Celebrating Tribal Culture
Times of India | 6 months ago | |
Times of India
6 months ago | |
The annual Lokotsav at Canacona provides a glimpse into the indigenous world of herbal healing, organic cooking and an eco-friendly way of living, and establishes adivasi identity... As one drives along the winding roads of Cotigao in Canacona, it’s hard to miss that something big is afoot. The air is filled with excitement and the pungent smell of freshly-laid asphalt. Village folk are brimming with anticipation as the forest resthouse is being spruced up, roadside trees getting trimmed, the innumerable cowsheds that dot the roads are getting a new thatched roof, and the ridge-topped haystacks in fields are tidied up. From the crossroads, a narrow road leads to Amone, a hamlet deep within the wildlife sanctuary, where lies the ancestral house of the speaker of Goa legislative assembly, Ramesh Tawadkar, who has been hosting Lokotsav, the annual adivasi festival in his home town for the last 21 years, under the aegis of Adarsh Yuvak Sangh, an organisation he founded in 1995. This year, though President Droupadi Murmu was invited for the inaugural session of the 22nd edition of the three-day festival on December 9, her arrival seems unlikely owing to the Prime Minister’s visit to the state scheduled just two days later.Inside his cousin Sanjay’s house next door, a thinktank meeting is under way as logistics and other modalities for the event are ironed out.Over two decades ago, when Tawadkar and other like-minded youth with revolutionary ideas started Lokotsav, the tribal communities had stayed alienated from mainstreaming efforts and thus marginalised, largely due to state apathy. “It was precisely to showcase this evolution of tribal civilisation and allow the tribals to take pride in and celebrate their adivasi culture that Lokotsav was devised. The tribal folk placed their trust in our leadership and participated wholeheartedly. They derived a sense of belonging and fulfillment from it. Lokotsav has served as an invaluable tool for stirring an intellectual revolution,” Tawadkar explains.With tribals from other states also having begun to participate in Lokotsav since last year, the festival has been catapulted to an event of national eminence. While eight states participated in 2021, troupes from 12 states are expected to showcase their tribal culture this time around.“The tribal community is inherently related to nature,” Diwakar Velip, an ayurveda doctor from Gaondongrim, who is closely associated with the organisation of the festival, tells TOI. “While the community is dependent on nature for its livelihood, they are conservationists who protect the land and water resources of the forests. The tribal culture, their cuisine, their agriculture practices, their eco-friendly way of living, their traditional herbal medicines sourced from the forests, contribute to their health and well-being. Lokotsav seeks to give a glimpse of this to the outside world.”Metres away, a steep descent over boulders leads to a typical tribal house in front of which a group of women are pounding paddy with wooden pestles and grinding pulses on traditional stone apparatus to prepare the various delectable and nutritious eatables for Lokotsav. With a spring in their steps and a song on their lips, the women move rhythmically as they perform these chores. The flour is then stored in containers prepared from coconut or palm leaves. “It’s always been like this for us,” says a woman, “we have not departed from tradition.”Next door, octogenarian Shaba Velip has just returned after scouring the jungle for herbs. Shaba is a much sought-after healer who learnt the art and science of herbal medicine from his father and has now equipped his son and daughter-in-law with the rudiments. “There is an antidote forevery malady,” says the daughter-in-law, pointing to the packets with herbal powders and some tree barks lined neatly in a corner. “People from various corners of Goa, some from outside the state, come here for their stock of medicine.Lokotsav has made my father-in-law a popular healer,” she says. Lokotsav has provided a platform to scores of people from this region to showcase their healing prowess to the modern world.Pradip Maske, associate professor in political science, describes the tribal culture as “a highly evolved civilisational heritage”.“Historically,” Maske says, “the tribal communities—Gauda, Kunbi, Velip, Dhangar and others—nursed the landscape of Goa ecologically, culturally, socially, economically and evolved the village republic, despite migrations and dynasties that brought the region under its rule. The idea that one can make money from a dead tree was unknown to the original settlers of Goa. The tribal communities are attached to land, water, forest, livestock and wildlife. They evolved an eco-friendly lifestyle, customs and practices for ages.”Tawadkar has a vision of transforming the three-day annual event into a 365-day affair. “The idea is to have activities year-round at Adarsh Gram on a self-sustainable revenue model. The focus will be on three key areas — ecotourism, agro processing, and adventure activities. We also plan to have accommodation facilities for tourists so that a two-day tourism circuit can be woven into their travel itinerary,” the Goa speaker said. Jungle safari, nature trail, bird watching, watersports, yoga, meditation, trekking, are some of the activities that are planned to be launched next year.The long-term objective of Lokotsav, Tawadkar says, is to make the indigenous communities ‘atmanirbhar’ and ‘swavalambi’ (self-reliant). “For the adivasi samaj, life has always been a struggle and about overcoming challenges. Our endeavour is to integrate these issues into Lokotsav and empower the tribal community with the wherewithal and resources to find solutions,” he says. The depiction of adivasi civilisation at Lokotsav helps a viewer understand and appreciate the various aspects of tribal culture, heritage and cuisine. Spread over 65,000 sq m, there will be seven stages where performances will be held simultaneously, apart from the several arenas for sports and adventure activities. Tribal cuisine is another interesting feature of adivasi culture — the mouthwatering yet nutritious dishes like sanna, patoleo, kismur, chunna bhakri, suva bhakri, etc are a food aficionado’s delight. “The roots of Goan culture lie in adivasi civilisation as the tribals were the original settlers of this land,” Tawadkar says. “This needs to come before the people in an authentic manner. At Lokotsav, every aspect of tribal culture is presented in a manner that leaves a viewer asking for more.”
