'Jai Shri Ram' Echoes Heard Deep Inside The Jungles Of Chhattisgarh — Swarajya's Ground Report

About six hours drive from Raipur is Dharamjaigarh — a sleepy town nestled just past Korba in Raigarh. The roads leading to Dharamjaigarh are patchy, but widening activities make it an even more difficult task to drive. The landscape, after moving past bumpy roads till Bilaspur, is laden with Sal and Mahua trees.

Dharamjaigarh houses many tribal communities — Korwa, Oraon, Birhors included. Until a few years ago, the people living in the adjacent jungles had hardly seen signs of development.

There were no roads connecting the Khalbora village — about six to seven kilometres from Dharamjaigarh town. The locals here recall crossing a powerful stream, reaching the town and then taking a long bus ride to Bilaspur or Raipur.

But since the last decade or two, successive political establishments have been trying to integrate the primitive tribal communities living here, into the mainstream.

'Gave Up Eating Monkeys For Bajarangabali'

"We used to get scared at the first sight of pugmarks left behind from footwear. We Birhors used to feast on the meat of monkeys. It was a delicacy for us", says Kendaram Birhor, an octogenarian living in the nearby Khalbora village in Darridih.

Just over a hundred people live in the hamlet. This includes the Birhors — a nomadic tribe. 'Bir' means jungle and 'hor' means men. They are short in stature and have a long head and a broad nose. They speak the critically endangered Birhor language and were hunter-gatherers, traditionally. They are a part of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). They worship nature. Local legends say that they are the descendants of Lord Surya — the sun god.

In the past, Birhors used to hunt wild animals like monkeys, fowl, rabbits, titirs (small birds) and pigs.

"We used to collect Mahua, Tendu patta (tobacco leaf) and Chironji. Some people made ropes, collected honey and sold them to earn some money. Today, we are growing paddy and other crops. Birhors have given up eating monkeys after being told that Bajarangabali is a form of Lord Hanuman", Kendaram adds.

They started to grow sugarcane but had to give it up since elephant and bear attacks were becoming frequent. After government officials encouraged them to take up agriculture and cattle-rearing, the Birhors are trying to adopt other means to meet their ends. But this has been successful only after repeated attempts, as many of them could not adjust to urbanisation and preferred to live a nomadic life.

'Lord Ram Traversed Through These Jungles'

Locals like Shishupal Gupta say that the Sangh has been very active in the region. Several Hindu organisations like the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram have been actively promoting a Hindu way of life among the tribals. It is their intervention that got the Birhors to stop consuming monkey meat, locals suggest.

"Now we are seeing every sign of progress. Roads are being laid, there's electricity since Raman Singh's term as the Chief Minister, and the government provides us tractors for cultivation and free ration to meet our ends. A borewell has been laid, and we are getting access to clean drinking water", Kendaram says, describing the development in the region.

Interestingly, Kendaram says that the whole village was celebrating the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Apart from four or five families of Manjhis (another tribal community that lives in the village) who had converted to Christianity, everyone else is happy about the Ram Mandir being built. He says that the whole village is ecstatic and awaiting an opportunity to visit Ayodhya.

Kendaram was a part of the 1992 karseva at the disputed structure in Ayodhya. There was no Chhattisgarh back then. He went to Bhopal and then took a train to Ayodhya. He was also present at the place where the firing was opened by UP police on the orders of the Mulayam Singh government back then, he says.

"We went to Hanuman Mandir (Hanumangarhi) to seek Bajarangabali's permission to see Lord Ram. After that, we chanted slogans like 'Ramlala aayenge, goli baar ujhlayenge' and boarded the bus. We were angry at Mulayam Singh, so we started to shout 'Gali gali chaagal hain, Mulayam Singh paagal hain'".

"The area has been a part of Lord Ram's route when he was in Vanvaas. He is very important to us", he adds.

'Never Wanted To Return'

Some of the locals in Darridih have had an opportunity to visit Ayodhya after the inauguration of the Ram temple. On February 28, Ghasiram Pradhan, Bahadur Gupta and Govind Pradhan — all locals from Darridih boarded the train to Ayodhya from Bilaspur.

They belong to an Odia community called Kuiltas. They are OBCs, they claim. All three of them are small farmers. The village is adorned with saffron flags and villagers gather to spend their mornings near the Hanuman temple in front of Pradhan's house.

About six people from the village had the chance to be taken on the Aastha Special train arranged by the Vishva Hindu Parishad.

"We started cleaning up the whole village. It was chhoti Diwali for us. We sang bhajan-kirtan all seven days and recited the Hanuman Chalisa", Ghasiram Pradhan says. Their kuladevata is Ramchandi Devi, but their love for Lord Ram has precedence above all other obligations.

The trio say that they were very happy to be among the privileged few to have visited Ayodhya. "There were tensions in the village on who may be selected to go but were promised that everyone would eventually get a chance to seek Lord Ram's blessings". They stayed at a dera, took a shower early in the morning and sought Lord Hanuman's blessings before heading to Ram Mandir.

"Bhajan-kirtans were sung on the train. We never sat idle. We never wanted to come back", they say, even as I started to wrap up the conversation and leave the spot.

Many villagers here have benefitted from free housing schemes from the government, and are now living in pucca homes. Locals like Gudduram Manjhi say that the government tried providing goats to every house to cultivate milk, but they ended up either eating them once they were healthy or selling them to make some money.

Freebies have not been helping them, they say. Why? — It is making the tribals lazy, and turn to alcoholism.

Many locals believe that Lord Ram can introduce cultural changes among the tribes. They are hoping that the community will be cured of alcoholism just the way they were convinced to do away with eating monkey meat. The region, a dense jungle a few years ago, is undergoing massive change politically, socially and culturally. They say they are as Hindu and bhakts of Lord Ram as anyone else from other parts of India.

This report is part of Swarajya's 50 Ground Stories Project - an attempt to throw light on themes and topics that are often overlooked or looked down. You can support this initiative by sponsoring as little as Rs 2,999/-. Click here for more details.