“Take up the Green cause”: Kalakshetra has demonstrated the scope for creating an artificial forest with a wide variety of flora and fauna – Tamil Nadu

A Tamil couplet from Kannappar Kuravanji of Thozuvoor Markanda Naavalar I meditate on the divine forces of the wilderness, to whom the forest rituals are offered. O Mannaru Saami, O Mother Maari, Chamundi, Irulan, Sangile Karuppan – Your though delights me. Quoted from Pidhana – The Canopy of Life (Chennai, 2014, ISBN: 978-81-921627-3-7). This richly illustrated publication tells the story of the … Read more

Video | An Ethnographic film by Sathya Mohan: The economy, social organization, religion and mythology of the Koyas – Andhra Pradesh

Watch this and other video documentaries by Sathya Mohan on Vimeo: THE KOYAS (Parts 1 & 2) >> This award-winning ethnographic film in two parts made by Sathya Mohan deals with the nature-man interaction and the associated belief system. It examines the features of the environment and ecology in relation to the Koyas economic system – the interaction … Read more

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

To read the full story and view more photos, click here >>

‘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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“Higher Education is a distant dream”: Report on the feasibility of setting up a Tribal University (“autonomous institution / knowledge centre”) – Kerala

FEASIBILITY STUDY REPORT ON SETTING UP A CENTRAL TRIBAL UNIVERSITY OR ITS REGIONAL CENTRE IN KERALA STATE View or download the full report here >> Kerala State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Thiruvananthapuram on its notice dated 31.01.2014 cited, enquired the feasibility of setting up a Tribal University in Kerala. The Kerala State … Read more

The Baha Parab “flower festival” of the Santals: A large mural created by village artists to express their cultural identity – West Bengal

  Baha The Baha Parab is the Flower Festival of the Santals, celebrated in the beginning of spring. The ritual observed revolves around man’s communion with nature and the celebration of beauty. The Naike (Santal priest) and other villagers offer a Sal flower to every family of the village. A Santal woman receives flowers in … Read more