Edising: the wall-art of Savara Tribe in transition from spiritual to secular

Abstract (English)

The Savara, one of the Austro-Asiatic, Mundari speaking tribes, distributed in the Eastern Ghats of eastern states of India, is considered as Most Vulnerable Tribal Group (MVTG). They live in small villages, practice axe as well as plough cultivation, grow millets, rice, pulses, and vegetables in interiors of Ghats depending upon the terrain. They are well known for ‘wall-art’ heritage, locally known as Edising, which depict abstract representation of animals, humans, nature including celestial bodies, at inside house walls of red ochre by applying rice powder, white chalk, charcoal and vegetative dyes with the help of bamboo brushes. Anthropological study of wall-art in the frame work of ‘spiritual and secular’ concepts has resulted in understandings of change and continuity. The observed change is in the realm of endangerment leading to erosion of spiritual aura of the art within the community, while continuity in form of secular display outside the community with commercial motive by the government and public.

The study reveals that the Edising is the outcome of communal participation with ritual fervour, invite ancestral spirits by reciting prayers in mother tongue into the ‘painting’ by ritual specialists and traditional painters, offer food and liquor during night time, while community perform music and dance outside the home. Entire community participate in ritual procession tuned with high-pitch music, group dances and animal sacrifices, ends with communal feast on the following day. A diachronic study considering ethnographic accounts and personal interviews with community elders and functionaries has revealed multifaceted impact on wall-art tradition. The study revealed decline of glory and fading away of wall-art tradition, as well as its backward and forward linkages. The generic affinity with prehistoric rock art and protohistoric funerary and memorial customs, in terms of abstract representation of art forms, dyes, colours within habitations, memorial stones and wooden posts outside habitation recall megalithic traditions of protohistoric period signify cultural continuity. Replicating wall-art with commercial proposition for display at street sides and public buildings of larger society, the pride of Savara, as continuation iconic heritage, but the real cultural significance is at threat. In recent years introduction of script to Savara language by incorporating 24 alphabets after local deities, new ritual performances and religiosities (Cults of Great Tradition and Christianity) resulted in binary opposition of prayers (Telugu language) and offerings (fruits and flowers) contributing to the degeneration and neglect of indigenous art.

In addition to these factors, development initiatives like infrastructure facilities, education, occupational mobility, religious institutions, welfare schemes and such allied, cumulatively contributing to disappearance of ‘Savara Art’, which has been unique identity among many tribal groups of the region.