How has literature historically served as a vehicle for globalising local cultural practices? Illustrate with examples.

Q. How has literature historically served as a vehicle for globalising local cultural practices? Illustrate with examples. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Literature converts a locally bounded practice into a portable narrative that travels beyond its community. From Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas to Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, texts have repeatedly turned regional rituals into shared world heritage — though the transfer is rarely neutral.

Literature as canoniser: placing a locality on the world map

• Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (published 22 October 1926) grew out of his visits to Pamplona's San Fermín fiesta; the city's own record credits the novel with the "definitive universalisation" of the festival [1].
• The book sold 7,000 copies in two months and was reprinted eight times in two years, carrying the encierro (bull run) into global imagination [1][2] — a century on, the 2026 centenary edition still draws large foreign cohorts.

Vernacular texts as democratisers of ritual

• Tulsidas composed the Ramcharitmanas in the 16th century in a form of Hindi to make the Sanskrit epic available to all; the staging of Ramlila rests on this text and is performed across northern India during Dussehra [3].
• Ramlila's UNESCO inscription (2008) shows a literary work seeding a living performance tradition that later travelled with the diaspora [3].

Textual codification enabling institutional recognition

• Yoga, inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List in 2016, is transmitted through the guru-shishya model and through ancient manuscripts and scriptures — written codification made global diffusion possible [4].
• Comparable literary-artistic canons underpin Flamenco's 2010 inscription for Spain [5].

Limits of literary globalisation

• Literature can romanticise and freeze a practice, privileging the outsider's gaze over community meaning.
• Globalised visibility also invites ethical contestation: India's bull-taming sport faced prolonged litigation before the Supreme Court upheld the state amendment enabling Jallikattu in May 2023 [6].

Literature thus acts as both mirror and multiplier — recording a practice and then exporting it. The way forward lies in community-led safeguarding, so that literary fame funds custodianship rather than commodification, aligning with UNESCO's 2003 Convention and SDG 11.4 on protecting cultural heritage.

(~315 words)

Sources: 1. Pamplona City Council — Ernest Hemingway and Pamplona / "The Sun Also Rises" — 1926 publication date, novel's role in universalising San Fermín, sales and reprint figures 2. Visit Navarra (Navarre Tourist Board) — San Fermín festival — festival's international draw and the bull run 3. UNESCO ICH — Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana (2008) — Tulsidas's 16th-century Ramcharitmanas as basis, Dussehra performance, inscription 4. UNESCO ICH — Yoga (2016) — inscription year, transmission via manuscripts and scriptures 5. UNESCO ICH — Flamenco, Spain (2010) — inscription year and safeguarding efforts 6. Supreme Court of India, judgment dated 18 May 2023 (Jallikattu/bovine sports amendments) — upholding state amendment Acts regulating Jallikattu