Dhumkudiya: A Lost Adivasi Cultural Space and Its Decolonial Reclamation

Bhanu Priya¹  & Pragya Shukla^{2*  
1}Research Scholar, Department of English Studies, Central University of Jharkhand.
²Assistant Professor, Department of English Studies, Central University of Jharkhand. Corresponding author.

^{Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 18, Issue 1, 2026. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v18n1.03
Full-Text PDF Issue Access}

Abstract

The term ‘Adivasi’ embodies a long history of colonial oppression, dispossession, and political struggle. Recognised as “Scheduled tribes” by the Indian Constitution, Adivasis continue to experience a disconnect between their identity that was shaped by colonial powers and their precolonial identities that they want to be identified with. The erosion of collective Adivasi consciousness during colonisation led to the loss of Dhumkudiya, or youth dormitory. Community members, Adivasi poets and intellectuals came together to mourn its loss, produce alternative knowledges, and disrupt the much-reified canon. These writers, unified by a movement resolved to return to their pre-colonial fold, which was trustworthy and superior. Drawing on Frantz Fanon’s concept of decolonisation, understood as a continuous process of overcoming colonial alienation, followed by cultural reclamation, this paper examines the contemporary revival of Dhumkudiya as a site of resistance and revival. Using Poka Laenui’s five-phase model of decolonisation, the study also analyses the artistic expressions of Adivasi intellectuals and interviews with members of the Oraon community to envision the renaissance of a lost institution.

Keywords: Adivasi, Colonisation, Dhumkudiya, Decolonisation, Reclamation.