Tribal Art of Living
UMA RAM
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The tribals' disinterest in theological discussion may be frustrating to an academic, but it is typical of the Bastar world view: be! Just be in the wonderful brotherhood you have been placed in. This brotherhood extends beyond the home, clan, tribe...to include the forests, beasts, birds, rocks, hills, stream and rivers. It is a large undivided family mothered by the Earth. As Grigson puts it, for the Maria tribes in Bastar, children are also one of the crops of the Earth.If the great approach to life is to be, then life becomes an endless festival. Living becomes a celebration of being. Song and dance spring forth naturally with such a world view.
Kinship in Bastar extends to the inanimate world. Every stone pulsates with life. Humans, birds or beasts turning to stone is common in Bastar legends and poems. Although the poems abound in references to somebody cutting somebody `into seven pieces', and the pieces becoming `stones', the word `killing' is generally not used as it connotes the end of life. Here, there is no end, only transformation. The stone is as `alive' as a person. Interestingly , the transformation is reversible. In one poem, a legendary hero gets bored in the grave and returns to society! There is not a single traditional song in Bastar that has the complaining strain, whether it is addressed to a lover or God.There is no supplication to change the present condition of existence. For Bastar tribes, creation is perfect; the art of living is to gratefully celebrate life with song and dance.
Kinship in Bastar extends to the inanimate world. Every stone pulsates with life. Humans, birds or beasts turning to stone is common in Bastar legends and poems. Although the poems abound in references to somebody cutting somebody `into seven pieces', and the pieces becoming `stones', the word `killing' is generally not used as it connotes the end of life. Here, there is no end, only transformation. The stone is as `alive' as a person. Interestingly , the transformation is reversible. In one poem, a legendary hero gets bored in the grave and returns to society! There is not a single traditional song in Bastar that has the complaining strain, whether it is addressed to a lover or God.There is no supplication to change the present condition of existence. For Bastar tribes, creation is perfect; the art of living is to gratefully celebrate life with song and dance.
