Teens rediscover ancient connections to nature through origin stories

Mint

4 days ago

Recently at a media literacy workshop for students of classes VIII- IX at a school in the National Capital Region, the discussion veered towards belief systems. While several students talked about the different facets of religion and spirituality they have grown up with, N.K., 14, declared herself to be a 'pantheist of sorts". I have not come across this term often, and certainly not declared with such conviction by an adolescent. At that age, most teens are navigating the intersections or dissonance between a budding personal belief system and that propagated by family and society, so this firm belief in nature being the sole source of all sacred energy in the universe came as a surprise.
'I look towards indigenous cultures and the symbiotic relationship that they share with local ecologies. For the world to have baance, these relationships become all the more important," says N.K.. Perhaps, growing up in a family with a keen personal and academic interest in anthropology has played a role. Or maybe it is visits to clusters of Gond, Baiga and Warli tribes with her mother, who works in the craft heritage sector.
But N.K. is not the only one to turn to the human-nature relationship. In the past two years, I have interacted with a number of teens showing an interest in the ancient spiritual connections that tribes across the world share with the land around them. In a world besieged by natural disasters, crumbling ecologies and climate change, many teens are turning to oral histories and creation myths to see how these communities have kept nature at the very heart of their existence. 'If you look at it, every pigment, motif or building material that they have considered sacred or spiritual is also ecologically sound and has had minimal carbon footprint. Perhaps we need to incorporate some of those learnings in our lives as well. For that, we need more stories about their lifestyles and histories," says Radhika Chopra, 15, who wants to be an architect.
In recent times, exquisitely illustrated books have brought such origin stories to the forefront as vibrant retellings without appropriating the voice of the communities. The most recent of these is Nalini Ramachandran's Once Upon a Beginning, published by Hachette India and supported by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). This set of 30 aetiological tales, or the 'first stories of everything", from different regions of the country has been illustrated by artists like Viplov Singh, Ishan Trivedi, Athulya Pillai and Chinmayi Samant. 'These ancient stories may have multiple versions as they have been passed down orally for generations. Moreover, they are unusual and don't necessarily follow a typical way of storytelling. So, I have had to reimagine many of these stories, add fictional names to some characters… tweak the end in a few tales, and add characters from specific wildlife species that are native to the region where a particular tale comes from," writes Ramachandran in her introduction.
This is not uncharted territory for her. Her earlier books such as Gods, Giants and the Geography of India too presented stories that link human evolution and cultural beliefs. Once Upon a Beginning brings to the reader tales from the Raja Muria tribe of Chhattisgarh, the Lotha people of Nagaland, the Lepchas of Sikkim, the nomadic Rabari community of Gujarat and Rajasthan, the Nicobarese people of the Nicobar islands, and more.
One of the most touching stories comes from the Gadaba people, a subgroup of the Munda tribe, who live in Koraput, Odisha. It tells the origin of the unique kerang sari that the women of the tribe weave to protect their people from tiger attacks. The legend talks about a baby adopted by a pair of tigers after being stricken by remorse at having killed her parents. They raise her as one of their own, teaching her the skills of hunting and navigating the forest like a tiger. That is until she decides to hunt on her own and ends up being captured by villagers. Though, over time, she learns to adapt to this new way of life, she never forgets her adopted tiger parents. One day as she walks through the forest, she comes across the kerang tree. She extracts fibres to weave a kerang garb, which looks like the hide of a tiger. As she drapes it, she feels a deep sense of calm. Today, this handwoven fabric is fast going extinct, though efforts to revive it are ongoing through cultural organisations like the Kerang Fabric Project. This origin story is also one of the evolution of camouflage and ways of survival.
Another book that delves into seldom-told histories of tribes such as the Halakkis, Changpas, Hill Marias and Jarawas is 10 Indian Tribes and the Unique Lives they Lead (Duckbill, 2023) by Nidhi Dugar Kundalia. She writes in her introduction that despite many differences, the tribes covered in the book have one thing in common: the fact that they are in sync with nature and its rhythms. 'They take from nature only what is required and give nature time to heal and re-grow. Whether it is the Kurumbas leaving behind some honey for animals in the jungle or the Khasis preserving tracts of forests for centuries, each tribe treats mother nature with the greatest respect," she writes.
In one of the chapters, Kundalia mentions the folk songs of the Halakkis of north Karnataka. Known as janapadas, they create visuals about a tribe's bond with nature, the animals that are their playmates, the iridescent bioluminescent fungus that grows around them. 'As they move deeper into the forest, they sing songs about their land's talking trees and gnomes that live in the duffs or decayed matter on the forest floor..." she writes. 'There are almost no records of wild animals attacking the Halakkis. One would like to think that this is because all inhabitants of the forest love the gentle Halakkis, who never take more than what they need from the forest." Though the book is not an illustrated one, the interesting nuggets of information and the contextualisation of ancient practices to modern times make for an engaging read.
You can read these stories—about birds finding their daily rhythms, healers who understood the mysteries of medicinal plants, the origin of coal and iron, and the invention of zodiac signs—with a sense of wonderment. These may seem like stories of magic and enchantment, but these tales go far beyond that. They tell of a time when humans were in tune with the flow and cadence of nature. Perhaps it would serve us well to truly listen to the land once again.
Raising Parents is A monthly column about art and culture ideas to inspire both children and adults.