Human Evolution on Pitara Kids Network

The Story of Big Ears

Thu, 30 Mar 2000 21:15:00 +0000

Retold from “When the World was Young’, by pioneering anthropologist, Verrier Elwin. It is a fascinating collection of folktales from the tribal peoples of India.

This happened a long, long time ago.

Humans had big ears then.

And they would flap in the wind.

The Story of Big Ears [Illustrations by Nitin Vishwakarma]

Their ears were so big that they found a use for them.

How the First House was Built

Sun, 05 Nov 2000 04:07:13 +0000

A long time ago, humans were only as tall as hens and rabbits.

These tiny “humans”, if you can call them that, lived under trees.

Living in trees was not very nice.

During rains they got wet. In summers they sweated madly, and in winter they almost froze into ice.

Life was tough.

How the First House was Built [Illustrations by Sudheer Nath]

So they started living in burrows, just the way rabbits do.

How Humans Got Eyes

Wed, 07 Feb 2001 18:03:48 +0000

Retold from ‘When the World was Young’ by Verrier Elwin

When God created humans, he forgot to add eyes so that they could see. Most people had a very tough time as a result. They couldn’t walk without tumbling and tripping over each other. Life was so difficult. People couldn’t see where they were going, what they were eating, who they were meeting.

The Earth used to be beautiful then. There were fragrant flowers, colourful birds and butterflies, dense, green forests, and clear, gurgling streams. But what was the point of so much beauty if you couldn’t see any of it?

How Men Lost Their Tails

Sat, 01 Jan 2000 12:11:45 +0000

The hill people have many theories about the origin of mankind. Some say that God fashioned the first people from clay with his own hands; some say that they were hatched from enormous eggs. They emerged from a crack in the ground, from the womb of Mother Earth; they were born of a goddess; they were even born of animals.

How Men Lost Their Tails [Illustrations by: Amina Jayal]

But all agree that, however they came into being, they were very different from what they are today, as the following stories show. According to the Saoras of Orissa, for example, they originally had tails.