Promoting Tribal Knowledge through Play

Session 60 summary

The group Abhishek was part of worked on the platform of how play can be used to find, promote and to create awareness about tribal cultures throughout the world. For which they selected some tribes to explore how play and game can be used as a tool to promote the important elements of the tribes. While discovering tribal culture through play, they had explored was their value systems, sustainable solution of the Baiga tribe and how they are unified. The isolation and unity of their particular livelihood and lifestyle is important which can be a huge solution for the sustainable future. So, play has the capability and rights as a medium to bridge the gap between the urban and tribal culture. Right now with how the generation is moving on and what is left behind is very important to recover; the lifestyle, food systems, beliefs, etc. the group tried to explore these things.

The Baigas are an ethnic group found in Central India, primarily in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in the surrounding states of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The largest number ofBaiga are found in Baiga-Chukin Mandla district and Balaghatdistrict of Madhya Pradesh. Its’ sub-castes are Bijhwar, Narotia, Bharotiya, Nahar, Rai maina and Kath maina. The name Baiga means, “sorcerer-medicine man”. Some Baigas, mostly those from Mandla district have mentioned ‘baigani’ as their mother tongue in the past. Baigani is now recognised as a variety of Chhattisgarhi influenced by Gondi. Most Baiga speak Hindi and some of them also know a few local languages such as Gondi and Marathi depending on the region where they live. After the introduction of government policies the government restricted them from burning the land and instead use the plow. To convince the Baigas that what they do is not the right way of farming and there are a lot of better ways in terms of technicality, taking nature into consideration, etc. and that they don’t have to burn the land which they finally they understood. Initially they had more than 150 seeds with high medicinal properties but during British India their lands got captured so they lost many seeds after 1850s and Indian Independence When they started selecting methods to start farming, they also started collecting the seeds and finally were able to collect 12 major seeds which were actually a part of the Baiga tribe. The best part of bewar farming and those seeds is that they don’t need water or a particular kind of land. So, in terms of financial stability it does not requires too much and one can do the farming anywhere, use any number of seeds and grow it in any place. After 1990s, 1995 majorly, they started collecting seeds and to collect and store seeds they created a seed storage system in every village so that they can supply the seeds everywhere which is very organized and very administrative but this was something they initiated and was not done by the government. The kodon seed can be safely stored upto 100 years, and a lot of the seeds can be stored for a lot of years. They also found some good containers in which they can preserve things.

The group tried to explore not the clothing system, not how they live and where they live but all about the habitat part of the Baigas, how they are majorly associated with the landscape, how they live, what are their lifestyle and what are the major indigenous method of farming (called the bewar farming and sorts of jhum farming) in which they burn the farmland after harvesting and spread the seeds on the farm. The reason for selecting the Baiga community and to explore their agro-ecological practices was because it is something unique theBaiga community carries as traditional and indigenous methods. Abhishek’s group found limited images of the tribe due to the pandemic. The images collected showed the things majorly associated with the tribe which the group can promote and make people aware of through play. The elements from the Baiga tribe the group had selected was–sustainable farming, jhum cultivation, nutritional value of the seeds, millets, bewar farming, medicinal properties of a lot of things which the tribal culture is known for and how that can be a global solution. They discussed a lot of technical things and scientific things but there are a lot of indigenous practices which doesn’t need a lot of money to do farming. They don’t need a proper preparation of land to do the farming this is what the bewar farming is known for.

Starting with the concept the group tried to explore how to introduce not a new game instead they explored with the already existing board games that are quite famous in India which the children love to play. They also explored how the elements of the Baiga tribe can be used in the ‘Snake and Ladder’ platforms and how that can be used to promote things to spread awareness and bring knowledge to large population. An urban person doesn’t really visit the tribes regularly so the group wanted to introduce the Baiga tribe’s bewar farming and the seed storage system through board games. The elements taken up for this was the seed containers, the seed bags(small seed bags created by the farmers) and some sacrifices so that one can learn how to donate things to help others when they need some goods. A person can be appointed to handle the responsibility of the seed storage platform and all the seeds. In the donation box the player has to step back the given number of steps. The game can be improved in many ways to promote sustainable farming methods and create a wealthy system for tribes. To bring some playfulness and fun the group added mahua to skip the chance of the player. They also added some other things which are flexible and people would find them fun to use in the game. The main motto of this concept is to be flexible enough to bring more elements and suspend some according to the tribes and players.

The next game the group decided on was the memory game in which they included some card games. The group presented the Baiga as ‘medicine man’ and their crops, seeds, vegetables and herbs are more known for their medicinal properties. They included the tattoos of Baiga tribe that people don’t know of and there are many tribes in India and probably the world that the people don’t know of. They tried to bring all those elements in the ‘Memory Game Cards’. In this game, there are a set of two cards and every player has to have 6 or 7 cards when distributed at the beginning of the game. The one card in the center has to deflect with things like injury, suppose there is a card for injury then all the seeds or ingredients that can be used for injury should be shown by the players so that they can finish their cards. Similarly for pregnant women, wounds, creating tattoos, etc. which can make people aware of all the things available and their medicinal properties. Through the game they can learn more and know about the tribes, their food system, their habitats, etc. This game can be adopted to other tribes also because of its uniqueness and the game can be made all about the awareness of a particular culture and help in carrying forward ancient methods and undiscovered areas, so in the card one can add any number of cards and any number of ingredients.

Exploring outdoor game activities- It was not just limited to board and card games but since people usually don’t have the money to buy some games in the village, they decided to create something with what is available there. They created a concept like the ‘Checklist Method’ where every task is performed through the right process for an effective outcome and there are always boundaries and timelines to complete. The game is designed to understand the process behind real life tasks. This game requires proper communication, memory, quick response and coordination at the same time to finish and to become the winner of the game. The game can be played with multiple teams and more than two members in each team. The members hold hands and work on each task carefully to know the importance of the task in a community. When the game starts the organizer starts playing the drum beats so that one creates the vibe of a tribal game scenario. Once the game starts the teams start collecting the objects stated by the organizer and place it in the task area assigned to each team. These tasks are related to the practices which have evolved and how people amended them according to their needs.

Another game for the faunas- The group not only focused on the landscape, the land, the tribe, the forest but also about on the flora and faunas. To do that they tried to explore and look forward to what fauna they could choose. According to the state government data, the number of wild buffalo in the entire Jharkhand state is estimated to be around 20-35 right now. ‘The Conservationist’ is a game which can be used in the forest departments so that they can have a good data of faunas of a particular region and create awareness about conservation of animals which need to be protected. The player represent the tribes, so the multiple number of players can take part in the game to represent the tribe for the conservation of fauna.

‘Treasure Hunt’- The group created a treasure hunt board game which was a merger of all the concepts discussed. The game is designed to explore the Baiga tribe’s lifestyle, bad habits, good habits, thought process and belief systems which can be fun. It helps in spreading awareness about the tribe in a playful manner and help educate for social development. The game is scalable to digital medium and can be modified for different tribes. The rules of the games are: 6-10 players can play the game(with 4kg kodo millets), player can start playing clockwise with number 6, a player can earn only one power at a time, a player can use only one power at a time, a player can block the bridge for a total of 30 chances, every player can earn only one gaur, the player can earn one question in exchange for 6kg of kodo millets, if the players clash with each other then they must move forward together only one step at a time for 9 chances and the player must start the game with the next green dot if they answered the question correctly. In this game there are fortune cards with options such as; move 2 steps forward, earned a question, you can use the power now, sorry start the game again, drink mahua, earned one power (you choose), offer mahua to anyone, move anticlockwise, you can take any one power from anyone, etc. Players can add many fortune cards to make the game more interesting and insightful. The game contains: colored cones, millets donation container, 60 question cards, gold star to earn power, red star to use power, dice to move forward, the anticlockwise symbol to start moving anticlockwise for 3 chances, 50 fortune cards, question mark to ask question to cross the bridge and move one step closer to the treasure. Powers- one gaur to block the bridge, 6 kg kodo millets, 2 glass mahuato snatch 4 chances for 2 players and 2 fortune cards. The same thing was implemented in the outdoor activities, but not all of them because it is an outdoor activity.