Audio & eBook | Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas – Parganas Librivox recording & Project Gutenberg

This is an intriguing collection of folklore from the Santal Parganas, a district in India located about 150 miles from Calcutta. As its Preface implies, this collection is intended to give an unadulterated view of a culture through its folklore. It contains a variety of stories about different aspects of life, including family and marriage, … Read more

Trust India’s “village republics” to bring in some good news from time to time – Kerala, Rajasthan & Tamil Nadu

In an atmosphere where every morning, our newspapers greet us with stories of girls being tormented, raped, killed or treated like a doormat in one way or another, trust India’s “village republics” to bring in some good news from time to time. One such village in southern Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district is quietly practicing its own, … Read more

The Kurumbars’ role in South India’s Paleolithic culture: Epigraphical records on Chennai’s ancient history – Tamil Nadu

A study of the region by Colonel Colin Mackenzie says Tondaimandalam was 1st inhabited by Kurumbas, a fierce tribe The move of the state government to create a Greater Chennai Corporation, bringing into its fold several areas of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, has virtually revived the ancient province of Tondaimandalam that is believed to have existed … Read more

Interview on the award winning documentary “Have You Seen The Arana?”: A sojourn that takes you through the crests, troughs and flats of Wayanad – Kerala

Though Ningal Aranaye Kando has a bleak premise, filmmaker Sunanda Bhat injects it with the lightness of everyday occurrences, simple slice-of-life moments and hope for the future, finds Catherine Rhea Roy. […] It is a woman’s disquiet over the disappearance of medicinal plants from the forest, a farmer’s commitment to traditional methods of farming and … Read more

The Gond community: Discoveries in Indian history – Indus Valley, Chhattisgarh, Telangana & Karnataka

Gonds living in central and southern India could have migrated from the Indus Valley civilisation – KarnatakaPossibly “a revolutionary find” that links the adivasi Gond tribe to the Indus Valley civilisation, which flourished between 2500 B.C. and 1750 BC. Eleven of the Hampi pictographs resemble those of the civilisation, according to Dr. K.M. Metry, Head … Read more