Paddy Growing Cultures

Paddy Growing Cultures project was initiated in 2011. The main objective of the project is to study Paddy as a produce and as a cultural resource. It is an ongoing research project with the following components:

• Paddy and resource management
• Paddy and annual network of social relations
• Paddy and calendars (agrarian, ritual, festivals etc.)
• Paddy : rituals, deities and food
• Paddy and aesthetic expression: oral, aural, visual and kinetic.
• History, politics and economics of paddy cultivation

 
10 projects on different aspects of paddy culture have already been completed in collaboration with universities across the country. They are as follows:

Southern Region

• A Key Determinant of Land Revenue Assessment and Inland Water Resource Management in Madras Presidency (1902 to 1956)
• Documentation, Transliteration and Translation of Oral Narratives of Kerala on paddy
• Reconstructing Pragmatic and Semiotic Depictions of Paddy in Sangam Literature
• Documentation of Material Culture with Special Reference to Traditional Lift Irrigation Technology, Tools and Implements Associated with Paddy Growing Cultures of Tamil Nadu
• Ethno-Cultural and Ecological Examination of the Rise and Fall in Rice Bio-diversity in Southern India with Special Reference to the Western Ghats
• Paddy Growing Culture in Tulunad Region of Karnataka; An Anthropological Study with Special Focus on Rituals Associated with Paddy and Paddy Cultivation

 
Eastern Region

• Culture of Paddy among Munda, Santhal, Oraon and Sadans in Jharkhand: Cultural Anthropology Dimensions
• Traditional Wisdom and Agronomical Practices of Paddy/Rice Culture of Munda, Santhal, Oraon and Sadans of Jharkhand

 
North Eastern Region

• Paddy Growing Tradition in a Multi Community Area of Assam
• Rice and Aba’ Cha: Practices and Stories from Garo Hills

 

Following mentioned new projects started in 2018 and are in progress:

• Documentation of Paddy Culture in Oral Narrative of Undivided Koraput and Kalahandi in Odisha
• Paddy and Agrarian Ritual Festivals of the Galos of Arunachal Pradesh
• Paddy as Nucleus of Culture: A Study of the Paddy Growing Culture of the Hill Tiwa of Assam
• Paddy Growing Culture of the Ao-Naga Tribe and Climate Change
• The ‘Agro-Cultural Complex’: Understanding Paddy Farming and Sakhua Religion of the Zou Community in Manipur (North East India)
• Climate Change and Rice Production in Garo Hills, Meghalaya
• Significance of the Paddy in Tangkhuls life (ethnic group in Manipur)
• Manipuri (Meitei) Agricultural Rites and Rituals of Manipur
• Paddy at the Interface of Culture and Cultivation (in Bankura & Purulia)
• बस्तर में धान्य संस्कृति का अध्ययन