Seated on top of a plateau of Shyamla Hills in Bhopal, just on the southeastern fringe of the famous Bhopal Lake is the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (Indira Gandhi National Museum of Mankind), sprawling over an area of about 200 acres of undulating grounds. It is dedicated to the depiction of the history of mankind in time and space. The unique aspects of the museum are its open air and indoor exhibits, built with the personal efforts of the traditional artisans drawn from different tribal groups in India.

Established in Bhopal in 1979 by the Central Government, it now has outspread its dimensions from a mere exhibition of tribal culture and homes to active revival of cultural activities found in every nook and corner of India. It has given a new and permanent avenue to the artistes to showcase their cultural talents before an august gathering in its open air theatre and indoor theatre halls. It also organises such programmes in different parts of India.

The location of the museum has been gifted by Nature, with some beautiful rock-shelters and rock paintings dating back to more than 2,000 years, that are found on the outer edges of the rock-cut plateau. The museum now specialises in organising cultural activities from the Northeastern states. Of late, the tribal dwellings of the Maraam tribes of Manipur have been established in the museum, along with a display of their excellent woodwork. It recently organised cultural festivals showcasing Bodo, Mising and other tribes in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh, which brought fresh laurels to this institution. The ‘Daughter of Brahmaputra’ cultural festival earned great applause when it was organised in Madhya Pradesh’s only hill station Pachmarhi during the peak tourist season.

In its march ahead in organising cultural events and fests and protecting the tribal culture of India, the management – under the dynamic stewardship of Vikas Bhatt, director of the museum – has now started a regular tribal cultural festival at the Bhopal campus thrice a month. The first festival in this series was organised on July 11-13, 2009 by inviting cultural participants from Assam and Jammu & Kashmir. A tribal group from the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh was also there to bridge the cultural gap.

The festival opened with the J&K team staging a dance drama of King Jammu Lochan of the Dogra tribe. As per the narration, the king goes on a hunt into a forest and finds a goat and a tiger drinking water from the same pond. Inspired by the love between them, he built a town in that place so that his people may live in peace with the same degree of love for each other. Based on his own name, the king gave the town the name of Jammu, which is the origin of the present Jammu town. The J&K team also rendered the famous song from the film Mission Kashmir – Bhumro... bhumro shyaam rang bhumro..., with full zest and vigour.

Next was the Rai dance of the Bundelkhand region. It is performed at a very fast pace, accompanied by loud music and songs. It is a treat to watch the large colourful polkas over the salwars of the women dancers fluttering in the air as they rhythmically whirl like spinning tops. The men playing the drums perform various acrobatics, leaping into the air with their drums and turning upside down, etc.

The star attraction of the festival’s last day was Assamese dance performances by the team of Amina Choudhury and Brijendra Rajbanshi. They opened their programme with a solo Rabha dance by Chandan Baishya. This was followed by a rhythmically fast Rongali Bihu dance. Amina and Ayesha, the Choudhury sisters, along with Pinki Baishya, were the main female performers who stole the hearts of the audience. Brijendra Rajbanshi (dhol) and Brijen Saloi (pepa) were very impressive in producing the scintillating Bihu beats even as Ayesha mesmerised the crowd with the magical sounds of indigenous musical instruments sutuli and gagana, in between her dances.

Then Pinki Baishya performed the Dashaavatar nritya, depicting the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. It was a wonderfully sequenced combination of Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Satriya style of dancing. She also performed a semi-classical dance duet with Chandan Baishya. The dance item depicted the glory of the Brahmputra river, as well as the art and culture of Assam. Later on, a solo Bihu dance was gracefully performed by Ayesha Choudhury. There was also a jhumur dance performance by Amina, Ayesha and Pinki — the girls having tucked fresh tea leaves in their hair to bring the aura of Assam tea gardens on the stage. The team concluded with their performance of Dihanaam, dedicated to the glory of Vaishnavite saints Sankardeva and Madhabdeva.

Tej Narayan