Voices from the lost horizon: stories and songs of the great Andamanese By Anvita Abbi Niyogi books Rs.995 Pages 176 This book records remembered stories and songs retrieved from linguistic and cultural amnesia. The history of migrant tribes from Africa is reconstructed, writes Jayati Gupta Written by experienced researcher and academic Anvita Abbi, this book is essentially a valiant appeal to preserve the fragile status of the languages, beliefs and practices of tribes that are remnants of the first migration from Africa to South Asia almost 70,000 years ago. These tribes settled and remained isolated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands until the mid-19th century, when the British India government designated the islands a penal colony. A valuable work of linguistic and ethnology research, Stories & Songs imaginatively illustrated by Subir Roy, features indigenous Great Andamanese songs written in Roman script with English translation. They provide readers glimpses of an extraordinary socio-cultural environment, and a learning experience about an integral but neglected region of post-independence India. This book records remembered stories and snatches of songs retrieved from linguistic and cultural amnesia. In the process, languages/voices that have been forgotten regain vitality, and the history of the islands where migrant tribes from Africa began life as hunter-gatherers is reconstructed. The myth of Phertajido, the first man of the Andaman Islands who lived alone and searched for food, and made bows and arrows is recounted by Nao Jr, one of the Great Andamanese adults in the eight households of Strait Island that make up the community. Initially, the narration started in Andamanese Hindi, because Great Andamanese had slipped into oblivion. Yet persistent jogging of tribal memory completes the tale of the first man who discovered drinking water from a spring, foraged potatoes from soil, discovered dhoop that generated fire and kaut, fine soil out of which he not only made pots but carved a human look-alike sculpture. How the figurine comes alive and laughs, the joy of discovering a companion, the peopling of a clan, form part of the Phertajido myth. Phertajido’s wife makes a rope with creepers found in the jungle. Phertajido ties a stone to it and throws it up in the sky where it gets entangled creating a pathway to outer space. The philosophical climax of the story is about finding another world and deciding to retire into the clouds, climbing up the rope from earth and cutting it off after their time on earth was done. Language is only nominally a medium of communication. There other media that records cultures mirror their social ethos, distinctive environment and worldview. The ten stories and 46 songs in the surviving native language, a mixture of four northern varieties of Great Andamanese (Jeru, Khora, Bo, Sare) are part of an oral culture that encapsulates history, philosophy, beliefs and values of these forgotten people. Such ardous fieldwork initiatied in 2005 and meticulous documentation subsequently, has preserved the diversity and richness of an ethnic heritage from completely slipping away. Nao Jr and Boa Sr…
