Malanis- the Descendents of Alexender the Great

Malana-The oldest Democracy of the World

Shimla- 13 September:

The remote settlement of Malana in the Kullu district of the Himachal has become a focus for worldwide attention as it is considered to be the oldest democracy of the world. Unfettered by the  any rule of government, these people have their own system of governance. Peoples of the Malana’s boasts themselves  to be  the descendents of the Alexigender the Great ( 356-323) , the Greek  invader known for his ambitious imperialism in the world history. The Malana is located at the north-east of the Kullu Valley at a height of 3029 meters from the mean sea level. The village, having settlement of about five hundred houses with the population of about 1500,  is situated at a plateau and is surrounded by Chandermukhi and Deotibba mountain ranges. The area remain cutoff from the rest of the state due to snow fall for about eight month in a year.

Village :

To reach the Malana one has to go on Bhunter-Manikarn road and near Jari a link road takes to Malna hydel power and about 1.5 k.m backward from project a straight upward path of about of one hour walks leads to the village. The village is known for high quality charas called Malana’s Creame. That’s why the village has been visited by  foreigners for many years. But with the strictness by the police has now put restrictions on the villagers on growing cannabis and the villagers in stead of cannabis now grow vegetables and pulses and cash crops.

The Malana village is devided into two parts, one is upper Malana and the other is Lower Malana. The people of  the Malana  belongs to Rajputs dynasty and only few families of the Julaha and Luhar is settled in the village about five decades ago. The houses of the Malana village are of the two or three stories. The ground floor is used as cattle shed and fodder for sheeps, goats and fuel wood are stored in the this floor. The second floor is used as store for eatables and wood.

The third or top floor is used for living. The houses of the village were  built of alternate bands of the timber and stones and the inner walls of the houses are plastered with mud.The Malanis regard them selves unique and the people outsider are untouchable to them. No body is allowed to touch Malanis and their houses and those who incidentally or knowingly disobey, they are fined 12 dollars. The village has a temple of Jamdagni Rishi which attracts pilgrims during festivals.  A Dharmshala (Rest house), carved with the rich craft is available to the visitors to stay during their visits.

The devastating fire that out brooked in Jan 2008 gutted about 150 houses, 6 temples and Bhandars (temple store) of Jamlu Devta.

Swedish University conducting a research:

The Uppsala University of  Sweden in collaboration with the Institute of Tribal studies of the Himachal Pradesh University is conducting a research on origin of these people. The research  project has two objective –one to trace out the origin of the language, the people of Malana spoke and second to trace the origin of the people of Malana.

The society of the Malana is Endogamous and the inhabitants marry within the village. No girl is allowed to marry out side the village and boys of the village are not allowed to marry a girl who doesn’t belong to the village.The polygamy is allowed but polyandry system don’t prevail in the village. The men are restricted to marry only ten to fifteen times but there no such restriction on the women as they can marry as many times as they wish.

The Village Council:

So far the Malana is considered to be the oldest survived republic in the world. There are eight clans and 500 families in Malana and they are not bind to any rule of the government. They have their own system of governance and the power is vested in their deity called Jamlu Devta. The Jamlu Devta rules the village with the help of the Village Counci called Hakima. The Village Council consists of  upper court and the lower court. The  upper court comprises of a Goor ( the main disciple of  Jamlu Devta), Pujari and Kardar. The Pujari and Kardar are considered the representative of the Jamlu Devta and their posts are hereditary. The Goor is said to be the sprit of the Jamlu Devta and  can be a person from the any family from  the village. The lower court consists of the four members and they are called Jestha. Each  member can choose one more member and total number thus becomes eight. Among these eight member choose one member as Pradhan (Chief ) and other as Uppradhan (deputy Chief ) .

Judiciary System:

The Malana has its own system of judiciary. In Malana the property and social disputes are rare and if some how these occur, the villagers  don’t take the help  of the police . No rule of the government don't bind them, they are ruled by their own oral constitution.  The Malana has its own judicial system and its own court which resolve the disputes among the people and these people never go to any court of government. There are unique penalties for offenders and those who stole other’s wife have to pay 600 dollars as compensation and if the women in turn left him for another then he would receive the double the amount he paid. The offender of rape must marry the victim and if victim do not wish to marry him then she is entitled to receive food and clothe for at least one year.

They have a unique system of proving some one guilty. If there is a complaint from any body, the matter is solved by the Goor ( the main disciple of the god) of the village. On a complaint, both the plaintiff and the defendant are asked to bring lambs. And in the right legs, of the both lambs, a cut is made with the knife or blade and then Jahar (local poison) is applied in this fissure which is then sown. Then the owner of that lamb which dies first is declared guilty and the owner of the survived lamb is is declared victorious.

The social and civil disputes does'nt happen there and if some how they do occur then police intervention is not sought. If some one try to engage the police in the spat then he has to pay a fine of 1000 Rs. In case of theft the stone is tied to the offender and he is rolled down from hill. If some one disobey the decision of the  council, he is thrown out of village

Occupation:

The main occupation of the villagers is cultivation but as the lands are not much fertile, therefore these people are engaged in the cattle rearing and collection of medicinal plants. The whole land of the village is considered to be of the deity Jamlu and the peoples cultivating this land are considered Mujaras (Tenants). The villagers after harvesting donate a part of their crops to the deity. This is stored and is used in various religious and ritual ceremony. The Malanis are nature loving and environmentalist by nature. To protect their nature they have put restrictions on the nailing green trees and burning of the fire in the forest.Only dry trees and branches are allowed to  bring  from the forest.

Thus the village has many things unique and it is a matter of research who actually these people are ?  With the ongoing research the mystery will be unveiled in the days to come.