Even decades of deprivation has not diminished the aesthetic sense of the poor aboriginal tribes of Adilabad, who sort of celebrate the environment by focussing upon it in their own poverty constrained ways. One of the occasions for the Adivasi Gonds and Kolams to exhibit their aesthetic sense is the wedding season which is towards its fag end now.
Singing and dancing
The whole atmosphere at an Adivasi wedding, even in the remotest of hamlets, makes for a beautiful environment what with traditional folk music and dances being a part of the celebrations. The dancing and singing go well with the music which is played as rituals keep unfolding during the event which has been restricted to two days from the week-long affair it used to be a few years back. The Gonds and Kolams also use colours of bright shades to decorate the wedding mandapam and the houses which have a marriage scheduled.
The most important part of an Adivasi wedding where the aesthetic sense and the lifestyle of these tribal people is evident is the mandapam which consists of a symbolic stage called ‘bouli’ for the bride and groom to sit while the marriage ceremony is performed. “The elaborate geometric design of the bouli represents fire or agni,” states Kala Ratna award winner Guruji Ravinder Sharma, founder of Adilabad’s Kala Ashram, who, incidentally is a former art and craft teacher at the Kolam Asram School in Adilabad town.
“The bouli is drawn with jowar flour mixed with turmeric powder and has five lamps resting on five small pots which represent the five oceans. The lamps are lit by oil extracted manually from our castor seeds (indigenous variety),” explains Athram Bheem Rao, a farmer from Gowri Kolamguda village in Jainoor mandal where the last of Kolam weddings was scheduled on may 20. The bouli also has a central wooden pole called ‘mundem’ which has motifs carved on it and painted in different colours. The pole has to have the religious symbols of the crescent moon and the vertical daggers.
“The other motifs are either trees, flowers, birds or wild and domestic animals or some other design which catches out attention,” points out Athram Raju, former sarpanch of Gowri Kolamguda. “The selection of the motifs is what constitutes their aesthetic sense,” adds Guruji.
“The fact that our people mainly depict trees, birds and animals not only on ‘mundems’ but even on wall decorations means that we are one with our environment. Selection of animals like elephants which are not found here also shows our inclination,” observes Kanaka Ambaji Rao, a Gond youth who is involved in protection and promotion of the Adivasi culture and traditions in Adilabad district.
