Indian tribal art and culture

There has been u tendency to distinguish the high, classical art of Madhya Pradesh from folk or tribal art. Tribals have often been considered capable only of applied crafts in wood, terracotta and other perishable material, and not of the fine arts of mural painting or stone sculpture. Even then tribal art has been treated with condescension, as an exercise, at its best, in crude and bright colours, without perspective, depth or chiaroscuro, and, at its worst, as fantastic and irrational, dominated by demonolatry. This essay provides a glimpse of the unbroken history of Tribal art in Central India and its hight points of quality.

Agaria is an indigenous iron smelters and craftsmen tribal community. They live in the adjoining areas of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The major population of Agaria tribe lives in the Mandala, Dindori, Balaghat and Sidhi districts of Madhya Pradesh and Bilaspur, Kawardha and Raigarh districts of Chhattisgarh (Elwin L942; Russell and Hira Lal 1916; Mehta 2004; Singh 1992). According to census 2001, their total population in Chhattisgarh was 54,574 including 27,192 males and27,382 females (sex ratio - 1007). As per the census 2OLL, their total population in Chhattisgarh is 67,196 including 33,384 males and 33,812 females (sex ratio - 1013). Most of their population live in rural areas (64112- Census 2011). Their main occupation is Iron metal smelting and craftwork. They have indigenous technique of iron smelting and craft work developed long back by their forefathers. They produce iron from locally available iron ore and make artifacts and agricultural implements, etc. and sale in the local market. They built their house on the outskirts of village. The Agaria have very dispersed population due to their traditional occupational constraints. Usually, only one Agaria family is found in one village. Only few villages have Agaria hamlets with few families.

Odisha is known for her colourful festivals. The festivals are numerous, spread over all the twelve months of a year. The village life centres on agriculture. Therefore, there is an intimate relationship of festivals with the numerous agricultural operations that take place. Orissa Festivals are also observed as part of Hindu religious faith. Dates for Orissan festivals are determined by the traditional Hindu calendar. The specialties of most of the Orissa festivals are that, on these occasions, much merry¬making is done, new clothes are worn and special dishes are prepared at home. The Orissa cuisine is at its test in these functions. Delicious dishes prepared include small cakes known as Pitha' and also sweets made from milk. Festivals carry forward people's tradition and cultural heritage. A brief List of major festivals of Orissa during is Calendar year as January : Makar, Dhanu Yatra February: Magha Saptami, Saraswati Puja March : Dola Yatra (Holi), Siva Ratri April : Sokastami, Mahavisuva Sankrati, Rama Navami May : Jhamu Yatra, Chaita Parva June : Sitalsasthi, Raja Festival July : Car Festival (Rath Yatra) August : Jhulan Yatra, Rakhi PurnimaSeptember : Ganesh Puja October: Durga Puja, Kumar Purnima, Diwali, Nuakhai November : Kartika Purnima, Aunla Nabami December : Prathamastami. 'Traditional Food ' might sound boring, since of late there has been an increasing trend to consume or cook foodstuffs which are trendy or are promoted by big brands. Well, these are fine once in a while but alarmingly, these are fast replacing the traditional diets on a routine basis besides causing serious health problems. On a contrary, traditional meals have been developed with time and methods of cooking preserved through years keeping in mind the usefulness of ingredients. These dishes aren't just a part of our culture but are also a storehouse of nutrients. In Each festival, there is a certain type of food which have Nutritional value, Socio-cultural, seasonal impact with relation to Culture and heritage of the common man some of them being very rare and typical grandma's recipes which our children may never be able to relish. Ironically many of these are also being reintroduced as health foods. But the fact is that it's a legacy we have inherited and should preserve it. It should not be confined to temple Prasad or to be consumed on select occasions only. Mothers and homemakers should try and introduce as many. The Cope of this paper is to make alive this cuisine in the Modern era

The folk-tribal genre of Bengal art – referring to that of today’s Bangladesh and the Indian-state of West Bengal – had a rich and varied tradition of making wooden-dolls and toys. These figurines were mostly of four-to-nine inches in height and were produced in large numbers, up to the middle of the last-century, by the local Sūtradhara-artisans.  Even today, they could be traced being made around various corners of Bardhaman,  Hooghly,  Howrah,  East-and-West Medinipur  and Bankura  in West Bengal; and Dhaka, Faridpur, Maimansingha, Chattagram and Comilla in Bangladesh.
The subjects of these dolls mainly focus on human-figures and deities, like – Bau-putula,  Rājā-Rānī,  Gaura-Nitāi, Śiva, Gaṇeśa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa-Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa-Kālī, Balarāma-Subhadrā-Jagannātha etc. Animals and birds are also depicted, but mostly in the toys made for children. However, exceptions are the famous owl-figures of Natungram in Bardhaman and Sabalpur in Murshidabad – that are highly adored in every other household as the divine-mount of goddess Lakṣmī.

विदथ गण सभा समिति प्राचीन भारतीय सामाजिक व्ययस्थाओ मे सबसे पुरानी गणतांत्रिक व्यवस्था है जो सबसे पुराने ग्रंथ ऋग वेद मे आर्यों की सबसे पहली सामाजिक व्यवस्था के रूप मे जानी जाती है । आज भी शिवालिक मे फैले आर्यों के वंशजों मे इन की संस्कृति के अंश पाए जाते है । ये व्यवस्था स्वराज के नाम से भी लोकप्रिय रही ।

आज के समय भी कला और नाट्य का मुख्य श्रोत नाट्यशास्त्र और वेद ही है , जो इसी संस्कृति की देन है ।

The essay explains the urgency of the need to reconsider cognitive categories in the definition, classification and hierarchisation of arts; to rebuild the crumbling bridges between life and arts, culture and development; and, to read the beginnings of human response to nature forwards into a sustainable relationship between culture and nature.

This volume brings together research papers on the poetry of modern Indian poets, particularly those whose poetry is less explored. It is well known that post-Independence India has produced many brilliant writers whose writings have their own importance in the field of Indian English literature. These writers have brought new themes and new styles of writing that have enriched Indian English literature to a greater extent. The book explores the social, cultural and spiritual dimensions of these emerging poets, and will prove useful to students, teachers and all those interested in Indian English poetry for studies and research purposes.
For more books please visit: http://www.arsartium.org/Catalogues.html  OR http://waoar.org/research-publications/books/

Development of tribal is very complicated issue for the government as it need full attention from place to place and state to state. However, the problem is that, the government only see the development of tribal issue is only affected due to poverty and most of the programmes and policies implemented either to remove poverty or for the economic development. But the complex is that, there are other factors are also, in which tribal seeking government help to protect and preserve their ethnic identity, language, culture, norms and practices or belief etc. Only economic development would be utterly inadequate as they are face several problem to protect their identity from external influences (dikus and government). Since Independence, development of tribal people has always been an major concern in India. For this, the Indian Government has taken up many challenging tasks by implementing related programmes, policies and provisions from the Constitution. These initiatives have been carried out with an aim to start working from the ground level so as to provide equality and social justice to the underprivileged or scheduled tribe people. The most important rationale and object of such initiatives are to ameliorate their socio-economic conditions. That said, even after 70 year of India’s independence, the conditions of the tribal groups, in most cases, have not seen visible improvements and still constitute a weaker section of the Indian society. This could be seen from ecological, economy and educational angles. It is very unfortunate that the adopted policies, programmes and plans have not seeped deep into these underprivileged sections of the society as they are often squandered by the top echelons of the concerned authorities. For instance, in every five year plan, government of India has made so many policies and programmes to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, equality, employment, prostitution,
trafficking, child labour, bonded labour, untouchability, violence in domestic help, naxalism, land acquisition etc., but all these have remained as mere words on paper without any substantial outcome. With these aspects in mind, I would to analyze all the major policies, programme and constitutional provisions which have been implemented from time to time for the upkeep of the tribal people in India. Furthermore, in this paper, I would like to highlight and discuss the reasons behind the failure of the aforementioned programmes, policies and strategies. As a result of the improper implementation of the mentioned policies, schemes and programmes, the tribal citizens of India have been practically deprived of many civic facilities and are isolated from the modern and civilized way of living since so many decades.
Keywords- Inequalities, Tribal Rights, India, Displacement, health, Illiteracy, Land Alienation

India is the amalgamation of various customs, religions, rituals, lifestyles, languages and people. The literature of the country also emphasizes this aspect of diversity and struggles of the survival of all these classes of people. The struggles of such people will be impractical if the actually marginalized people-the tribal-will not get their survival rights. Due to the interference of the outer society, the primitive tribal ways of these people are changing. The aim of the present paper is to comparatively present the quintessence of the tribal life and its devastation with the intervention of the non-tribal and the outer system as presented in the novel Paraja by Gopinath Mohanty-the winner of the first ever Sahitya Akademi award-and The Coffer Dams by Kamala Markandaya. Introduction:

In rural northern Odisha, children's outdoor peer play is a pervasive, though barely considered, form of village activity. This essay foregrounds elementary school-aged children's play as a form of social interaction with landscapes. Specifically, it examines how children at play develop embodied experience and knowledge of place vis-à-vis adult constructions of space and place. The article draws on ethnographic research with children from paddy cultivator and forester families to answer questions around how the village environment and its core resources and symbolic motifs shape play and how peer play shapes children's sense of their environment. Earth, or soil, for instance, was found to have a central place in both adult-determined productive and symbolic spheres, as well as in children's imaginative play and games, highlighting connections between the symbolic motifs of a wider spatial context and the internal spatiality of children's play. As well as a site of symbolic continuity, children's play was found to be both an index and a site of transformation within Odishan villages. First, as environments change, so do the central motifs and resources with which children playfor play is foremost an exercise of adaptive flexibility. Second, games were found to provide rural young people with an open-ended context within which to develop their own peer responses to their social and spatial circumstances through dialogues, arguments, embodied exchanges and critical sense-making, which accompany their play. These, in turn, impact and transform local spatial contexts, by imbibing them with generational significances. The study raises important questions for further research into the play-environment connection.

Dr Shirodkar's volume on rock art in Goa is an encyclopedic and pioneering venture in rock art studies in India. It has placed the petroglyphs of Usgalimal and Kajur in the background of the history of geological formation, biological evolution, megalithism, mother goddess and fertility cults in India and the world . it has put the faunal, human and geometrical designs on laterite rocks in the backdrop of hunting ,gathering and foraging communities in the river valleys of Goa.

The domineering scholarly point of view at present is that in the folklore of European Roma there is nothing that they could bring with them from their homeland – India. It is the common opinion that the ‘gypsies’ everywhere borrowed myths, fairy tales, legends and folk beliefs from the peoples in whose milieu they had to live.
This paper will demonstrate for the first time the Indian origin of several mythological motifs and of one specific folktale plot which were recorded from the Roma speaking a dialect of the Vlax group. Previously these materials were not studied on the background of Indian traditions because the source they had come from was undeservedly considered by many scholars to be spurious. It must be noted that most obvious and convincing parallels to these myths and folklore motifs are found not in the Sanskrit literature, but in the traditions of Indian tribes.

Tribal Society is mysterious to the world of Culture and Heritage. Tribal heritage is the evidence of past, such as historical sites, Stone-age dwellings and un-spoilt natural environment-considered collectively as the inheritance of present day society. Culture is both tangible as well as intangible and it includes language, hospitality, rules of family or village, beliefs, dressing, food habits, smoking, drinking, hunting, art, decoration by women and men, sexual relations, religious offerings and temple prayers, dances, music, musical instruments, domestication of animals and plants, cultivation , tools usage, medicinal treatment and all these of their lives have been practiced since many centuries and this heritage has knowledge, institutions, harmony, balance and consistency etc. in them. Most of knowledge which is intangible, and is disappearing with time due to lack of recognition and promotion. The tribal culture reflects their understanding or adaptation to their local climate has to be protected. To quote an example the last person of "bo", a great Andamanese tribe which is thought to be inhabited in that area for 65000 years has died and we have lost speaker of "bo" language and also it's associated indigenous knowledge, which indicates the imperative need to strengthen our understanding of the local systems and their protection. The development schemes or programmes targeting the tribes should appreciate, promote and strengthen their methods to protect local systems. Introducing methods which are foreign to them pollutes their environment and also their culture-that is a habitable environment is converted into an uninhabitable one, by which we lose cultural as well as the natural heritage. This paper attempts to analyze objectives of tribal development schemes or programmes and examine to what extent they have considered their cultural values and also whether they are promoting or disturbing their culture. It is believed that a general Programme plan for the whole state or region will not achieve prefixed objectives, rather a Programme should be local and to be designed based on the local cultural context. A pilot study has been done for the tribal village LakshmapurBk, Amrabad mandal, inMahabubnagar districtof Telangana state. Mahabubnagar District is covering major part of Nallamala forests is providing shelter for Tribes known as "Chenchus".This paper concludes the necessary changes to be brought in legal and development programmes meant for tribes.

Through a close study of the artworks and representations of tribal communities in central India, in particular the Pardhans and Gonds, this essay explores the changing nature of their lifeworlds and ties with ecology. With a focus on the celebrated Pardhan artist Jangarh Singh Shyam, the author delves into the complex factors that led to his “discovery” by J. Swaminathan, his training at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, and his association with a modern folk style that came to be recognized as “Gond art”. Looking at how this style has been carried forward by other artists from the region, she raises larger questions about the perception, preservation, institutionalization and consumption of this kind of art that has come to define the community, despite its disconnect from their roots. She also throws light onthe misleading representations of these indigenous peoples within Madhya Pradesh’s tribal museums, and the need to rethink these depictions and forms of engagement.

Ophiolatreia was published in London in 1889 anonymously. The full title of the work is Ophiolatreia: An Account of the Rites and Mysteries Connected with the Origin, Rise, and Development of Serpent Worship in Various Parts of the World, Enriched with Interesting Traditions, and a Full Description of the Celebrated Serpent Mounds and Temples, the Whole Forming an Exposition of One of the Phases of Phallic, or Sex Worship. Its author, Hargrave Jennings (1817-1890), is said to have held the occupation of secretary to an opera manager named Colonel Mapleson. Jennings, who was an enthusiast of the Rosicrucians, corresponded with Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the author of Zanoni, and was a friend to Paschal Beverly Randolph, who is recently attracting considerable attention due to his writings on sexual magic.

Performing art tradition of a community is a true reflection of its culture and sometimes even becomes identity of a particular community. Performing art forms are an integral part of intangible cultural heritage of a community. Performing art culture not only includes the  performance but also the associated procedures, technology, material culture, themes, belief system and rituals. Performing arts are oral traditions in tribal culture. The cultures grow as per their natural surroundings and it gradually develops accordingly. The Baigas are followers of one of the very ancient cultural tradition and claim themselves as first human on earth. A significant part of their culture is lost or changed due to impact of migration, acculturation, development and change with time and space. The Baiga dance and songs are custodians of their fast vanishing cultural traditions. This paper deals with the ethnographic study and critical appraisal of the tradition of dance, song and music among the Baigas of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. For the preparation of descriptive details, the qualitative data or
information was collected from the 250 informants of remote as well as exposed villages to find out the traditional and changing aspects related to performing art culture of Baigas.

Dalit, Adivasi and tribal people struggle for their identity and recognition. Dalit and tribal literature creating an awareness of this inequality, always try to provide an honorary identity of their community. Besides, art and cultural practice refigures existing relations of exploitation generating new meanings, identities and connections. Visual art, music, dance forms, artefacts decontextualizes Dalit communities from former relationships of exploitation and caste or gender subordination. And all these artistic representations connect to recognition. As 'art' these performances disrupt the nexus of social ties and ritual structures producing new meanings. The art of the Dalit or Adivasi, as well as tribal art, becomes a realm of significance. This research project will focus on the art and cultural tradition of Dalit and tribal communities of West Bengal specifically Paschim Medinipur and Bankura districts. In addition, it will purpose to create an identical framework for tribal artisans. This study based on field survey on particular two villages Naya (Paschim Medinipur) and Bikna (Bankura).

This chapter discusses the works of contemporary indigenous artists in India hailing from four communities (the Warli tribe from Maharashtra, the Pardhan-Gond tribe from Madhya Pradesh, the Mithila folk artists from Bihar and the Chitrakar folk artists from West Bengal). It examines how these artists negotiate with concepts of tradition and contemporaneity through works that explore the urban, that tackle global themes and reflect upon contemporary concerns. The artists discussed herein often engage with these subjects by portraying a contemporary event, be it a natural disaster, a terrorist attack or a disease with global ramifications (e.g. AIDS) but equally, they do so by tackling sociopolitical issues within their communities (including feminist issues such as female foeticide). In the latter vein, they effectively adopt the position of artivists. Within this discussion, care has been taken to keep Arjun Appadurai's observation in mind, i.e. that modernity today is “irregularly self-conscious and unevenly experienced", which -- it may be argued -- applies to an understanding of contemporaneity within the Indian context.

'Now that the trees have spoken' is the essay that I wrote for the catalogue of the eponymous, which I conceptualised together with Dadiba Pundole for the Pundole Art Gallery, Bombay (August 2009). The exhibition presented the work of four artists of rural location and, in the usage of the Indian census, of 'tribal' origin: Bhuri Bai, Ladoo Bai, Narmada Prasad Tekam and Ram Singh Urveti. In my essay, that these four protagonists, all born and raised in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, represent what I term an "emergent third field of artistic production in contemporary Indian culture which is neither metropolitan nor rural, neither (post)modernist nor traditional, neither derived from academic training nor inherited without change from tribal custom." I build here on the work of theorists and curators who have been committed to the mapping of this third field - including J Swaminathan, Jyotindra Jain, Gulammohammed Sheikh and Nancy Adajania. The essay discards such descriptions as ‘tribal’ and ‘folk’, as well as the conventional misunderstanding that such rural artists are mere "bearers of community identities" and uncritical inheritors of a supposedly "traditional folk art". Instead, I demonstrate that many of these artists do not inherit such a primordial "folk art", and that they are, indeed, inventive and self-inventing artistic subjectivities who draw on multiple sources of inspiration and theatres of engagement, often as a result of having participated in catalytic transcultural experiments or having engaged in transdisciplinary situations. It is tragic that they continue to be viewed and imprisoned within an emporium economy linked to the tourism and heritage industries, which conspire to diminish rather than amplifying their potential for artistic articulation while also denying them the full range of privileges that citizenship offers.

Rock‐art in the form pictographs and modern painting tradition vogue amongst the Kurumba tribe was reported from Vellarikombi located in Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu in the year 1984. Since then, some writings on the rock art as well modern painting tradition have emerged.  However, a comprehensive study on the rock‐art was lacking. Hence, Vellarikombi was visited to understand the pristine rock‐art and modern painting tradition. This article is a reappraisal of the rock‐art and the
modern painting tradition from Vellarikombi.

Communication as a process is centred on the cultural dialectics in a society. Since culture outlines the environment within which a message is deciphered, folk media has been an effective channel for propagating messages in societies since times immemorial. The folk media is inclusive of oral tradition, customs and rituals, which are complex communicative resources. This folk media in tribal societies is a reservoir of ethnic knowledge and it is embedded in the cultural ideology of the tribespeople. Though contemporary forms of communication have predominantly entered the public domain, yet the dependence on indigenous media still persists. On this set, this paper seeks to delve into the role of folk media in conceptualising gender and identity equations, among the Khasis of Meghalaya. The Khasi tribe reside in the quaint hills of the state of Meghalaya in Northeast India, and are unique as a tribe for they follow matriliny. An analysis of the folk forms of the Khasis like oral narratives, rituals and performances can give an insight into the constructions of masculinity and femininity within the society and also of the larger Khasi identity. In-depth study of the folk media can give insight about constitution of gender and tribal identity, that has come under the influence of globalization, modernization and new media hegemony.

Since before the collective memories of the Huichol can remember, art has been produced for community spiritual use and as gifts to the gods and ancestors.  "Very little has changed in Huichol art and symbolism in the decades since" early anthropologists lived among and studied the Huichol culture.  Ethnologists consider the Huichol to be an extremely "visual" culture, and thus such "beautiful material objects" are embedded within the long history of the tribe.  Artistic renderings of the Huichol illustrate the "magic of a natural environment that is alive and without firm boundaries between the here and now and the ancestral past."  The other-worldliness described in similar tribal cultures is non-existent in the Huichol universe, as "divinity is inherent in nature," not standing apart from it or above it, and thus not "supernatural."

By modern tribal paintings, bring beautiful artwork to the world .Reasons for changes in tribal paintings: Acculturation, Rapid introducing of new technology, Economic problems. In the study of Indian tribal art market mentioned to Creative economy , Cultural economy , consumer behavior , government protection ,changes of cultural believes and religion by tribal  for increasing market ,art economic etc.
In Indian tribal art economics, creative imagination coming from their culture, believes, religions etc. So for this matter art economics of Indian tribal become more sensitive and restricted.
The folk and tribal art in India are not just aesthetic objects but in fact have an important significance in the people’s lives and it tied to their beliefs and rituals.
The protection of the Tribal art by the government and people help for protecting the Indian culture also. So by different way can introduce different tribal art in different regional of India. There is a major difference between art's spiritual value and its commercial value but today many artist believed that there is no difference. Today the commercial value of art has taken its spiritual value.

Over the past 200 years, there has been a steady loss of bio cultural diversity due to an accelerated change from an ecological to a technological civilization. There has been a reduction of all sacred and ecological categories to economic and production categories; a homogenization of crops, seeds, organisms and the mind; and a displacement of 'tribal' custodians of the diversity in human and natural resources, with a loss of the tangible and intangible heritage, nurtured by them trans generationally. A partial 'retribalisation' is necessary to arrest environmental degradation, species extinction and bio cultural reductionism, without giving up life enhancing advances in technology.

Agaria tribal community is an artisan community living in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. They have indigenous technique of iron smelting and craft work developed long back by their forefathers. They produce iron and make artifacts and agricultural implements, etc. and sale in the local market. The Agaria have very dispersed population due to their traditional occupational constraints. Their per-capita income is very low. Their traditional craft of iron smithy is fast changing and gradually vanishing due to the impact of modernization and industrialization. In the changing scenario they are leaving their traditional Iron craft work and facing the problem of becoming laborers and seasonal migration. They have very low economical condition. This paper deals with the current situational analysis of the indigenous iron-metal craft and economic condition of the Agarias of Chhattisgarh.

This research paper deals with the rock art traditions and tribal arts of the little known
Lanjia Saora forest tribe of southern Orissa (eastern India). The tribal art of the Saora
has striking similarities with the Central Indian prehistoric rock art in terms of their style,
themes, colour, techniques, ritual and ceremonial character in addition to overall nature
of the painting. An attempt is made for a comprehensive study of the primeval tribal art
in order to understand the Central Indian rock art traditions. Systematic comparison is
attempted with some selected rock art motifs of Central India, with particular reference to the Bhimbetka group of rock art. In the preliminary study, different evolutionary phases
of the tribal art are observed. This valuable tradition is vanishing rapidly with the impact
of modernisation. Suggestions are also made to safeguard and document this priceless
heritage for further study.

Development of tribal is very complicated issue for the government as it need full attention from place to place and state to state. However, the problem is that, the government only see the development of tribal issue is only affected due to poverty and most of the programmes and policies implemented either to remove poverty or for the economic development. But the complex is that, there are other factors are also, in which tribal seeking government help to protect and preserve their ethnic identity, language, culture, norms and practices or belief etc. Only economic development would be utterly inadequate as they are face several problem to protect their identity from external influences (dikus and government). Since Independence, development of tribal people has always been an major concern in India. For this, the Indian Government has taken up many challenging tasks by implementing related programmes, policies and provisions from the Constitution. These initiatives have been car...

Since time immemorial, the people of India have always adored wood as a suitable plastic medium in their daily-life. The easy availability and ready tractability of the material was greatly used by the artists and craftsmen of this subcontinent, both in their architectural and sculptural endeavors. Unfortunately, the perishable nature of wood – intrigued by the hot and humid climate of the region – didn't allow the earlier specimens to survive till date. However, plenty of other resources testify the antiquity of woodcarving activities within the panorama of Indian art. i It's a long traditional ancestry, beginning from the days of Indus Valley, which has evolved through the ages to remain alive even today. In this process, the age-old passion of the Indian folk has always been manifested in multiple forms of visual expression – both secular and religious – that include the tradition of making divine images as well. Since quite an early time, though not identified yet, these religious idols have been made of wood ii ; while clay, stone, metal and other mediums were also of frequent use.

Art, ritual and culture - these are the entities that form the basis of knowing the collective psyche of a society - how they think of them, their aims in life and their approaches towards responses to various natural phenomena. In the Indian context the triad has been interrelated in such an intimate manner that changing the approaches towards one would necessarily affect the others. In India though art has been deeply embedded in the daily activities of the people and their physical utilitarian objects, yet above that art has also gained a very high status in their lives by reflecting their aspirations, their philosophical and intellectual approaches towards life and phenomena in nature and the understanding of their respective positions in cosmos. If art and ritual acting together has been threshold for higher consciousness, the culture has been the denominator of their scientific and spiritual achievements. Thus, the findings in art, presenting the face of Indian culture also indicate their successes and failures at different points of time and space. But there seems to be an abrupt break in this current if we observe the contemporary art pursuits and the academic opinions on art and aesthetics in the country. By correlating the traditional approaches towards art and ritual with those of contemporary art practices and researches this paper briefly tries to bring forth some of such issues that are quite imperative to be cogitated upon for all-round cultural developments of the individuals and the society.

Since Independence, development of tribal people has always been an important concern in India. For this, the Indian Government has taken up many challenging tasks by implementing related programmes, policies and provisions from the Constitution. These initiatives have been carried out with an aim to start working from the ground level so as to provide equality and social justice to the underprivileged or scheduled tribe people. The most important rationale and object of such initiatives are to ameliorate their socio-economic conditions. That said, even after 70 year of India’s independence, the conditions of the tribal groups, in most cases, have not seen visible improvements and still constitute a weaker section of the Indian society. This could be seen from ecological, economy and educational angles. It is very unfortunate that the adopted policies, programmes and plans have not seeped deep into these underprivileged sections of the society as they are often squandered by the top echelons of the concerned authorities.  For instance, in every five year plan, government of India has made so many policies and programmes to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, equality, unemployment, prostitution, trafficking, child labour, bonded labour, untouchability, violence in domestic help, naxal movement, land acquisition etc., but all these have remained as mere words on paper without any substantial outcome. With these aspects in mind, I would to analyze all the major policies, programme and constitutional provisions which have been implemented from time to time for the upkeep of the tribal people in India. Furthermore, in this paper, I would like to highlight and discuss the reasons behind the failure of the aforementioned programmes, policies and strategies. As a result of the improper implementation of the mentioned policies, schemes and programmes, the tribal citizens of India have been practically deprived of many civic facilities and are isolated from the modern and civilized way of living since so many decades.

Keywords- Tribal Rights in India; Displacement, health and Education, constitution Provisions
Tribal Development in India

From the feudal agrarian economic pattern of the Indian society in the pre-colonial period, through the semi-industrial economy of the British Raj to the politically independent nation-state of India, the tribal population have always been carefully slided behind an ‘invisible’ fence. The mainstream Indian socio-political history did not acknowledge the contribution of the Indian tribal people to the nation-state. They have a rather ‘peripheral’ cultural space, where stories of the legendary community-leaders weave the tapestry of their cultural history. Various significant events of the socio-political life of the tribal world, though unattended by the mainstream historians, exist quite naturally in their songs, dances, riddles and folktales passed over the generations. The world of a tribal society has its own ‘natural’ history rich in aesthetic imagination.
In the present paper I would take the novel Chotti Munda and His Arrow (1980; trans. 2002) as case study and like to focus on the coexistence of legends, folklores and history in the cultural space of a particular section of Indian tribal population, namely, the ‘Munda’ people, whose socio-political world has been authoritatively depicted in this narrative by Mahasweta Devi, one of the best known activist-writers of modern India. I would also concentrate on the process of making a legend in a tribal society: how an individual becomes a hero and secures a place in the folkloric history of his community. I believe that the present conference promises to make opportunity for a timely exploration in a hitherto neglected cultural space.
Keywords: History, Legend, Folklore, Cultural Space, Orality and Songs