Internalising Heritage

It has been often observed that heritage and culture are defined as one entity and at times showing variance with each other. The common usage reflects it as cultural heritage. But the evolution of both culture and heritage is interdependent. One thing that becomes clear from the usage of the term cultural heritage is the cultural aspect. Usage of the word cultural in the prefix is suggestive that heritage is the derivative of the culture itself and is the outcome of the concretization of the cultural values that occupy space.It is also important to note that heritage may be the derivative of the cultural landscape but it cannot be ruled out that once it has emerged in the social space through its cultural moorings, it takes shape in various forms as the refined embodiment of the peoples consciousness and urge to reach the perfection.Thus heritage is a specialized form of culture or the representative form of the culture that has stood the test of the time in the shape of monuments, art forms, forts, palaces, temples, shrines besides the oral traditions in the form of folk lore, ballads ,marriage songs capturing the peoples flight of imagination. It can be argued that heritage is the only form of culture that survives the test of the times and reaches from generation to generation as the living proof of people’s journey in the process of human evolution. Various international bodies have defined cultural heritage and heritage interchangeably. Basically the term cultural heritage has inherent in it types of heritage . Heritage expands the domain of culture and incorporates all the dimensions that have shaped its foundations. The main types that are reflected in the standard definitions of the world bodies that are active in heritage and cultural issues involve tangible cultural heritage, movable heritage, immovable heritage, intangible heritage, natural heritage, heritage in the zone of armed conflict (UNESCO).It is clear that various facets of nature and human sphere of influence are taken into account while defining the heritage that has emerged from culture . Broadly speaking, when narrowed down to the basics, heritage is classified as tangible and intangible. Tangible heritage involves the built heritage in the form of ancient structures besides the archaeological sites that have been excavated .Paintings, sculptures, coins, manuscripts including the underwater ruins are the examples of the tangible heritage. Intangible heritage includes oral traditions, performing arts, rituals that comes down from generation to generation and are found in the expression of the communities in their group and social behavior . As argued above, culture lays the foundation for its crystallization as heritage. It may include everything from belief system that includes art, morals legal precedence and customs gained in a social system by group of individuals. When this whole complex forms recognized expression in terms of emergence of material signs besides expressions on particular occasions like festivals that includes traditional songs and lyrics carried from generation to generation it qualifies as heritage. This standardization leads to development of identity belonging to a particular group or segment.It is the continuation of human experience that accumulates in the form of structures and occasional events like festivals, rituals and religious congregations at particular locations having social and cultural significance. Another aspect that makes heritage and culture interesting is the consideration of space and time .There can be no culture and heritage without the space and time variables. These situate heritage in the time zone where it should be located in its origin.