TRIBAL / INDIGENOUS/ ADIVASI FOLK DANCES

India is the land of many cultures where not only few 20-25 communities’ cultures are being given prominence, as we often see on the national programmes in the country. Sometimes it can be also noticed that these tribals or indigenous or Adivasi folk dances are much better than those of the other peoples who have not only encroached tribal geographical space but every area of their life, such as social, cultural, political, religious, linguistic, art, music, singing, paintings, food habits etc.

The Bhils of mainly of four prominent states, such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, have rich heritages of folk, indigenous or Adivasi or tribal heritage culture especially in the forms of dances besides many other folk elements of their cultural traditions. But the folk dances are particularly being ignored in educational syllabus, public occasions, daily life and so only. Only the prominent community’s dances are being encouraged and exposed regularly. The tribals should remain related to their cultural roots; otherwise remaining indigenous peoples also shall be geared to become Dalits and impoverished. Media does every now and then, more constructive and innovative exposures in many of such areas of tribal/Adivasi and indigenous peoples social and cultural forums to protect and preserve their cultural rights and age old sacred and cultural heritage in India.

The Bhils of these four states besides, in other states too, have over 3 dozens of beautiful dances regularly performed in romantic and colourful costumes on the occasions of Bhil Bhagoria and other festivals which are being totally being ignored at the cost of promoting their own folk dances in the Bhilanchal. It is due to the tribals/Adivasi or an indigenous person, India is colourful and beautiful. These were the original cultures and folk dances of India and that to of the majority peoples. Should the cultural heritage of the Bhils, in this context their age old folk dances, which provided meaning in oppressed and exploited life and filled them with mental, physical and spiritual energies, in the difficult times times, of social, cultural, and political invasions by peoples encroaching in their tribal geographical habitats, be lost forever from their noble and beautiful tribal folk life..........?

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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES CREATION MYTH

The Oraons are important indigenous peoples of Central tribal zone of India. They have rich cultural heritage in their oral possession today. The Jesuit(SJ) missionaries, cultural anthropologists, sociologists, folklorists, culture & art historians have contributed enormously for the research, preservation, promotion and innovation of their rich cultural heritage which is much ignored by the Government and at risk of vanishing today.

One of the Oraon Myth of Genesis of man goes like this:

O God, just Lord !
You are above, I am below.
I am neither deonra nor jhupa, neither ojha nor baid,
Let Mangara's house, store-house, property, wealth, cultivation
Get plenty of blessigs on the children, son and daughters.
Let there be plenty of grain in the house,
Let there be increase of cattle in the stable,
O Dharma (God), you are above, I am belove
I am offering to you eggs and rice
In this there is either white (fowl) or black or copper coloured....

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TRIBAL ACTIVISM

For Tribal Human Rights Support

Some authors have dedicated their lives for the much deserving and over all support of the Tribal; social, cultural, linguistic, forest, material, artistic, literary, educational, economic and many other types of human right support in the country. Prominent among these writers are: Thakar Bappa, Dr. Nemichand Jain, Gopinath Mohanty, Phaneeshwar Nath Renu, Range Raghava, Mahasweta Devi, Mama Baleshwar Dayal, Nirmal Minj,etc. One among such writers whose name should be added in the recent times is Shachi Arya whose ideas and approach to the protection of tribal rights together with important literary Hindi writers protesting through their writings in favour of the tribals are summed up in her book, ' TRIBAL ACTIVISM : Voices of Protest' . Among many similar books this volume is with difference. It re-defines the relationship between literature and life,. It presents the voices of protests in an eminently authentic manner. The novelty of the approach and the attempt lies in the matching the social events, phenomena and their reflection in literature in a two way manner, that is from literature to life and from life to literature.

Although the focus in the book is on Mahasweta Devi's works which have for the first time brought the tribal protests under mainstream gaze, it seeks to push ahead the frontiers of exploitation and evaluation. It is not incidental, therefore, that the book brings to the focus such facts about tribal consciousness and action as they were kept away from history books. Coupled to this is the emanative thrust on usually unnoticed or ignored facts which compels the reader to sit up and rid himself of the misconceptions about the tribals.

The book offers not only the first full scale study of Mahasweta Devi's works, but also of the tribal voices of protest: not as a mere documentation of certain actions that took place during the course the last two hundred and odd years, but one throbbing and pulsating with life, with larger-than-life portrayals of the fighting tribals of Middle India.

The books, at the same time, evaluate the role of a great writer who cannot but to be a blend of an observer, a creator and an activist. Rawat Publications (Jaipur and New Delhi, 1998) specially deserves our appreciation to promote such volume of high ranking in social sciences.

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HUMAN RIGHTS FOR INDIGENOUS FESTIVALS

India is the land of multi religions, castes, ethnic groups, cultures and festivals. But as we see, in individual and public life, only one group's culture, religion, languages and specially festivals are giving prominence all through the year. The other indigenous cultural festivals particularly are conveniently neglected thus causing massive folkloric erosion at the grass root level of the indigenous populations of the country. Where as the Brahmins, Rajputs and other prominent castes and ethnic groups put all together are less than 20% in the country. On the contrary the indigenous populations of the country who are Scheduled Castes(SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Communities(OBC) are nearly 80% in the country and these very peoples are who are the majority in the country are forced directly or indirectly to flow all the cultural ways of the minority. A huge breach of human rights in the country.

There are many indigenous people’s festivals which should be highlighted and put on the national map of the festivals of India are being systematically ignored and only the festivals of one community and religion are being given importance in India. One such great festival is ignored and interfered a times is Bhagoria of the Bhils of India. Should this continue to happen...?
Some of the important indigenous peoples or tribal / Adivasi festivals of India are:

Phagu(Oraon)
Bhagoria( Bhil)
Gal(Bhil)
Gad(Gad)
Sarhul(Santhal)
Garia(Tripura tribes)
Mahua Flower(Gond)
Joom and Navana(Tripura)
Akha Teej (Bhil)
Manga (Gond)
Dhanboni (Chhotanagpur)
Kharci Puja (Tripura)
Rath Mela (Chhotanagpur)
Manga and Cucumber festival (Gond)
Dhurti Rath (Chhotanagpur)
Jitia ( Chhotanagpur)
Navai (Bhil)
Karma (Oraon)
Ker Puja ( Tripura)
Ropa (Planting of Chhotanagpur)
Moi Muri (Santhal)
Ghotal (Gonds and Oraon)
Gai Gohari (Bhil)
Juwara ( Bhil)
Millet Festival (Gonds)
Garba (Bhil)
Ghanshyam Dev festival (Gond)
Shad Nonglrem (Khasi)
Nayakhani (New grain arrival, Chhotanagpur)
Sohrai (Santhal)
Tusu Mela ( Chhotanagpur)
and many others which are of high importance are ignored and not given place in the national society and culture.

Another fact which is more important is that the original tribal culture and basis of the festivals are being polluted and perverted due to external influence and pressures from various sources. The originality and purity of the tribal festivals together with the tribal festivals forms, traditional festivity, indigenous nature, local structure, traditional organisers, and if need be tribal priest must be maintained to respect their culture. In the case of Bhagoria the administration has very less respect for the great tribal fest of not only India but of the world where there is so much of interference, beating those celebrating, chasing before the time is over one can easily see in the Bhil land.

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TRIBAL HUMAN RIGHTS SUPPORT

Rajiv Gandhi Chair for the contemporary studies situated at Barkatullah University, Bhopal (MP) India, has successfully organised three consecutive seminars for the human rights support of tribal or Adivasi communities of India, dealing with their social, cultural, economic and developmental rights, under the efficient chairmanship of Professor S.N. Chaudhary. These three national seminars of high standing are:

1. Tribes and Their Indigenous Knowledge ((2006)
2. Tribal Development (2008)
3. Tribal Economy: Status and Possibilities (2009)

All the three seminars dealing with the overall human rights of the tribal communities in India in which at least not less than three dozen senior and reputed social scientists from all major universities of India have participated for serious consultation with keen interest in shaping the future policies and programmes of the Central Government of India dealing with the tribes in the country. The scholars so far dealing with the subjects were found to be having highly sympathetic attitudes towards the overall development of the tribal communities. The papers presented in these seminars are edited and published regularly by Prof. S.N. Chaudhary the head of the Rajiv Gandhi Chair for the contemporary studies. Prof. Chaudhary has genuine interest in development of the tribal communities of India. It is likely that such studies and consultations will eventually through new lights on the shaping of the tribal developmental policies and programmes in India.

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TRIBAL CULTURAL RIGHTS

The tribal India or the indigenous peoples of pre-historic times had their own high cultural ideals, values, views and world views which they retain with pride in their oral literatures even today. They are not low as they are discriminately projected in the various writings in the country by mainstream society, or in the earlier centuries by the incoming Aryans, encroaching to their original ancestral territories, culture and societies calling them Asuras then killing and capturing their resources. The process of social and cultural encroachment, corruption of noble indigenous values still continuously goes on un-noticed and un-protected in various forms. The indigenous cultures of India are thus under no proper measures for their human rights protections. In the oral traditions of the tribal India and other ethnic groups, there are many similar accounts or literary documentary evidences of depiction of the indigenous social and cultural values, useful for the protection of their cultural, human or indigenous rights of tribal or indigenous India. The following poet-try or folk song is the result of such seduction from the part of the king is preserved in the oral tradition of the Bhils depicing strength of moral character of a Bhil maid and the fallen character of the local Rajput prince.

The Bhil Maid and the Raja

"O Bhildi ! If you would like to see the palace, come with me;

for I love you sweet girl."

"Your majesty ! My courtyards are just like your palaces,

I will not come to your palace."

"O Bhildi ! If you would like to see the horses, come with me;

For I love you sweet girl."

"Your Majesty ! My bulls are like your horses,

I will not come to your palaces."

"O Bhildi ! If you would like to see the nobles, come with me;

For I love you sweet girl."

Your Majesty ! My farmers are like your nobles,

No, I will not come to your palace."

"Then, if you would like to see the princesses, come with me;

For I love you sweet girl."

"My village maiden are like your princesses,

No, I shall never come to your papace."

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TRIBAL HUMAN RIGHTS SUPPORT

Rajiv Gandhi Chair for the contemporary studies situated at Barkatullah University, Bhopal (MP) India, has successfully organised three consecutive seminars for the human rights support of tribal or Adivasi communities of India, dealing with their social, cultural, economic and developmental rights, under the efficient chairmanship of Professor S.N. Chaudhary. These three national seminars of high standing are:

1. Tribes and Their Indigenous Knowledge ((2006)

2. Tribal Development (2008)

3. Tribal Economy: Status and Possibilities (2009)

All the three seminars dealing with the overall human rights of the tribal communities in India in which at least not less than three dozen senior and reputed social scientists from all major universities of India have participated for serious consultation with keen interest in shaping the future policies and programmes of the Central Government of India dealing with the tribes in the country. The scholars so far dealing with the subjects were found to be having highly sympathetic attitudes towards the overall development of the tribal communities. The papers presented in these seminars are edited and published regularly by Prof. S.N. Chaudhary the head of the Rajiv Gandhi Chair for the contemporary studies. Prof. Chaudhary has genuine interest in development of the tribal communities of India. It is likely that such studies and consultations will eventually through new lights on the shaping of the tribal developmental policies and programmes in India.