Recently, a tattoo studio has come in Araku valley. Tribal youth from the valley and neighbouring tribal hamlets have been thronging the place to get their bodies engraved with different types of designs ranging from faces of their favourite film stars to symbols foreign to their culture.
Tattoos have been part of the indigenous people or tribes since ages and anthropological research indicate that it goes back to over 5,000 years.
Tattooing is not considered as an art by the tribals, as it is part of their culture and traditions and the coming up of tattoo studios with modern designs, can be seen as an erosion of tribal culture, says former head of the department of Anthropology, Andhra University, P.D. Satyapal.
The tattoo designs, tools, the process and colour used have been a study or research for archaeologists and anthropologists. And according to Prof. Satyapal, tattoos are considered as cultural symbols that been for ages with the indigenous tribes across the globe and also in the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam district.
There are over 15 recognised tribes in Visakhapatnam Agency with a number of sub-groups and each has an exclusive tattoo pattern for their identity.
Tattoos are not only beautification symbols but are means of identity. The patterns vary from men to women, from tribe to tribe and from profession to profession, said Prof. Satyapal.
A woman practising witchcraft has a different tattoo by which she is differentiated from the village priest. Similarly, the tattoo patterns of Gadaba tribe is different from a Kondh or Koyas.
According to Prof. Satyapal, the tribals in the Eastern Ghats use vegetable dyes for tattoos and totem symbols is the base for the design.
People with the surname Pangi have eagle as totem symbol and they normally engrave that on their arm or forearm. Similarly, kilos have tiger as totem symbol, Koras have Sun and Vanthalas have cobra has totem symbols. “Just by seeing that tattoo, we can identify the clan or sub-group,” he said.
It is this culture of the tribes that has percolated down to the plain areas, across the world and now this very culture is threatened, said a research scholar from the Anthropology department in AU.
In Visakha agency, the tattoo designs are based on ‘dots’ but in the Andaman islands, the designs are line-based. The same is the case with the indigenous tribes in Australia or Central America, and they still stand distinct. Any erosion of culture is a loss to the future generation, said Prof. Satyapal.
