Understanding the Culture

Most of the people sometimes confuse culture with cultural past, while there are others who confuse culture with religious beliefs. Indeed traditions and religious beliefs have got very good impact on the culture of various communities, but we cannot classify the culture of any community merely on the basis of its olden traditions and religious beliefs. One more thing about culture has been observed that it is not objective and stagnant, but with the development and enhancement of communication networking, culture also keeps on changing.

Let us first understand what actually the culture means. In a broader sense culture means the living system, which not only involves past traditions, but the social fabric of a society, its knowledge, habits, customs, living traditions and overall, it is the spoken dialect and the location and region in which a community lives. These all element define the culture of any community and these elements also remain changing. Some of the tastes, rituals and habits would get discontinued while there would be new adaptations and influences.

Broadly speaking all the human beings basically represent one culture, which in simple terms is classified as mankind. It is quite different from all other species. As has been already said that of all living beings man alone built a glorious edifice of knowledge. So first of all it is knowledge, which can be said is the foundation of any culture. It was through knowledge we understand that we are human beings and have been created for a certain purpose. We ultimately belong to him who has created us. We all require bowing before him and follow his universal laws. He is worshipped by all in different forms
Being human is our basic identity and we should be proud of it. Knowledge, learning and understanding is the first thing which differentiates human beings from other living species. It is knowledge that has shaped our culture.

Since we live in different conditions and environments and speak different languages it has classified us in different nationalities. People living in Arabian peninsula are known as Arabs, Chinese speaking people as Chinese. Likewise Kashmiri speaking people are Kashmiris. It means people living in a particular region, following their own local traditions and speaking their own language constitute a culture. Indeed it is also very much influenced by their religious faiths, beliefs and olden traditions as well, but we cannot divide different cultures merely on their olden traditions and religious beliefs.

These days we cannot live in mud houses, not be horse riders. The changes which the modern sciences and technologies have brought in the traditional societies, are being welcomed everywhere, and shall be
welcomed wholeheartedly as these things have made human life more comfortable. These things also become part of culture.

But in making the societies high tech, we shall not forget certain social responsibilities, or dismantle our traditional social structure. While welcoming high tech equipments of advanced cultures, we should not allow their social cultures to influence our distinctive cultural identities in a negative way.

Apart from advanced technologies, the new generations have been wholeheartedly welcoming the foreign cultures which are not a good sign. It is not only the question of any religious belief, but it is the question of the particular region where we live that we have been following a proper cultural code.

Ironically the people who have been preserving their culture and language have got no formal education in their language and culture. They have got no written scripts of their language. What they have learned, they have learned it in the lap of their respective mothers. It is in the remote areas where our cultural traditions are still preserved. The village people have also adopted advanced technologies, but they have not given up their cultural values.

The language and culture comprise our identity, and it shall be preserved at any cost. It is our collective identity that needs to be safeguarded. We need to protect our tradition. It is the responsibility of the society to take care of language and culture.

The writer is a senior archaeologist.