“Every story begins with a voice.”
The journey of Snehal Warekar, whose childhood memories became a mission to preserve India's disappearing oral traditions.
It started at home.
Growing up, Snehal Warekar spent countless evenings listening to her grandmother sing Ovee, narrate folk stories, and share traditions passed down through generations.
None of these stories existed in books.
They lived only in memory, carried from one generation to another through voices.
Without realising it, her grandmother became her first teacher of folklore.
A journey across Maharashtra.
As a PhD scholar researching oral traditions, Snehal travelled through rural Maharashtra meeting women whose voices carried generations of knowledge.
Each village revealed forgotten songs, rituals, stories and poetry that had never been documented.
- 01SataraOvee songs of Sahyadri
- 02KolhapurWedding invocations
- 03LaturGrinding-mill verses
- 04NandedWarkari sant-poetry
- 05JalnaHarvest & lullabies
They could not write…
but they were authors.
Many women Snehal met had never attended school. Some could neither read nor write.
Yet they possessed extraordinary literary imagination.
Their poetry, songs, stories and memories existed only in their minds.
They had created an entire literature without ever writing a page.
That changed everything.
Snehal realised these women were not merely preserving culture.
Creators.Poets.Storytellers.Historians.Knowledge keepers.
Their voices deserved dignity, recognition and preservation.
That realisation became ROOTS.
A foundation for
living heritage.
ROOTS exists to preserve India's oral heritage and empower the communities that keep it alive.
Through research, documentation, digital archives, cultural events, publications and community engagement, the foundation ensures these living traditions continue inspiring future generations.
Research
Peer-reviewed scholarship on oral traditions.
Documentation
Field recordings of songs, chants and rituals.
Women Empowerment
Recognition, fair honoraria and fellowships.
Cultural Preservation
A living digital archive built to endure.
Every photograph is a conversation.
Moments from ongoing fieldwork across Maharashtra — the grandmothers, verses and afternoons that make the archive possible.
Every grandmother is a library.
Every village has its historians.
Every oral tradition is a chapter of India's living heritage.
ROOTS exists so these voices are never forgotten.
Help us preserve living heritage.
Every voice we record is a voice we refuse to lose.