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Music is seen as a medium of expression and communication in many cultures. For the Garos of West Garo Hills, Meghalaya too, music is not only an important part of their everyday life, but acts as a communication between and among several groups within the tribe. Their traditional music comprises of over 140 instruments, and several types and forms of music. Again, some of them are sacred in nature, thus acting both as a unifying and segregating force, and related to the believers of the traditional religion, Songsarek. These are variously composed of recitations, incantations, prayers etc. calling upon or propitiating deities and spirits; many times accompanied by sacred instruments, which are at times played alone. Secular music comprises of those which are used by all, including Christians (except modern day Church songs) and those following other faiths, as well as during festivities connected to Wangala, the harvest festival, and music related to past events and merry making. This paper explores the symbolic communication existent in traditional Garo music, in the context of singing and recitation, communication within communication, intra and inter personal communication music and paralanguage.

Keywords: Traditional music – semiotics – communication in music – beats and phrases – Garo

Female-headed households (FHHs) have increasingly been a characteristic feature of the Indian demographic landscape, reflecting broader family structures transformation, gender norms, and population processes. Using five rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of the spatial and temporal patterns of female household headship across Indian states and districts. The prevalence of FHHs nearly doubled over the three decades, from 9.2 per cent in 1992–93 to 17.5 per cent in 2019–21, though with considerable regional heterogeneity shaped by cultural systems, migration histories, and socio-economic conditions. States/UTs such as Meghalaya and Lakshadweep continue to show high levels of female headship, while most northern states consistently remain below the national average. At the district level, the variation is even more extreme, ranging from less than 2 per cent to over 50 per cent. Demographic profiles suggest that female headship is closely associated with widowhood, ageing, and low educational attainment, a function of life-course vulnerabilities rather than transition driven by empowerment. Socio-economic disparities between female and male-headed households persist across time, particularly in land ownership, wealth, and digital access. These findings highlight the importance of region-specific policy interventions and reveal that female headship in India is influenced by a complex interplay of demographic forces and structural inequalities. The study contributes a long-term, spatially disaggregated perspective on female-headed households and their evolving position within India’s demographic and development landscape.

Keywords: female-headed households, socio-cultural, gender, poverty, widowhood

Indian Civilization is very much associated with the knowledge and wisdom. Indian folk knowledge is sustainable and strive for both environmental and social welfare in holistic manner. According to Jñ?na yoga, knowledge has been called as cessation of all functions of mind. Potters, known as Prajapati or Kumhar in India, is considered as God of knowledge and creativity, they created the universe as per Indian myths. Folk knowledge is traditional practices, concepts, skills, superstitions, and way of life, which pass from ancestors to their next generation in the form of folklore. Pottery practice in form of artistic expression is one of the important folk types of knowledge, transmitted to the present generation as a family run small scale livelihood support, is being developed as one of the important skills in field of art and craft, for generating employment and business along with sustainability. But the community is lagging in their entrepreneurial approach because of multifaceted problems and challenges. This article will discuss the concept of pottery as a folk knowledge associated with skill development seeing the modern context of entrepreneurship in India. The study has been based on the primary data and observations collected from the Jharkhand, India. The secondary sources have also been incorporated in the study to make the article more informative.

Keywords: Indian Civilization, Folk Knowledge, Pottery, Entrepreneurship, Skill Development.

A representation is a visual, written, or audio depiction of something or someone. This term also refers broadly to what texts mean, the meanings they potentially convey, and how they come to acquire those meanings.1 Perhaps the most widespread and forthright view of literature is that it serves as a representation of life and people’s voices. The concept of representation has been fundamental to the understanding of literature. Literature is not only the contribution of journals and newspapers but also novels and other literary pieces. This studies the consciousness of the people towards various issues in Northeast India, mainly during the 20th century. This paper consists of three parts. The first part of the paper discusses the theories of consciousness. The second part examines the various themes/issues that reflect the growth of societal consciousness as represented in the literature. The third part is in the form of a conclusion.

The Interstates Migration Workman Act (ISMW act 1976) was implemented to protect the basic right of the inert state migrant worker. The main objective of this article is to critically analyze the ISMW act and a brief assessment of the ground implementation of the ISMW act through a primary survey of migrant workers from a backward district of Odisha. The study surveyed 212 sample households (32.5 percent) from 652 population households of three villages of Balangir district of Odisha. The cross tabulation with row percentage is used to present the survey data. The study found that the ISWM act has been lapsful in registering migrant labourers. We have also found that workers are not much aware of their rights. The ISMW act has never been implemented at ground level and also never been verified by any official authority.

Keyword: Labour migration, Labour law, Odisha.

In its very basic sense, anthropology’s approach law from a comparative perspective and examines it in the socio-cultural context of human behavior. Law refers broadly to the rules and processes that regulate human behavior. Although there are frequently institutionalized systems for making decisions and enforcing them, legal anthropology does not restrict its attention to formal systems of courts or to the laws of the state. It also examines the legal ordering of tribal, band, rural, and urban neighborhoods—places that usually lack specialized legal institutions and codified rules. The anthropological study of law began from 19th-century evolutionary theories in which the form of law revealed the stage of social development. Twentieth-century legal anthropology examines processes of resolving disputes and maintaining social order. Recent scholarship focuses on continuing the relationship between law and culture, law and language, and the intersections among “plural” legal orders rooted in the community, the state, and the region as the perspectives of law in social-cultural anthropology. It examines the contemporary legal complexity produced by post-coloniality and globalization.

Keywords: Law, Human Behavior Anthropology, Culture, Legal Anthropology.

The “Iron Man of India,” Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel plays a crucial role in forming the Indian constitution, national unity, and governance. Patel served as the head of the committees that dealt with provincial constitutions, minorities, excluded and tribal territories, and fundamental rights. The study focuses to explore the contribution of the Sardar Patel’s to India’s Constitution, Governance, and National Integration. The study employs a secondary qualitative data collection process through thematic analysis to explore the findings of the study. The finding of the study indicates that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel contributed to establishing the foundation for democratic democracy and made a major contribution to the writing of the Indian Constitution. He consequently gained notoriety as the “Iron Man,” a sage politician, and the founder of contemporary India. He was a key figure of Constituent Assembly, which is instrumental in integrates princely states in “Indian Union”, and laid the foundation for a strong, better and united nation.

Keywords: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Iron Man, Constitution, India, Government, Rights, Constituent, Assembly.

Development-induced displacement has been a defining feature of India’s post-independence development agenda, particularly through large-scale dam projects that have disproportionately affected indigenous and tribal communities. This study examines the socio-cultural consequences of displacement resulting from the Dimbhe Dam project on the Mahadev Koli community of Ambegaon Taluka in Pune District, Maharashtra. The Mahadev Kolis, a Scheduled Tribe traditionally inhabiting the Western Ghats, experienced displacement in multiple phases between 1966 and 2002 due to the progressive submergence of their villages under the dam reservoir. 

The study focuses on the impact of displacement on social cohesion and ritual life, using traditional festivals as critical indicators of collective organization and cultural continuity. A qualitative research design was adopted, employing purposive and snowball sampling techniques to select displaced Mahadev Koli elders aged between 45 and 85 years from ten affected villages. Primary data were collected through in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, and structured interviews, supplemented by audio recordings and photographic documentation to capture oral histories, ritual practices, and material expressions of culture.

The research documents transformations in the observance of five major festivals—Saath, Dev Pardhi, Beej, Shimgha, and Bohada—by comparing pre-displacement collective practices with post-displacement patterns. Findings reveal a marked breakdown of village-level ritual organization following displacement. Festivals that previously reinforced communal labour, resource sharing, and social regulation have increasingly shifted toward fragmented, household-level observances. Saath and Dev Pardhi illustrate declining collective participation, while the Beej festival reflects a loss of ritual knowledge and ecological symbolism. Shimgha has been reduced from a multi-day structured ritual to a single-day event, indicating erosion of symbolic complexity and social norms. The complete discontinuation of the Bohada festival after 2005 represents the most severe cultural rupture, driven by social marginalization and ridicule in mixed-religion resettlement environments.

Overall, the study demonstrates that development-induced displacement has resulted in forced acculturation, weakening of social cohesion, and erosion of ritual life among the Mahadev Koli community, leading to long-term cultural and spiritual disintegration.

Keywords: Development-induced displacement; Mahadev Koli; Tribal festivals; Ritual transformation.

This paper seeks to examine how the author’s problematisation of the conceptual representation of poison damsel reinforces traditional notions of femininity in Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’s short historical fiction ‘Bishkanya’ (The Poison Damsel) (1945). The methodology applied is primarily a close reading of the text. It looks at the gender politics of the socio-historical society of Ancient India from the perspective of a postcolonial writer of colonial India. How far does this postcolonial sensibility colour the reimagination of the ancient past is the concern of this paper. The narrative is set arbitrarily in the context of Shishunaga Dynasty’s reign (c.412-344 BCE). Ulka, the protagonist, is portrayed as a poison damsel. The narrator, interestingly, is an ambiguous self-proclaimed misogynist man, who claims himself to be a jatismar (a person who has the ability of retrocognition). This identity has been used to establish the historic framework of the narrative. Research as this in the purview of the researcher, on this text, is left almost untouched. The paper argues, that despite its
apparent sympathetic representation of poison damsel, it remains an ideologically patriarchal text.

Keywords: Poison Damsel, Bishkanya, Patriarchy, Feminist Reading, Pharmakos, Politics of Representation. 
 

This paper presents a comparative ethnographic and philosophical analysis of shamanic traditions within the Galo and Idu Mishmi tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, India this research investigates how divine vocation, ritual discipline, and moral obligation fundamentally structure indigenous spiritual life of Galo Nyibu and Idu Mishmi Igu. The study interprets shamanism as a complex phenomenon functioning simultaneously as a religious vocation and an applied moral philosophy rooted in maintaining equilibrium across the human, natural, and spiritual realms. Findings indicate that shamanic initiation is universally perceived not as a voluntary career path but as a divine, often involuntary, calling, frequently evidenced by periods of debilitating illness, prophetic dreams, or intense visionary experiences. The comparative analysis demonstrates that while both traditions share a core cosmology emphasizing reciprocity, healing, and ethical responsibility, they diverge significantly in their mythological genealogies and ritual symbolic frameworks.

Keywords: Shamanism; Galo tribe; Idu Mishmi; Divine vocation; Indigenous philosophy.

Traditional pastoralism constitutes an important component of indigenous knowledge systems in the Himalayan region. The present study examines the life and cultural significance of Lugpons (shepherds) among the Monpa tribe of Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh. The study titled “The Life and Cultural Significance of Lugpons: Pastoral Traditions among the Monpa Tribe of Tawang District, Arunachal Pradesh” explores the traditional pastoral lifestyle and cultural values embodied by the Lugpons (Shepherds) of the Monpa community in Arunachal Pradesh. Lugpon represents not only an occupation but also a symbol of leadership, care and
harmony with nature. Based on qualitative ethnographic fieldwork, including personal interviews and participant observation, the paper documents transhumant practices of Lugpons, indigenous livestock management techniques, customary institutions and material culture associated with Lugpon pastoralism exploring tools such as Laktsa Kaw, Ghrom, Woordhop, reflecting the ingenuity of indigenous adaptation to the Himalayan landscape. The study highlights traditional mechanism such as Kha-Sey (grazing tax), Lhur (sacred sheep enclosure) and indigenous tools that regulate pastures use, ensure livestock protection, and reinforce community cohesion. Finding reveals their deep ecological knowledge and a sustainable relationship between humans, animals and high altitude Himalayan environment, also reflection on the social role they played within the Monpa society. The paper emphasizes the need for documentation, policy recognition, and community based initiative to safeguard Lugpon indigenous knowledge, which holds relevance for sustainable pastoralism, biodiversity conservation and cultural heritage preservation.

Keywords: Lugpon, Monpa Tribe, Pastoralism, Transhumance, Cultural Heritage, Indigenous Knowledge; Arunachal Pradesh. 

Retort is an earthen device used for smelting of metallic ore minerals for the production of metals by ancient miners. We have found retorts and pieces of broken retorts, slag heaps and retort dumps from south east of
Shyanmangla and east of Bachenhatti areas of Ramanagar district, Karnataka. These are cylindrical in shape with hollow or empty space inside, and varying thickness of outer shell and thick walled or thin walled. Retort have slag material. In the slag material crystals and fine radiating needles of pyroxene were observed. SEM-EDX study of polished section of slag material reveals presence of Gold (Au) flakes.

Keywords: Retort, Gold, SEM-EDX, ICP-AAS and Ramanagar.

The present empirical study is an analysis of Dalits’ shifting support base from the major political parties such as Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2022 Punjab Assembly election. With an established presence in the State, the AAP could present itself as a new alternative. The work is an effort to find out the causes behind this shifting Dalit support base to AAP. The AAP’s success was a clear message from the people of Punjab that they were fed up with the power circle of traditional political parties that were in agreement with each other to rule the State by turns. Paper argues that Dalits are likely to vote for the parties that have a chance to come to power as in 2022 Punjab Assembly Election, Dalit support base has widely shifted to AAP. The study was qualitative and conducted in the three regions of PunjabMajha, Malwa and Doaba. It is an analysis of the interactions with 300 respondents of the targeted SCs population and 30 leaders from the major political parties in Punjab.

Keywords: Dalits, SC, AAP, Punjab, support base.