Mamta Kalia

can it be called a regional culture,
regional economy, a regional social
system in the narrow sense in which
many people understand regionalism at
present. At the present juncture a narrow
definition and outlook of regionalism are
being projected forcefully from outside,
asking us to look afresh at our local
history from their sectarian perspective.
In this narrow sense, Rahulji was not
regional. He had made a deep study
of regions and of regionalism which was
holistic and all-encompassing in its range.
He was a great scholar of Sanskrit, of
classics and of traditions. For him
knowledge derived from books alone was
incomplete. He did not confine his study
of a culture to Sanskritic and sacred
texts. He believed that if a tradition
is confined to books and texts only,
it is a dead tradition and, therefore,
it is of no value. Only when it has become
a part of people’s life, it has got assimilated
in their life system and has influenced
their every day living and provided
momentum to it, can it be said to have
a permanent significance. To identify this
living form of a tradition, a wanderlust
is inescapable; one had to be a lifelong
wanderer like Rahul. From this point
of view, Rahul made as much use of
his feet as that of his brain. What
strenuous journeys on foot he undertook
to reach the conclusion that much more
than what you learn from a study of
scriptures, records or books, you learn
from talking to the people, interacting
with them face to face and examining
things directly! In this context, he
34 :: April-June 2010
provided a new depth to the answers
to the questions that had been raised
by Maithli Sharan Gupta: “What were
we, what are we and what would we
be now?” From this stand point, he
undertook a study of India through
studies of regions like Uttarakhand and
reached the conclusion that
Uttarakhand’s civilisatioin is not regional
in the manner a cactus plant, which
is found only in a particular region and
derives its specific identity only from
it, is.
According to Rahul, the hill
civilization is a unique blend of diversity
and distinctiveness on the one hand and
similarity and unity on the other. The
uniqueness of this culture consists in
its being a product of several elements,
trends and influences. It is, therefore,
both a regional and a multi-regional
culture; while its roots are in one region
which has given in its distinctiveness,
its branches, by spreading out into many
regions, have given it a multi-regional
character as well. Rahul has said at one
place that Uttarakhand culture is truly
like the Himalayas which, in spite of
having a specific geographical location,
is representative of the entire country
and delineates its contours. You will
not find any literature, culture, poem,
book or epic, or any language of India
which does not have a link with the
Himalayas. Just as the Himalayas belong
to the entire India but are located in
a particular part of the country, in the
same way, Uttarakhand’s culture,