Archiving Tribal Wisdom
About Harish Bhai Rathava
Head Librarian,
Adivasi Academy,
Tejgadh
Harish Bhai Rathava serves as the Head Librarian at the Adivasi Academy, Tejgadh, where he oversees one of India’s most important repositories of tribal knowledge and heritage. With a deep commitment to preserving and sharing Indigenous intellectual traditions, he manages invaluable collections that include rare manuscripts, oral histories, ethnographic records, and contemporary works on tribal identity and development.
He holds a Master’s in Rural Management (MRM, 1997) and a Master’s in Library and Information Science (MLIBS, 2002) from Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad. In 2004, he joined the Adivasi Academy, where he has since played a central role in building and maintaining its library as a vibrant hub of knowledge for scholars, students, and community members alike.
Under his stewardship, the Academy safeguards seminal works such as the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, a monumental documentation of the country’s linguistic diversity, much of it rooted in Adivasi languages.
Harish Bhai’s lifelong work reflects a larger mission: to uphold the memory, dignity, and knowledge systems of India’s tribal peoples, ensuring these living traditions remain accessible for future generations.