In the remote villages of the Gond tribe, stretching across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh, there exists an intricate and ancient tradition of astronomy that operates outside of the mainstream Indian astronomical canon. For millennia, the Gonds have looked up at the same sky that scholars map today, but interpreted its stars, moon, and constellations through their own cosmology, mythology, and lived experience. Their sky-stories aren’t about Greek or Sanskrit constellations—they follow their own patterns of storytelling: dark patches of the Milky Way are animals, and certain stars mark seasonal events essential for agricultural cycles. These sky-traditions are still passed orally, village to village, and represent an Indigenous knowledge system with deep roots in Gond rituals, folk art, and daily farming life. (This is drawn from surveys of about fifteen Gond villages.)
What gives the Gond astronomical tradition strong expertise is its consistency and survival under cultural pressures. Though modern schooling and urbanisation have gradually eroded much oral knowledge, many Gond elders can still identify celestial markers to forecast monsoon shifts, plantings, or harvest times. Their mythology seamlessly weaves behaviour of stars and planets into moral tales and communal history, giving both cosmic and cultural guidance. Scholars studying these systems (astronomers, anthropologists) treat them as valid “alternative astronomy” frameworks—unique systems that enrich our understanding of how humans everywhere have sought to measure, explain, and live in relation to the sky. The record in academic literature confirms these traditions are not relics but active, knowing traditions.
This Indigenous cosmology has profound implications for culture, trust, and the future of heritage preservation. Recognising Gond sky-traditions as legitimate knowledge strengthens cultural identity and offers lessons for climate resilience: when formal meteorological data may be unavailable, traditional sky signals still guide livelihood. It also invites broader respect for non-literate, non-western scientific systems—inviting collaboration between folklorists, scientists, and policy makers to protect intangible heritage. By documenting, supporting, and learning from Gond astronomy, we engage with the world’s sky through many lenses, affirming that history and culture are not one-sided stories, but tapestries woven from diverse human wisdom.
