Stories that establish the identity of Girijans and are told among themselves should see the light of the day and written by themselves to preserve the tribal literature, says P. Sivarama Krishna, director of Search for Action and Knowledge of Tribal Initiative (SAKTI).
They have their myths, ballads, folk tales and some of them are told for seven or eight days during festivals. They should be encouraged to record their art forms, their stories, world view and cosmic world and “sthalapurana,” about places. For instance something like ‘Roots’ should come out from tribals, he says. In ‘Roots’ Alex Haley narrates the turbulent tale of an African sold as slave and traces seven generations of his descendants.
They should be given confidence by telling them that their story is worth telling and preserving, Mr. Sivarama Krishna says. The customs, conflict and change in Girijans should be brought out in their own words. Mr. Sivarama Krishna was here to participate in a seminar on tribal language literatures in Telugu-speaking areas organised by Sahitya Akademi in collaboration with Girijan Co-operative Corporation, Visakhapatnam.
SAKTI got five Chenchus to write a book “Chenchu World in Nallamala Forest”.
He is of the view that while lot of work was done in grammar and analysis of their literature and still can be done, the original literature should come from Girijans, who are born foresters. To enable this happen, workshops in teaching and writing should be held in tribal areas, he suggests.
Of the 33 tribes in Andhra, Koya, Kondh, Savara, Jatapu and Lambada are among the prominent tribes that have their own language. In Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts, Kondareddis, Bagathas, Kondadoras, Valimikis, Kondakapu and Kondakammari have a dialect of Telugu as their language.
The customs, conflict and change in Girijans should be brought out in their own words, says P. Sivarama Krishna of Search for Action and Knowledge of Tribal Initiative (SAKTI)
