Crafts & visual arts

“During our biggest festival ‘Sorhai’ there were decoration on the walls with flower designs, bird and animal figures. I saw my mother and sister drawing red and blue lines on the walls by climbing on the bamboo ladder. [C]enturies-old traditional knowledge and art of building low-cost-no-cost mud-houses and the related skills and crafts, like wall paintings die out.” – Boro Baski in “Is ‘brick house’ the only sign of development?” (translated from an article in Bengali Anandabazar Patrika, 21 July 2019)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=29829

Audio | Manasamangal song cycle of the snake goddess, Manasa: A tribal goddess appropriated into the Hindu pantheon – West Bengal & Bangladesh

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To listen, find “Manasamangal” on the Travelling Archive website, then click the play button (“Listen to a song from this session”) Visit the Travelling Archive website for a larger map and to view more images. The four recordings in this session come from an ongoing project on Manasamangal or the Song Cycle of the Snake Goddess, Manasa, which we have … Read more

“The Toda Landscape: Explorations in cultural ecology”: Book on rapid changes and transformations | Tamil Nadu

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Scholars, historians and anthropologists came together to felicitate Dr. Tarun Chhabra on his definitive work on the Toda tribe The 150 year old Nilgiri library witnessed the launch of a definitive volume, The Toda Landscape Explorations in cultural ecology. It is a labour of passion, by Dr. Tarun Chhabra, and is co-published by Orient Black … Read more

The unique puppetry of the Santals: Chadar Badar (Chadar Bandhani) – Bihar & West Bengal

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Text: courtesy Dr. Ruchira Ghose (Co-Curator, New Delhi, 21 January 2016); to view the full credits for this production on behalf of the National Museum (New Delhi), please check the end of the slideshow here >> Tips Source: CADENCE AND COUNTERPOINT: Documenting Santal Musical Traditions – Google Cultural InstituteAddress: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/exhibit/DwISi2xsSQFgKA?position=29%3A0Date Visited: 14 March 2024

Examples of innate intelligence, even “innovation at its best”: Meetings with a Warli village blacksmith, the tailor, the cattle-rearer, the hunter-gatherer, the farmer, the fisherman, and an expert who treats poison bites – Maharashtra

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Read the full article and view a series of photographs here >> Did my car slow down on its own near a house made of karvi sticks? Or did the muscle memory of my legs press on the brake ever so lightly? Whatever be the case, I had halted at the house of Anusuyabai, my host in … Read more

Exploring “social and cultural co-existence” and “the roots of our origin”: The role of exoticism Hyderabad’s Nehru Centenary Tribal Museum (NCTM) – Andhra Pradesh

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ATIYA AMJAD, The Hindu, Hyedrabad, Tuesday, Apr 01, 2003 | To view more photos and read the full article, click here >> THE RECENTLY inaugurated Nehru Centenary Tribal Museum (NCTM), in the premises of the Telugu Samkshema Bhavan, Masab Tank, in the city may not have made much news, but it seems to have provided Hyderabad yet another opportunity … Read more