Demonstrating the brain’s astonishing capacity to decode information – Ancient “whistled languages” used by indigenous communities in India, China, Turkey & Spain

For generations, the residents of Meghalaya’s Kongthong village have communicated with each other using a unique form of whistled identity instead of names! | Read the full story and view more …

The Bhils, a proud and ancient ethnic group: On the descendants of some of the original inhabitants of India – Madhya Pradesh

The Bhil tribe is a proud and ancient ethnic group inhabiting the Western part of Central India with the highest concentration in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh State. | Read …

ePaper | “Great relevance for the human welfare”: Traditional knowledge of ethnic people & sustainable utilization of plant resources – Himalayan region

The present investigation aimed at documenting medicinally important species of trees usedby Tharu tribe in the Himalayan Terai region of India. Out of 204 tree species belonging to 143 genera …

Adivasi music – bibliography

Audio-resource-link: The Muria and Maria Gonds of Madhya Pradesh – audio examples and information >> Babiracki, C.M., ‘Tribal music in the study of great and little traditions of Indian music’. …

Video | Schooling the World – a documentary on the world’s last sustainable indigenous cultures

SCHOOLING THE WORLD takes a challenging, sometimes funny, ultimately deeply troubling look at the role played by modern education in the destruction of the world’s last sustainable indigenous cultures.  The …

Tip | Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia

This encyclopedia addresses the religions of a category of South Asians known as tribals, Ādivāsīs (“First Inhabitants”; or Janajātis, lit. “Class of People”; see also below), and, more recently, indigenous …

Video | “Nations don’t make us human – languages make us human”: Ganesh Devy – People’s Linguistic Survey of India

The census of India says the country is losing languages at an alarming rate. But the People’s Linguistic Survey of India seems to say there’s more to it than meets …

The Koli (Kori, Kol), aboriginal communities found “from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari”: Representations from ancient epics to freedom struggle and modern India

[…] It is interesting to note that Koris trace their history to the past where all present day downtrodden reach. This again bursts the myth that there was an amicable …