present and the future as much as the past. An object or an activity can be considered today ‘heritage’. Heritage has become both affective and moral. But as a term representing both what should be valued and conserved publicly from the past, and as an attitude of respect to it, seems to be a late 20th century development. Many contemporary dictionaries give no prominence to this meaning or sometimes do not even record it.
The word heritage without doubt is a living term whose meaning is still developing - its definition is certainly not fixed yet. Heritage therefore as an attitude to the past is very much a product of our own historical period. As the world continues to change, both the concept itself and what it includes will continue to shift too.
Wealth of Heritage
World Heritage Department of Environment and Conservation came out with the significance of our heritage, “World Heritage sites are natural and cultural sites of universal significance to mankind. Each has been chosen for their enormous value to the people of the world and represent our greatest natural and cultural treasures.” Some of the sites include famous places known to all people, such as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and our own Great Barrier Reef. World Heritage is about recognizing these sites and their universal significance. It is also about ensuring that their enormous heritage value is passed on to future generations.
Benoy K. Behl, art historian, film-maker and photographer, has done pioneering work in documenting India’s art heritage. He has taken over 30,000 photographs of Indian monuments and art objects and made 100 documentaries on art history. His exhibitions have been held in 24 countries.
Why know Heritage at all?
“It is rightly said that the nation or the society, which does not know its heritage, cannot fully comprehend its present and hence is unable to steer its future. India’s most valued and revered gift not only to Herself but also to the entire humanity is its profound and timeless heritage,” says Naganath R. Ramdasi on the importance of understanding and nurturing the cultural heritage of one’s own society.
By knowing heritage we learn to appreciate the wealth of our land. French scholar Romain Rolland expressed, “If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.”
We learn also to appreciate other people. We begin to take in whatever is good for our culture and for the rest of the world. On scientific heritage of India, Albert Einstein once remarked, “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”
While the commentaries of Max Muller and Will Durant are well known, Mark Twain said, “India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.” Such realization helps us to treasure our own contribution to the world at large. Thus we begin to appreciate ourselves. This helps us to move forward to the next phase in history.
Forms of Heritage
“The World’s most valued and revered gift is not only to herself but also to the entire humanity known for its profound and timeless heritage. Heritage encompasses almost every aspect of human inquiry, exploration and existence covering philosophy and religion, language and literature, metaphysics and sciences, polity and social living, habitat and architecture, dance and music, and arts and crafts,” says Ramdasi.
Summed up here are some of the most common forms of heritage.
Aboriginal heritage includes Aboriginal sites, objects and remains. Maritime heritage includes underwater sites such as shipwrecks and land sites such as lighthouses, jetties and whaling stations. Movable cultural heritage includes historical objects, which are in the country. Many movable objects are housed in museums, which have a variety of methods for recording and managing their collections. The many types of natural heritage includes wilderness, coastlines and estuaries, native vegetation and threatened species.
Heritage, above all is a confident assertion of values and attitudes rather than the intrinsic nature of a historical object.
Ways to Keep Alive Heritage
Keeping heritage alive is a herculean task. Apart from talking about them to people and visiting those heritage sites, people should have a proper understanding of them.
Above all applying them in our lives particularly those good old customs and traditions which are essential to create a harmonious self and community. The Frontline states, “One of the remarkable aspects of early Indian art is that the focus was not on individuals and there were no portraits, even of the kings who were its patrons. In fact, Chitrasutra states that eternal themes and not personalities are the fitting subject of art.”
We see a vision of the world and the roots of a culture that has survived for more than 5,000 years.
Can Heritage be Only Positive?
Does heritage have to be positive? The word has inherited some appalling events in the 20th century like genocides and natural calamities among many others. There are the lost heritages e.g. the descendants of slaves, a present people whose past heritage is somehow cut off; or the holocaust, a past heritage without a present people.
Are we responsible for the past - do we have a corporate or even individual responsibility for it? There are examples of apologies by the Popes for the past of the Catholic church or of the Australian government to the aborigines; the British government is notoriously slow in this e.g. with regard to Ireland or its role in the slave trade. All very difficult and sensitive areas and nobody comes away with ‘clean hands’.
In an article to the Frontline, Benoy K. Behl wrote, “The art of ancient India brings before us a vision of great compassion. It is a view of the world that sees a harmony in the whole of creation. It sees the same that is in each of us, in the animals, the flowers, the trees, the leaves and even in the breeze that moves the leaves. All that there is, is seen to be a reflection of the One.”
From the early river valley civilization onwards, we see the foundations of the art of one of the oldest civilizations of the world. We see a vision of the world and the roots of a culture that has survived for more than 5,000 years.
What makes it so fascinating is that this is a culture that continues to this day.
All the learning about cultural heritage is not for making one an intellectual; but, to understand oneself against the complexities of the universe and against the passing of bygone years.
Glorious Steve
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