adivasi

In this thrilling novella, actor-writer Bhoopal reimagines the life and times of legendary Gond tribal leader Komuram Bheem, the ruthless exploitation of the tribals by the rich and the powerful, and how the tribe learns to stand up to these forces. NT Rama Rao Jnr’s role in RRR is based on the life of Komuram Bheem. (Film still) 80pp, ₹200; Southside Books Bheem was born in 1901 in a hamlet in Sankenapelli in the erstwhile Hyderabad state. His family was extremely poor, often surviving on vippa flowers. As…

It is easy to assume that Jacinta Kerketta, a writer of Kurukhar Adivasi origin is incandescent with rage. But her calm tone as she chooses her words carefully shows that she is beyond rage, having achieved some sort of transcendence instead. PREMIUM Poet Jacinta Kerketta (Courtesy the subject) We met in Raipur, at one of her poetry readings last year. Like the rest of the small audience, I was shaken by her soft delivery of powerful words, her rich vocabulary, surprising tropes and swerving thoughts. Take for…

The tribal communities of India had to reinvent their cultural, social and geographical identities every time a new invader charged into the Indian subcontinent in the past century. Post-independence too, these communities were forced to adapt to the changing pace of modern lives, and despite Jawaharlal Nehru's Panchsheel principles, which was supposed to guide government actions in dealing with tribals or in more recent times, the PESA (the Panchayats The tribal communities of India had to reinvent their cultural,…