Vagri Material Culture - A Resource book for the Vagri Community by S. Bhakthavatsala Bharathi
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Vagri Material Culture
By S. Bhakthavatsala Bharathi
In collaboration with
Puduvai Ilavenil(Photographs)
G. Srinivasa Varma(Photographsagri Texts)
L. Raja (Vagri Associate)
L. Manickam (Vagri Associate)
To order a copy, send Demand Draft or International Money Order in favour of National Folklore Support Centre payable at Chennai (India).
About the Book
As a part of the ongoing community digital archiving process, we documented Vagri material culture intensively across a wide region, covering eight districts in Tamilnadu. Material culture is the generic term that includes all kinds of tangible things used by the Vagri. Their material culture forms an excellent base for learning the language and understanding the cultural concepts (lit.: Vagri heathenism). Further, a realm of communication and symbolism through tangible artifacts is achieved in every sensory existence. Vagri material culture, though the inventory is rather small, is largely functional, utilitarian, adaptable, innovative and flexible. Vagri interact with modernising, development paradigms, decolonisation and nation- building processes, directly or indirectly. Vagri material culture adheres to modernity through acculturation, assimilation, absorption and adoption of many modern inputs. In some spheres they stand between tradition and modernity.
S. BHAKTHAVATSALA BHARATHI was born in 1957, and studied Social Anthropology at Master’s level and received PhD from Mysore University. He has been specialising on the cultures of south Indian societies. After an initial research among Kambalathu Nayakkar (a nomadic Telugu subcaste) during 1985-1990, he continued his ethnographic studies on Coromandel Fishermen and nomadic communities in the Tamil region. His two studies sponsored by UNESCO and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, are significant contributions. He is the author of numerous articles, as well as several books on Tamil society and culture. Important works are: Cultural Anthropology (1990), Coromandel Fishermen (1999), Anthropology of Tamil Society (2002), Nomads in Tamilnadu (editor 2003), Lankan-Indian Anthropology (co-author 2004), Theories of Anthropology (2005), Sociocultural Anthropology (translation 2005), Tribes of Tamilnadu (2007). He teaches Anthropology at Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture (PILC) since 1990. Before joining in PILC, he served at Tamil University, Thanjavur, during 1985-1990.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Habitations, Tents and Houses
Chapter 2 Dress and Ornaments
Chapter 3 Ethnicity, Lore and Materials
Chapter 4 Women and Materialsl
Chapter 5 Men and Materials
Chapter 6 Band and Camp Organisation
Chapter 7 Economic Organisation
Chapter 8 Gears and Implements
Chapter 9 Indigenous Medicine
Chapter 10 Household Materials
Chapter 11 Children and Materials
Chapter 12 Belief System and Rituals
