Voices from the Lost Horizon: Stories and Songs of The Great Andamanese (H.B)

The Andaman Islands—Great Andaman, Little Andaman, and North Sentinel Islands have been home for millennia to four tribes: the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, and Sentinelese. The same name is known for their languages as that of the tribes. ‘Great Andamanese’ is a generic term representing ten languages among a family of languages that were once spoken by ten different tribes living in the north, south, and middle of the Great Andaman Islands. These languages were mutually intelligible, like a link in a chain. However, today, Great Andamanese is a moribund language of the only-surviving pre-Neolithic tribe, breathing its last breath. When a language is on the verge of extinction, its history, culture, ecological base, knowledge of biodiversity, ethno-linguistic practices, and the identity of its community—everything is endangered. This is what prompted Prof. Anvita Abbi to conduct a research study to bring to life the lost oral heritage of the vanishing Great Andamanese world. Voices from the Lost Horizon is a collection of several folk tales and songs of the Great Andamanese. These stories and songs represent the first-ever collection created by the Great Andamanese people for Prof. Abbi and her team in local settings. The compilation includes audio and video recordings of the stories and songs to preserve the originality and orality of the narratives. See more videos