Intangible Heritage

The Intangible Heritage

India is among the few countries in the world where the continuity in its indigenous craft, traditions, beliefs and skills have survived over centuries. The 'shruti’ tradition and guru-shishya' tradition have so far ensured that the visual and the oral/aural arts are handed over from one generation to the next, largely rich in their authenticity and expression. Much of India is a treasure trove of such living traditions. For many communities and groups in the country, the intangible cultural heritage is the essential source of an identity, deeply rooted in the past. However, a number of its manifestations, such as traditional and popular music, dance, festivals and know-how of craft production, oral traditions and local languages and dialects have already disappeared or are in danger of doing so.The chief rationale is perhaps that local intangible cultural heritage is rapidly replaced by a standardized monoculture, fostered not only by socio-economic 'modcrniy1 but also by the progress of information and transport techniques. The intangible nature of this heritage also makes it vulnerable. Today, with the sway of the market economy, the repositories of these ancient traditions are switching to professions with greater monetary returns. Furthermore, the pace of this change is escalating - resulting in many of these traditions and arts to escape from our living memory. The need to stop further losses cannot be more urgent and the INTACH can and ought to play a major role in this endeavour. 

UNESCO recognises this situation as well. It understands that culture refers to both tangible and intangible aspects of life. In 1998, UNESCO developed the "Proclamation of Masterpieces or Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity1' and in October 2003 it formulated a "Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage". It has also recognized the establishment of a "Living Human Treasure System" with a view to preserve the skills and techniques necessary for the creation of the cultural manifestations that a country may consider to have a high historical or artistic value. In this system, a 'Living Human Treasure' is considered to be a person who embodies in the very highest degree, the skills and techniques necessary for the production of selected aspects of the cultural life of a people and the continued existence of their material cultural heritage. India's Padma Awards seek to achieve a similar purpose.

Parts 1 to 3 of Chapter 11 of these Guidelines deal with the 'tangible' cultural heritage (Built Heritage, Natural Heritage, and Art Heritage). Living Heritage', on the other hand, is 'intangible'. It encompasses the following:

• Forms of popular and traditional expression - such as languages, oral literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals, costumes, craftwork, know-how, architecture.
• Conflict and evolution of the cultural and modern expressions of art, culture and indigenous knowledge.
• Cultural spaces - places where popular and traditional cultural activities take place in -a concentrated manner (sites for storytelling, rituals, marketplaces, festivals, etc.) or on a regular basis (daily rituals, annual processions).

The oral and intangible heritage has been defined by experts as "people's learned processes along with the indigenous knowledge, skills and creativity that inform and are developed by them, the products they create, and the resources, spaces and other aspects of social and natural context necessary for their sustainability; these processes provide living communities with a sense of continuity with previous generations and are important to cultural identity, as well as to the safeguarding of cultural diversity and creativity of humanity".

It must be recognized that performing arts such as music, dance, drama, plays, rites and rituals and martial arts do not physically exist. The score of a musical composition exists but not die music itself. The Indian tradition of classical music is a prime example of this characteristic of living heritage. The performance and the act of creation are intangible; embodied in the skills and techniques of those who perform them. So too are the traditional intangible elements employed by those who protect and preserve the material cultural heritage; for example, the techniques for repairing traditional musical instruments, working on stone for replacement on monuments, preparing wall coverings in traditional methods for historic rooms. Consequently, the preservation of such intangible cultural properties implies the preservation and transmission of the skills and techniques necessary for their creation.

Components of Living Heritage

The oral and intangible heritage encompasses complex, broad and diverse forms of living heritage in constant evolution. It is a veritable 'melting pot' for creative expression and a driving force for living cultures, as in various parts of India. Living Heritage encompasses several components such as:

Plastic Arts

• Architectural heritage, vernacular forms and related skills of artisans and craftsmen
• Sculptural forms
• Painting traditions (murals, paper) to be found amongst rural and tribal communities

Performing Arts

• Music - instrumental and vocal
• Dance forms - classical, rural, tribal, folk
• Theatre, story telling
• Puppetry
• Cinema and other media

Literary Traditions

• Oral Traditions: folklore, rhyme, riddles, songs, poetry, indigenous knowledge systems and all that is handed down from one generation to the next by word of mouth.
• Written Tradition: Poetry, stories, drama, historic and contemporary material that comes in the form of books, manuscripts and printed or hand written material.
• IKS or Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Bach culture or community has its own beliefs, practices and intellectual knowledge systems that influence their way of life and give identity and uniqueness to their cultural norms in many diverse ways such as
• Food
• Medicine; Indigenous forms of healing
• Indigenous innovations-oil extraction, weather forecasting, alternative power generation,etc.
• Enviroment and relationship with nature, seasons
• Beliefs and ideas, origin of the universe, charting of horoscopes, readings of planetary motions
• Recitation of sacred and other texts.