Indigenous Craftsmanship:

DB NEPALI 'DAMU'

Cultural Appropriation, Preservation, and Renaissance

The history of Nepal is not merely an account of states, dynasties, wars, and rulers. It is fundamentally the history of the hands that crafted the plough and erected homesteads. It is the history of communities that smelted iron, carved timber, moulded clay, processed leather, wove fabric, crafted musical instruments, and played them—keeping a vibrant culture alive across generations. For millennia, the indigenous artisan (Shilpi) communities of Nepal have laid the foundations of civilization by fulfilling the fundamental needs of human existence. From birth to death, from household implements to agricultural tools, from crop production to religious-cultural rituals, and from music to social life, their contribution is profound and foundational.

Anthropological, archaeological, and historical studies consistently demonstrate that artisan communities play a central role in the evolution of any civilization. This is because a society’s production systems, technology, architectural arts, and cultural expressions are deeply rooted in the genetic knowledge systems of these very communities. Ironically, the very architects of civilization remain the least visible in the pages of history. While society thrived on their labour and progressed through their skills, their contributions never received adequate recognition, protection, or documentation.

Today, many artisan communities in Nepal are facing a multi-dimensional crisis spanning economic, social, and cultural spheres. Their traditional crafts are being systematically displaced, their cultural heritage faces pervasive encroachment, and their historical contributions are being progressively rendered invisible. In this context, the plight of the artisan community is not merely an issue of social justice; it is a vital question of cultural justice, community rights, and the preservation of civilization itself.

The Crisis of Genetic Knowledge Systems

The skills possessed by the artisan communities are not the products of formal schools or universities; they are living knowledge systems transmitted through nature and ancestors over thousands of years. Modern anthropology recognizes these as 'indigenous knowledge systems' or 'traditional knowledge systems.' UNESCO considers such intangible heritage an invaluable asset to humanity, as these systems encapsulate long-term experiences of the local environment, natural resources, production technologies, social relations, and cultural memories. However, due to global industrialization, market expansion, consumerism, and homogenized development models, traditional craftsmanship systems are under imminent threat of extinction.

Nepal reflects this global predicament. The government has failed to formulate long-term policies to protect indigenous craftsmanship as a national treasure. The unrestricted import of foreign goods continues unabated, while efforts to connect indigenous production with modern markets and technology remain feeble. Consequently, craftsmanship enterprises that flourished for millennia are collapsing. Members of the artisan communities, whose villages were once

bustling centres of production, are now forced to sell their labour cheaply as daily-wage labourers, transport workers, or migrant workers abroad.

This shift has created not only an economic crisis but also an existential threat to cultural continuity. The loss of a skill is not merely the disappearance of a profession; it signifies the erasure of a community’s oral traditions, history, self-confidence, and genetic knowledge systems.

The Question of Cultural Colonialism

In his celebrated discourse Decolonising the Mind, African thinker Ng?g? wa Thiong'o argues that the most enduring form of colonialism is the control over language, culture, and memory. Political colonialism may end, but cultural colonialism can persist for generations. Cultural colonialism occurs when a dominant group establishes its own language, culture, values, and history as the 'mainstream,' thereby systematically marginalizing the cultural and knowledge systems of other communities. This process is not always executed through brute force; it operates subtly through schools, mass media, state structures, historiography, and social value systems.

When a community begins to feel ashamed of speaking its own language, views its ancestral profession as inferior, and undervalues its own culture, the profound impact of cultural colonialism becomes evident. Many artisan communities in Nepal have endured this exact trauma. The tendency to dismiss their traditional genetic knowledge systems as 'backward' in the name of modernity remains deeply entrenched in society.

Cultural Appropriation and Historical Invisibility

Globally, debates surrounding 'cultural appropriation' are intensifying. Cultural appropriation refers to the process wherein the cultural heritage, symbols, knowledge, music, dance, or traditions of a community are adopted or claimed by others without acknowledging the community’s historical contribution. Culture can be shared; anyone can learn and practice it. However, history can never be shared. The irrefutable truth of origin cannot be altered. For this reason, indigenous and local communities worldwide are asserting collective rights over their cultural heritage.

The Context of Pan chaiBaja

In Nepal, the PanchalBaja is not merely a musical ensemble; it is a synthesis of craftsmanship, technology, and cultural knowledge. Its creation historically intertwines the metallurgy of the Kami community, the leather-smiting and crafting skills of the Sarki community, and the musical performance traditions of the Damai community. In this sense, the pan chaiBaja is

shared cultural heritage born out of the artisan communities. While it is natural and welcome for diverse communities to play these instruments today, renaming the pan chaiBaja along caste lines for commercial purposes under the guise of preservation constitutes blatant cultural appropriation. The expansion of a culture within society reflects its vitality. However, if the names of the communities that birthed and nurtured it are progressively erased, their historical role overshadowed, and the entire heritage absorbed into a new identity, it transforms into a matter of cultural injustice. Utilizing a heritage and rewriting its historical ownership are fundamentally two different things.

The Context of Hudke and Chhaliya Dances

A similar concern surrounds the Hudke dance, prevalent in western Nepal, where the name itself is derived from the Hudko instrument. Indigenous oral folklore, cultural practices, and historical memories explicitly link this tradition to the Hudke lineage within the Damai community. Yet, in recent years, attempts have been made to dilute this primary communal bond and tether it to alternative identities. Similarly, the origins of over a dozen authentic dance cultures, including Chhaliya, are historically rooted in the indigenous Damai community. The contention here is not about who has the right to dance; it is about historical truth. If a cultural heritage is widely practiced while its originating community is rendered invisible, it ceases to be cultural partnership and instead becomes cultural displacement.

Collective Intellectual Property Rights

While modern jurisprudence recognizes individual intellectual property rights, the knowledge of indigenous artisan communities is collective, not individual. Consequently, the concept of Collective Intellectual Property Rights has gained global prominence. Under this framework, traditional knowledge, craftsmanship techniques, cultural expressions, dances, songs, musical instruments, folklore, and rituals are recognized as the collective intellectual wealth of the community. Therefore, any replication, renaming, or commercial exploitation of such heritage must guarantee the consent, rights, and proper credit of the originating community.

Global Experiences

Throughout world history, numerous communities have suffered the trauma of cultural displacement. In Canada, the United States, and Australia, indigenous children were forcibly separated from their families and placed in residential schools. They were forbidden from speaking their native languages, practicing their cultures, and following their traditional knowledge systems. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada termed this process 'cultural genocide.' Australia’s policies regarding the 'Stolen Generations' severed the cultural continuity of thousands of indigenous families, aiming to alienate them from their distinct identities.

During European colonialism, the traditional crafts, religious practices, and knowledge systems of many indigenous communities in North and South America were systematically obliterated. In Africa, local production systems were crippled to make them dependent on colonial economies. The Ainu of Japan, the Sami of Scandinavia, and various indigenous groups in Russia have faced similar assimilation pressures and identity crises. These global precedents demonstrate that weakening a community's language, culture, memory, and knowledge system is not merely a natural cultural shift; it is a calculated politics of power, influence, and hegemony.

The Concept of Cultural Genocide

Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term 'genocide,' did not restrict the destruction of a community solely to physical utions, and way of life as a grave offense. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu introduced the annihilation. He also viewed the eradication of a community's cultural architecture, social institconcept of 'symbolic violence' to explain how dominant cultures impose themselves on marginalized ones. Italian theorist Antonio Gramsci conceptualized this as 'cultural hegemony.' When a language dies, a skill vanishes, the historical ownership of a cultural heritage is erased, and the newer generation distances itself from its roots, the elements of cultural genocide begin to manifest.

The Debate in the Nepalese Context

In the Nepalese academic discourse, sociologist Dor Bahadur Bista analyzed how social structures have kept certain communities at the center while pushing others to the periphery. Mahesh Chandra Regmi extensively documented the impact of state-building processes on local economic structures. Scholars like David Gellner, Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka, Chaitanya Mishra, and Krishna Bhattachan have brought critical debates on identity, representation, and cultural inequality to the forefront. Although scholars do not universally agree that direct 'cultural genocide' occurred in Nepal, there is an abundance of research validating the existence of cultural homogenization, historical invisibility, underrepresentation, and cultural hegemony.

Imperative Provisions for the New Bill

The bill regarding the preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage, currently introduced by the Government of Nepal for discussion, presents a historic opportunity. However, it must go beyond merely cataloguing heritage; it must legally secure the rights of the communities that are the true custodians of these traditions.

The bill must encapsulate the following mandatory provisions:

·                     Documenting the originating community and historical roots of every heritage.

·                     Prohibiting any distortion of a heritage's history.

·                     Banning commercial exploitation without prior Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the community.

·                     Recognizing Collective Intellectual Property Rights over cultural heritage.

·                     Ensuring an equitable share of benefits derived from heritage conservation for the originating community.

·                     Establishing a dedicated fund for endangered craftsmanship and cultural traditions.

·                     Integrating indigenous knowledge systems into school and university curricula.

·                     Ensuring mandatory representation of the respective communities within heritage conservation committees.

·                     Harmonizing national legislation with the principles of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

·                      

The Highway to Renaissance

Mere preservation of heritage is insufficient; the contemporary era demands a cultural renaissance. The skills of the artisan communities must be interfaced with modern technology. Local production must be linked to national and international markets. Cultural heritage should be integrated with tourism, academia, research, and the creative economy. Furthermore, communities must systematically document their own oral histories, songs, dances, musical instruments, rituals, and crafting technologies. Most importantly, the younger generation must be empowered to take pride in their historical legacy.

Conclusion

The civilization of Nepal was not built by the walls of palaces, but by the hands of its artisans. It was these hands that excavated mines, forged tools, cleared wilderness, cultivated cotton, spun handloom fabrics on wheels, ploughed fields, constructed dwellings, and crafted musical instruments, and shaped language and culture— making daily human life possible. Today, the skills of these very communities are in severe jeopardy. Interventions and encroachments upon their cultural heritage are rising, and their historical contributions are being incrementally erased. If this trajectory is not halted, what we lose will not just be a musical instrument, a dance, or a craft; we will lose the civilizational oral memory built over thousands of years.

Therefore, safeguarding the skills, knowledge, technology, craftsmanship, and cultural heritage of the artisan communities is not merely a cultural obligation. It is a matter of historical justice, community rights, democratic dignity, and national existence. Embracing shared utility while respecting the original source, protecting historical truths, guaranteeing collective intellectual property rights, and establishing cultural justice are the pressing needs of our time. Only this grand highway can restore the glory of the indigenous artisan communities, protect the legacy of Nepal’s cultural diversity, and keep the living memory of civilization alive for generations to come.

(DB Nepali Damu is a Native Arts and Heritage Researcher & Author. Views are personal. Email: dbtantukar@gmail.com)