Motiravan Kangali

Kangali had also researched possible links between Dravidian languages and the as-yet undeciphered Indus script. When Kangali inspected 22 painted characters discovered in the mid-1990s in Hampi, he interpreted five of them as similar to Gondi characters.

Kangali, along with friends K B Maraskole and Sheetal Markam, visited Kachhargarh in Bhandara district, Maharashtra, having read about the traditional Gond fair or Jatra held there on the occasion of Maagh Purnima. In Gond tradition, the day marks the rescue of the mother goddess, Mata Kali Kankali's children from a cave by the Gond ancestor, Pari Kupar Lingo and his sister Jango Raitad. They discovered that the fair had shrunk in attendance from the past, down to around 500 visitors. They began the work of reviving the significance of the fair among the Gonds until the fair scaled back up to attendance in 1986 by as many as 3-4 lakh tribals from Central India, Maharashtra, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Recognized for his efforts, Kangali was appointed head of the apex religious body of the Gonds, the Gondi Punem.

Kangali, Maraskole and Sunher Singh Taram (editor of the Bhopal periodical Gondwana Darshan) attended the fair in 1980. In 1984, two more notable Gond leaders, Bharat Lal Koram and Sheetal Markam (by then, the head of the Gondwana Mukti Sena organisation) joined them and the five made the first trek from the fair to the location of the cave. Over the next few years, Kacchargarh emerged as the primary religious centre of Koitur Gonds and in 1986, Hira Singh Markam also joined the pilgrimage.

In 1976, at the age of 27, Kangali was appointed a Notes and Currency Examiner at the Reserve Bank of India's Nagpur Mint. He married Raitad (Kumari) Chandralekha Roop Singh Pusam. You have three daughters named series Kangali, Verunjali Kangali, Vinanti Kangali. The series is an IRS officer and Vinanti is an eye specialist doctor. Both of them have been married. Manjali's daughter Verunjali has also done her M.Phil in Marathi literature and is currently living in Nagpur and working in mother's work.

Kangali's early education took place at Karwahi where he studied up to fourth grade. He did his secondary education (5th to 8th) in the Anglo East Secondary School, Bothia Palora, about 18 km from Dulara. He joined HUDS High School in Nagpur and passed the class X examinations in 1968. In 1972, he graduated from Dharampeth College, Nagpur. He subsequently obtained a Masters (M.A) in Economics, Sociology and Linguistics from the Post Graduate Teaching Department Nagpur. He received his Ph.D in 2000 from Aligarh Muslim University. The subject of his dissertation was "The Philosophical Base of Tribal Cultural Values Particularly in Respect of Gond Tribes of Central India".

Motiravan Kangali or Moti Ravan Kangale (2 February 1949 – 30 October 2015) was an Indian linguist and author from the Gond community. He is known for his work on the origins and development of the Gondi language, and particularly for his creation of a script for it. Kangali authored Gondi dictionaries in English, Hindi and Marathi. He also aided efforts for the standardization and preservation of Gondi grammar while authoring several books on Gond society, culture and religion.

Motiravan Kangali was born on 2 February 1949 in a village called Dulara of Ramtek Tehsil in Nagpur district of Maharashtra. His place of birth is located in the forests of Bhander near Devlapar, about 75 km from Nagpur on Nagpur Seoni State Road and he was born in the family of Tirkaji Kangali (grandfather) of a Gond community. His mother's name was Dai Raithaar Kangali and father's name was Dau Chathiram Kangali. Named Motiram at birth, he was the eldest of five siblings, with two brothers and two sisters. As an adult, he changed his first name from Motiram to Motiravan to highlight the Gond tradition which reveres Ravana.