There is a need to sow the seeds of tribal history and to protect the folk traditions of Medieval India, said Higher Education Minister Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya. The tribal community has preserved its culture even on Tuesday.
Pawaiya was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a two-day national seminar on ‘Medieval India: New Dimensions 'History-Culture and Tribal Traditions’. The seminar was organised under the joint aegis of the Department of Culture and Dattopant Thengadi Research Institute at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.
Pawaiya said that any country that does not take pride in its culture and history, is sure to fall. When Japan faced crisis, a large population surrendered its gold teeth on a clarion call by the King. He said that the feeling of national consciousness among the citizens should be strong. He said that civilizations change with the passing times, but culture does not change. He laid stress on the need to protect various customs and traditions which are becoming extinct these days.
He further said that the cultural importance of Madhya Pradesh can be gauged from the fact that Lord Krishna came to Madhya Bharat in the Mahabharat period to acquire knowledge from his Guru Sandipani. When Lord Ram distributed his kingdom among the sons of his brothers in the Ramayana period, Shatrughna’s son was given Vidisha state. He said that the tribal community has retained its folk songs, dialect, tradition, culture, lifestyle etc. even today. Today there is need to write history focusing on the tribal community and culture rather than on the western outlook.
Folk and tribal scholar Kapil Tiwari also addressed the seminar. The ceremony was conducted by Professor Manish Sharma. Director of Thengadi Research Institute Mukesh Mishra, Vice-Chancellors of various universities, teachers, scholars from around the country, researchers and intellectuals took part in the seminar.