IGRMS holds ‘Curatorial Talk’ on nomadic life of Rabaris of Kutch

| | Bhopal | in Bhopal

Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya organised another chapter of its popular series, Curatorial Talk on Friday, where assistant curator of Manav Sangrahalaya Rakesh Bhatt spoke on ‘Nomadic Life of the Rabaris of Kutch, Gujarat: A field observation’.

The lecture was chaired by Prof Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri, Director, IGRMS. Earlier, RM Nayal, Assistant Keeper gave brief profile of the keynote speaker. Vote of Thanks was presented by Arun Kiro, Asst Curator, IGRMS. During collection and documentation (both textual and audio-visual) of their material culture of Rabaris, Tapas Biswas, Photographic Officer and HBS Parihar, Cameraman was also a part of IGRMS team.

 In reference of the field work done by them on the Rabari tribes living in the state of Gujarat, Rakesh Bhatt said that the life of western area of Gujarat is full of struggle.  At the one end there is only salt and on the other side there is having a lot of wet mud. But even of these natural problems, the Rabaris of Gujarat have found their place in the big area of about 44000 km. Besides, discussing the extensive documentation and collection of specimens by Bhatt, he informed that these specimens are playing an important role in displaying the life and culture of Rabaris.

He added that the life of this nomadic community is having science in it. He also displayed the life, culture and exhibition making activities of Rabari through slide show presentation.

The presentation was started with map of India showing temporary residential areas of nomadic communities. It also shows that these communities are moving from here and there for whole year. The life of Rabaris was fully dependent on cattle.

In other words, these cattle (Camel, Buffalos, cow, sheep, and goats) are part and parcel of their life.  The Rabari women are expert in the traditional embroidery. It is an essential part of their dress. Their knitted and crafted dress and ornaments are displaying in museums exhibition. They also love music.