Research Publications
With a small capital investment Sanskriti has entered its very own desktop publishing from its Archives. The Sanskriti Publishing is registered with the Raja Rammohun Roy (Regd. National Agency for ISBN, New Delhi- Berlin). The books we are offering are selected research works from the Sanskriti Archives by Bulu Imam on the culture and history, archaeology and art of the Hazaribagh region of North Jharkhand in eastern India, as well as the creative writings of Bulu Imam in his essays and poetry. All books are illustrated either by him, artists of the Tribal Women Artists Cooperative in Khovar and Sohrai styles, or with photographs by Sanskriti team members.
You can now download a free PDF copy of the book here!
Rockart of Hazaribagh
(305 pages, Illustrated with color photographs and line drawings) Twelve Chapters on Provenance and early sources of Rockart, Comparison with village art, Introduction to 14 Rockart Sites in Hazaribagh and Chatra. The threat to the rockart has been highlighted in the Chapters reports in ICOMOS Heritage at Risk 2001/2002; 2002/2003, World Report on Monuments and Sites. The threat to the rockart has also been listed in the 2005’s Most Endangered Sacred Sites List, USA.
The Painted Houses of Hazaribagh
This richly illustrated book with text and photographs by the author on a subject first brought to light by him after the discovery of several prehistoric rock-art sites after 1991 which have been carefully researched and which he has shown as the prototype for the village ritual art practiced by the village women during the marriage season in Spring-Summer and harvest season in Autumn-Winter in the Hazaribagh region of Jharkhand.
Harvest Icons
Illustrated and line drawing by the author, 85 pages. This manuscript is adapted from Bulu Imam’s 1990s large research titled HARVEST ICONS on Sohrai Village Murals of Hazaribagh. This manuscript was completely re-written using all the relevant portions of the volume and hence that title is most apt for the present work.
Damodar Valley Civilization
Illustrated with photographs and line drawing. 131 pages. Sums up fifteen years of continuous research by Bulu Imam into the ecological, cultural, and artistic heritage of the Hazaribagh region. It tracks the evolution of stone tools and the culture that produced them through the Mesolithic period twelve thousand years ago into the anthropomorphic rockart and its contem-porary signi-ficance in arts, tattoo, and ritual. It continues the voyage of human discovery catalogued carefully to show the Damodar as one of the major sites of human habitation and evolution in South Asia, and perhaps in the world. This living ancient culture is seen as a level of proto-historic cultural evolution in the villages of northern Jharkhand, throughout the hilly forested environment of the Hazaribagh plateau and its numerous side valleys, each of which evidences the rise of pre-historic man . As the title suggests, the author is presenting the lost tribal civilization in all its pristine glory as a contemporary phenomenon in Hazaribagh in which the major actors are the tribal women who carry forward the tradition of painting in the prehistoric icons which predate the first script and gave birth to a remarkable picto-grammatic art form of Khovar and Sohrai.
By ordering hard copies of these publications you will be gaining a firsthand insight into the cultural and artistic beauties of one of India’s most original tribal regions, and helping to found a unique publishing venture which will return a third of the profits to TWAC in the cause of the women artists and their families.
"Bulu, Your contribution to the environment movement will be through your writing."
Sundarlal Bahuguna (1989 )
Chipko Founder