"Dance to survive!" was Ram Dayal Munda's personal slogan. He is Jharkhand's only Padma Shree, awarded the honour in 2010.
He was born in 1939 in the village of Diuri near Ranchi. He studied in Khuti, near Ranchi. ...
After gaining his Master's in Anthropology at Ranchi University, he moved to Chicago University, for his PhD. He joined the university's Department of South Asian Studies and pioneered the teaching of tribal and regional Languages. He also taught South-East Asian languages at Minnesota University.
It was in the US that he came into contact with native-American activists and his commitment to the political emancipation of India's 100m indigenous people – much the largest indigenous population in the world – began to grow, says an obit in the Independent.
He returned to India and became the Vice-Chancellor of Ranchi University in 1985. After retiring from teaching in 1999, he focused on international efforts to improve the status and prospects of Adivasis.
He took part in the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva and other forums. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Dr. Munda has written many books on religion, language and literature. Along with these undertakings, Dr. Munda was always devoted towards the social, economic and cultural well being of the tribals. His initiative towards the welfare of the tribes got fuelled up when he was offered a position by the-then Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Kumar Suresh Singh, to start a Department of Tribal and Regional Languages. The formation of the department gave momentum to all social politico activists engaged in working towards the well being of the tribes. A number of students, passed out from the department, formed a student body All Jharkhand Student’s Union (AJSU) pushing for the formation of an intellectual base for the maintenance of the Jharkhand Movement already going at that time. This indirectly contributed to Dr. Munda’s appointment as Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University in 1986. From then onwards Dr. Munda became a medium of political dialogue between the state and the movement of the people. In 1988, when the then Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi came on a visit to Khunti, Dr. Munda along with some 150 artists welcomed Mr. Gandhi and kept forward his demand of a separate state.
Dr. Munda also got the chance to teach as a guest faculty at the universities of Tokyo, Syracuse and National University of Australia. Dr. Munda always valiantly and devotedly voiced the concerns of the tribals. One of the books penned down by him namely, Aadi-dharm echoes the deep studies about the conceptions and customs of the tribals. In the book, Dr. Munda has further added that it has been a tradition among the tribals to worship the nature that they follow even today.
His achievements remain unparalleled. What he has given to the state, from its formation to the present recognition on the global platform remains incomparable. Whether we talk about his stint as a politico, a cultural ambassador, a scholar or a regional music exponent, he has always amused and inspired people.
In April 2011, Dr. Munda was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. After receiving initial treatments at AIIMS, he went to Mayo clinic, America for further treatment. The man who always stood for the cause of others had to seek help from others for his treatment due to financial crunches. As a result the Government of India came forward to his aid. But destiny wanted him to take rest now and who knew it would be a final rest; within two months of his return to India, he bid farewell to this world on 30th of September, 2011.
Today, he is no more with us and he went away with only one desire in his heart……he just wanted five more years from life, so that he would get time to accomplish all his dreams. The dream of establishing Jharkhand as the most enviable cultural heritage of India.
All we can say is “May his dream come true”.
