11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

ARAKU TRIBAL MUSEUM – PLACES TO VISIT IN

ARAKU VALLEY
By Anuradha Goyal - January 27, 2014

Entrance gate to the museum

Araku Tribal Museum is located in Araku, a small town in the valley surrounded by hills
and many waterfalls, about 110 km’s from Visakhapatnam. Most museums are famous
for what they showcase and the galleries they curate for visitors. What makes Araku
Valley Tribal museum stand out in my mind is its very structure which is indigenous,
absolutely native, right from the architecture, to the material used, to colors and
contours. A double-storeyed round building in red, with white motifs, painted on it. White
window frames and white outlines standing on green lawns. One look and you know it
represents the essence of an Indian community.

Tribal Museum at Araku

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 1/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

A depiction of tribal women’s daily routine

A depiction of a market

Tribal Musical Instruments, Masks, and Pottery

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 2/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

Terracotta Elephants

Step inside and it is like being in the world of local tribes. You see the setting of their
homes with dioramas depicting day-to-day activities. There are scenes from the market
and dances from various festivals. A small board explains the tribe and scene. The
walls were full of masks and there was a scene depicting makeup being done for the
drama. Musical instruments, clay pottery and walls paintings with local motifs keep the
eyes engaged. For once I felt the museum is too crowded with lots of articles around.
Soon realized that this is part of creating the ambiance and that is how the houses in
Indian villages and tribes were. A ramp inside the building takes you to  the next oor
seamlessly. The design is an integral of this museum, something I have not seen very
often in India.

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 3/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

A depiction of a tribal potter

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 4/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

A depiction of a tribal lady grinding the spices

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 5/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

Tiger mask

Tribal Paintings at Araku Tribal Museum

Take a close look at the tribal paintings maintained at the museum. They revolve around
the day to day life activities.

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 6/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

Tribal paintings

Tribal painting on display

In-progress Installations
When we visited the Araku Tribal  Museum, art installations were being prepared in its
lawns and corridors. We saw the artisans working on the wrought iron, cutting thin iron

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 7/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

sheets into various shapes and sizes. Then joining them by welding and creating stories
in metal. In the corridors, there were artisans making clay tablets, delicately carving
gurines on wet mud. I wandered around the area, sat and observed the artisans. Spoke
to the supervisor who told me that they have come from Bengal to create these art
installations, though the workers were all local.

Display of tribal wares

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 8/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

Metal figurines work-in-progress

Clay figurines designing

Another structure stands in the form of an ornate hut with the pillared corridor around it.
Beautifully painted walls are in black, red and yellow colors. It had some other ethnic
scenes depicted with white and red being the prominent colors and longboats in the
middle.
https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 9/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

Open Space – Amphitheater, Waterbody

An amphitheater-like setting, along with space for tribal shops are being set up. If used
properly, these can be instrumental in making it a living space through a bazaar and
platform for performing arts.

The campus landscape view

A small water body has been created in one part of the campus with modern bright
colored boats oating in it. The idea of boating is good and gels well with the concept
of living cultural space. But the bright colors of the boats did not merge with rest of the
ambiance. Probably a bit of design thinking would have helped. I would have preferred a
storyteller to explain the culture depicted in the museum, along with local stories and
highlights. Written documentation is disorienting, you feel I can always go to the
Internet to read it. It is the people who make all the difference to a traveler’s experience.

It was a pleasant visit. I de nitely recommend this museum to anyone visiting

Visakhapatnam. A trip to the valley is a nice weekend getaway from Visakhapatnam.

Recommend you to read the following travel blog on places to visit in this region.

Train Ride to Araku Valley

Coffee Chocolates

Honey-Making

Araku Valley Bamboo Chicken

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 10/11
11/3/2020 Araku Tribal Museum - Places To Visit In Araku Valley | Inditales

Borra Caves

https://www.inditales.com/araku-tribal-museum/ 11/11