The Adivasi way of life: Utopian or worth emulating by ‘mainstream’ society? – An ongoing debate

Anyone who has had some meaningful interaction with India’s indigenous or adivasi people, cannot fail to be touched by the encounter. There is a directness in them, an absence of artifice or guile, an almost childlike innocence, born of simplicity combined with a lack of greed and avarice. The more interior and untouched a village, … Read more

Tiruvalluvar revered as ancient king among the Kaani of Kanyakumari district – Tamil Nadu

It is interesting to learn that a hill in Kanyakumari district is named after Tiruvalluvar. […] The Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre recently brought to light the existence of Valluvan Kal Potrai in Koovaikkadu hamlet, Surulodu panchayat, Kalkulam taluk, Kanyakumari district. The author, along with two others, went to the hilltop to speak to … Read more

Learn more about tribal communities in Tamil Nadu

Video | Living with the cycles of nature and understanding that it is bountiful: National award winning documentary “I Cannot Give You My Forest” – Odisha

I cannot give you my forest is a documentary directed and produced by filmmakers- Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl. It has received the National Film Award for Best Environment Film in 2014. Filmed in the forests of Odisha, ‘I cannot give you my forest’ is a window into the lives of the Kondh ‘adivasis’. The … Read more

Indian forests, rivers and mountains owe their survival to Adivasis: “the most civilised people” – Mahasweta Devi

Renowned writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi termed Adivasis as “the most civilised people” to whom Indian forests, rivers and mountains owe their survival. She praised their egalitarian social structure where nobody is greater than anybody, and where social evils such as dowry do not exist. Addressing students at the University of Hyderabad here on … Read more