When we think of creation myths in our country, we usually jump to the big Sanskrit stories: Brahma sitting on a lotus, Vishnu sleeping on the serpent, Shiva dancing the cosmos into being. But India is not just Vedas and Puranas. India is also Bhil, Gond, Santhal, Khasi, Banjara, Dhangar, Koli, Toda, Rabari, Munda, Nicobarese, and Lepcha. Each of these communities has its own memory of how the world began.

For Bhils of western India, the world began when their deity Babo Pithora dived into the primordial ocean and brought up mud. From this mud came earth. Babo and Rani Kajal decorated the earth like a painted wall, filling it with colour and life. To this day, Bhil homes carry pithora paintings — ritual murals that recreate that first moment of creation. Creation, here, is art. God is a painter.

The Gonds say that Bhagavan, the great creator, sent an earthworm to bring up mud from beneath the waters. Then came Lingo, the first bard, who sang the world into culture. In this myth, creation is not complete until someone sings. Music and ritual finish what mud and water begin. It is a reminder that civilisation........

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