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When I visited Himachel Predesh I stayed a few days in a remote Himalayan village named Malana, sometimes referred to as "The Village of Taboos" due to all of t
by neuralzen 7y ago
When I visited Himachel Predesh I stayed a few days in a remote Himalayan village named Malana, sometimes referred to as "The Village of Taboos" due to all of the rules they have, largely concerning outsiders. Outsiders are not allowed to touch a Malanan person, touch or enter a building, or even speak the village language even if the outsider know some of it. They also claimed to be the world's oldest continuous democracy, and descendants of Alexander the Great's armies. Definitely a strange and fascinating society.
- vishnugupta 7y agoIt's a testimony to India's vastness and diversity that more than 99.5% Indians wouldn't have even heard about Malana let alone know about their unique culture and society.
- wenderen 7y agoCan concur - I have never heard about Malana before reading that comment.
- puranjay 7y agoOn the contrary, most people I know have heard of Malana simply because of "Malana Cream", a variety of highly sought after hashish
- talonx 7y ago"Most people you know" does not equate to 99 or even 90% Indians, so this does not negate the previous statement.
- sbmthakur 7y agoTrue. It's only popular around Manali.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- z3phyr 7y ago"The descendants of Alexander's armies" is a pretty common trope across Northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of Iraq. I doubt all the claims though Coming back to Malana, the language they speak, Kanashi, is not an Indo-European language in roots but rather a Sion-Tibetian one.
- neuralzen 7y agoTrue, although they do seem to actually have the world's oldest continuous democracy, from what I've read. Could give some credence to their other claim. Ethnologue mentions this fact too, in the comments, although they got the religion wrong, so take it with a grain of salt (they are not Hindu, but worship a god named Jamul, who's will is interpreted by an Oracle. But they are very adamantly not Hindu). https://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/xns/ https://www.ethnologue.com/17/language/xns/