Himachal Pradesh in India is surrounded by mountains. Malana is a remote village in that province. For various reasons, this village is famous or infamous, but mysterious. One of the villages of ancient India. Malana is said to be the oldest democratic village in the world. At least that's what the people of Malana think. The village is also known as 'Malana Nala' by many.
Malana is located in the Parvati Valley, which borders the Kullu Valley in northeastern India, and is still almost isolated from the rest of the world. There is no better road or path. You have to cross the inaccessible path of the mountain to reach there. Above it, the village is located at an altitude of about 2,652 meters above sea level. Yet a class of people from all over the world gather there. Who are they?
There are a total of three hills in Kullu Valley. The river Malana flows through that hill. And this green, hilly village on the banks of that river. This mysterious village bears no resemblance to other peoples of India. Even the language they use, Kanasi, is not used anywhere else in the world.
It has been said a while ago that a class of people overcame all obstacles and gathered in this malana. Those who crowd the crowd are basically the biggest drug lords in the world. High quality cannabis is cultivated in Malana and various drugs are made from cannabis, which the drug lords came to Malana to collect. Malana is said to produce some drugs from marijuana that could not be made anywhere else in the world.
The people of Malana keep these drug production methods secret. The bodies of 12 tourists were found in Malana once in the nineties; Then different stories about their bodies were spread. One of them was that they wanted to know the formulas of various drugs produced in Malana in the guise of tourists secretly or by force. In response, drug dealers in Malana killed them and dumped them in the surrounding mountains.
Cannabis production is better in hilly lands. Therefore, Malana is naturally suitable for cannabis cultivation. Although cannabis is used directly as a drug, it can be used to make better quality drugs. Of these, charas and hashish are very famous. Of these, charas has a lot in common with the traditional cannabis cigars in Bangladesh. It is consumed by mixing the juice of different flowers with the cannabis leaves. The hashish is made from the glue collected from the place where the buds of the selected cannabis tree of the improved species grow. This world-famous hashish produced in Malana is also known as Malana Cream.
Hashish is an ancient drug, which is very effective as a narcotic. There are many legends about hashish. It is said that during the Crusades, a group of mighty warriors were given hashish so that they could kill their opponents without hesitation. As a result, hashish has long been a deadly drug. And for this hashish, innumerable drug lords from all over the world gather in Malana.
In addition to the drug lords, a number of tourists now visit Malana every year. But strict management for everyone. The first thing to enter the village is a checkpost. Not only sound education but his alertness and dedication too are most required. If you can't answer them, you may have to return empty-handed.
Can't touch anything after entering; That is the law. If you touch anything, you will be fined. You can't understand any of their internal conversations; Because they have their own language. As mentioned earlier, the name of that language is Kanasi. There are two common denominators of Kanasi.
First, since there is a nefarious drug business, with which the world's biggest drug dealers are connected, they have created this Kannada language in the face of the need to keep their conversations secret from those traders and tourists. Second, it is a unique language that has been used by its inhabitants since ancient times. But surprisingly, this language is not used in India or anywhere else in the world.
The famous Uppsala University in Sweden conducted a study to unravel this mystery of the Kanasi language. The main researcher was Professor Anju Saxena of the Department of Linguistics of the University. He said
Kanasi is an unwritten and unfamiliar language. Clearly this language can be included as an endangered language.
He added,
The Kanasi language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family, which is used in the village of Malana. Kanasi language is completely different from the Indo-Aryan language family. As a result, the language raises a number of important questions that relate to prehistoric times. This also makes the table of linguistics questionable.
However, this language is still a mystery to linguists. VK Voide, director of the Institute of Tribal Studies at Himachal University, said:
Their language has no resemblance to the languages of other parts of the world. Even the language used at the Kullu royal court bears no resemblance. It can be a language created by a mixture of different languages. We are conducting research by collecting 500-600 words that they use in their language. Trying to understand through this, which word is taken from which language. If we can do this successfully, we will understand what is the original source of their language.
As a result, the Kanasi language is still a mystery to us. Not only is their language mysterious; Their religion is also mysterious. They do not believe in any religion as common as language. Their religion is not similar to any other religion. Their religion is centered on one deity. The name of that only deity is 'Jamlu Rishi'.
It is commonly seen in India that worship is done in the temples of almost all the deities, but there is no such worship arrangement for the Jamlu sage. But in the festival he is remembered as the almighty deity. Even if he does not worship in the traditional way, his spiritual message is preserved in everyone's house. There are also two ancient temples, where various sayings of the sage Jamlu are inscribed on the wall, but no worship is held there.
Ancient Hindu mythology mentions a deity named 'Jamlu Rishi'. According to that source, many researchers believe that the inhabitants of Malana follow the pre-Aryan traditional religion. But no such religious practice can be found in the surrounding areas. The influence of this Jamlu sage is immense in the management system of Malana village. One gains the power of his representation in society. He is called 'Guru'. Although all the villages are governed in a democratic manner, the importance of his decision is above all.
In the title of the article, we add a question mark: Is Malana the oldest democratic village in the world? Before exploring this answer we will discuss a little about the context in which this claim was made. The discussion of democracy actually comes down to the context of the ancient city-state of Greece. Democracy originated from the political system that existed in Athens, the capital of Greece, and other surrounding cities in the 5th century BC.
Naturally when we call Malana the 'oldest democratic' village, it must have some close connection with ancient Greece; And that is, the people here think they are descendants of the Greek hero Alexander the Great.
Now we will do some research on the justification of their claim. According to historians, there are pros and cons to this claim. According to the party, when Alexander the Great invaded India in 326 BC, he was accompanied by a large number of white soldiers. He stayed with them in India for about 19 months. But when he left India, he did not feel the need to take all the troops with him.
He ordered such a part to live in Malana, a hill village in Himachal Pradesh. When those trained soldiers began to live there, they established a system of government similar to that of their native Greece. That management has been maintained so far. Prominent researcher Mehek Chakraborty has given a balanced description of the connection of the inhabitants of Malana with Alexander the Great or with the Greeks. He said
It is said that a part of Alexander the Great's army took refuge in an isolated village in 326 BC. They were wounded while fighting against the king of Puri in the Punjab of India. The physical constitution of those soldiers is similar to that of the inhabitants of Malana. Besides, some paintings of that time are still preserved. Such a painted sword is preserved in a temple there. However, this birth connection is not recognized by historians. Even when I asked many of the residents there about it, they could not give any correct answer; Many do not know how this legend originated.
Like in Greece, Malana has a bicameral legislature. The legislature has two chambers, the upper house and the lower house. The members of the upper house have the main power. This room again has a spiritual connection with the sage Jammu. Each member is considered to be the local representative of the only deity, Jamlu Rishi. According to Rohan, a young man living in Malana village,
The gods have the ultimate power. We are only guided by its representatives. There are three types of political personalities, one of which is the 'guru'. The 'guru' is the ocean of true mercy, his kindness surrounds all the villages, protects us. He contacted Jamlu Rishi on our behalf.
On the other hand, the skin color of the inhabitants of Malana is very white; Much different from the people of Himachal. The body structure is similar to that of the Greeks. As a result it also strengthens their demand for Greek connections.
After all, it was because of this legislature that the Malanas' demand for Greek connection became the strongest. If their claim is correct, then Malanai is the oldest democratic village.
However, it should be noted that the democratic areas in ancient Greece were 'cities' or 'city states' and Malana was the 'village', meaning the oldest democratic village in the world. And that is why the people of Malana call their village 'Athens of the Himalayas'.
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