“Bomman thatha told me that our gods live in stones, big rocks and trees. We won’t cut aal maram (Ficus religiosa) because gods will be in that tree. Even the water in the area around the tree should be used neatly and not destroyed. In our community our god Ajji (grandmother) lives in Ellamalai mountain. She is also called Thrithri Eributham. […] Before fishing or taking tubers, we will pray to god and only then we will take it.” – Wildlife conservationist Ramesh in “Bomman thatha and his forest”, a conversation with his grandfather on “bonding between adivasi people and the forest” (At the Edge of Existence, 29 October 2014)
https://cultureandconservation.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/bomman-thatha-and-his-forest/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=8262
Videos taken during Shivaratri, the main annual festival celebtrated by the Kota community More videos and background information provided by Venkatesh Lakshmanan >> For an in-depth study of Kota culture and music, refer to Richard K. Wolf’s award-winning study, The Black Cow’s Footprint: Time, Space, and Music in the Lives of the Kotas of South India >>
I cannot give you my forest is a documentary directed and produced by filmmakers- Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl. It has received the National Film Award for Best Environment Film in 2014. Filmed in the forests of Odisha, ‘I cannot give you my forest’ is a window into the lives of the Kondh ‘adivasis’. The … Read more
3. Sustainable resource use and forest conservation by the Kaani indigenous community of Kanyakumari forests in the Western Ghats, India (Ch. 3, pp. 37-55) in: “Knowing our Lands and Resources: Indigenous and Local Knowledge and Practices related to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Asia” by Madhav Karki, Rosemary Hill, Dayuan Xue, William Alangui, Kaoru Ichikawa … Read more
“The great diversity of music in India is a direct manifestation of the diversity and fragmentation of the population in terms of race, religion, language, and other aspects of culture. Yet the distinction between tribal music and folk music is not always clearly defined.” – N.A. Jairazbhoy To illustrate the above observation, namely “The distinction between … Read more
Santali is not a dead language in the first place so it does not need to be “revived”! I have grown up in Santal Parganas where people speak Santali in their homes, in the marketplace, attend church service in Santali (in the Lutheran churches) and sing hymns in Santali. […] Finally, the Santals of Santal … Read more