Funded by the TATA Educational Trust

Traditionally, Vaagris are hunters, trappers, and fowlers.

Currently, some have become vendors of glass bangles,

beads and necklaces, needles, hair pins, kumkum

[saffron], cosmetics, dolls, safety pins, combs and toys.

Men use catapults, loaders, and portable snares for

hunting birds and animals. Womenfolk show excellent

skill in making colourful bead necklaces.

Being a nomadic community, the Narikuravas face extreme

discrimination in society. They are labelled thieves and

plunderers and are often not allowed to stay within villages

and towns or sell their wares. Being extremely disjointed as

a community has further weakened their voices against

oppression. Their culture, though vibrant, is a constantly

changing one, lacks any kind of documentation as does

Vaagri-boli, their language.

As a nomadic community, Narikuravas face extreme discrimination in society.

The Narikurava tribe in the state lack solidarity and are broken up into mutually opposing groups.

The fast evolving culture of this nomadic community lacks any kind of documentation.

Vaagri-Boli the language spoken by the community too, has not been studied or documented comprehensively

The need to integrate the community is of utmost importance.

So is the importance of educating the common populace about the

Narikuravas and their culture and tradition.

The DCA intends to integrate the Narikuravar in the documentation

process as participants, both as viewers and recorders, as well as

potential communicators of their own for visual production across

ethnic/social boundaries. This was in keeping with the realization

that digital documentation would need innovative and participatory

approaches.

The Narikuruva Digital Community Archive [DCA] is located at Ashakulam in

Villupuram [160kms away from Chennai]

We have collaborated with Prof. Bhakthavatsala Bharati, (Head, Department of

Anthropology, Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture, Puducherry)

Our current staff at the archive are Lavanya, Veerappan, Raja and Latha.

As part of the digital archiving process, the staff has been

consistently documenting and recording life cycle ceremonies

such as:

Marriages

Birth ceremony

Death ceremony

Puberty attaining ceremony

Rituals of local goddesses like Kali, Mariamman etc

We have been constantly documenting (through

photographs, video and audio recordings) the culture and

lore of the community

Currently our archive has:

o13,500 photographs

o220 hours video footage

o80 hours of voice recording

o1400 Vaagri words for Lexicon

Following extensive fieldwork with the community, a

documentary film, “Narikuravar” was produced by NFSC in

2009.

This movie which is now broadcasted on our new

YouTube channel, serves as an introductory film to the

community.

In 2009 we published “Vagri Material Culture” -a resource book for the Vaagri Community. The book comes through as a collaborative effort from Prof. Bhakthavatsala Bharathi, Ilavenil, a professional photographer, NFSC staff and the community members.

Eight districts in Tamilnadu were surveyed and photographed according to anthropological categories to make this book which will serve as medium to bridge the gap between the Vaagris and the rest of the world.

Our second publication about the

Vaagris, Gabriele Alex’s book

“Learning and Embodying Caste,

Class and Gender—Patterns of

Childhood in Rural Tamil Nadu,”

is based on ethnographic research

carried out amongst children and

youths.

NFSC is documenting the vast knowledge that the

Narikuravas have about wild herbs and medicinal plants.

In the first leg of this documentation, we have documented

the medicinal knowledge of a settlement in Thirupathur, near

Sivagangai in Tamil Nadu.

53 medicinal plants have been identified and documented.

The documented footage will be disseminated to the

community & thereafter we would help build networks to

assist to market and sell these unique herbal preparations.

NFSC has entered into collaboration with Prof. G. Srinivasa Varma, a renowned linguist from AnnamalaiUniversity, for the publication of a dictionary of Vaagri-boli. Even though Vaagri-Boli is considered a dialect of Gujarati,

the syntax, grammar, lexical structure and grammatical structure have changed because of the heavy borrowing from other south-Indian languages and Marathi. A dictionary in Vaagri therefore would be a definite step

forward in resource development for the community.

Apart from regular documentation done by fieldworkers,

NFSC conducts programmes on a regular basis for the

overall development of the Narikuravas.

These programmes conducted in collaboration with like-

minded institutions as well as enthusiastic individuals who

have something to share with the community, come under

the Civic Engagement Initiative of NFSC.

Young adults are being trained regularly by the NFSC staff

in the use of various equipments for audio and visual

documentation at the archive.

This was in keeping with the realization that digital

documentation would need innovative and participatory

approaches.

Prof. Peter Claus from California State University conducted a

five-day workshop on documenting children’s games for students

of Dakshinachitra, Chennai, at the Ashakulam settlement.

As part of her student internship at NFSC, Padini Nirmal, a

research student from the US, spent two weeks in Ashakulam

archive studying the Narikuravas.

Mr. M. Manivannan, NFSC, has been engaged in theatre

workshops and games for children since August 2009.

The “Ashakulam Narikurava Skill Enhancement Programme”

(ANSEP) was organized in 2009 in collaboration with Nirmala

Shrethar and Ilangovan of ArtServ to train Vaagri women on bead

making and marketing their new products to a wider market.

Through this endeavour NFSC is trying to enhance the livelihood

opportunities of Vaagri women for making beads according to

modern day demands.

As a continuation to this initiative, a second workshop on bead making is being planned for this year.

This time around NFSC will assist the Vaagri bead makers to avail loans for bead making and assist them to sell their beads to a larger market.

NFSC arranged a World Gypsy Music Concert at the

Ashakulam settlement in Villupuram on April 14, 2009.

The concert was performed by Gypsy musician Oliver

Rajamani and his associates, Jobi, Steve Markham, Richard

and Suresh from Texas, US.

The concert was a huge hit with the Narikuravas, both

children and elders.

The dissemination of “Vagri Material Culture” -The process of returning the publication to the community as a repository of their culture has also been undertaken.

The field staff of NFSC took the publication to 38 Narikuravar settlements in Tamil Nadu and documented the community’s responses to the book.

NFSC organised a huge community gathering at Villupuram that brought together Vaagris from several districts to address their issues.

This gathering saw a participation of around 400 people from Narikurava communities from all over Tamil Nadu, close to 80 NGOs working with the Narikuravas and also representation from the Narikurava Welfare Board.

The gathering had many audio visual presentations on different issues concerning the Narikuravas.

NFSC has initiated the process of handing over the management of the archive to the Narikurava community itself.

For this purpose a five-member citizen’s committee has been set up at Ashakulam.

The committee meets weekly to review the functioning of the archive and make the necessary changes to ensure smooth functioning.

NATIONAL FOLKLORE SUPPORT CENTRECHENNAI

Presented By: Aakaash Nair, Programme Officer, NFSC

© 2010