Minimalism- a western thought derived from an Indian past
From past few years, the word minimalism has been trending, especially in the western world. The idea traveled all over the globe to our nation, India, too. But the concept is not very alien to us; simply forgotten, buried deep in the past or neglected since the waves of consumerism pushed our old principles to the shore.
Minimalism as a lifestyle choice has come up in response to compulsive buying behaviors instigated by lustrous advertisements, cheap knockoffs and constant sales. Trapped in this vicious cycle of buying more and more, cheap and cheaper, we somewhere forgot the value of the products being bought. Though cheap in money, such products, articles and clothes come with a hidden cost, currently being paid by the environment which will soon be billed out of our life and health pockets.
As a response to the global exploitation by production houses and companies, a concept resurfaced which was termed as minimalism.
But what exactly is minimalism?
How I personally interpret the concept, minimalism is consciousness. Consciousness when buying, when dumping, when donating, when storing, when gifting and even more so when using things. It is focusing not on quantity but the quality and value of things.
And guess what, we have it literally in our DNA.
For centuries, our ancestors have been living the most balanced and harmonious lives in the lap of nature. They have taken from it what they needed and given back all they could. I would like to cite some of the lifestyle choices of our ancestors and how adopting them back can make a huge difference to the cult of consumerism.
1. Communal Living
“United we stand, divided we fall.”
Since the time of human evolution, our tendencies have been to live together in communities or tribes. Civilizations such as the Indus Valley Civilization thrived and flourished as one of their key stones was to live together, evidences of which are still found in the architectural designs of their homes.
While having private living areas, people shared a lot of common spaces with the other members of the community like the well/ water reservoir, kitchen, bathing spaces etc. This led to optimal usage of the available resources and cut down on individual requirements of say cooking utensils for each individual family.
This would have given people the chance to focus on longevity and utility rather than the quantity of the products they were making. And only when quantity was off the list could they focus on the quality of their products which we all know surpasses the standards of our current luxury products, owing to the fact that we still have them intact in our museums today.
While modern minimalist approach is that of buying less and only for self-consumption, the older ways of living seem to have been based on sharing whatever was possessed hence reducing the need of a large amount of people to buy more for individual consumption.
2. Textile heirloom and Indian clothing
Fabric and textile products used to be so valuable that people used to pass their clothes as heirloom to the next generation. This not just means that each generation had to buy or spin less but also that the cloth received was so good in quality that it could be passed down and used by the next generation. Hence the cycle of creating new cloth was balanced by the passing down and preserving of the older ones.
The father of minimalism should have been Mahatma Gandhi who spent all of his life after coming back to India in just two pairs of ‘dhotis’!
Till date, a lot of people live off on limited amount of clothes, that are just as many as needed.
Not just clothes, but jewelry was also passed down especially for brides. Other than that, jewelry was worn with respect to various pressure points of our body and even men wore it. The changing into a new piece of jewelry was in fact based on the age of the person. Since women are found to have more pressure points than men, they have a larger range of jewelry to wear, which like men were changed, upgraded or replaced at various stages of life from birth, puberty, marriage, pregnancy etc until death. Hence the buying of new items was not just regulated by the age of the buyer but also had a deeper sense and an added layer of meaning.
Also, Indian clothing never really had the concept of sizes like small, medium, large and so on. They were originally designed in such a manner that any person could wear it without alteration. Some examples include saree (has several regional ways of tying), lehenga, angrakha, dhoti, langot, lungi, tie achkans, jama, pagadi, dastar, peta etc. Hence the need of buying was not just restricted across generations but also across varying body types.
3. Cosmetics
Like today, most ancient cosmetics included wide range of products from anti-aging (kayakalpa) to deodrants, hair dyes, face packs to what not! Their preparation would usually require one to dry, ground and mix certain herbs and leaves and its shelf life would be fixed unlike modern day cosmetics that stock up in our cupboards.
An interesting observation here is that the shelf life of products has been varying from long lasting utensils and toys to products that could be used within just a few days; and to achieve both how the nature was never polluted or exploited with toxins and chemicals.
It is also noteworthy how products with low shelf life gave people the opportunity to utilize them within the period of usage and avoiding stocking up of too many of them and hence keeping needless clutter out of their homes.
4. Idol worship
The concept of idol worship had sprouted years ago and is still in wide practice. However in the olden times, the images of Gods and Godesses were not bought, sold and dumped into the rivers at the current rates. Ancients time saw the models of deities being carved onto rocks, moulded from metals or painted in caves, temples and monasteries where they are still found to be thriving (like the temples of unakoti and buddhist painting at Ajanta). Hence, thought was always given to the required age of a product and its effect on our environment. Celebration back then did not include the practice of ‘visarjan’ or immersing images of God into river streams.
5. Toilets and toiletries
Dry toilets
An age-old concept still prevalent in Himachal Pradesh and some other parts of the country, dry toilets utilize human and animal waste to make fertilizers and has less than 90% of water consumption as compared to regular toilets. These usually have an underground room were waste is collected and kept to be made into fertilizers also taking in other house wastes like vegetable peels and ash. it hence consumes waste generated within the house and meets the need of fertilizer for agriculture.
Products
Our ancestor could do away with most oral hygiene products simply by a neem stick ‘datun’. These neem stems are as one would say use and throw but do not pollute either the nature or the house by cluttering of several other products along with it.
An all in one solution to face packs, face scrubs, soaps and similar products was simple one product known to the world as fuller earth or ‘multani mitti’. It is also known that the concept of shampooing and oiling of the hair came from India; which if done according to changing seasons and using appropriate materials would cut down most modern hair products ranging from conditioners, hair masks to hair sprays. These shampoos and oils like other products had to be changed season wise hence were prepared in limited quantity, consumed completely and then restocked in the next season, completely eliminating the need of bulk and concurrent buying.
Things are easier said than done but there is always hope for betterment. In this regard we must as individuals look back at the lifestyle of our ancestors, which I am sure had way greater depth and meaning than I could fish out, and try to adopt a better way of living and consuming.
