Encyclopaedia Indica Kids:Culture and Ecology is a project of National Folklore Support Centre (NFSC). The first volumes are meant for children in the age group of seven to eleven years.

India is home to abundant plant, animal and bird life and has a wide range of climates that accommodate a diversity of species throughout the country. Broadly classified, there are seven major regions for plant and animal life in India: the arid Indus Plain, the Gangetic Plain, the Himalayas, Assam Valley, the Malabar Coast, the peninsular plateau, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. India has an estimated 45,000 species of plants, 33 percent of which are native. There are 15,000 flowering plant species, 6 percent of the world’s total. About 3,000 to 4,000 of the total number of plant species are believed to be in danger of extinction. Indian folklore is prolific in recording and expressing the relationships between humans and other living beings in terms of sacred and profane. Many cultures in India subscribe to the view that the power for the individual or to the community/society/group comes from conformity to the complex system of sacred and profane or freedom from that system itself. Analysing such complex systems anthropological and folklore scholarship in the second half of twentieth century has established that rituals, myths, taboos, totems, and sacred narratives are actually taxonomical classifications of indigenous knowledge systems. While the obvious inference is that the preservation of cultural diversity holds the key to the preservation of bio diversity there has not been any effort to bring the articulated relationships between humans and other living beings into our educational system.

National Folklore Support Centre’s new initiative in this context is to prepare a Children’s encyclopaedia Indica Kids:Culture and Ecology of Indian culture and ecology.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of Encyclopaedia Indica Kids  is to examine and present both the scientific information and folklore surrounding plants and trees, animals, and birds found in India. The Encyclopaedia Indica Kids:Culture and Ecology will have an introductory section followed by three hundred entries approximately. The introductory section will open with an alphabetically arranged collection of short essays on processes, research tools, and concepts important for understanding diversity of indigenous knowledge systems as embedded in specific environs and articulated as folklore. The themes and topics of the introductory section will provide the tools needed for the children to clearly understand the distinction between the scientific information and cultural expressions while appreciating the validity of both in their own terms.

Organization of Entries

Out of the three hundred entries planned one hundred each will be devoted to trees and plants, animals, and birds respectively. We will prepare a template of ideas that each entry will address. Suggestive rather than descriptive the template will be sent to the potential contributors while seeking articles for the Encyclopaedia Indica Kids:Culture and Ecology. The template will have the following tentative areas:

• Description of the living being
• Geographical setting
• Scientific information
• Myths and folktales
• Rituals and beliefs
• Totems and taboos
• Performances and artistic expressions
• Sacred and profane locales of importance
• Proverbs, Rhymes, riddles and other verbal arts
• Compare and contrast with the popular pan-Indian expressions
• Exercises for collection, analysis, and class room presentations
• Guidelines for teachers with bibliographies and further references