Is Marathi culture getting destroyed?

“Marathi ppl are loosing their cultural identity” –

somebody made this claim....
my thoughts on the same..

Mitraho..

मराठी माणसाची संस्क्रुती हि खूप गहनतेने विचार करायची गोष्ट आहे. महाराष्ट्राची भौगोलिक स्थिती, आणि इतिहास, नजीकच्या भूतकाळात मराठी माणसाच्या सांस्क्रुतिक परिवर्तनाला बहुतांशी जबाबदार आहे असे माझे मत आहे. (माझे मराठीचे प्रेम प्रदर्शित करुन झाल्यामुळे मी आता आपल्या सर्वांच्या स्वग्रुहीत पुर्वानुमतीने आंग्लभाषेचा वापर करुन पुढिल विचार मांडतो.)

Maharashtrians (read Marathi if you want) are the link between North and South India. It is not just the link but a beautiful mixture of North and South India. You can see that in musical cultural, food culture and most importantly the intellectual culture. The best example would be the festivals in Maharashtra and their relation to festivals in Northern and Southern parts of India. The North Indians did not worry since Hindi is our national anguage . In south, the politicians have made an issue of "injustice due to imposition of Hindi" (rightfully or wrongfully) to preserve their language (or their power).


We, Marathis, have been absorbing and accommodating (as the entire Hindu culture is known for) community for years now. In the multi-dimensionally diverse India, we, Maharashtrians, play (and played) a unifying role.

Due to Islamic invaders the North has been adulterated quite a lot from its original “culture”. You cannot deny the influence of Urdu on Hindi. South had been very well protected and hence has been able to maintain lot of its original culture.

Mumbai was capital of East India Company and turned into(still is) financial capital of India. Naturally there was (is) huge influx of people from all over India towards Mumbai. Also, considering the natural instincts, those who came as outsiders, stuck together and helped each other. (You can see Indian ghettos in all major cities {and small university towns as well}in US...its a natural instinct). Since we, as Maharashtrians, were at home, did not develop this tendency (due to lack of necessity) of helping only our kind.

During freedom struggle, “Marathi maaNus” contributed undoubtedly in huge numbers in terms of leadership as well as the fighter in the field. With the goal of unification against British, Tatya Tope gathered the whole India for a single cause. Later, Tilak, Aagarkar, Saawarkar, and numerous other Marathi freedom fighters made Maharashtra the center for freedom struggle of India. While Delhi is our Capital today, Mumbai was our real capital almost till Independence. The defining Quit India movement resolution by the All India Congress Committee was passed in its Bombay session in 1942. Maharashtra was formed with Mumbai as its capital in 1960 as a result of Samyukta Maharashtra movement. The success of it lies in the fact that the culture of Mumbai and Marathi people is inseparable.

I am a proud Marathi, especially considering the above mentioned history and contribution of Maharashtrians in the (glorious) history of India. I consider that the unifying attitude, acceptance of multi-lingual and multi-cultural communities, dissolving within diverse group without attention but with extensive contribution (can’t stop praising ‘we Marathis’ now can I? :):)) etc. are the “cultivated” and “evolved” aspects of Marathi culture. I believe (historically and even today) there were and are plenty of Marathi people with significant contribution in all aspects of life, and in India as well as all over the world.

Do I mean that there should not be any concerns about Marathi’s situation as a language in Maharashtra? Personally, I do think that there are worrisome trends but then there are some rays of hope. In my recent visit to Pune, I was surprised that almost at all public places (including Laxmi Road) default language for start of a conversation was Hindi. Not sure if it should, but it bothered me a little bit. At the same time, amount of Marathi in Bollywood movies, hit (as far as my information goes) musical albums (aika dajiba etc.), hit poems and songs (Divas Ase Ki, Naamanjoor, Kaifiyat etc.), all of these are encouraging signs for Marathi literature .

In conclusion I would say my opinion is, it is important for Marathi people to be aware of need to preserve Marathi language and culture and help each other. While doing that, first, we need NOT contribute to the mayhem India is facing during the transition to a globally powerful economy. And second, as Marathis, we should consider our (historically) evolved state of mind before judging ourselves based on how other (actually SOME narrow-minded, amongst those, if I dare to say so) communities are conducting themselves.

Thank you for reading so far (if you have really read :)),
Saatwik.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Independence_Movement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai#History