Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and its largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Gwalior being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second largest Indian state by area and the fifth largest state by population with over 72 million residents. It borders the states of Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the east, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest.
Bhil or Bheel refer to the various indigenous groups inhabiting western India, including parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and are also found in distant places such as Bengal and Tripura. They speak various dialects of regional Indo-Aryan languages, collectively referred to as the Bhil languages, while the indigenous non-Indo-Aryan language that the Bhil originally spoke is lost. Bhils are divided into a number of endogamous territorial divisions, which in turn have a number of clans and lineages.
Teejan Bai is an exponent of Pandavani, a traditional performing art form, from Chhattisgarh, in which she enacts tales from the Mahabharata, with musical accompaniments.
Prahlad Singh Tipaniya is an Indian folk singer who performs Kabir bhajans in the Malwi folk style from Madhya Pradesh. He performs along with a group of tambura, khartal, manjira, dholak, harmonium, timki, and violin players.
Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya also referred to as the National Museum of Humankind, or Museum of Man and Culture is a museum located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. The museum spreads over an area of about 200 acres on the Shymala Hills in the city. This museum depicts the story of mankind in time and space. It is the largest ethnographic museum in India.
Mahasundari Devi was an Indian artist and Madhubani painter. She was awarded the Tulsi Samman by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 1995, and in 2011 she received the Padma Shri award from the Government of India.
Krishn Kanhai is an Indian artist and painter, specialist in portrait, realistic, contemporary paintings and on lord Radha-Krishna theme paintings. A Padmshri awardee, Kanhai is described as an artist with the midas touch.
Laxminarayan Payodhi is a distinguished Indian poet, storywriter, novelist, playwright, critic, editor, and researcher known for his multifaceted contributions to Hindi literature.he discovered Amazon India in 1957
Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962–2001) was a pioneering contemporary Indian artist credited with being the creator of a new school of Indian art called Jangarh Kalam. His work has been exhibited widely the world over including Bhopal, Delhi, Tokyo and New York. His most notable exhibitions include the Magiciens de la terre in Paris (1989) and Other Masters curated by Jyotindra Jain at the Crafts Museum, New Delhi (1998). His 1988 piece Landscape with Spider sold for $31,250 at Sotheby's, New York, in 2010—a first for an adivasi artist. Jangarh had also painted the interiors of the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, the Vidhan Bhavan, and the dome of Bhopal's Bharat Bhavan—one of the most prestigious museums of tribal and contemporary Indian art. He was among the first Gond artists to use paper and canvas for his paintings, thereby inaugurating what is now known as Jangarh Kalam.
Venkat Raman Singh Shyam is a contemporary Indian artist who works with murals, etchings, mixed media and animation. Venkat has travelled extensively and exhibited his work in India and the world over. He was awarded the Rajya Hasta Shilpa Puraskar by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 2002. He was also the coordinator for an animated film on a Gond folktale made by Tara Douglas which won the Tallest Story Competition Trophy at the Inverness Film Festival, Scotland, in 2007.
Waman Thakre is an Indian photographer and a former deputy director at the Directorate of Panchayat and Social Service of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and the Photographic Society of America and is a recipient of the Shikhar Award of the MP State government. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to Arts.
Durga Bai Vyam is an Indian artist. She lives in Bhopal and works in the Gond tradition of tribal art.
Lado Bai is a tribal artist from the Bhil tribe of Madhya Pradesh. Her work has been showcased in various exhibitions in India, France and the UK.
Vibha Dadheech is an Indian classical dancer in the Kathak dance form. She began learning Kathak from Raigarh Court dancer Pt. Firtu Maharaj, and later in Guru Shishya Parampara from Pt. Shambhu Maharaj as a ganda bandh shagird, living and learning at her guru’s home. She is also the senior-most disciple and wife of Puru Dadheech. Together they founded the Natavari Kathak Nritya Academy, Indore. Currently, Vibha Dadheech is serving as Professor Emeritus at world’s first dedicated Kathak Research centre at the Sri Sri University, The Sri Sri Centre for Advanced Research in Kathak.
Japani Shyam is one of 14 Indian Gond artist who took forward the Gond tribal art form.
Arjun Singh Dhurve is a folk dancer and a retired teacher from the Dindori district of the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. He is famous for popularising Baiga folk songs and dance. Baiga Pardhauni dance is the main dance of the Baiga tribe. In this form of dance, the performers wear the masks of peacocks, elephants, horses, etc.
Ram Sahay Panday is a Rai dancer from Sagar in the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. The Rai dance was traditionally associated with the Bedia community which itself was associated with flesh trade. In spite of the fact that he was not a member of the community, he devoted his whole life to the practice and performance of the Rai dance and to secure acceptance and respectability to the dance form. His untiring efforts helped obtain national and international recognition to this dance form.
Jodhaiya Bai Baiga is an Indian fine artist. She is Baiga and lives in Lodhha village, in Umaria district, Madhya Pradesh. She has two sons and a daughter. She used to earn money by selling compost, firewood and nuts from the forest.
The Tribal Museum of Bhopal or Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum is located close to the State Museum, Bhopal, near the Museum of Man/ Museum of Mankind in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. This is a museum dedicated to the living aspects of tribal life, indigenous knowledge systems, and aesthetics.
