The Tales of the Tribes is nearing completion.  It consists of an animation series of five short animated folktales from tribal communities in India.  The five stories are:  Manjoor Jhali (the Creation of the Peacock) from the Pardhan Gonds, Man Tiger Spirit from the Angami in Nagaland, Abotani from the Tani group in Arunachal Pradesh,  Nye Mayel Kyong from the Lepcha in Sikkim, and last but not least, Tapta, from Manipur.

This sample collection will be brought together into a cohesive programme by our animated presenter, a graphic representation of Verrier Elwin, who qualifies as the translator of these stories to the wider world.

I recently returned from Shillong, where Elwin spent the last ten years of his life, in his role as Advisor on Tribal Affairs to the Governor of Assam.  In Shillong, I met with his family, and we are going to collaborate to make the great man more accessible to the young generation through the medium of animation.  The character design is to be done by talented Garo artist Arak Sangma, and the animation will be created by a local team, with the help of Souvik Mujumdar, right there in Shillong.  We are hoping for our support from the Department of Art and Culture, where Matsiewdor War has received our proposal for a workshop early next year, to proceed with bringing these sequences, in which Elwin introduces the films, to life.

Elwin’s  contribution to the knowledge of tribal cultures in India was profound.  I was surprised to find out how little is known about him even in Shillong.  But this will be changed.  We hope you will join us on this important journey.  Indeed it is the first animation series of tribal stories to be made in India, as a collaboration by young artists and animators.  We will be recording the whole process with our mentor, Verrier Elwin,  and we will be updating it here, so you can follow along with us.

Verrier Elwin and the Tales of the Tribes

The Tales of the Tribes is a sample collection of five short animated films based on indigenous storytelling traditions from India. The journey of this project - that of adapting a few tribal folktales for the medium of animation - began in 2009, with a three week long Animation Workshop that took place in Dimapur and was supported by the Government of Nagaland. Two years later and the story from Nagaland - an Angami tale of three brothers - was completed and screened at the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland in 2011. This was followed by animated folktales from Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, also made in partnership with local organisations. The last animated story of the collection that remains to be completed is from the Pardhan Gonds of Central India, and it relates a mythical story of how the peacock was created. 

The collection of animated films is still in production by the Adivasi Arts Trust (www.adivasiartstrust.org), a charity registered in the UK that is dedicated to to promoting and preserving Indian indigenous art, culture and storytelling through animation and digital media. The Tales of the Tribes follows a format that found success in an earlier series of adapted Adivasi stories from Central India. The Tallest Story Competition produced by West Highland Animation in Scotland, was completed in 2006. This earlier series of five short films had been introduced by a Scottish children’s comedian represented as an animated character who introduced the programme as a storytelling competition with the five films competing for the most votes from young audiences. The cartoon presenter called Norman was the master of ceremonies for The Tallest Story Competition, and he also established the cross cultural link to make the tribal stories accessible to audiences in Scotland. 

Over 10,000 children voted for their favourite story in The Tallest Story Competition after the screening events held in schools and cultural centres in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa. In 2007, a promised Trophy was awarded to a Pardhan Gond artist who had been invited to the Inverness Film Festival in Scotland to represent the group of Pardhan artists that had created all the artwork for the adaptation of their story, the most popular Best of the Best.

The screenings had shown that Adivasi children enjoyed watching their own stories in animated form. The format of a competition was a good way to record the responses to the films and interestingly, the children usually voted for the story from their own community above all the rest. However, with well defined characters and narrative, the clear, concise moral outcome of the Gond tale - that of getting what one deserves - was particularly satisfying for audiences when they “get” the message, making it the overall winner.

Now building on the success of this earlier series and with her own background in animation, Tara Douglas has decided to reproduce and extend the competition to include more animated tribal stories from the North East. This time the programme was planned and produced entirely in India in collaboration with the local communities that are represented in the programme. Learning of the extent to which the young generation of tribal children are now exposed to mass media entertainment and on discovering their enthusiasm for watching animated programmes, Tara also noticed that these young people were losing touch with their own oral traditions. This project was then developed by her as practice-led PhD research through Bournemouth University in the UK, to investigate if participatory film-making practices could help to reconnect the young generation with their oral heritage.

The series is now reaching completion and these films need to be introduced by an animated character who will also invite audiences to choose their favorite story. This time Verrier Elwin has been chosen as the presenter for the new collection of films.   

How many of the young generation know anything about the renowned British ethnographer? By setting up the character of Elwin as the master of ceremonies for the new programme, this acknowledges his outstanding contribution to the documentation of Indian tribal history, culture and the volumes of folktales that have provided source material for this collection of animated films.  

Elwin’s autobiography The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin (1998) paints a picture of him as charming, perceptive, entertaining, and somewhat eccentric. In fact, Elwin (1902-1964) had a remarkably brilliant life. He first graduated with distinction from Oxford University and he then travelled to India as an Anglo-Catholic missionary, urged on by a desire to serve the poor as reparation for the recent history of colonial exploitation. His early contact with Mahatma Gandhi led him on another trajectory, and he became active in the cause for Indian Independence, even going as far as to vow that he would walk barefoot until Independence had been achieved. His future in India came under threat when he was denied permission to return from a visit to England until he could provide an undertaking to have nothing further to do with politics. So instead, Elwin established himself in a Gond village, and he worked consistently to benefit the most impoverished. 

Elwin’s work has generated controversy during his lifetime and since. His unconventional sentimental approach of activism was criticized by the more formal, somber scholars of his time and he has been further misinterpreted as an isolationist: that is, anti-progressive and anti-nationalist, for he had maintained that the tribal societies needed protection from too rapid assimilation into the mainstream. However, what stands out is his devotion to the tribes: he lived and integrated with the Gonds in Central India for 27 years before stepping into the role as Tribal Advisor to the Governor of Assam and basing himself in Shillong until the end of his life. Elwin’s intention to make the tribal people known had been founded on the idea that this would increase affection and respect for them from the rest of the country. Were he still living in Shillong to this day, we can presume his delight at the reinterpretation of oral stories using the medium of animation by local young artists. 

His long term commitment to the tribes makes Elwin the right candidate to present the animated tribal stories. Tara Douglas outlines her hope that this remaining phase of the animation production will take place in Shillong, and that the inclusion of Elwin to bring all the stories together into a cohesive narrative and also inviting young audiences to choose their favorite story, will provide an important contribution from Meghalaya for the tribal animation programme. 

A young Garo artist Arak Sangma is eager to design the Elwin character for the animation programme. Arak also happens to be a great nephew of Elwin, so it is fitting that he should explore a graphic representation of the great man. Tara has contacted the Directorate of Art and Culture in Shillong and she is hoping to organise a workshop to set the artistic team on their way. The first step will be to draw a storyboard from the script for the linking sequences of Elwin, in which he meanders through the familiar landscape of the films and interacts with various characters from the stories. The Elwin character design is required from all the angles demanded by the animated sequences and the artwork will then be scanned and manipulated using software. So look out for Elwin in the near future as he invites audiences to choose their favorite story. No doubt there will be a Trophy for the winning story in this collection too.