The present article discusses the performance of the ancient artistic technique of the wall paintings known as anital among the indigenous group of the Lanjia Saora of the Rayagada district in southern Orissa (India). The anital is a painting in which the aesthetic holds maybe a lesser importance if compared to its ritual function in Saoran shamanic practices performed by the kuran (the medicine man of the community). Through the wall-painting, as through a window between the dimensions that constitute the cosmos, the group strengthens the covenant between the living and the dead. The subject of this ādivāsī art form is thus highly symbolic and usually tells a dream, or a vision of the shaman that, through his performance, portrays the subtle world. However, with the advent of Christianity the anitals have become a target of persecution among the converted, precisely because they embody the tribal identity of the past. The recent revival of indigenous works along with many initiatives developed by local NGOs have tended to replicate ad infinitum the arcane motifs of anitals, identifying them for the consumption of modernity as purely ‘tribal art’ deprived of its ancient and authentic religious value. Despite this moment of profound social change and anthropological transition I will demonstrate how the traditional technique is still alive and how it can be decoded through knowledge of the Saoran culture.

Aspects of Saora Ritual: Permanence and Transition in Artistic Performance

BEGGIORA, Stefano
2015-01-01

Abstract

The present article discusses the performance of the ancient artistic technique of the wall paintings known as anital among the indigenous group of the Lanjia Saora of the Rayagada district in southern Orissa (India). The anital is a painting in which the aesthetic holds maybe a lesser importance if compared to its ritual function in Saoran shamanic practices performed by the kuran (the medicine man of the community). Through the wall-painting, as through a window between the dimensions that constitute the cosmos, the group strengthens the covenant between the living and the dead. The subject of this ādivāsī art form is thus highly symbolic and usually tells a dream, or a vision of the shaman that, through his performance, portrays the subtle world. However, with the advent of Christianity the anitals have become a target of persecution among the converted, precisely because they embody the tribal identity of the past. The recent revival of indigenous works along with many initiatives developed by local NGOs have tended to replicate ad infinitum the arcane motifs of anitals, identifying them for the consumption of modernity as purely ‘tribal art’ deprived of its ancient and authentic religious value. Despite this moment of profound social change and anthropological transition I will demonstrate how the traditional technique is still alive and how it can be decoded through knowledge of the Saoran culture.
2015
18
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/3671530
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