Exploring New Aesthetics of Tribal Poetry with Reference to Korku, Pawari and Banjara Dialects

Abstract

Gond, Korku, Bhill, Pardhan, Madia, Pawar, Santhali are some tribal communities settled in the hills and forest of India. Many of them are found  spread in Maharshtra. The area called Gondwan has the largest number of Gond and Pardhan communities, and once they had their territory there. Similarly, the Korku tribe is settled in the Melghat area of Vidarbha and Pawari in the western region of the Sahyadri. During the course of time, they lost their script, but they were able to preserve their dialects and culture, which is rich and erotic. They sing several folk songs at the festivities and cultural gatherings. Now, due to the spread of education and facilities, many talented poets and writers from the communities have come forward and produced a lot of literature, particularly poetry. They used Marathi script for their poetic expressions. The poets like Ramgopal Bhilavekar in Korku dialect, Santosh Pawara in Pawari dialect and Dr. Veera Rathod in Banjara dialect are some of the important names whose poems in their respective dialects have been taken for the study. This research article is an attempt to bring fore the tribal consciousness expressed by them and a serious and novel attempt to explore their aesthetics with some examples by translating them into English. Hopefully, it will provide an international platform for these tribal senses and sensibilities and bring before the developed world community the richness of rebellious thoughts and a beautiful cadence of content essential in their short but simple compositions.