Time to promote Telangana culture

Alluring cultural heritage, and not rhetoric, gives an identity to any region. Symbolic commemorations and cosmetic rituals since the State’s formation are not bringing to the fore the deep-rooted languid richness of Telangana culture that revolves around music, dance and arts. The upholders would do well to revisit these glorious traditions for the State to carve a niche for itself across the cultural spectrum

Art, customs, social behaviour and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement have been collectively defined as the culture, with each culture distinct from another. As the celebrated writer, Somerset Maugham summed it up, culture creates and defines you.

To quote him, “It is very difficult to know people. For men and women are not only themselves, they are also the region in which they are born, the city apartment or farm in which they learned to walk, the games they played as children, the old wives tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they followed, the poets they read, and the Gods they believed in.

You can know them only if you are them.” The culture of a state or nation by this definition is something that makes you beam with pride when symbols denoting culture are displayed outside geographical boundaries. It was cultural jingoism that dominated public discourse after the emergence of Telangana as the 29th State of the Indian Union three years ago. It is rhetoric without concrete action that continues three years later.

As the new State with a regional party at the helm made spectacular strides towards coming into its own, “Bangaaru Telangana” (Golden Telangana) became the oft-heard slogan from powers that be. At the centre of this golden hue was culture, purportedly ignored under the earlier dispensation with new rulers waxing eloquent about the 5,000-year-old cultural history of Telangana.

The glory of the Kakatiya dynasty and the contribution of the later Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi dynasties, their patronage to art and culture and the emergence of the unique “Dakhani culture” that gives it a flavour unlike any other city in the country have been praised on more than one occasion.

But culture as we already know encompasses every walk of life and cannot be merely equated with history. To preserve one’s culture is to preserve our language, arts, music, dance, food, handicrafts and to celebrate our festivals with traditional piety and current verve.

All the new State has managed in its three years of existence is rhetoric and extravagant celebrations of festivals like “Bathukamma”, hyped over all other aspects of culture. Can grandiose celebrations of festivals alone be viewed as gestures upholding Telangana culture? Certainly not, say experts who lament the lack of a clear policy pertaining to language and culture by the new State.

The announcement of an official language commission and revival of Sahitya Akademi along with other such bodies makes no sense when the government lacks vision or the wherewithal to carry through a plan of action says Prof K Yadagiri, former director of the Telugu Akademi. “The government has no policy to promote language and culture or include them in the education policy.

The Telugu University is starved of funds and the post of the Director of the Telugu Akademi is vacant for the last three years. Does neglecting existing institutions and creating new posts for political rehabilitation promote culture?” Some of the institutions may have been announced with the world Telugu celebrations in mind and may not have a long-term goal, he feels.

Prof Yadagiri is categorical in condemning the lack of interest of the government in making use of the grant of Rs 110 crore for the “Classical language status”, by identifying a building and other facilities that could help promote our language and literature.

Forming a part of the rich tapestry of Telangana culture are music and dance. While revolutionary folk songs found an important place in the struggle for the separate State, they seem to have lost their sting after the formation. Patronage at party meets and government gatherings ensure their place as vehicles of thought, culture and idiom peculiar to the region albeit with greatly mellowed lyrics.

Folk dances like the tribal Lambada dances continue their unthreatened existence but it is the classical dance forms that are crying for attention. “Perini” the energetic classical dance form acclaimed as the warrior dance of the Kakatiya kings, and revived after decades of effort by famous dance guru Dr Nataraja Ramakrishna struggles to gain recognition as the official dance of the State three years into its formation.

“Although our guru called it “Andhra Natyam” in the united State, the dance emerged from the Telangana region. Guru Kala Krishna and many Perini dancers like us have been teaching the Lasyam aspect along with the more famous Tandavam form under the nomenclature “Perini Natyam” and hope to get official recognition from the State.

We are facing competition from people who in less than two years of research are claiming to come up with a dance that they call the “Telangana dance,” says Perini Srinivas, a dance teacher from Hyderabad. Although Perini has now been introduced in the music and dance colleges in the State, and there are 16 teachers appointed to these colleges, official recognition is something the State has desisted from.

Silver filigree work and “Amrita Shila” stone carving from Karimnagar, Nirmal painting and Dokra art from Adilabad, exquisite Cheriyal paintings in the form of scrolls depicting lifestyles, handloom weaving in Pochampally, Puttapaka, Koyyagudem, Narayanapur and Choutuppal in Nalgonda and hand-woven carpets from Warangal are works of creativity that need patronage, direction and publicity.

Cheriyal paintings and filigree work, in particular, are skilled work restricted to a few families and creative endeavours dying a slow death due to dwindling patronage. Subsidies, export promotion and schemes to spread awareness of these works are absolutely essential to ensure that they do not become extinct.

The 17,000 weaver families churning out world famous Pochampally and Ikat sarees face an existential threat pitted against stiff competition in the changing scenario presented by a technology driven world. “My daughter is studying at the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology at Salem as there is no such institute in our State, which has so many people depending on handlooms for their livelihood.

A modern design, procedures, marketing economics and other education is the need of the hour for our children to pursue their vocation. I think an institute like that is essential in Nalgonda district to promote our handlooms,” says Chintakindi Mallesham, the Padmasri Awardee known for his innovative Lakshmi-Asu Machine that has transformed the lives of many women weavers in the area.

Handlooms from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are displayed prominently with their governments being able to garner far more attention than our State, according to him. A policy to help the weavers come up with better designs and innovation would give a great fillip to handlooms that have to be seen as a part of Telangana pride and culture he feels.

Culture is not an isolated word and is definitely more than rhetoric. It is more than symbolic celebrations and ritualistic demonstrations. It cannot be promoted by neglecting existing bodies and adding institutions without a goal. It requires vision, commitment and a dedicated policy suggested by a panel of experts. Promoting all that is revered, cherished and intrinsically linked to the people is what culture is all about. Those who ignore these aspects do so at their own peril.