Narmada: “The lifeline of Central India” – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Gujarat

Narmada Parikrama is the circumambulation around holy river Narmada undertaken by its pilgrims. Narmada river is considered to be the lifeline of Central India and is worshipped as Narmada maiyyaor Ma Rewa. The journey covers the route passing from the source of the river, i.e. Amarkantak to the point in Gujarat where it meets the … Read more

Heralding social and economic actions: Hunting and food gathering in Durwa culture – Bastar

Within the world of food collection […] Hunts such as these, all of them taking place in the months preceding the monsoon and involving only men, made me first realize that ‘hunting’ is not synonymous with ‘meat’ or ‘food’, and that there were other connotations attached to the activity. They inevitably involved rituals and, often, first fruit … Read more

Resources for the classroom: Learning from and about India’s tribal communities, their culture and knowledge systems

“[I]t is some of the basic values and ideology imbibed in the traditional tribal socio-cultural milieus that should have been emulated and promoted amongst the non-tribal mainstream, not, as has been going on, the other way round.” – Arup Maharatna (Professor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune), in Who Is Civilised?’: In Praise of Tribal … Read more

“Was Narmada valley the centre of human evolution?”: Excavations along one of India’s seven holy rivers

Was India home to one or more unknown hominin species, fossils of which we have not yet been discovered? And did they interbreed with the pre-existing hominid groups in the region? There is no definitive theory that can answer these questions but archaeologists agree that most of these scenarios are possible. What they also agree … Read more

“What unites Indians is a love for songs”: Adivasi music – Rajasthan and Gujarat

Source: “What unites Indians is a love for songs” by Ganesh [G.N.] Devy (The Telegraph, 1 November 2019)URL: https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-musical-legacy-of-kabir-mira-nanak-tukaram-akka-mahadevi-what-unites-indians-is-a-love-for-songs/cid/1716091Date Visited: 14 July 2022