Intangible Cultural Heritage of Assam

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About the Book Highlighting the intangible cultural heritage of Assam, the gateway to northeast India, the present volume contains papers under seven themes for documenting such heritage. They include Folk Tales, Rituals, Cults and Religious Practices, Festivals, Music and Performing Arts, Arts and Crafts, Culinary Traditions, Ethno-Sciences and Conservation of Biodiversity. Based on field work of a number of scholars, this book is a humble tribute to the creativity as well as the ingenuity of the Assamese Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is hoped that the volume would be relevant to anthropologists, sociologists and other connoisseur of folk and tribal heritage as well as traditional knowledge system.

About the Author Kishor K. Basa is a Ph.D. from University of London and a Commonwealth Post-Doctoral Fellow of University of Cambridge. He has been teaching in the Department of Anthropology, Utkal University since 1980 and is at present Director, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) Bhopal.

He was a former President of Anthropological and Behavioral Sciences Section, Indian Science Congress and Archaeology Section of the Indian History Congress. He has co-edited five books and published papers in anthropology, archaeology and musicology.

He is the General Editor of Intangible Cultural Heritage of India Series of IGRMS and annual journal 'Humankind'.

Brinchi K. Medhi is a Professor of Social Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology of Gauhati University, Assam. He is a recipient of gold medal for securing First class First Position in Anthropology from Gauhati University, Assam. He has been conducting extensive field studies among the various ethno-cultural groups of orth-East India including tribal communities. He is also a novelist, short story writer, poet, column writer, and lyricist in Assamese language.

Preface Of late, much emphasis is being given by the UNESCO and the Government of India on documenting the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). India is signatory to the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) and has been playing an active role in this regard. As an organization, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalya (IGRMS), Bhopal - an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India - has been responsible for documenting, disseminating and even in some cases, revitalizing different dimensions of such heritage. Infect, IGRMS has a rich audio- video archive on fairs and festivals, rituals and oral traditions, traditional technologies and ethno-sciences. Thus, keeping in conformity with the international, national and institutional goals, IGRMS has been organizing a number of activities relating to ICH.

One such activity is the organization of seminars in different parts of India. Such a seminar on Intangible Cultural Heritage of Assam was organized at Guwahati jointly by IGRMS, Bhopal, Department of Anthropology, Gauhati University and Shreemanta Sankaradeva Kalaksetra, Guwahati from 28th to 30th September, 2006. The present volume contains revised version of 28 such papers. For the benefit of scholars the volume has been divided into seven sections each incorporating an important dimension of ICH. The sections are: (i) Folk Tales, (ii) Rituals, Cults and Religous Practices, (iii) Festivals, (iv) Music and Performing Arts, (v) Arts and Crafts, (vi) Culinary Traditions, (vii) Ethno-Science and Conservation of Biodiversity.

We convey our sincere thanks to all the three organizations-IGRMS, Bhopal, Department of Anthropology, Gauhati University and Shreemanta Sankaradeva Kalaksetra, Guwahati- for the success of the seminar. All the scholars who have contributed papers in the present volume deserve our sincere thanks. We convey our sincere thanks also to the IGRMS, Bhopal and Pratibha Prakashan, New Delhi for publishing it in the series on Intangible Cultural Heritage of India. We are deeply conscious that there are innumerable aspects of ICH of Assam. Ours is a modest attempt in documenting some major aspects of such heritage. We sincerely hope that more monographs would be published not only on Intangible Cultural Heritage of Assam, but also on other States of India.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages