The richness of tribal and folk culture of coastal districts was demonstrated at the ‘Unveiling of Tribal and Folk Culture’, a programme organised by the Department of Humanities, Bhandarkar’s College of Arts and Science, here on Monday.
Members of seven tribal organisations showcased the dances of seven different tribes. Each tribal dance had its own uniqueness and enthralled the audience. Besides dances, other aspects of tribal life such as basket weaving and making of the dollu drums were also demonstrated.
The programme began with Somayya Gonda and his troupe exhibiting dance and other cultural aspects of Gonda tribe.
Then the Akshara Koraga Grameena Abhivridhi Samsthe led by Ganesh Kundapur showed various dances of the Koraga tribe. The women weaved perfect baskets on one side of the stage, while two men prepared a “dollu” drum on the other side even as the dance performances were going on.
Mr. Ganesh Kundapur said the women of Koraga tribe wove a basket perfectly without any scale or calculation. “So too the ‘dollu’ drums are made out of the trunk of jackfruit tree, jungle jackfruit tree and other selected trees,” he said.
The Siddhi tribe team from Yallapur demonstrated the Damama dance, Pogadi dance and sang folk songs.
Nagaraja Panara and his troupe from Valthur exhibited the Panara dance, while Narayana Marathi and his troupe showed the Gumte dance and Kolata.
This was followed by folk dance by members of the Mallikarjuna Kudbi Holi Janapada Kala Sangha and ‘Suggi Kunita’ by Halakki Budakattu Samudaya from Ankola.
Cultural exhibition
An exhibition of various household items and other equipment used by the tribal communities also attracted attention from a lot of people. The items on display included a wooden cradle, wooden umbrella, woven baskets for storing onion and garlic, stone pot, clay pot, wooden comb, wooden plough, wooden pickle jar, various types of ropes and nets, and some brass utensils.
Srinivas S., teacher from Suryolli, said that a striking aspect of the items exhibited were that most of them were made from natural materials available in forests. “But now we are destroying forests,” he rued.
Priyanka Jose, a student of II B.A., said the programme had succeeded in making the people and the students aware of the richness of tribal and folk culture.
Another student Srijana Adiga, said it was a meaningful programme and students from neighbouring colleges too had come to see it. There was an exhibition of photographs by Manohar S. Kundar of various tribal rituals.
