A richly textured debut novel on Santal customs: “The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey” – Jhar­khand

Manjul Bajaj, Outlook Magazine, 14 February 2014 | Read the full review here >> Witchcraft and tribal rituals loop through Santhal lives in a Jharkhand doctor’s richly textured debut novel. Hansda Sowendra Shekhar’s debut novel The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey is a loving and careful recounting of the Santhal way of life. Spanning several decades … Read more

Leisure time in a Santal village: A large mural created by village artists to express their cultural identity – West Bengal

Enjoying Palm Juice At the end of a village three Santal men sit under a Banyan tree and are happily drinking fermented juice of the tal, a commonly seen palm tree. In the summer, the men climb on the trees to collect the refreshing juice from the tree’s buds in earthen pots. A goat is … Read more

Plan your own musical journey around the “Seven Sister States” – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura

Start your musical journey by watching a beautiful video taken in Shillong (Meghalaya). Then discover which other forms of music and dance are being practiced by the tribal communities of the “Seven Sister States” today. Khasi music revival – the stories of two young duitara players from Indian Tribal Heritage on Vimeo. Media contents is easy to find, especially with the help … Read more

“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 | ‘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
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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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