Akshara Brahma: Where every word is a prayer for A.P.'s Savara tribals

The Hindu

23-05-2025

As dawn breaks over Addangi, a hamlet nestled in the folds of the Eastern Ghats in Srikakulam district, 23-year-old Savara Kalavathi steps barefoot into a modest building with an asbestos roof. She cleans the floor and sprinkles cow dung water on the front yard before lighting a small brass lamp in a wall niche. She folds her hands and closes her eyes in reverence as the slender flame flickers to life.
Kalavathi has been performing this daily ritual for the past four years, ever since she became a daasibo (servant of god), spiritual custodian of a unique religious order that worships not idols but something more fundamental to a people's existence: their language.
Lying between Chaaradi and Lalaada hills on Andhra-Odisha border in Kothuru mandal, Addangi is home to 56 families of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of Savara, 38 families of whom are adherents of 'Akshara Brahma'.
'We worship our language as god,' says Kalavathi, running a hand over the temple's wall, adorned with the names of days, months and a few other basic words in Savara. In the wall niche, bathed in a warm glow, is a portrait of the 24 letters of the Savara alphabet arranged in a distinct pattern.
For half a day every Thursday, followers of the sect gather at the temple to engage in sessions of writing, reading and singing Savara songs as a mark of devotion to their mother tongue. For the rest of the week, lighting the lamp by one of the three daasibos in the village is the sole ritual. 'A daasibo can withdraw from service any time, leaving the task of finding a successor to the community,' says Kalavathi.
For Savaras like her, language worship has become a vehicle to ensure the continuity of their lifestyle, culture and memories of their ancient community.
A living god
Renowned for the intricate wall art of Edisinge and the lively Thongseng folk dance, the Savara tribespeople predominantly reside in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, with smaller populations scattered across other States.
Of a population of around 1.1 lakh (2011 Census) in A.P., 84,585 reside in the erstwhile Srikakulam district and 25,903 in the erstwhile Vizianagaram district, according to the State Tribal Welfare Department. Most are farmers, with a small percentage depending on forest produce for livelihood.
Savara belongs to the Kol Munda group of the Austro-Asiatic family of languages. It existed as an oral language until 1936, when Mangei Gomango, a polyglot from Odisha, developed a script for it— Soran Sompen (Akshara Brahma).
The 24 characters (18 consonants and six vowels) are the initial letters of the names of the 24 Savara deities, making the alphabet a representation of their pantheon, according to a 2012 special issue of the Journal of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute, Odisha.
The religious order asks its followers to shun animal sacrifice, popularise the Savara script and language and pass on the tribal wisdom to the next generation.
Arrival in Andhra
Akshara Brahma arrived in Andhra Pradesh in the 1990s. And by the turn of the century, a number of Savara families in North Andhra to adopt it. Today, around 950 families in 80 Savara tribal villages in the erstwhile Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts follow Akshara Brahma, says Savara Kameswara Rao, a 46-year-old government schoolteacher from Seethampeta who, as a teenager, spearheaded the campaign back then.
Akshara Brahma has effected a fundamental shift in the tribespeople's way of life. Traditionally, the Savara festivals of Puli Panduga and Maamidi Panduga (harvest festival) mandated animal sacrifice for the community feast.
'In the Akshara Brahma order, animal sacrifice during festivals is prohibited, replaced instead by breaking of coconuts,' says Sandhya, an elderly resident in Addangi. All community festivals are celebrated at the Akshara Brahma temple in the village, making it a common venue for cultural bonding.
'Under Akshara Brahma, the Savaras have joined hands to protect our culture and language. Our objective is to promote it academically too, not just worship it,' says Kameswara Rao.
Irrespective of formal education, most followers of Akshara Brahma can either read or write the 24 letters of the language, owing mostly to their acquaintance with them at the temple.
In 2014, the Savaras formed a 12-member village committee, Akshara Brahma Youth Society (AYS), to run the cultural and academic activities. An important member on the panel is a vidhya volunteer, who is willing to teach the language to the villagers.
The volunteer holds classes for schoolchildren throughout the year, with special sessions during Dasara, Pongal and summer holidays. Kalavathi, a graduate in biology and zoology, has also been volunteering to teach the language to the village children. She is the eighth volunteer in the village, and her two immediate predecessors were also women. Moreover, she is the first to receive a monthly honorarium of ₹1,000, raised by the community.
The youngest among five sisters, Kalavathi works under MGNREGS and as a farmhand to support her family. 'Nonetheless, I set aside two hours a day for my tribe by serving as a Daasibo and as a vidhya volunteer. I am privileged to be part of a movement promoting our language and serving our community through education,' she says. At her summer camp, she teaches over 20 schoolchildren of various ages.
Future plans
On May 17 this year, 40 government teachers, representing the Savara tribespeople in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts, held a round-table conference, the third of its kind, at Gopalapuram village in Srikakulam district to discuss ways to promote the script. There, they passed a resolution to come up with books in Savara.
'Our next move is to launch more books in Savara to popularise our language and culture. The Savara tribal teachers will also be taught to read and write the language,' says Kameswara Rao, who presided over all three of the round tables.
He claims that because of Akshara Brahma, the tribespeople are more literate and careful with liquor consumption and expenditure.
Lockstep with cultural icon
According to the sect's followers, the AYS has been laying a special focus on promoting Thongseng, the Savara folk dance performed during weddings and festivals. In this art form, usually performed at night, men and women dance together, with women holding umbrellas.
Savara Chinna Rao, an assistant priest in Addangi, says the entire community dance to Savara songs at the Akshara Brahma temple during the winter. 'This festival lasts for 30 nights during Karthika Pournima. It symbolises our unity in celebrating our tradition and language.'
Support from outside
Impressed by the cultural and linguistic activities of the Savaras, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) has reportedly begun funding the construction of Akshara Brahma temples in Savara tribal villages.
'The TTD has pledged ₹10 lakh for the construction of an Akshara Brahma temple in our village and has so far released ₹6 lakh, without any condition on the architecture,' says Addangi AYS president Anand Savara.
Villagers in Naugada in the neighbouring Parvathipuram Manyam district also claimed that the TTD is funding a ₹10-lakh temple, which is under construction. Naugada is one of the first villages that embraced Akshara Brahma in Andhra Pradesh in the 1990s. Currently, all 70 families are adherents of the sect.
Savara Venu Gopal, son of village priest Ananda Rao, says his family dedicated their entire 80 cents on the hill to Akshara Brahma activities. 'Our village is building a two-story temple on this hill,' says Venu Gopal, a farmer. Savara Rajesh, Naugada's tribal physician (Tey-Re-Marin), says the village temple has emerged as a destination for Savara weddings. 'Wedding fees are spent on village development,' he adds. The next wedding is on May 25.
Art nearing extinction
Despite its influence on Savara culture, Akshara Brahma is yet to find a way to conserve the tribe's most remarkable art: Edisinge, a form of wall art that uses vermilion and colours made of rice, charcoal and ash from coconut shells.
These detailed paintings, which honour ancestors and depict agriculture, hunting and the region's biodiversity, used to decorate the inner walls of mud houses. As modern buildings replace traditional dwellings, this ancient art form is fast disappearing in North Andhra.
Savara Lakhsmana Rao (28),an Edisinge artist from Seethampeta in Parvathipuram Manyam district, says he hasn't had a house to paint in four years. 'The art is on the verge of extinction in Andhra Pradesh,' he says, adding that elders who mastered Edisinge in most Savara villages are long gone. Addangi's last professional Edisinge artist, Savara Chinna Appanna (65), concurs: 'There is no more space.'
Vice-Chancellor of Adikavi Nannaya University-Rajamahendravaram Sattupati Prasanna Sree, an authority on the Savara language and script, observes that the Savara tribespeople celebrate life and nature through the Edisinge. Notably, Prasanna Sree is also trying to bring out a Telugu-Savara dictionary, but but her efforts have hit a hurdle after the death of her source in Seethampeta Agency.
According to officials in the School Education Department, the script has not been officially used in any academic activity in Andhra Pradesh. However, proponents of Akshara Brahma have been demanding that the government bring out primary school textbooks in the Savara Language.
Back in Addangi, Kalavathi balances her duties in the spiritual and practical realms. She is not just servant of god, but also a guardian of her culture and language, preserving them and ensuring its continuity.
Completing her morning rituals at the temple and summer classes for students by 8.30 a.m., she races to join fellow tribeswomen heading to the MGNREGS worksite. And as she walks past a village board displaying 'Addangi' in the Savara script, pride paints a light smile on her lips.