The legend of Alexander the Great lives on. In Himachal Pradesh’s sleepy Malana, a cluster of 12 villages comprising eight clans, the mystique comes alive when its inhabitants proclaim themselves as descendants of the Greek king and speak a language only they can understand.
This may be unravelled soon: a Swedish university is in talks with the Institute of Tribal Studies of Himachal University to launch a research to understand the mysterious but small population.
Uppsala University, one of the oldest institutions Nordic countries founded in 1477, and named after the town where it is located, boasts of preserving a large number of ancient symbols that have survived even today.
Institute of Tribal Studies director P K Vaid told TOI that the project had been broadly divided into two parts – trace the origin of the language that the people of Malana, a village located at a height of 8,600 ft and considered as the oldest democracy, speak. And second, trace the origin of the people in Malana.
“Their dialect, which differs from the one spoken in the region, does not find mention even in `vanshavallis’ (ancestral tree) of Kullu kings. It is a mixture of various languages. We’ve got about 500 to 600 words that are used in their dialect and will be tracing them back to the languages from which they may have been taken. This could give us a clue to its origin,” Vaid said.
kalash peopleThe people of Malana have their facial features that, to an extent, resemble the Romans’, Vaid claimed. Alexander the Great had defeated Indian king Porus along the banks of the Beas. After a series of campaigns on India, his soldiers felt tired and wanted to return home. Alexander, too, is said to have gone back home. Lore has it that some of his soldiers, too tired to return, preferred to settle down along the banks of the Beas and it is said residents of Malana may be their descendants.
Vivek Mohan, who has conducted over four years of study and produced a national award winning documentary `Malana’, said the answer to Malana residents’ origin remains a riddle to him.
Malana is the oldest known `republic’ in the country. The police could reach the inaccessible area only in 1996. “However, I’m convinced the settlement has nothing to do with Alexander,” he said.
Malana worships Lord Jamlu. Some historians believe Jamlu Dev comes from Jamabala Dala Shakche in Bhotti dialect, which means God of Wealth or God Against Enemies and it is He who gives them their rigid rule of governance called `ra-Deo’ (rule in the name of God).
“They are a few thousand people whose political allegiance is only to themselves and whose religious devotion focuses on their deity,” Vivek Mohan said. On their origin, Vaid claimed, since their dialect is a mixture of Sanskrit, Bhotti and Kinnauri, this alone could be the only clue to their origin.
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