eBook | “Painted Words”: An Anthology edited by Prof Ganesh Devy – Tribal Literature from all over India

“It is almost impossible to characterize all of India’s tribals in a single ethnographic or historic framework. […]

After Independence, these communities were ‘denotified’ and placed quite randomly in the schedules of tribes, castes and other ‘backward communities’. Yet anyone with any experience of tribal culture will find these listings mind-boggingly oversimplified.

The most useful indicator of tribal identity, then, is language. This book is an introductory sampling of the literary imaginations of those communities whose speech traditions face the prospect of forced aphasia. The selections are representative works from languages that have remained largely spoken and are just beginning to be written; languages that have slowly started acquiring scripts and developing written forms of literature, dialects that are fast perishing because they are on the margins of the main languages, or from communities that have remained outside the caste fold of Indian society. […]” – From the Introduction by Prof. G.N. Devy (pp. ix-xvi)

Title : Painted Words: An Anthology of Tribal Literature
Author : G. N. Devy
Publisher : Purva Prakash Publication
Edition : 2012
Price : INR 350
Language : English
No. of Pages : 312
ISBN No. :978-81-922405-4-1
Description : Painted Words is the first collection of its kind: writings in a rich variety of genres by Adivasis and denotified tribals. Culled from all over India, the selections include tribal versions of the Mahabharat and Ramayan, colourful legends, rhythmic epics, poignant songs, oral histories and a simple but chilling play depicting the routine exploitation of tribal citizens.

Source: Bhasha E Books
Address: https://www.bhashaebooks.org/Downloadbook.aspx?name=21
Date Visited: 23 July 2020

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