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While Attempting Local
History The creation of local history is
no easy task. First of the cause of doing
it should be specifically defined. Is the
locality selected that much inclusive of
history? Is it heritage buried graveyard?
Any place has a history. And the history
of most of the places is identical with
those of its neighborhoods. Moreover, many
places to day we see as sparsely populated
or not at all populated might have been
great habitations. Depopulation must have
taken place recently or in the early past.
Decision as to the antiquity of the past
might differ from place to place. Therefore
it is imperative on the part of those who
run into the task to decide the place first
and discover the causes first. What is the
particular thing that persuaded you to decide
upon creating a local history? There may
be varied causes. I took upon the writing
of the history of the Communist Party of
my village because,
- The party had no written
records.
- The party is the most
predominant social and political conglomeration
in the village
- There was no renaissance
or Social reform movement as such in the
village, besides what happened under the
wings of the party.
- The struggle for independence
directly culminated into the Communist
movement.
- The only source of evidence,
the primary human evidence is on the verge
of extinction due to the old age of people
who were directly involved.
- The party wanted me
to compile as much as evidence as was
possible in the least possible time limit
so that the its heritage is preserved.
.
So without any training
in the matter, I embarked up on writing the
history of the Communist Party of Meppayur.
In certain circles, it was very much welcome
while the party did not take much interest
in it later. A few historians who examined
the script showered their pleasure on me for,
in their words, creating a new method of writing
local history. It was in fact a one-man task.
I went by the surrounding villages and suburbs,
talking to men and women. The old-aged ones
had by this time formulated their own prejudices.
There were many claimants to the throne of
certain great feats. Some flag hoisting, some
procession etc. had more than one claimant.
These had to be sorted out. A faith had developed
in the minds of all claimants. For example
there are many who think that a particular
martyr was killed in the wake of the Koothali
struggle. In fact, the martyr became a communist
much after the Koothali struggle was over.
There is even a play written depicting the
martyr as the great hero of the struggle.
Thus when you approach the local history,
you face a very grave problem of pollution
of history. This is not due to any prejudice,
I consoled myself; the participants have by
now become really old people, who have been
nurturing on their role in the struggles,
activities and feats of the party. They are
like veterans of war. Everything is seen and
remembered in their own perspective. This
leads to a prejudice. This has to be overcome.
This much pertains to the writing of Party
History. But what is the purpose of writing
any history at all? After all it is a record
of the past. Let bygones be bygones. Can't
we sit idle and satisfied with moonlight disregarding
the past? Joop Berse the famous South African
poet has written a poem: Spring is Winter
finally gone Spring is winter finally gone
Buried in an old shack Somewhere in the Alps
Or it dies beneath the hot grass of May, Trampled
up on by the cows. But it always relives its
past, Sending us back to our dim cellars.
Spring is winter finally gone. Up to now we
only heard, " If Winter comes, can spring
be far behind?" It was a romance, now it is
reality when we become aware that spring is
the result of suffering, good life is the
result of winter. We had a winter, we are
going to have a spring, again turn of events
and seasons takes us to winter. The poem gives
us an idea of what history is. It is reliving
the past. It is continuity. But why? Just
to safeguard the heritage? No, it is to construct
a lustrous future. Yes, history is written
not merely for protecting our heritage, but
to construct, create a bright future. In our
context it is to create optimism for a peaceful
life of coexistence and love. That is why
we write history. And thus it is no easy task.
One flaw would lead to another and yet another.
What are the ways out to overcome this and
such other obstacles as this? I may suggest
a work pattern. This need not be taken as
universal commandment. However, after my writing
the above monogram, I made a bit of a study.
It is on the basis of this study that I suggest
the following stages.
- See the place: - Seeing
the place! Is it that important? We have
been in and out of the locality for decades
together! All right, all right. Did you
ever look into that small hutment where
the old tribal woman was suffering hunger?
Most probably, not! You are not aware
of the fact that she is a repository of
information on how their tribe was usurped
of its wealth. Or she is the repository
of so far unheard of local ballads. Seeing
the place includes a survey of the locality,
houses, temples, mosques, churches, educational
institutions, Village head Quarters, dolmens,
if any, graveyards, land and types of
land, cultivation, newly created land
forms, religious practices, political
conglomerations, and what not. The best
way to see the land is to walk East to
west and South to North. The result of
this walk will be fruitful as it gives
us a contact with the cross sections of
the people, land, houses, religions, geography,
topography etc.
- The next important thing
is to experience the place. If you are
genuinely involved in the place you are,
I am sure, not going to create its history.
No, we are not creating anything. We are
just reconstructing. Hence we have to
experience what is there, the land, the
people. Any locality has a smell of its
own, not in the olfactory sense. It has
its life. You have to have an awareness
of the ways of life of different sets
of people, their clothing, family, food,
cultivation, horticulture, manners, politics,
religion, tools and trades. In this attempt
to experience the life of the people,
I may advise the youngsters not to cross
the limits. At the same time I may ask
them to note the differences in human
living, even if men and women of the given
space of the locality profess the same
religion, politics or rituals.
- Meeting the People constitutes
the third main stage of the task. The
area is small, but most of our localities
are thickly populated. A thickly populated
locality must mean that its inhabitation
is somewhat recent. Earlier habitats would
have been consumed with out restrictions
and therefore their habitability must
be poor. Except in the case of towns remaining
through centuries, every small habitat
seems to have undergone a kind of four-phased
history- immigration of people, their
growth, waning of the habitation due to
a variety of reasons, and final depopulation.
It does not mean that all places followed
the same pattern. The People of a locality
generally have certain common features.
- Then we have to find
out the heterogeneous elements in the
society. It is sure to contain heterogeneous
elements due to immigration from different
sources. Within the heterogeneous sections,
there is possibility of an amalgam rising
from the natural instincts. This is question
pertaining to racial peculiarities. However,
in a locality you need not look for pure
racial groups.
- Normally in the reconstruction
of history we approach the old people.
It is probable that by the time we reach
them, they have formulated, of course,
unknowingly, certain "facts" about their
life and circumstances. This is not because
they have any tendency to lie to people.
They have been influenced by certain stories
people say about themselves. I have experienced
this difficulty. Certain things we know
as true get a twist in their memories.
Just go to many a man who get pension
for freedom fighters, we would see at
least a few who remembers things the wrong
way. Also we have to sift out truth without
irritating our fathers and grand fathers.
- Vocations: - Rather
we could inquire into the vocations of
the people, how they go on with their
traditional vocations, how far they have
changed their vocations, how far could
they could cope with the new vocations
etc. Another important aspect you have
to look for in a tiny society consists
of the type of vocations evolved in given
families through periods of time. For
example the present textile shop owner
might originate from the weaving community;
it is his natural evolution. But certain
textile merchants are not like that; they
start a business as a vocation taking
into account the requirements and their
capacity. All old bangle sellers need
not be the present stationary merchants
or beauticians. All washer men need not
necessarily be today's Dhobis and like
that the occupation need not have a caste
origin. When meeting the people, we could
meet all families, which have a pedigree
to their credit so that we might get the
necessary point to start with. At the
same time we have to meet the cross sections
of the communities and the society as
a whole to corroborate the data already
collected. The presence of certain communities
in the locality points to the presence
of certain vocations and trades and industries.
For example, the presence of the Saliya(
a weaver-caste) conglomeration attests
to the fact that weaving was resorted
to as a social practice. An old man engaged
in chopping herbal plants in an old shop
needs to be considered in the beginning
for the presence of the practice of herbal
medicine.
- The Clothing of the
people is an important evidence. However
we have lost much of the old fashions
and a kind of uniform clothing has become
the order of the day. But there are certain
ways through which we could reconstruct
the clothing of the people of the immediate
past. Much would have to be left to folklore
traditions.
- Folklore: -Folklore
is not folk art. It is the life of the
people as depicted in people's memories,
remembered from ear to ear, and poured
from mouth to mouth. We have abundance
of it. From the market place to shades
where the old buddies play chathuranga,
the folklore is ever present. Great heroes,
beautiful maidens and heroines, landownership,
different forms of art and games and trades
and vocations- all are there in the folklore.
- Archaeology: - Written
words can speak lies. But remains of the
past speak only truth. It is interpretation
that makes truth a lie. Archaeological
remains are abundant in the locality.
But we are incapable, nay, rather we are
not interested in collecting them. A piece
of ceramics might have a great family
story to tell us; a piece of a sword might
have a long story of a war to speak to
mankind. Dolmens and vessels are abundant
in our places. A number of caves have
been unearthed in and around our localities.
We get remnants of lanterns and such other
things. Even a piece of a clay vessel
has to be protected. Protection of archaeological
remains involves great care and dedication.
They have to registered in a book and
stored in a most scientific manner.
- Our localities must
have plenty of epigraphical evidences.
The palm leaves, which contain great resources,
have to be examined with great care. Some
used linen for writing things. Temples
and mosques and old families must have
their accounts.
- Registry: - Concerned
Register Offices have to be approached
and documents should be retrieved with
care. The above are a mere guideline for
reconstructing the history of a locality.
In the course of doing it we are yet face
problems. The impartiality of the composition
has to be fully ascertained. Remember
there is no history for history sake;
history is for the sake of a bright future
for man.
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