SOURCE- CARAVANMAGAZINE
“People want Adivasi literature, not Adivasi writers,” a
Koitur writer once told me. A quick web search for “Adivasi books” will show
that most books about Adivasi communities have been and are still written by
non-Adivasi, upper-caste writers. Adivasi—a term accepted by indigenous
communities in peninsular India—communities have created oral archives of their
histories and knowledge systems, in the form of songs, stories and mythologies,
over generations. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, though, the
communities have not exclusively used oral systems. Susheela Samad, among the
earliest Adivasi writers, was the editor of the magazine Chandni from 1925 to
1930, and her two poetry collections were published in 1935 and 1948. Alice
Ekka, also considered one of the first Adivasi women writers in Hindi,
published several stories in the 1960s in the weekly magazine Adivasi Patrika.
The writer Munshi Mangal Singh Masram first attempted to codify Gondi grammar
in the 1920s, and these efforts were later published as a book in 1957.
However, written Adivasi literature is mainly confined to a few larger
communities and certain regions, while the majority of the Adivasi
communities—especially belonging to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups—has
not yet had any written literature penned by their own people. Moreover, their
own indigenous languages have become vulnerable and endangered due to the lack
of state recognition and support.
There are still very few English-language books by Adivasi
writers, since English as a medium of education still remains the privilege of
a few. There is also an urgent need for the translation of vernacular Adivasi
literature into English. For instance, the Koitur community, made up of
fourteen million people, has not had a single book published in English so far,
although there are many writers who have published in Hindi, Marathi and
Telugu. There are also books by Adivasi writers written in other vernacular
languages—including Gujarati, Bengali, Odia, Malayalam and Kannada—as well as
their own indigenous languages, such as Gondi, Kurukh, Santali, Ho and Bhili.
Most of this writing in vernacular languages can mainly be found in jatras and
annual gatherings of various Adivasi organisations. Moreover, the academic
discourse on Adivasis, with very little representation from these communities,
leaves little space for Adivasi voices from the linguistic margins.
In recognition of these voices, the list of books below—by
no means exhaustive—by Adivasi writers in vernacular languages is a mixture of
some of the “first” writings by people from their community. Some are older,
some contemporary, but they are all deeply grounded in Adivasi politics, and
contextualise social and historical aspects of issues faced by the communities
in different regions. They address the questions of Adivasi-Indigenous
identity; the havoc caused by the capitalist model of “development” on Adivasi
land; the communities’ changing relationship with “Jal, Jangal, Jameen”; and
the influence of outside religions and cultures. Some also contain the strong
and assertive voices of Adivasi women against various forms of violence and
articulate their views on Adivasi society at large. The poems and stories in
these books are not from a victimised viewpoint. They put forward empowering
narratives, grounded in the lived experiences of Adivasi writers.