Tribal Verse
by G.N. Devy
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An essay that draws attention to the rich but neglected oral literatures of India's tribal communities and argues for their recognition within the mainstream of literary study. Devy points out that India's tribes (Adivasis) possess vast and varied oral traditions, songs, stories, myths, legends and performance, that have survived for centuries but have been ignored by conventional, print-based literary criticism. He shows that tribal arts are marked by a distinctive imagination: a coexistence of the real and the mythical, a special sense of space and time, an image-based rather than concept-based way of perceiving the world, and a communal, performative character in which song, music and dance are inseparable. Devy warns that these oral traditions, and the languages that carry them, are fast disappearing under the pressures of modernisation and neglect. He calls for a widening of our idea of 'literature' to include these non-conventional oral and folk traditions, so that the linguistic and cultural plurality of India can be preserved and valued.
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Devy's essay familiarises readers with recent trends that look at literature from non-conventional standpoints, bringing India's oral folk and tribal traditions into the fold of literary study. It argues that tribal verse deserves recognition as a rich and distinctive form of imaginative expression.
The neglected oral heritage
India's tribal communities possess a vast and ancient body of oral literature, songs, myths, legends, stories and performances, passed down through generations. Yet mainstream literary criticism, focused on written and printed texts, has largely ignored this heritage, treating only written literature as worthy of serious study.
The distinctive tribal imagination
Devy shows that tribal arts spring from a distinctive imagination: the real and the mythical coexist naturally, and the tribal way of perceiving the world is image-based rather than abstract and concept-based. Tribal creativity is communal and performative, song, music, dance and story are woven together rather than separated as in mainstream 'literature'.
A tradition under threat
These oral traditions, and the many tribal languages that carry them, are rapidly disappearing under the pressures of modernisation, displacement and neglect. As languages die, whole worlds of imagination and memory are lost, impoverishing India's cultural and linguistic diversity.
Widening our idea of literature
Devy calls for a broadening of the very idea of 'literature' to include oral and folk traditions, so that tribal verse is studied and valued rather than dismissed. Recognising these non-conventional literatures is essential to preserving India's linguistic plurality and honouring the imaginative wealth of its tribal peoples.