Narmada, Gujarat •
Jul 02, 2025
Fire, water, mountains, plains
An Adivasi poet from Mahupada in Gujarat’s Narmada district deciphers the nature of the world. And an intrigued illustrator, a fellow poet, and a translator explore the poem’s many layers as they engage with it
Poem
Jitendra Vasava
Jitendra Vasava is a poet from Mahupada village in Narmada district of Gujarat, who writes in Dehwali Bhili language. He is the founder president of Adivasi Sahitya Academy (2014), and an editor of Lakhara, a poetry magazine dedicated to tribal voices. He has also published four books on Adivasi oral literature. His doctoral research focused on the cultural and mythological aspects of oral folk tales of the Bhils of Narmada district. The poems by him published on PARI are from his upcoming and first collection of poetry.
Illustration
Labani Jangi
Labani Jangi is a 2020 PARI Fellow, and a self-taught painter based in West Bengal's Nadia district. She is working towards a PhD on labour migrations at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata.
Text
Shankar N Kenchanuru
Shankar N Kenchanuru is a poet and freelance translator. He can be reached at [email protected]
Text
Labani Jangi
Labani Jangi is a 2020 PARI Fellow, and a self-taught painter based in West Bengal's Nadia district. She is working towards a PhD on labour migrations at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata.
Text
Devesh
Devesh is a poet, journalist, filmmaker and translator. He is the Translations Editor, Hindi, at the People’s Archive of Rural India.
Editor
Pratishtha Pandya
Pratishtha Pandya is a Senior Editor at PARI where she leads PARI's creative writing section. She is also a member of the PARIBhasha team and translates and edits stories in Gujarati. Pratishtha is a published poet working in Gujarati and English.
