Adivasi Writers: An Introduction to India's Indigenous Literature

Gond (Koitur) Writers

Note: Though widely used throughout South Asia and in a long tradition of scholarship, "Gond" is an exonym; members of the community themselves may refer to themselves as Koya or Koitur.

There are thought to be 13 million Gond or Koitur people in India, with most Gonds living in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra. 

(Also note that there is an excellent, in-depth essay on Koitur Adivasi Literature at Portside Review by Akash Poyam here.)

Moti Ravan Kangali (also Motirvavan Kangali) (1949-2015). A linguist and author from the Gond (Koitur) community in Maharashtra. (English Wikipedia)

Ushakiran Atram: A Gondi (Koitur) poet, writer, and activist from Maharashtra who writes in Gondi, Marathi, and Hindi. Motyarin (1993), originally published in Marathi, was the first anthology to be published in the Gondi language. She has also been the editor of the magazine Gondwana Darshan. (Our translation of her poem "Mother Don't Kill Me in the Womb!" here) (Read her essay "The Protector: Ravan was a Gond King" here) (An interview with her here) (An academic essay on her work here) (Profile in The Caravan)

Janardan Gond (1980- ). Janardan Gond, from the Gond (Koitur) Adivasi community, is from the Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh, and currently resides in Mumbai, where he works at the IIT-Mumbai. His short story "Bonded Laborer" appears in Lokpriya Adivasi Kahaniya. 

Bhavi Singh Masram. (dates unknown) A Gond (Koitur) writer who published two early books about the Gondwana region and the Koitur people, Gondi Dharm Puran (a history of the Gond religion) and Gondi Dharam Vichaar (a description of the ideas of the Gondi religion) in 1921. These are believed to be the first books published by a Gond / Koitur writer. (Profile here)

Sunher Singh Taram (dates unknown). A Koitur writer who created the magazine Gondwana Darshan in 1984. This is a Hindi language magazine that Akash Poyam indicates is still running. Taram came from a farming background, and worked his way through college and graduate work in the 1970s. After encountering a conference of Koitur people at Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh), Taram returned to his village and sold his share of an ox-pair to start the magazine. (Profiled in Portside review here)

Paddam Anasuya. Gondi/ Koya (Koitur) writer and author of the Telugu-language collection of short stories, Chappudu, reviewed here. Akash Poyam writes of Anasuya: "Another book by the first female Koya writer Paddam Anasuya Chhappudu is a beautifully written book that is immersed in Koitur worldview. Anasuya’s short stories give us a peek into Koya culture and the threat it faces with the coming of outside religion and culture." (from a longer essay on Koitur literature here)

Bhujang Meshram. (1959-2017) Gondi / Koya (Koitur) writer from Maharashtra, who mostly wrote in Marathi. He published books of poetry in Marathi, and wrote several articles on Adivasi literature, including "Our Voices are Disappearing" and "Why Adivasi Literature?" These are profiled by Akash Poyam in Portside Review here. Meshram is also remembered in depth by Geet Chaturvedi here.