Baiga and their traditional food-water

                                        

                                        Uncultivated, veggies of Baiga "Kadwa Kanda"

        

Baiga tribes are an ethnic group found in Madhya Pradesh state. They have rich cultures and traditions. 

Uncultivated food and local Mahua drink make them happy as well as satisfied. Baiga is the first community in India to get habitat rights.

 

In my recent journey around Kanha and Mandla districts, I met with a group of Baiga tribes. I came through several interesting facts about the food and water habit of this community that literally made me surprised. they have the ability to recognize hundreds of species around them. 

After watching their lifestyle, I strongly believed “Baiga can never be hungry or thirsty where ever they are.” No one can be so hard-working and sharp-minded as this tribal community. They are orthodox but their customs have a reason. As they are very close to nature, they can cure your problem earlier than any modern medicine.  

Apart from Mahua liquor, tattooing, folk medicines, they have a very interesting custom of digging freshwater from the land. Traditional they call it “Jhiri”. Their routine work includes digging a small well in the area where they live. They store water from the well for two to three days. They do not have a water supply from the tap, hand pump, etc like we have. They prefer to dig fresh water from the land.

If you talk about food habits, this is literally very unique. Apart from meat and fish, they can survive in the jungle by eating leaves, grasses, herbs, and tree bark. They recognize the tree bark that helps to survive for three to four days without losing your energy. When they lost their way in the jungle, they eat a small amount of particular tree bark and survive for three to four days easily.

Traditionally, Baiga eats “Kadwa-Kanda”. This is a traditional food found under the forest land. Harvesting process of this Kadwa-Kanda from land is a difficult process. After harvesting the vegetable from land, they peel them with stone and then cut them into slices. As this is a highly intoxicated vegetable, they store it in water at least for 24 hours. It can be preserved for many days.

Note: (Baiga can eat this Kadwa-Kanda without cleaning in water but we cannot digest it at any cost. This is highly intoxicated veg) 

         Unique stone sculpture of Baiga community is something striking

                     

How one can display the tribal art of mother and child filial love at its best through unique stone sculpture could be well learned from painter Ashish Kachhawaha. He has shown realistic work of art on stone to tell the saga of Baiga tribal’s lifestyle.

 The idol carved out of the stone dolomite (marble) in village Kakaiya near Bamhani, Mandla is a unique example of stone sculpture. He has shown the realistic work of art on stone and the beauty he carved out in this stone artifact cannot be fully compared with the beauty of a living being. It is a three-dimensional artifact. The stone art has been done by Ashish Kacchawaha and his team including Bhangi Lal Hardaha, Manoj Dwivedi, Ram Kumar Nanda, Bhupendra Yadavand Krishna Mahipal Yadav. It took six months to carve out idols displaying the traditions and culture of Baiga tribes. His stonework has become a point of attraction of people and it tells people in dept that how tribal lives, how they worship nature, and moreover, how much they revere tigers.

Ashish Kachhwaha has also expressed his feelings towards Baiga tribals on walls of Mandla (Nehru Park) spread in 4000 square feet area that also in three and half months. The most interesting feature is that the district administration and local municipality are bearing the cost of his project so that people can peep into the lifestyle of Baiga tribals. His paintings show that how Baiga tribals prefer to have tattoos on their body parts, how they live and how much they respect wildlife.

Ashish Kachhwaha is painting for Baiga tribal for the past 20 years as he is very close to the tribal community and loves their culture. His love and affection towards the Baiga drew his attention to have some art on stone.

“When I was a teenager, I used to visits markets with my grandmother where I observed the culture of Baiga tribals. They are very close to wildlife. They are spread over Satpura-Maikal landscape and they never harm big cats but we have misunderstood them” said Ashish Kachhawaha.

 He said that very few knew that Baiga tribals construe the leftover meat of killing of the tiger as “ Prasad” and they never harm feline. He said, however in today’s era people are luring Baiga and pressurizing them for tiger killing. He said Government should work towards the employment of the tribals and education of their kids so that they can continue their age-old tradition in intact form and do not get tempted by wildlife hunters.

Sharing his recent experience, Ashish Kachhwaha said a young scholar from France visited Mandala district for his research work. He researched the culture and lifestyle of Baiga and he became so close to the tribal that he left his mineral water and started drinking the water Baiga use to drink. Even the researcher started taking the local alcohol of Baiga and left his foreign brand. Ashish said, foreigners, have started understanding the culture of these tribals.

Ashish Kachhwaha has displayed his art in an exhibition at Pune that threw light on the culture of ancient tribal communities. He said Baigas are more civilized than the modern man. “I was attracted towards the community with their sweet coexistence with nature and wildlife. They always try to keep sticking to the knowledge of their ancestors. They share a deep and thoughtful bond with forest and their existence lies in jungles,” added Ashish.

Discussing his work, Ashish said the stone idol of a mother reflecting the lifestyle of the Baiga tribe is shown combing her small child baby with a comb while taking out the lice from her head, the baby child screams ‘A Dai O, O Dai’ and leaving her crying for her mother’s help. On listening to the screaming sound of her child, a mother with gleeful face repeats the word ‘O Dai, O Dai O’ recollecting the glimpse of her own mother.

In his other idol work, a little child playing near looks at her mother repeating ‘O Dai, O Dai O he’s speculating the imminent danger tries to reach the safe place like the lap of mother and gets into her mother’s lap putting her hand around her mother neck in embracing posture. Her gesture also keeps repeating ‘O Dai, O Dai O’ showing the child’s love for her mother.

 

            Paintings telling the saga of Baiga tribals in Mandla walls

 

                                                                    

                

How one can use the unused space of walls for public awareness could be well learned from painter Ashish Kachhwaha who used empty space of walls of Nehru Park, nestled close to Kanha National Park of Mandla, to tell the saga of Baiga tribal’s lifestyle.

 

Now paintings of Ashish Kachhwaha have become a point of attraction and tell people in dept that how tribal lives, how they worship nature and moreover, how much they revere tigers.

Ashish Kachhwaha has expressed his feelings towards Baiga tribals on walls spread in 4000 square feet area that also in three and half months. His work is yet to be finished.

The most interesting feature is that district administration and local municipality is bearing the cost of his project so that people can peep into the lifestyle of Baiga tribals. Paintings show that how this tribal community prefers to have tattoos on their body parts, how they live and how much they respect wildlife.

Ashish Kachhwaha is painting for Baiga tribal for the past 20 years as he is very close to the tribal community and loves their culture.

“When I was a teenager, I used to visits markets with my grandmother where I observed the culture of Baiga tribals. They are very close to wildlife. They are spread over Satpura-Maikal landscape and they never harm big cats but we have misunderstood them” said Ashish Kachhawaha.

 

He said that very few knew that Baiga tribals construe the leftover meat of killing of a tiger as “ Prasad” and they never harm feline.

He said, however in today’s era people are luring Baiga and pressurizing them for tiger killing. He said Government should work towards the employment of the tribals and education of their kids so that they can continue their age-old tradition in intact form and do not get tempted by wildlife hunters.

Sharing his recent experience, Ashish Kachhwaha said a young scholar from France visited Mandala district for his research work. He researched the culture and lifestyle of Baiga and he became so close to the tribal that he left his mineral water and started drinking the water Baiga use to drink. Even the researcher started taking the local alcohol of Baiga and left his foreign brand. Ashish said, foreigners, have started understanding the culture of these tribals.

Ashish Kachhwaha has displayed his art in an exhibition at Pune that threw light on a culture of an ancient tribal communities. He said Baigas are more civilized than the modern man. “I was attracted towards the community with their sweet coexistence with nature and wildlife. They always try to keep sticking to the knowledge of their ancestors. They share a deep and thoughtful bond with forest and their existence lies in jungles,” added Ashish.

 

                  Explore the unexplored destination of MP   

 

                                      

Madhya Pradesh is a mystical land of mountains-valleys, mythologies, and majestic woodland with flora and fauna. State tourism has something for every traveler either interested in exploring the new destinations, cuisines, or locals arts.

 

The state is surrounded with Satpura, Vindhyachal, and Rajpipala mountain series with Holy River Narmada, Betwa, Sone, Shipra, Ken, and Chambal makes the landscape exquisite.

MP Tourism has many destinations to explore. Its majestic woodland with verities of flora and fauna attracts people easily. Though there are many places popular in  MP state where every year a large number of national and international tourists visit but at the same time, there are many places yet to explore.

 Many destinations are there in Madhya Pradesh that is less popular, once you see the sights, you will plan to revisit the spots for sure.

 Apart from sightseeing, there are many cultures, lifestyles, delicacies of local tribes. Their language, traditions, cuisine, painting, pet animals, and kind gesture would force to revisit the place.

Destinations like Khajuraho, Pachmarhi,  Bhedaghat, Tiger Reserves- Kanha, Panna, Bandhavgarh, Sanchi, Ujjain, Orchha, Omkareshwar, Mandhu is very popular among tourists. But very lesser people know about destinations like Maheshwar, Burhanpur, Lakshman Temple, Jahaz Mahal, Kandariya Mahadev Temple, Bee falls, Chanderi, Bawanganja, Tincha Falls, Mohadi Falls, Patalpani waterfalls, Bamaniya Kund and Hatuasri Khoh are yet to explore. These destinations have many things to attract.

Everyone knows about popular foods of MP like Poha- Jalebi, Dal Bafla, Shrikhand, Mawa-BAti Seek Kebabs etc but traditional foods like Chakki ki Shaak, Biryani Pilaf, Bhuttey Ke Kees and Chikki. Once you try Jwar ki Roti cooked by local tribes of MP, I swear you will forget everything. Local liquor of tribals in MP is distilled from the flowers of the Mahua tree and this is considered a sacred drink among tribal communities. 

If you talk about wildlife, one-third of the state is forested and it offers an exciting panorama of wildlife. Many rare species can be sighted there in the conserved and nonconserved forest areas. Madhya Pradesh claims for highest forest cover in India. From reptile Ghariyal to big cat tiger, Madhya Pradesh has topped the list in India.  Even the state jungles have proved the presence of black panthers, fishing cats, pangolin, rare bird species. Soon the state will be welcoming African Cheetah.

 

                                Schoolgoers missing social interaction 

                                

While noticing online classes of primary school students, a sudden thought popped my mind  today morning.

Critics are saying that after this online class, children are forgetting the habit of writing sentences. They are missing social interaction, physical activities, sharing habits, and most importantly bonding with teachers as well as friends. When they were physically going to school, they got an instinct to become monitors of the class. For being selected as a monitor of class or receiving that “star pencil” (usually being given to best performer of the day in class) from the teacher, they were ready to compromise with a habit of talking with friends and pretended to be the most disciplined student. This developed a kind of leadership quality among them.

Many academicians and experts said that children were earlier habitual of writing paragraphs, lines from the blackboard, and this developed a kind of skills among them. They learned how to read the chapters and how to write. After this Covid-19 pandemic, some schools have restricted the writing part syllabus while some schools are giving copy work in a digital way. There is no doubt when children get written work at home, they seek help from parents instead of writing themselves.  

The most important thing I noticed that apart from all these skills, children also learned socialization and stay outside of the home for few hours.

I agree with the point taken out by experts that children are forgetting writing skills. But, at the same time, I thought why write so much in copy. Some schools are giving entire copy work at home and children (mostly parents) are busy filling up their copies for further submission in school. Writing in copy help to learn the chapters, sentence formation, spellings along handwriting.

Do you think that this writing skill will be useful for these kids after ten or 15 years? No doubt writing lengthy paragraphs, question-answers help them to learn spelling, sentence formation, and develop reading-writing skills but what about these handwriting exams? Many schools especially Missionary are taking handwriting exams of students, pressurizing parents to ask their kids for writing extra pages.

As far as I am concerned, after 10 years, when these kids will be there in class 12 or nearby, they will be typing instead of writing. Modern education has replaced the traditional method of teaching and everything is being digitalized but schoolgoers are still asked to writing lengthy paragraphs.