Art & Culture

Based on the foot of Thakurani Hills in Kendujhar district of Odisha, the Murga Mahadev Temple is a living example of tribal and Vedic faiths. Sudhir Kumar Mishra visits the sacred place to find out its history

A non-tribal painter is contributing his bit in keeping popular tribal art forms like Gond of Madhya Pradesh and Warli of Maharashtra alive through beautiful wall paintings, writes Deepanwita Gita Niyogi

Adivasis are gearing up to celebrate one of their major festivals Karam (also known as Karma Puja), traditionally celebrated on the 11th day of Bhadrapad (Bhado ka Ekadashi) and falling on September 25 this year. Sudhir Kumar Mishra sheds light on the festival

The desert State’s Mandana art, depicting the link between nature and culture, is a dying art now with kuccha houses making way for pucca ones under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana being one of the reasons, finds out Deepanwita Gita Niyogi

The fresh paddy crop is celebrated with great cheer in the month of Shravan across large swathes of Odisha. In tribal-dominated Malkangiri though, it is celebrated with much pomp and show. Niroj Ranjan Misra tells us what the ‘Kumuda Nuakhai’ festival is all about

A Bhumija tribal, hailing from a big carpenter family, he has been instrumental in setting up the Odisha Cartoonists’ Academy. Niroj Ranjan Misra gets to know him closely

A Mass Communication teacher is ready with a first-of-its-kind ethnographic film on the Bathudi tribe, whose members claim themselves to be descendants of Balram and Subhadra (siblings of Lord Krishna). Options of its release on an OTT platform too are being explored, Sudhir Kumar Mishra reports

A group of present and former employees of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited morphs into a band of tribals to portray on stage the simple indigenous lifestyle fraught with taboos and traditions. Niroj Ranjan Misra gets to know them

When evening draws in, they flock to this site to sink in the discourses and discussions on holy Bhagawata, the literary magnum opus penned by Atibadi Jagannath Das, one among Panchasakha, five saint-litterateurs of medieval Odisha, finds out Niroj Ranjan Misra

Nature and Hindu mythology have a cardinal influence on the folk heritage of Assam’s tribal communities. No wonder then that the north-eastern State is a folk connoisseur’s paradise, writes Proyashi Barua