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are given and could be. And in that he was driven by a grand passion ofgreat mystical beauty. It moved him in many different directions. Therewas much in his presence seemingly contrary. As a young full timeactivist of the communist party he felt deeply drawn to Gandhi. Whileengaged in what then seemed the imminent final battle for socialistrevolution, he was utterly swept and fascinated by a tribal G1IIIia exorcis-ing a snake's venom from the body of a little boy in Betul. Swami wrotebeautiful poems in Hindi. He was a meditative reader of books. Yet hewas deeply suspicious of the written word.

I cannot help feeling that in creating Roopankar (Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal)as the space from whence tribal art forms would speak, from within and inresistance to the modem sweep, Swami found his access to repose. Iremember the glint in Swami's eyes when I spoke of the disappearance ofbirds and rocks from his canvas. It seemed to mark, I told Swami, acompletely new beginning. And Swami made quite a declaration: 'No, itis not new, but it is a beginning. These motifs and signs I had painted inearly youth. But it is only now that I have come to know that I knewBastar and its immemorial rhythm long before I had actually been there'.

It is this mystical sense of being in touch in however fleeting a way withthe ageless act of creation which moved Swami to affirmations thatsounded arrogant; as also to deep humility. For him the artistic form wasan unfailing assurance of freedom because it negated the logic of progress.Like the linguistic act, the artistic act was for him a fact without thepossibility ofpre-History. To be with Swami is to be with that form invivid loving touch with a realm of freedom which the might of institutionsand entrenched structures could never tame or conquer.

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Waharu Sonavane

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'Literature and AdivasiCulture

Thane distnct is an adivasi district and it is a matter of joy that the fifthAdivasi Sahitya Sammelan is being held in a district which has such amilitant tradition of struggle for justice. In our search for an identity weencounter many questions about the necessity of having a separate plat-form for adivasi literature.

If we want to answer such questions we have to look into our history aswell as literature. What is the relationship between adivasi and the socalled cultured non-adivasi society? We have to think as to how thespecific life-style and culture of the adivasi is depicted in their literature.And such consideration would indicate the necessity of an independentadivasi sahitya sammelan. At the all-India and state levels, various socialgroups organise their own literary conferences. Varied platforms ofcultural movements have been set-up, such as the Marathi Sahitya Sam-melan, Dalit Sahitya Sanunelan, Dalit-Adivasi-Gramin Samyukta SahityaSammelan, Jan Sahitya Sammelan. They are all expressive of variedidentities and cultures. And they all put their stamp on the literarymovement. That is a good thing. Of these platforms, we have beeninspired by the literature of Dalits and the Bahujan Samaj. But even inthese literatures we do not find our imprint. We have become consciousthat without carefully preserving the uniqueness that is ours, it will be

Based on the Presidential address to the fifth Adivasi Sahitya Sammelan, Nelson MandelaNagar, Palghar. Maharashtra, Dec. 1990. Waharu Sonavane is a distinguished adivasiwriter from Maharashtra.

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difficult to have such an imprint.

The context of adivasi sorrows is different. Their problems will alsoremain different. Their solution will also have to be sought in a differentway. We will have to search for words on a different basis. And so thestream of adivasi literature has also to be different. For this literature isalso a search for our specificities. It is a search not only of literature but ofadivasi community and life itself.

Adivasi History and BrahmanismThe origins of the human race lie in Africa. Until 10,000 years ago theentire human race lived the life of adivasis. Their life was dependent onthe forest and on nature. During this state humanity reached out topractically every corner of the world at a time when all of humanity wasstill in the 'adivasi stage'. Variety blossomed forth. The roots of thevariety in human cultures today lie in this adivasi stage.

Following the discovery of agriculture some tribes took to agriculturenearly 10,000 years ago. Only a few of the varied adivasi communitiestook to agriculture. But those who did, increased in population. Todaythese appear before us as the majority. Nevertheless, one must rememberthat only a very few of all the varied human traditions were included inthe making of this majority. The heritage of variety in human culture was

12 preserved outside the realm of agriculture. Adivasis of Africa, America-- and Asia preserved this heritage. They preserved this heritage while they

were free and independent and they preserved it even in slavery. Theypreserved it in the forests and even after they took to agriculture.

When we speak only of India, adivasis are depicted as coming from Hinduculture. What is this picture? How did it develop? There is some historybehind this.

The Indus civilization was the first culture based on agriculture. The Indusvalley people built and lived in cities. They practised settled agriculture onthe banks of the Indus in what is today Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan, andGujarat. It seems there was some degree of female dominance in the Induscivilization. They also traded across the oceans with the distant civilizationof Mesopotamia. It seems they had a balanced exchange with adivasicommunities.

The Indus civilization was destroyed and buried by the wrath of time. Itwas attacked by the wandering warlike and male dominated Aryan tribes.Traces of this attack can be found in the Vedas. When Aryans came toIndia across the Khyber pass they were not very different from adivasis.They lived by herding animals, gathering and eating fruits and roots, andpracticing shifting cultivation with hoes. They also ate beef. They quar-relled with others and among themselves over cattle. Even today thekathiyawadis/earn their livelihood by bringing hundreds of cows toKhandesh. It seems in the beginning there was not a very great differences

of hierarchy among them. But patriarchal culture was dominant amongAryan tribes.

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During that period, more or less female dominant and equalitarian adivasitribes continued to live free in all other parts of India. As Aryan tribesmoved in the direction of the Ganga and Yamuna valley certain transfor-mations took place. The struggle between the original adivasi, the tradi-tion of the Indus civilisation and the tradition of Indo-European languagespeakers began to be transformed into a compromise. The Buddhist andJain religions were' a part of this transformation.

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A strong alliance of a minority of brahmans and a handful of rajas tookone adivasi tribe after another under their control through violence andaggression. They made them into toiling peasant's slaves paying taxes torajas. They settled them in settled agriculture villages to enlarge theirkingdoms. Between the 6th century B.C. (the period of Buddha) and the5th-6th centuries A.D., a defined caste hierarchy and jajmani system wasestablished. Most free adivasi tribes became toiling castes giving theirsurplus to rajas and brahmans, and looking on each other as inferior. Suchwas the brahman dominated feudal society. This society had the capacityto slowly transform adivasi tribes and absorb them in the caste hierarchy,at lower levels. We are those who faced all this and yet remained free.

What is Our Picture Today in this Society?To this if anyone wants to use a metaphor for cruelty and horror, theimage of the rakshasa is used. This image is also used in literature. It isused in literature expressing love for animals and birds. But have theselovers of birds and animals ever expressed love for rakshasas? No. Therakshasas also had children, wives, husbands, and their own domestic life.They also knew happiness and sorrow.

The rakshasas are the adivasis of those times. Adivasi were still livingtheir lives in the depths of forests, and on the tops of hills and mountains.Adivasis had complete authority over these forests and hills. No permis-sion was required to hunt or gather fruits, flowers, and wood in the forest.The Aryans came into India over the Khyber pass riding on chariots andhorses.

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To get land for agriculture and pasture for their large cattle herds, theybegan to encroach on adivasi lands on the strength of their weapons andhorses. Aryans would perform the homa sacrifice and declare: this areahas become ours. When the adivasis resisted the Aryans became enraged.Aryans went to their ruler Raja Shri Ramachandraji and pleaded 'protectus from the rakshasas. Our herds need open fields'. And under theleadership of Ramachandraji adivasis of that time were slaughtered andcrushed as rakshasas.

'Rama culture' has been so deeply absorbed by adivasis of today that evenwhen they watch on the TV or the cinema the killing of rakshasas, they

it is that adivasis. of Thane district call brahrnans for their marriageceremony.

All of humankind as one, is a value honoured by adivasis. Therefore theydo not strictly abide by religious restrictions. Thus daughters of adivasismarry Hindus, Muslims and Christians. But it is clear the latter don'tapprove of that, and are the first to force the acceptance of their religion.

I am not religious. I don't believe in god. Neither god nor religion haveever given me justice. Nor can they give it to me. I do not believe inghosts and spirits. But I do think that if anyone wants to believe in areligion it should be like the adivasi religion. Above all, adivasi religionnever shows scorn for other religions.

Adivasi gods do not need a temple. They are always with us. They are ourfriends, 'our ancestors. They are like wise humans who came long beforeus. They don't impose great restrictions on what we can or cannot do. Inour festivals we derive no satisfaction in putting our heads at the feet ofour gods. These festivals are opportunities for us to come together andenjoy life. Our god does not ask us to turn our backs on the world. In factthey increase our love of life.

Those who think of us as backward have created so many problems. In1 6 In~i~ today ex~reme hatred. for oth~r reli~io~s in the name of the f!indu

-- religion and Hindu nation IS'growing. It IS Important to oppose thissectarian fundamentalism from a humanitarian point of view. It is inhumanfor any community to impose its culture or its religion on others. Thespeciality of Indian culture is that numerous cultures and conceptions ofreligion have been able to live within it. But today in the name of Hindu-ism, brahrnanic fundamentalism is assuming a terrible form. It poses adanger not only to other religions but also to the pluralistic culture ofIndia. Once self-pride takes the form of chauvinism, sectarian emotionsare fostered. And that is always suicidal.

If there were to be only adivasi gods problems like that of Ramjan-ambhurni-Babri masjid would never have arisen. For adivasis all of natureis our temple. Our god cannot be imprisoned in a temple. This uniquenesswhich has been ours is being endangered.

Environment and CultureThere are no flowers and fruits left for us after the destruction of forestsby the government and contractors. Herbs and roots we used for medicinesare no more. We can no longer hunt in our forests. Because of thedestruction of the support basis of adivasi life, they are forced to leavetheir villages for the cities. With the disappearance of forests, they areforced to abandon human values and their culture and live according to theculture of caste hierarchy and exploitation.

In every adivasis area the banner of Environment and Forest laws arebeing used to expel adivasis by force and fraud. Such attempts to exclude

adivasis from their ancestral living space are also being made in Dhuledistrict. Adivasis need development and progress which does not destroyadivasi life.

False Lovers of Our CultureIn strange ways, many of us have been overwhelmed by the love of othersfor our culture. It has become something a fashion to visit adivasis onSaturdays and Sundays, and praise our culture. Some of them try topreserve our bhagats and mantriks. But our culture is surely much morethan that. Thus we need to be clear in our minds as to what in our culturewe would want to maintain and what we would not want to maintain.

The foremost value and reality for adivasis is the community. Communitylife constitutes the core of adivasi culture. If anyone wants to plough theland or build a house or undertake any work which cannot be done allalone, that person can always rely on mutual aid traditions like lake. Thelake tradition requires that the one who calls for lake provides the mealand drinks.

In case of a quarrel between people in two villages, the quarrel is treatednot as an individual problem but as a problem of the village. And in caseof a quarrel within the village, the custom is that-all the villagers sit as apanchayat and dispense justice. Adivasis don't like to get into the mess oftaking cases to court. Of course, under the pressure of today's mainstream 1 7all these values and practices have begun to disintegrate.

One must remember that the adivasi community, to a greater or lesserdegree, also exists among the bahujan castes. The difference is that inthose cases the stamp of the caste system is very deep. Brahrnanic culturalvalues of hereditary occupations have been internalized by adivasis. Incertain cases panchayats have strongly opposed the employment of-somepeople as teachers. Brahmanic culture also gave some degree of autonomyto caste panchayats. But in exchange they were forced to accept theprinciple of caste hierarchy.

Besides, Brahrnanic culture had no choice but to give some autonomy tocaste panchayats of the bahujan samaj because hundreds of independentadivasi communities continued to exist outside Brahmanic control.Therefore, we need to maintain our independence and uniqueness.

When I see the furore over love marriages in non-adivasi society I feel likelaughing. For us love marriage is such a spontaneous thing. Love betweenwomen and men is only natural. Among adivasis this love retains a naturalspontaneity. Marriages are not between families or lineages. But betweena woman and man. Great literature is woven in the songs women singabout this love.

Adivasis look up on each other primarily as friends, be they young or old,man or woman. Begging among adivasis used to be unknown. Thecrippled and helpless were always taken care of by the community. Every

The Meaning of LiteratureTo define literature as that which is written is very unsatisfactory from theadivasi stand point. The dividing walls between literature and art, litera-ture and life which exist in other societies have no place in adivasi society.Adivasi songs, stories, plays and other art forms are rich in thought andfeeling. It is a tradition that has survived for thousands of years. Are we tosay that is not literature'? No. If an art-form erupts from the heart andreaches out to others and makes human life beautiful, then we mustrecognise that as literature, be that written or not.

Adivasi literature should be divided into the written and unwritten. Bothtypes of literature are extremely important in adivasi life. We shouldconsciously strive to make both forms go forward hand in hand. Thatshould be one of the tasks for the adivasi literary movement.

Adivasi unwritten literature is submerged in folk art. And the two muststay together. Just think how one would feel about a radali song that hasbeen written down on paper and never sung to the accompaniment of adrum. Folk art has an important place in adivasi society and it must beconsciously preserved. It is the sign that adivasi life is alive. Dhol, biri,

18 mandal, tutdya, pava, mar; pava, larpa and the sur for telling stories all-- denote art forms. The full uniqueness of the unity and breadth of adivasi

literature and its place in life does not receive adequate attention in theexisting literary platforms. And therefore the need for an independentadivasi sahitya sammelan. There are no quick and simple answers to thequestion as to what 'adivasiness' is. Answers to this question have to besought in the process of artistic-literary creation. What is however certainis that the idea of adivasi culture as something backward and superstitioushas to be definitely demolished. The concept that adivasis have to bereformed has also to be thrown out. Adivasi sahityaka has a great respon-sibility. Each one should think how his or her art and criticism can beuseful for enlightening social life.

The good in adivr.si culture should be praised, but at the same time it isour responsibility to point out the things which are bad. We should notforget to encourage the community to discard the bad things in ourculture. At the same time we should be careful not to hurt adivasi pride.

Women in Adivasi CultureIn the society which considers itself cultured, women are often torturedfor the sake of dowry. Not only are they driven to suicide, in so manycases kerosene is poured on women and they are burnt to death. Womenlike Rup Kunvar are forced into sari. Such murderous customs do not existamong adivasis. And this cultured society remains deaf to their agony.Could such a society be called progressive?

person is accepted as separate and unique. Adivasis cherish pluralismamong individuals. Therefore, suicide is so rare among adivasis.

Adivasi women do not regard their husbands as gods. There is no traditionamong adivasis of women enduring all kinds of torture as a sign ofrespectability. Rather than suffer harassment and torture at the hands of a'husband or in-laws, adivasi women prefer to leave such a husband andfind another husband. Of course this does not mean that adivasi womenare free of sorrows completely. But the problems of adivasi women are notdue to social-cultural backwardness. In fact the Hindu and Muslimreligions are extremely backward in that respect. The relative disadvantageto which adivasi women are subject is due to the institution of patriarchy.Women constitute half of society. They also posses literary and artisticskills. Adivasi woman can be forceful writers and artists. But certain ideasand customs in adivasi society obstruct the development of this power.The pressure of the patriarchal system tends to suppress the artistic gifts ofwomen. In adivasi societies women are repressed as man-eating witches.Adivasi women are denied participation in village panchayats. The ideaprevails that a woman can be bought by giving an appropriate bride-price.She is treated as an object and a slave. Because of the custom of polyg-amy, whenever there is a serious quarrel the unwanted woman is simplythrown out. And the excuse given is that it is a quarrel between women.Women are also beaten by drunken husbands.

Adivasi women are repressed in various ways. The voice of adivasiwomen is hardly ever heard in written adivasi literature. Adivasi menshould be enlightened about this. A supportive atmosphere for womenneeds to be created. True freedom for adivasi women would only come ifadivasi women themselves come together. Only then would their inde-pendent voices be heard! The strength of that position can be seen fromthe writings of adivasi and black women in America.

Going Forward to the FutureWe are aW2ie that a transformation is going on in the world. We have tosee how far ahead the modem world has gone, and also how far backwardit has gone. We will not allow ourselves to be caged in the name ofpreserving our culture. We are going to be educated. We are going to beengineers, pilots, and artists. Our culture wiI1 not be destroyed by this.We are confident that the things we want to preserve are important even inthe changed modem situation. In striving to be engineers or industrialworkers we will not throwaway these things. For these values are helpfulin bringing about a free human society of the future. In this work alldalits, exploited toilers and women have to stand up together. We don'twant only to praise our history. We want to build the future. Our fightbegins with the refusal to accept brahmanic dominance and brahmanicculture. We have to take with us all those who are suppressed underbrahmanic dominance. From this point of view, we must fully support theMandal Commission.

In recent years a lot of literature about adivasis has been created by DurgaBhagwat, Nadgaund, Sudam Jadhav, Godutai Parulekar, Anutal Vagh,

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Dinanath Manohar, Jadish Godbole, Sharad Patil, Gail Omvedt and othernon-adivasi writers. Of these, some writers are researchers seeking to helpthe social movement go forward. Others do research to win degrees, yetothers write books to make money. Some others simply create literaturefor the sake of literature. But since these writers are not adivasis, theemotions and mental struggles, the joys and sorrows of adivasi life do notfind full authentic expression in their literature. Even as many educatedadivasi youth remain engrossed in employment and are indifferent to theirsociety, some youth have begun to seriously think about their society. Anda new generation of educated adivasi youth have begun to search for theirown identity through literary writings.

Numerous adivasi writers, artists and critics such as Dr Govind Gare, RshiMasraj, Bhujang Meshram, Netaji Rajgadkar, Ravi Kursange, UshakiranAkram, Rajabhau Rajgadkar, Prabhu Rajgadkar, Suryabhan Nagbhide,Pundalik Kedari, Chamulala Rathava, Vishram Valvi, Sobji Gavit,Kiransingh Vasave, Baburao Madavi, Lakshrnan Tople, J B Selar, Dr M RDagla, Sanghja Meshram, Dashrath Madavi, Vinayak Tumaram, ChhayaSuratvanti, Najubai Gavit, Rajendra Gavit, Sopan Kulsunge, SubhashMande, Raysingh Thakro have forcefully created the adivasi literarymovement.

Ekalavya felt the need to win respectability from the upholders of the20 established society and cut off his own thumb. Adivasi writers, artists and--critics must first of all break free from such a mentality.

Our responsibility henceforward should be to create a literature that willgive us historical justice. Dramas, stories, povadas, rodalya songs must bewritten on such adivasi heroes as Tantya Bhil, Bhagoji Naik, BirsaMunda, Rani Durgavati, Ramdas Maharaj, Ambarsingh Mahara, andothers. Literature must be created to bring about a new dawn for theadivasi.

If we can create such literature for a liberated human society we all want,the first reward is sure to come from our own society.

I would conclude with an account of an adivasi response to a reading ofpoetry. Fifteen to twenty people were sitting together in front of a hut in avillage. Some old women were also there. But poetry was a new thing tothese people. I opened the poetry notebook. And when I started to read myBhilori poetry, these adivasi labourers didn't say 'wow', but insteadstarted to laugh tremendously and told me to read the poems again. I readthe same poems again. They laughed uproariously again and finally,becoming serious said, 'True, brother, true ...'

Our writers must preserve this natural laughter and the equally spontane-ous thoughtfulness that is uniquely ours.

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Primal Structures

Maria N Piacquadio Losada

The first awareness of the reality and depth of 'primal culture' happenedin a most indirect manner. For a number of years a group of engineers hadbeen working to popularise the use of appropriate technologies in Cher-anatzicurin, a tribal village in Mexico. Time and again, good and ecologi-cally-sound technologies were rejected by the villagers. To begin with,rejection seemed blind and almost perverse. And it is only gradually thatthereasons for this rejection became clear. Very slowly I began to recog-nise that this rejection was rooted in cultural structures common to theprimal world. To most outsiders they remain invisible. But they run deepand resilient in Cheranatzicurin as also wherever that immemorial primalsense of the world survives. The abiding truth towards which these deepstructures beckon, goes well beyond the confines of living conditions ofprimal communities. It is of crucial relevance even for the modem world.

Engineers tend invariably to confine their search and understanding to theparameters of technological effectiveness. They have very little inclinationto consider that which gives purpose and value to technology. Such anundertaking requires a meditative dialogue between engineers and anthro-pologists. That kind of a dialogue would help to make work in tribal areasmore effective and meaningful. The implications of such a dialogue arebound to be of immense consequence not only for 'what survives of the

Maria N Piacqadis Losada teached mathematics at the University of Buenos Aires,Argentina, and has done extensive field work among Amer-Indian communities in LatinAmerica.

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