MALDIVES

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MALDIVES; the Divehi People

The Divehi people are also known as Maldivians or Maldive Islanders. The Maldivians call their own country ‘Divehi rājje’, meaning ‘The Island Kingdom’. The word ‘Divehi’ is derived from ‘dvīp’, the Sanskrit word for ‘island’. This ancient word for ‘island’ is also present in the word ‘dives’ of ‘Maldives’, the official name of the country in the English language. Many geographical names of islands in Maldives include that word for island in the form of ‘dū’ at the end, like Hitadū or Fōkaidū. The Divehi people live mainly in the Maldive Islands and they presently number about 300,000; although exact demographic data are not available.

For ethnographic and linguistic purposes the Divehi people can be divided into three groups:

The main group of Maldivians, numbering about 230,000, inhabits the numerous atolls stretching from IhavandippuỊu (Haa Alif) to Haddummati (Laamu). They constitute over 70% of the total population.
The southern group of Maldivians, living in the three southernmost atolls of the equatorial zone, number approximately 60,000 and constitute about 20% of the total population.
The people of Minicoy, numbering about 10,000, inhabit a 10km long island under Indian administration, at the northern end of the atoll chain and are only about 4% of the total amount of Divehi people.

The language spoken in the Maldives is Divehi, belonging to the group of Indo-Aryan languages, but having many affinities with the Dravidian languages of the geographical area in which the country lies. Present-day Divehi has borrowed many words from Arabic. Besides the main form of Divehi, known as Malé Bas, this language has three markedly different variants which are located in the second group, in the South. The people of the third group live in great isolation, for Minicoy is totally off-limits for Maldivians since 1957. Only Indians are allowed to travel to Minicoy. Thus, Minicoians are steadily undergoing a process of acculturation owing to lack of contact with the remaining Divehi people and pressure to use other languages (Malayalam, English and Hindi).

Climate ::

The climate of the Maldive Islands is divided into two seasons, one slightly wetter marked by the SW monsoon and the other, somewhat drier, by the NE monsoon. The winds during those seasons were formerly very important for the Maldive trading boats which used to make a yearly trading trip to the Indian Subcontinent and Sri Lanka. The country is flat and the islands very small, over 99% of the surface of the country is mainly deep blue waters. There are no significant geographical features that could create a micro-climate, thus all over the Maldive archipelago the climate is oceanic, very variable and subject to precipitations carried by the prevailing winds of the Indian Ocean. Since the country is close to the equator, in the area of the doldrums, the Maldives is rarely affected by major cyclones.

Economical Activities ::

The major occupation of Maldivians is fishing. Most of the people live in small villages in islands where water is available. Villages consist of clusters of compounds containing dwellings, small vegetable gardens, and some trees (usually coconut and breadfruit). The soil is sandy and not very fertile. The only form of agriculture practiced is subsistence agriculture. Some of the largest islands produce taro, cassava, millet and sorghum. Other small crops are bananas, papayas, drumstick, and a few other fruit and vegetable varieties.

Social Hierarchies ::
Formerly there was a caste division in Maldives, the lowest caste in the hierarchy being the rāveri or palm-sap tappers. But caste divisions in Maldives were never as prevalent as in the neighboring countries. Instead of a complex caste system, like the Vedic one, in Maldives greater importance was attached to mark the division between the nobles (beìfuỊun) and the common people in society. Presently all traditional distinctions have disappeared and there are no marriage barriers in the Maldive sociological pattern.
Marriage ::
The preferred marriage for Maldivians is endogamous, although exogamous marriages were not uncommon. For a girl the best husband would be deemed to be her mother’s brother’s son and for a boy his mother’s brother’s daughter. Girls used to marry right after the menarche ceremony. Residence is generally uxorilocal. According to Island tradition the husband would go to live to his wife’s house after marriage. For this reason, in Divehi families, parents were happy to have daughters because they would bring boys into their home, whereas sons would ‘bring fish to someone else’s house’, meaning that even during courtship, their interests would already be in the household of their forthcoming wife.
Mortuary Rituals ::
In the Maldives funerary rituals played a very significant part in the society. Divehi people always carefully buried their deceased ones. The location and arrangement of the burial place was a txt that was given great consideration by islanders high or low. Burial grounds and isolated tombs (ziyaaraiy) were the most important landmarks in every island village. Therefore, most traditional celebrations involving cooking and feasting and important social gatherings were associated with funerary ceremonies.
Structures of Power ::
	The political structure of the Maldives has remained practically unchanged for centuries. Despite the passage from Monarchy to republic, the contemporary political structure shows a clear continuity with the feudal past in which power was shared among a few families at the top of the social structure. In some islands, the offices have remained within the same family for generations. The village is ruled by an administrative officer called Katību, who serves as the executive headman of the island. Above the Katībus of every atoll is the AtoỊuveriya (Atoll Chief). The power of these local chiefs is very limited and they take few responsibilities. They are trained to report to the government about the situation in their islands and to merely wait for instructions from the central power and to follow them thoroughly

Religious Patterns ::

Originally Maldivians followed the Dravidian Mother-Goddess worship and its rituals. The country underwent a conversion to Buddhism about 2,000 years ago which brought about an unprecedented flourishing of the Maldivian culture, including the language which by then developed its own script. Almost all significant Maldivian archaeological remains and cultural accomplishments are from that period. But about 800 years ago the country was converted to the Muslim religion and little of the cultural achievements of the Maldivian classical age survived. Since the conversion, the ancient Mother-Goddess cult managed to live on in the local folklore, which is marked by the fear of ancient female spirits, epidemics, and monsters coming from the sea. As centuries went by, Islam, the official religion of Maldivians, became intertwined with the local traditions. However the role of this religion in Maldive society has changed significantly and irreversibly since the beginning of the 1980’s.

Conclusion ::

Nowadays the national economy is mainly dependent on tourism and fishing. Traditional agricultural practices have been mostly abandoned and the islanders rely on imported staples. The Maldives has one of the highest birth rates in the world. The result is that many islands have become overpopulated and are completely covered by homesteads, and that the country is becoming less self-sufficient.

Culture summary by Xavier Romero-Frías