Video | ‘Pawari’, an instrument essential to tribal culture: The life and music of adivasis in Dang – Gujarat

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‘Pawari’, is a traditional instrument of the Dangis. It has been regularly used in all the prominent functions and festivals in Dang. In Dhule of Maharashtra, Pawari has been used mainly in weddings. But in Dang, it is frequently used, especially in the Dang Durbar, a spectacular annual festival held in the district for three days during Holi. Today, however, only a very few individuals play it.

The Pawari is made of wood obtained from locally grown trees, with a beak like structure attached and painted in bright blue-silver combination. […]

Each tune emerging from the instrument resembled some instrument – Indian, European and host of other things we could not identify. Ramdas boasted that his father had played it in all of the tribal festivals and annual celebrations around the totems. He was then speaking about the essential tribal culture which he took pride in, without realizing that minutes ago he was all praise for the Hindutva which had treated the tribals as Rakshasas and Kirathakas.

 

(I came across this instrument, Pawari, during my field visits in an internship with Centre for Social Justice (June 2013). It is an organization that is primarily working for the welfare of the tribals in Dang district, Gujarat.)

Source: The life and music of adivasis in Dang, Gujarat
Address : http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/articles/the-life-and-music-of-adivasis-in-dang-gujarat/
Date Visited: Thu Jan 29 2015 15:32:47 GMT+0100 (CET)

Learn more about Adivasi culture and daily life here: http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/categories/adivasis >>

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Source: About PARI
Address : http://www.ruralindiaonline.org/about/
Date Visited: Thu Jan 29 2015 19:24:10 GMT+0100 (CET)

Sandeep Silas, The Hindu, 

SAPUTARA Gujarat’s only hill station offers a welcome respite from urban greyness

[…] We reached the entrance to Saputara, 1,000 metres above sea level, the only hill station of Gujarat. The district, Dang, is predominantly tribal. Music from an instrument called the ‘pavrivadan’, made out of bottle gourd, welcomed us. Hindu mythology says that Lord Ram spent 11 years of exile in the dense forests of Saputara; the story of the woman feeding jujube to Ram is rooted to a place called Shabridham, about 80 kms from here. There is a statue of a serpent deity on the banks of the river Sarpaganga, who’s worshipped by the local tribals. Saputara has a lake in the middle of the hills. […]

Source: Over and above – The Hindu
Address : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/over-and-above/article4327190.ece
Date Visited: Thu Jan 29 2015 19:36:03 GMT+0100 (CET)

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