Malana
Tucked away amid snow capped mountains in the Parvati valley is Malana, a village like no other. If you happen to visit this village in the Himachal, make sure to stick to the paths told to you when you enter it. For this is a secretive village, full of taboos.
No outsider is allowed to enter a village home or temple without prior permission. The temple houses the village deity, Jamlu, and is decorated with skulls and buffalo horns. Unlike the other idols of the region, Jamlu is not taken in procession to Kullu during the Dussehra festival.
The local language is Kanashi, which an outsider is not allowed to learn or speak. An outsider cannot touch a Malani either. So, if you buy something from a shop, don’t hand over the money for your purchase directly to the shopkeeper but leave it on the counter. For, if you happen to accidentally touch the shopkeeper, he will have to immediately rush home to take a bath.
It’s not that the villagers are unfriendly. They enjoy posing for photographs but don’t let you make videos. They believe they are the descendants of the Greeks who came with Alexander the Great. They are fair and have light eyes, and light brown hair. Some of their wooden houses have carvings of chariot wheels, animals and soldiers engaged in warfare. The villagers have their own parliament, administered by a council, comprising 11 members, whose decision is final. The police are not allowed to intervene.
Malanis are very protective of their forest environment. No one is allowed to fix nails on trees or burn wood inside the forest. One can take away only dry twigs and branches. The hunting of wild animals is strictly prohibited.
The village appeared on the tourist map in the 1990s. In 2001, the government built the Malana Hydro Power Station. Now every house has television and the village is slowly coming out of isolation. However, the villagers are not much educated, and though there are schools, so far only few students have managed to complete their education.
