India Guide
Madhya Pradesh
The Museum of Man
Price: Rs10, plus Rs10 for a vehicle and Rs50 for video
Opening time: Tues– Sun: March– Aug 11am–6.30pm; Sept– Feb 10am–5.30pm
The story of India's indigenous minorities – the adivasis, literally "original inhabitants" – is all too familiar. Dispossessed of their land by large-scale "development" projects or exploitative moneylenders, the "tribals" have seen a gradual erosion of their traditional culture – a process hastened by proselytizing missionaries and governments that tend to regard tribal people as anachronistic or even an embarrassment. The Museum of Man, properly known as the Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, is an enlightened attempt to redress the balance.
Overlooking New Market on one side and the majestic sweep of Upper Lake on the other, the two-hundred-acre hilltop site includes a reconstructed Keralan coastal village, and a winding, mythological trail where each tribal group from the state has contributed their own interpretation of the creation. A large exhibition hall draws on all the daily and ritual elements in the adivasi lifestyle. Dotted amid the forest scrub are botanical trails, a research centre and, as its centrepiece, a permanent open-air exhibition of traditional adivasi houses, compounds and religious shrines collectively known as the "tribal habitat".
Before tackling the exhibition, have a quick look at the introductory gallery in the small building opposite the main entrance. From here, steps lead underneath a thatched gateway up to the top of the hill, where the seventeen or so dwelling complexes are scattered. Of particular note are the multicoloured paintings of horses adorning the walls of the Rathwa huts (look out for the picture of the train that carried the artists from their village in Gujarat); the ochre, red, black and yellow rectangular designs inside the Gadaba buildings (from Orissa); and the famous Worli wedding paintings of northern Maharashtra, which show the tribal fertility goddess Palghat framed by complex geometrical patterns.
The only way to get to the museum without your own vehicle is by auto-rickshaw; it's best to negotiate a flat rate for the round trip, including at least an hour's waiting time (around Rs150).