ABSTRACT
The concept of heritage has nothing to do with a distant past or a need to preserve otherwise endangered objects or traditions; it is rather a product of present political and social discourses. This chapter discusses why ritualised practices are well suited as objects of heritage, and focuses on to questions of nationalism, authority and agency involved in the creation of heritage. The idea that rituals are part of a people’s heritage is inherently linked to processes of nationalism and modernity. The chapter describes the ways in which ritual practices and traditions play crucial roles in discourses of belonging and cultural copyright of Uttarakhand, a Himalayan state only carved out of Uttar Pradesh, through the example of a great heritage festival — Virasat — held every year in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand. The work in the cultural domain of Uttarakhand is much more than simply the commodification of ritual traditions.
