newsletter
This newsletter tells you about the Korku tribe we work with and the dual threat of malnutrition and endangered language they face.
Content
VOLUME I, ISSUE 1
KORKU OF KHALWA
SPANDAN SAMAJ SEVA SAMITI
MAY 2012
Special Points of Interest:
Historical Background Food Insecurity Korku Festivals Policy demands
KORKU IN HISTORICAL HALLWAY
Korku are cognates of Munda tribe found in Jharkhand. They are of Proto-Australoid cast with gracile bodies, brown skin color, curly or fizzy hairs and long head with broad flat nose. Till 600 BC the Munda and cognate tribes were together and shared same culture. Their presence was recorded even at the banks of now the legendary river Saraswati. The Aryan invasions pushed them eastwards as the archaeological finding in Gangetic valleys reveal. Their presence is also recorded in Kaimur mountains. From here the Korku bid goodbye to their cognates and moved southwards to Satpura Mountains. Invasions and food scarcity was the seemingly obvious reasons. The similarities in rock paintings explored by archeologists in Bhimbetka of Madhya Pradesh and Chirand in Bihar testifies the sojourn of Korku. Series of epidemics and endemics not only took substantial toll but compelled Korku to leave their most beautiful habitat now at Ranipur in Hoshangabad district to their present settled abode at Khalwa block of Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh. Prior to Independence the erstwhile Central Province & Berar around the Satpura and Vindhya Mountain ranges witnessed many political upheavals and struggle for power. Interestingly Korku kept themselves aloof from all these aspirations and remained in hills and gorges that were a larder of exotic products like games, honey, timbers and resins. Encyclopedia Britannica records: “ Korku tribe of Central India is concentrated in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh… shifted as recently as the late nineteenth century from slash & burn jungle cultivation (jhum) ..”
Inside this issue:
Historical Error 2 2 2
FOOD INSECURITY AMON G KORKU
The situation of Childhood Malnutrition in Khalwa the present abode of Korku has been marked as “alarming”. The U5 mortality rate is as high as 101 and 107 for girl child. A recent official survey pointed that 56.9% children are underweight; 45.1% are stunted and 29.8% . This nutritional catastrophe has historical roots. The pressure to settle deprived them of food they used to get from their habitat. The severe epidemics killed many and even British Relief failed to reach them. The death rate peaked as high as 70 per thousand. The fact that they had to shift from slash and burn jungle cultivation and hunting to settled farming practices had telling effect. They left their traditional tribal millets like Kodo and Kutki and adopted cash crops like soybean and wheat. Their simple diet has hardly sufficient micronutrients for a healthy growth.
Traditional Festival Korku folk tale
Chachua the ethnic heal- 3 ing practice Aboriginal Hunting Prac- 4 tices Elemental Faith and Beliefs Korku language endangered 5 6
Page 2
KORKU OF KHALWA
THE HISTORICAL ERROR
Back in 1970s the Government of India earmarked 75 tribes as Primitive Tribal Groups. Unfortunately Korku were missed out despite their evident backwardness and qualifying in the criteria set. Early District Gazettes recorded: “ they lived in forests and eked out their livelihood through hunting and shifting cultivation … only 3% Korku were literate. Census 1931 stated: “ Korku is the most backward tribe ...it has only 3 literate men and no literate woman.” Census 2001 returned with 54.4% Korku families as wage earners. Their literacy rate was recoded as 38.8% with female literacy as low as 28.4%. Now they face a dual tragedy. Malnutrition and Hunger seems to be established among them and their language is one of the 196 languages that were termed endangered by UNESCO. They do not have even their own vernacular. Much of their aboriginality has remained with traditional farming practices, a distinct belief system with festivals and cultural elements. It is high time that they be considered as eligible for inclusion in Primitive Tribe category that can as a policy extend greater food security and development benefits.
A water pot with its mouth tied is kept upside down and people watch the seepage. The direction of seepage is considered as the very direction of forthcoming rains.
TRADITIONAL KORKU FESTIVAL: RANDO BHAVAI
Rando Bhavai is celebrated prior to the sowing season. The festival has an interesting folk tale in oral tradition. There was an widow who supposedly died due to acrimonious treatment by Korku community. Her spirit made its dwelling near the water bodies and began to torment Korku. Their priest Bhumka communicated with her spirit and besought relief. She demanded offering of a many colored hen at the river bank. This oblation is still offered during Rando Bhavai festival. On this day Bhumka the Korku priest consecrates various grains and lentils and make sachets of Ebony leaves. He presents it to every Korku family. These seeds are mixed with the seeds to be sown. Another interesting celebration is that a water pot with its tied mouth is kept upside down and people watch the seepage. The direction of seepage is considered as the very direction of forthcoming rains. Children too celebrate it in their own custom. The young ones cover themselves with black berry leaves and carry a prototype of a frog in an old bamboo basket. They go home begging grains for five days. The they have a party near a river. The water pots for knowing the direction of rains are brought by these children.
KORKU FOLK TALE
Mahadeo (the Great God) created the beautiful world but wondered who will enjoy these blessings? He decided to create Man. He tried various soil to sculpt a man’s image but did not succeed. So he sent a crow to find suitable soil. The crow having browsed all over too was unsuccessful till he saw crabs digging hole in the river bed. He brought the soil and Mahadeo sculpted the image of a man and a woman. He left it for drying in the night but fiery horses came and trampled them. It happened for three nights. Mahadeo then first created a dog that thwarted the horses and the life was breathed in first Korku man and woman. After couple of centuries the progeny of first Korku man and woman invited Mahadeo and besought that they should have their own grains. Mahadeo blessed them with seven millets which to this day are called traditional tribal millets. They include Kodo (paspalum scrobiculatum), Kutki ( little millet) and Sawa (Indian barnyard millet).
Page 3
V O LU M E 1 , I S S U E 1
CHACHUA: THE ETHNIC HEALING PRACTICE
This practice is a remain of primordial Korku culture; still widely believed and practiced. It is performed at home even by a common Korku man especially in times of emergency when no medical help is in vicinity. The point of pain in the body is identified and marked with ash. Then a sickle is put on fire till red hot. The marked point on the skin is branded sometimes several times. It may seem amazing and painful to us but not to Korku. Even children’s skin is branded. In their oral folk culture Korku elders say that this sickle is made by blacksmiths on the scheduled day of sun eclipse. The blacksmith makes a pestle to stand erect in a bowl of water and swiftly beats the iron to make a sickle. It is believed that solar energy for healing enters the sickle.
ABORIGINAL HUNTING P RACTISE
Though hunting has been suspended due to stringent forest laws, Korku elders narrate interesting tales and hunting adventures. They hunted chiefly wild boars, rabbits, partridges and deer. They would use spears, rods and dogs for hunting. Dogs were a great help in hunting. They would chase the wild boar till it tired and hid behind a tree. Sometimes the dogs would overpower them or wound them. The Korku hunters would circle the game and attack with rods and spears. This was typical “surround and kill” hunting that was a characteristic of an egalitarian society. Hunting was never done alone but always in a group and the meat was shared with all. At times when habitat seem to be lacking games, Korku hunters would summon their healer “Padiyar’. He would act like an seer and make a covenant with the deities that if seven games are found they would offer an oblation of hegoat. He would bury an egg and a coconut to seal the covenant. Then he would go in trance and show the direction where the games can be found.
The Korku hunters would circle the game and attack with rods and spears. This was typical “surround and kill” hunting that was a characteristic of an egalitarian society.
THE ELEMENTAL FAITH AND BELIEFS
All the Korku religious rites are performed by Bhumka or Padiyar. Though there is an intermingling of roles now but they had specific roles earlier. Bhumka is like a seer and a prophet supposed to have powers to protect form all evil influences. He is considered to have powers to communicate with they spirit world. He performs religious rites and casts off demons and act as water diviner as well. Korku families owe great allegiance to him and offer him bushels of grains every year. Padiyar is more like a priest and community healer. He possess a spectrum of knowledge about variety of herbs in the habitat. He mixes herbs and chants for healing. Both the posts of Bhumka and Padiyar is hereditary and the knowledge is transferred to next genre. Both of them are generally sober and quiet and do their business with sincerity and without much ado. Interestingly the equivalents of Bhumka and Padiyar is also found among the Munda tribe who have nomenclature as Pahan and Deonra.
SPANDAN SAMAJ SEVA SAMITI
HIIG 44 RAMANAGAR KHANDWA 450 001 (MP) Phone: 555-555-5555 Fax: 555-555-5555 E-mail: [email protected]
Spandan Samaj Seva Samiti is a grassroots organization that works among the Korku tribe for their Right to Food. The Mission of the organization is to “ empower the marginalized Korku community in manner that they are
able to secure their Human & Constitutional Rights and lead a life of dignity.”
We are on web: www. dyingkorku.in Follow us on Facebook and Tweeter
The interventions include awareness generation ,community development, research & documentation, pro-poor advocacy and alliances with like minded individuals and groups. This newsletter is an endeavor to let the world know Korku; their colorful culture and their struggles. You can be a part of Save Korku Campaign run by Spandan that focusses on reducing malnutrition and preserving Korku culture.
Lets Make World A Better Place
KORKU LANGUAGE “ENDANGERED’’
Korku language is of AustroAsiatic family and within the Munda sub group. It is spoken in certain parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra states. Korku language does not have its own script. Much of the knowledge is embedded in their oral traditions. Now having compelled to lead a settled life and having to interact with other agriculturist and pastoralist communities , they adopted new words from Hindi, Marathi and Urdu. Hardly any new words were added. The aboriginal vocabulary has distinct words in their own tongue that they coined in their hunter-gatherer life. Their numerals is limited to ten exhibiting the fact of their primordial life that had no business activities involving money or complicated arithmetic. Korku language does not have words for days of the week. They adopted the words from their new neighbors’ language. They recognize days by the weekly village markets. Word Lanka (present day Sri Lanka) is used to indicate distance. Presumably at some point in the history they may have sojourned there. Korku have their own words for wind and lightening but they borrowed words for sunshine and shade. As they had to enter into economic activities in their settled life they had to borrow whole set of words from other languages. Similarly words were borrowed for administrative and legal purposes . Korku language is now declared endangered being among 196 Indian languages. Imagine the loss if a language that carries their aboriginal knowledge, traditions and culture is gone
KORKU OF KHALWA
SPANDAN SAMAJ SEVA SAMITI
MAY 2012
Special Points of Interest:
Historical Background Food Insecurity Korku Festivals Policy demands
KORKU IN HISTORICAL HALLWAY
Korku are cognates of Munda tribe found in Jharkhand. They are of Proto-Australoid cast with gracile bodies, brown skin color, curly or fizzy hairs and long head with broad flat nose. Till 600 BC the Munda and cognate tribes were together and shared same culture. Their presence was recorded even at the banks of now the legendary river Saraswati. The Aryan invasions pushed them eastwards as the archaeological finding in Gangetic valleys reveal. Their presence is also recorded in Kaimur mountains. From here the Korku bid goodbye to their cognates and moved southwards to Satpura Mountains. Invasions and food scarcity was the seemingly obvious reasons. The similarities in rock paintings explored by archeologists in Bhimbetka of Madhya Pradesh and Chirand in Bihar testifies the sojourn of Korku. Series of epidemics and endemics not only took substantial toll but compelled Korku to leave their most beautiful habitat now at Ranipur in Hoshangabad district to their present settled abode at Khalwa block of Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh. Prior to Independence the erstwhile Central Province & Berar around the Satpura and Vindhya Mountain ranges witnessed many political upheavals and struggle for power. Interestingly Korku kept themselves aloof from all these aspirations and remained in hills and gorges that were a larder of exotic products like games, honey, timbers and resins. Encyclopedia Britannica records: “ Korku tribe of Central India is concentrated in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh… shifted as recently as the late nineteenth century from slash & burn jungle cultivation (jhum) ..”
Inside this issue:
Historical Error 2 2 2
FOOD INSECURITY AMON G KORKU
The situation of Childhood Malnutrition in Khalwa the present abode of Korku has been marked as “alarming”. The U5 mortality rate is as high as 101 and 107 for girl child. A recent official survey pointed that 56.9% children are underweight; 45.1% are stunted and 29.8% . This nutritional catastrophe has historical roots. The pressure to settle deprived them of food they used to get from their habitat. The severe epidemics killed many and even British Relief failed to reach them. The death rate peaked as high as 70 per thousand. The fact that they had to shift from slash and burn jungle cultivation and hunting to settled farming practices had telling effect. They left their traditional tribal millets like Kodo and Kutki and adopted cash crops like soybean and wheat. Their simple diet has hardly sufficient micronutrients for a healthy growth.
Traditional Festival Korku folk tale
Chachua the ethnic heal- 3 ing practice Aboriginal Hunting Prac- 4 tices Elemental Faith and Beliefs Korku language endangered 5 6
Page 2
KORKU OF KHALWA
THE HISTORICAL ERROR
Back in 1970s the Government of India earmarked 75 tribes as Primitive Tribal Groups. Unfortunately Korku were missed out despite their evident backwardness and qualifying in the criteria set. Early District Gazettes recorded: “ they lived in forests and eked out their livelihood through hunting and shifting cultivation … only 3% Korku were literate. Census 1931 stated: “ Korku is the most backward tribe ...it has only 3 literate men and no literate woman.” Census 2001 returned with 54.4% Korku families as wage earners. Their literacy rate was recoded as 38.8% with female literacy as low as 28.4%. Now they face a dual tragedy. Malnutrition and Hunger seems to be established among them and their language is one of the 196 languages that were termed endangered by UNESCO. They do not have even their own vernacular. Much of their aboriginality has remained with traditional farming practices, a distinct belief system with festivals and cultural elements. It is high time that they be considered as eligible for inclusion in Primitive Tribe category that can as a policy extend greater food security and development benefits.
A water pot with its mouth tied is kept upside down and people watch the seepage. The direction of seepage is considered as the very direction of forthcoming rains.
TRADITIONAL KORKU FESTIVAL: RANDO BHAVAI
Rando Bhavai is celebrated prior to the sowing season. The festival has an interesting folk tale in oral tradition. There was an widow who supposedly died due to acrimonious treatment by Korku community. Her spirit made its dwelling near the water bodies and began to torment Korku. Their priest Bhumka communicated with her spirit and besought relief. She demanded offering of a many colored hen at the river bank. This oblation is still offered during Rando Bhavai festival. On this day Bhumka the Korku priest consecrates various grains and lentils and make sachets of Ebony leaves. He presents it to every Korku family. These seeds are mixed with the seeds to be sown. Another interesting celebration is that a water pot with its tied mouth is kept upside down and people watch the seepage. The direction of seepage is considered as the very direction of forthcoming rains. Children too celebrate it in their own custom. The young ones cover themselves with black berry leaves and carry a prototype of a frog in an old bamboo basket. They go home begging grains for five days. The they have a party near a river. The water pots for knowing the direction of rains are brought by these children.
KORKU FOLK TALE
Mahadeo (the Great God) created the beautiful world but wondered who will enjoy these blessings? He decided to create Man. He tried various soil to sculpt a man’s image but did not succeed. So he sent a crow to find suitable soil. The crow having browsed all over too was unsuccessful till he saw crabs digging hole in the river bed. He brought the soil and Mahadeo sculpted the image of a man and a woman. He left it for drying in the night but fiery horses came and trampled them. It happened for three nights. Mahadeo then first created a dog that thwarted the horses and the life was breathed in first Korku man and woman. After couple of centuries the progeny of first Korku man and woman invited Mahadeo and besought that they should have their own grains. Mahadeo blessed them with seven millets which to this day are called traditional tribal millets. They include Kodo (paspalum scrobiculatum), Kutki ( little millet) and Sawa (Indian barnyard millet).
Page 3
V O LU M E 1 , I S S U E 1
CHACHUA: THE ETHNIC HEALING PRACTICE
This practice is a remain of primordial Korku culture; still widely believed and practiced. It is performed at home even by a common Korku man especially in times of emergency when no medical help is in vicinity. The point of pain in the body is identified and marked with ash. Then a sickle is put on fire till red hot. The marked point on the skin is branded sometimes several times. It may seem amazing and painful to us but not to Korku. Even children’s skin is branded. In their oral folk culture Korku elders say that this sickle is made by blacksmiths on the scheduled day of sun eclipse. The blacksmith makes a pestle to stand erect in a bowl of water and swiftly beats the iron to make a sickle. It is believed that solar energy for healing enters the sickle.
ABORIGINAL HUNTING P RACTISE
Though hunting has been suspended due to stringent forest laws, Korku elders narrate interesting tales and hunting adventures. They hunted chiefly wild boars, rabbits, partridges and deer. They would use spears, rods and dogs for hunting. Dogs were a great help in hunting. They would chase the wild boar till it tired and hid behind a tree. Sometimes the dogs would overpower them or wound them. The Korku hunters would circle the game and attack with rods and spears. This was typical “surround and kill” hunting that was a characteristic of an egalitarian society. Hunting was never done alone but always in a group and the meat was shared with all. At times when habitat seem to be lacking games, Korku hunters would summon their healer “Padiyar’. He would act like an seer and make a covenant with the deities that if seven games are found they would offer an oblation of hegoat. He would bury an egg and a coconut to seal the covenant. Then he would go in trance and show the direction where the games can be found.
The Korku hunters would circle the game and attack with rods and spears. This was typical “surround and kill” hunting that was a characteristic of an egalitarian society.
THE ELEMENTAL FAITH AND BELIEFS
All the Korku religious rites are performed by Bhumka or Padiyar. Though there is an intermingling of roles now but they had specific roles earlier. Bhumka is like a seer and a prophet supposed to have powers to protect form all evil influences. He is considered to have powers to communicate with they spirit world. He performs religious rites and casts off demons and act as water diviner as well. Korku families owe great allegiance to him and offer him bushels of grains every year. Padiyar is more like a priest and community healer. He possess a spectrum of knowledge about variety of herbs in the habitat. He mixes herbs and chants for healing. Both the posts of Bhumka and Padiyar is hereditary and the knowledge is transferred to next genre. Both of them are generally sober and quiet and do their business with sincerity and without much ado. Interestingly the equivalents of Bhumka and Padiyar is also found among the Munda tribe who have nomenclature as Pahan and Deonra.
SPANDAN SAMAJ SEVA SAMITI
HIIG 44 RAMANAGAR KHANDWA 450 001 (MP) Phone: 555-555-5555 Fax: 555-555-5555 E-mail: [email protected]
Spandan Samaj Seva Samiti is a grassroots organization that works among the Korku tribe for their Right to Food. The Mission of the organization is to “ empower the marginalized Korku community in manner that they are
able to secure their Human & Constitutional Rights and lead a life of dignity.”
We are on web: www. dyingkorku.in Follow us on Facebook and Tweeter
The interventions include awareness generation ,community development, research & documentation, pro-poor advocacy and alliances with like minded individuals and groups. This newsletter is an endeavor to let the world know Korku; their colorful culture and their struggles. You can be a part of Save Korku Campaign run by Spandan that focusses on reducing malnutrition and preserving Korku culture.
Lets Make World A Better Place
KORKU LANGUAGE “ENDANGERED’’
Korku language is of AustroAsiatic family and within the Munda sub group. It is spoken in certain parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra states. Korku language does not have its own script. Much of the knowledge is embedded in their oral traditions. Now having compelled to lead a settled life and having to interact with other agriculturist and pastoralist communities , they adopted new words from Hindi, Marathi and Urdu. Hardly any new words were added. The aboriginal vocabulary has distinct words in their own tongue that they coined in their hunter-gatherer life. Their numerals is limited to ten exhibiting the fact of their primordial life that had no business activities involving money or complicated arithmetic. Korku language does not have words for days of the week. They adopted the words from their new neighbors’ language. They recognize days by the weekly village markets. Word Lanka (present day Sri Lanka) is used to indicate distance. Presumably at some point in the history they may have sojourned there. Korku have their own words for wind and lightening but they borrowed words for sunshine and shade. As they had to enter into economic activities in their settled life they had to borrow whole set of words from other languages. Similarly words were borrowed for administrative and legal purposes . Korku language is now declared endangered being among 196 Indian languages. Imagine the loss if a language that carries their aboriginal knowledge, traditions and culture is gone
