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‘Tribal Verse’ is the fourth essay in the NCERT Class 11 English Woven Words textbook. This essay explores the literary traditions of India’s tribes, highlighting their songs, chants, rituals, and unique worldview. This poem explores the cultural richness, close connection with nature, and memory-based creativity of tribal societies. This blog brings you the summary, key points, themes, and explanations of Tribal Verse, helping you revise the chapter effectively. You can also download the free PDF for effective revision.
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Explore Notes of Class 11 English Woven Words
NCERT Notes Class 11 English Woven Words Essay 4: Tribal Verse
Here we have provided the NCERT notes for Class 11 English Woven Words Essay 4: Tribal Verse, including author highlights, synopsis, themes, and a detailed summary.
About the Author and Key Highlights
G.N. Devy is a renowned literary critic and activist, concerned with conserving India’s oral traditions and tribal heritage. In Introduction to Painted Words, he argues for recognising orality as literature in its own right, not dismissing it as folklore.
The Key Highlight of the Essay:
- Indian tribal oral traditions are repositories of history, culture, and worldview.
- Their arts and songs are inseparable from daily rituals and nature.
- Creativity is collective, rooted in memory, ritual, and playfulness rather than individual authorship.
- Tribal imagination is dreamlike, fluid, and fuses nature, human life, and the divine.
Synopsis of the Essay
Tribal verse derives from oral traditions of India’s adivasis, transmitted through songs, chants, and rituals. Here is the synopsis of the essay:
- Urbanisation, print culture, and neglect threaten these traditions, though linguistic and anthropological efforts exist to conserve them.
- G.N. Devy underlines the need to rethink the definition of literature, recognising oral works as significant and not “lesser” than written texts.
- Tribal imagination is hallucinatory, dreamlike, playful, blending gods, nature, animals, and humans seamlessly. Memory shapes tribal creativity more than cultivated imagination.
- Songs and chants are deeply tied to rituals of birth, death, health, marriage, and hunting.
- The selected samples (Munda, Kondh, and Adi songs) illustrate how tribals perceive life, death, health, and nature through artistic expression.
Main Characters in the Essay
Understand the key figures who drive the narrative:
- G.N. Devy (Narrator): Provides critical reflections on oral traditions, their aesthetics, and the need for literary recognition.
- Munda tribe: Associated with the Song of Birth and Death, valuing daughters, reflecting women’s important role in their society.
- Kondh tribe: Associated with a Song of Death, emphasising rituals to pacify spirits of the dead.
- Adi tribe: Associated with a Healing Song, chanted in ritual language (Miri Agom) to restore health.
- Tribal imagination itself: Personified as playful, spiritual, collective, and deeply connected to nature.
Themes in the Essay
The essay explores several significant themes, explained below in simple terms:
- Orality vs. Literacy – Oral traditions deserve equal recognition as written literature, preserving memory, imagination, and culture.
- Relationship with Nature – Tribals view nature as sacred, responsive, and inseparable from human life.
- Imagination and Memory – Tribal creativity is rooted in racial memory and ritualistic recall rather than rational analysis.
- Ritual and Community – Songs are performed in communal events, blending sacred with playful.
- Cultural Identity and Resistance – Tribes like Munda and Santhal also played roles in larger socio-political struggles.
- Sacred and Playful Fusion – Art is ritualistic but also humorous, never solemn; gods, heroes, and spirits are treated with intimacy.
- Bilingualism and Fluidity – Tribal communities balance their own languages with external influences, shaping flexible oral traditions.
Literary Devices in the Essay
The narrator uses various literary devices to enhance the narrative:
- Imagery: Songs use vivid imagery drawn from nature (sun, moon, animals, spirits, creepers).
- Symbolism: Cattle, creepers, footsteps, and ornaments symbolise prosperity, health, and continuity.
- Contrast: Written vs. oral literature; sacred vs. playful tone; son vs. daughter in Munda song.
- Personification: Stars, seas, mountains, and animals are given human emotions and voices.
- Allusion: Tribal versions of epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata blend stories in hallucinatory ways.
- Repetition and Oral Rhythm: The songs employ rhythm, repetition, and chanting to create a ritual effect.
Also Read: NCERT Notes Class 11 English Woven Words Chapter 7: Glory at Twilight (Free PDF)
Class 11 English Essay 4: Tribal Verse Summary
The essay Tribal Verse by G.N. Devy explores the literary traditions of India’s tribes, highlighting their songs, chants and rituals. Below is a detailed summary of the key points in a clear and concise manner:
1. Introduction to Oral Literature
- India’s early literature springs from oral tribal traditions.
- These songs express a worldview where nature and human life are inseparable.
- Modernisation and print culture threaten their survival.
2. G.N. Devy’s Reflections (Introduction to Painted Words)
- Tribal imagination is dreamlike, hallucinatory, and playful, unlike modern structured literature.
- Nature, humans, gods, and animals merge seamlessly in their stories.
- Creativity is collective memory, transmitted orally through rituals, not individual authorship.
- Orality must be acknowledged as significant literature, not lesser folklore.
- Tribal arts are ritual-linked but humorous, never pretentious, rooted in community and bilingualism.
3. The Samples of Tribal Songs
- Munda Song (Birth and Death): A Daughter’s birth is valued more than a son’s, linked to prosperity (cowshed imagery). Reflects women’s important role in society.
- Kondh Song (Death Ritual): Pleads with the spirit of the dead to leave peacefully; an offering of a fowl is made as protection for the living. Reflects belief in spirits’ continued influence after death.
- Adi Song (Healing Chant): A maternal uncle conducts a ritual in the Miri Agom language, using amulets and a healing creeper to call back the spirit of health. Reflects their animistic belief that illness is a loss of spirit.
4. Broader Insights
- Tribal songs reveal a vision of life in communion with nature and ancestors.
- They stand at risk of erasure, but preservation and translation allow access to these treasures, even if some flavour is lost.
- Orality, bilingualism, and performance are essential to understanding tribal literature.
Moral of the Essay
Below are the key moral lessons from the essay:
- Literature is not limited to the written word; oral traditions are equally rich and vital.
- Tribal songs teach deep respect for nature, community, and ancestors.
- Creativity can be collective, rooted in memory, not just individual imagination.
- Ritual, humour, playfulness, and sacredness coexist in tribal art.
- Preserving oral traditions is essential to safeguarding India’s cultural and literary heritage.
Download more NCERT Solutions of Class 11 English ‘Woven Words’ here!
| Essay 1: My Watch |
| Essay 2: My Three Passions |
| Essay 3: Patterns of Creativity |
| Essay 5: What is a Good Book? |
| Essay 6: The Story |
Explore Notes of Other NCERT Class 11 Subjects
| Geography | History | Political Science | Psychology | Sociology |
FAQs
It emphasises the richness of India’s tribal oral traditions, their close bond with nature, and the need to preserve oral literature as equally important as written texts.
He calls it dreamlike and hallucinatory, where boundaries of time, space, and reality blur, and animals, gods, and humans coexist naturally.
The Munda song values daughters as assets linked with prosperity, stressing the important role of women in their society.
For NCERT study material, follow the NCERT Notes and Solutions Class 11 English by Leverage Edu now.
