Tribal Verse
Three songs
Explain what each song shows about its community's worldview.
The chapter includes three tribal songs, in translation.
The Munda song: when a son is born, the sun rises and the cowshed empties. When a daughter is born, the moon rises and the cowshed fills. Behind this lies the custom of bride-price: cattle go out of the family when a son marries, and come in when a daughter marries. Daughters are valued as wealth.
The Munda people live in several eastern states. They have their own encyclopaedia, and they resisted colonial rule under the leadership of Birsa Munda.
The Kondh song: at a death, the family offers a small fowl to the spirit of the dead person, and asks it to go back to the world of the dead, and not trouble the living.
The Adi song is a healing chant, sung in the ritual language Miri Agom. The sick person's maternal uncle calls back the person's lost health, using an amulet, a Ridin creeper and a cock.
The Adi use Adi Agom for daily talk, and Miri Agom only for chants, much as Sanskrit is used for rituals beside spoken Hindi.
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