Meet architects Achyut Siddu and Apoorva Mishra who are encouraging members of the Pardhan Gond, Baiga and Bhil tribes of Madhya Pradesh to document their traditions through their initiative, Loksutr.
There are online shops. And then there is Loksutr – an initiative that works closely with artisans and knowledge keepers from indigenous communities to translate their oral traditions (poems, songs, myths, riddles, lores and rituals) into merchandise. Through their organisation, founders Achyut Siddu and Apoorva Mishra aim to enable indigenous communities of Madhya Pradesh, such as the Pardhan Gond, Baiga and Bhil tribes, to transform their intangible cultural heritage and traditional knowledge systems into contemporary collectibles.
Siddu, 31, and Mishra, 33, believe that Indigenous knowledge, as we know it, is either inaccessible, incomprehensible or unappealing. With Loksutr, they seek to break down those hurdles.
An original piece of art sells at about Rs 2,400 on the site, whereas you can buy prints for Rs 435 and up. The site also sells stoles, jewellery, postcards and books. The organisation has recently shifted base to Bhopal after operating in Anuppur for the last five years.
“Our experience in Anuppur has been rewarding, to say the least,” said Mishra. “Every visit to document oral traditions has left us with new, profound yet simple observations about the natural world that, when woven into stories and riddles, often transform them into powerful tools of intergenerational human knowledge transfer.”
Siddu and Mishra come from different backgrounds. While Siddu was born in Hyderabad and grew up in Mumbai and Hyderabad, Mishra was born in Satna.
“I spent my childhood in the tribal villages of Umaria, Shahdol and Anuppur,” recalled Mishra. “I pursued my bachelor’s in architecture and my master’s in urban design from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. After that, I had the fortune of going back to serve the villages that I grew up in as a consultant to the National Rurban Mission (NRuM),” she added.
Siddu, who pursued his bachelor’s in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, and post-graduation from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, also served with NRuM – a rural development pilot project aimed to provide urban amenities in rural India.
“It was during our time as consultants to NRuM when I was posted in Anuppur, which is one of the many tribal districts of Madhya Pradesh, that my exposure to indigenous tribes of the region began on a professional front,” said Mishra, adding that she then began taking a personal interest in documenting their life, culture, rituals and food practices.
“As I began to get consistent with the documentation, the subtler aspects of their living traditions began to emerge,” she said. “This rapidly eroding intangible heritage drew our attention, and we wondered if we could use our experience in design and rural development to find ways in which these traditions could be celebrated in the modern world.”
“Working in sectors that involve rural communities is peppered with great satisfaction and a greater set of challenges when looked at from a business point of view,” explained Mishra. For instance, a large chunk of resources are spent on developmental work which does not have any measurable return on investment but are crucial steps to ensure the longevity of the business and the quality of the product.
“Thus, for early-stage organisations like us, this implies working capital issues. We have seen that this focus pays dividends eventually in terms of artists’ loyalty, and the quality that they deliver,” she elaborated.
Besides running Loksutr, the couple is currently working on producing four illustrated art books on the folklore, myths and social rituals of the Pardhan Gonds with the support of the Raza Foundation, which is due to be released in early 2025.
Working with this tribe has been an enriching experience for Siddu and Mishra. “The Pardhans, who happen to be the bards and genealogists of the Gond raja, transfer the collective memory of the tribe from one generation to the next by invoking their primal deity who resides in the bana. The bana is a stringed musical instrument made and played solely by a Pardhan. He sings about the valour and bravery of the Gond ancestors. This remains one of the most memorable and visually rich traditions that we have succeeded in documenting. It is from these practices that our products and services are derived,” said Mishra.
For others seeking to do meaningful work in this area, the couple has some advice. “Any enduring and meaningful work is an outcome of decades of relentless action. Often the challenges on the ground are intergenerational. So do not be tempted to chase quick fixes. Always be aware of the imbalance of knowledge and power. You will find in your journey, people with immense knowledge but no power and the other way round. Learn to work with both of these extremes and everyone in the middle,” said Siddu.
Log onto www.loksutr.org for more information about the initiative and the products on sale.
The lead image on top shows Loksutr founders Achyut Siddu and Apoorva Mishra with Pardhan Gond artists from a women’s self-help group in Patangarh, Dindori, Madhya Pradesh showing their Gond paintings. (Photographed by Dileep Mishra)
Smriti Mukerji is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.
