The Ethnological and Historical Enigma- The Malanese People of Kulu Valley

This paper deals with the Malanese community, inhabitants of village Malana in the upper reaches of the Kulu valley in Himachal Pradesh, India. The Malanese is a highly endogamous and largely isolated ethnic group which has retained much of its exclusive identity, unique lifesttjle and esoteric rites and rituals. So distinct and inimitable is the culture of these people, that it is increasingly becoming a subject of great interest among anthropologists, historians and scholars who study social structures of lesser known societies. Believed by some to have Greek lineage, and known to speak a dialect which has no match with any other in the country, the aloof Malanese also practice an active form of democratic and participatory political system even today. The present inquinJ covers the unique linguistic, morphometric, socio-political, cultural and economic aspects of this community and also discusses the results of a genetic profiling of the Malanese population which points to its being a genetic isolate. Also examined in this paper are the outside influences that have slowly been percolating into this obscure village societtj, thereby threatening the unique Himalayan socio-cultural heritage and slowly driving it towards oblivion. If this invasion, escalating since the last five decades, is not stemmed in time it may destroy a prized culture and primordial values of this unique ethnic community. Tire deteriorating status of the Malanese cultural, socio-political and economic conditions has been analyzed in this paper, with special reference to it being unwittingly caught up in a narcotics trade nexus. Apart from analyzing the havoc wreaked upon this simple mountain community by drug cartels and an apathetic government, suggestions have been made in this paper on how the Malanese can be protected from exploitation and Malana can be developed as a eco-tourism site without disturbing the complexity of its ecosystem and cultural uniqueness.