A photographic journey from the past to the present, from the tribal regions deep in India to the beautiful destinations that shows the veracity of the largest democracy in the world today.

Incredible India in pictures depicting Indian diversity in cultures, heritage, history, archaeology, literature & religion, from tribal communities to popular settlements.

The word Adivasi is synonymous to aboriginal, native & original dwellers. They lived on the land & persisted with their way of living on & living with nature for hundred of centuries in India till the subcontinent became prone to invasions from the western looters & pillagers. While most of the European & Chinese invaders looted & killed, the British, Spanish & Portuguese colonists expanded their rules over these Adivasis. Over time, the decimation of their cultures & the ruthless killings of their people, brought the tribal communities to the brink of extinction.

Chhattisgarh still has remnants of tribal communities, struggling to co-exist with the intrusion we have come to call by various names – civilization, modernization, industrialization et all. All that such terms translated to were the eviction of these tribal communities, usurpation of their land & exploitation of their cultures & humanity for decades. Today, most of them live with perennial fear of being termed criminal, at the mercy of the so called rich & powerful landlords, politicians & industrial exploiters.

Over 5000 years of human civilization, prosperity in arts, science, philosophy and non-materialistic sciences have also harbored religions, rituals & various customs in India. Very often we follow these rituals mechanically these days without completely knowing the purpose or completely following the processes as prescribed in the Vedas.

More such incredible India in our Pictures gallery.

The post Incredible India – Tribal Mother & Child first appeared on Explore India TV.

We are building children’s libraries and play school for children under the age of 12, in remote ethnic communities. We wish to provide enthusiastic children with the tools and the assets to learn, educate and all the while having fun. We wish to help foster a bond between children & books!

If you wish to join our team of volunteers & be part of our small effort to bring books, learning tools, teaching & fun to our ethnic children, there are several things you can do:

• Send us books that we can share through our libraries – learn how to send your books here
• Share our post on your social media profiles so others can find ways to volunteer with us
• Mentor & Teach students remotely – find out what we are doing here
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel & view our messaging in our YouTube videos
• If you wish to make a financial contribution please contact us here

Over 25 million, accounting for about 30% of Chhattisgarh’s population comes from the Indian tribal communities (the majority of Indian ethnic communities residing in the beautiful north-eastern states as reported in the 2011 census).

The region is rich in natural resources and likely going to see a lot of economic growth in the coming years. Education thus remains a key aspect of the region’s growth, enabling the native people to be eligible to benefit from such industrialization.

Pahadi Korwas, Gonds, Khairwars, Kanwars and Pandos are the major tribal groups residing in the district. The local administration is acutely aware of the possibilities and the Indian government has the right intentions for the upliftment of the ethnic communities through education. We have already enrolled several families into our library & a lot more are waiting to be signed up.

But just like any noble effort, the implementation depends on the integrity and ethics of the individuals responsible to spend the funds and efforts appropriately. This was the biggest challenge to our initiatives. But again, no good deeds can fail so desperately.

We had unprecedented support from several unusual corners. Various government departments, people from literary communities & our sponsors came forward to lend their time, money & effort to this cause. So what started off as a small trial to build a free library & a free play school for a few tribal children & their families, slowly grew into something big now. We are currently waiting for a few paperwork to be completed before we can start our work.

We followed from the inspiration of several others who took upon themselves to spread education & learning in various remote regions of the world. Compared to such leaders, our initiative is small and contained within only a few locations in India right now.

The post Furthering Learning & Literacy in Ethnic Indian Communities with Free Children’s Play School & Library first appeared on Explore India TV.

A photographic journey from the past to the present, from the tribal regions deep in India to the beautiful destinations that shows the veracity of the largest democracy in the world today.

Incredible India in pictures depicting Indian diversity in cultures, heritage, history, archaeology, literature & religion, from tribal communities to popular settlements.

The Baiga tribe, one of the oldest known Indian tribal community, is spread mostly around the mid-central regions of the country, with the largest population found in Baiga-chuk in Madhya Pradesh. Traditionally the Baiga tribe has been associated with natural curing, herbal medicines and even, in some rare cases, sorcery.

The Baiga tribe practices shifting cultivation & holds Mother Nature is the one that provides, protects & shows them the way to live in harmony. The tribe, and their lifestyles, have been denominated as “Particularly Vulnerable” by the Indian government in the recent assessments, and one of the main reasons for such classification is their extreme low levels of literacy.

Over 5000 years of human civilization, prosperity in arts, science, philosophy and non-materialistic sciences have also harbored religions, rituals & various customs in India. Very often we follow these rituals mechanically these days without completely knowing the purpose or completely following the processes as prescribed in the Vedas.

More such incredible India in our Pictures gallery.

The post Incredible India – Baiga Tribal Women first appeared on Explore India TV.

A photographic journey from the past to the present, from the tribal regions deep in India to the beautiful destinations that shows the veracity of the largest democracy in the world today.

Incredible India in pictures depicting Indian diversity in cultures, heritage, history, archaeology, literature & religion, from tribal communities to popular settlements.

Abujhmarh, a combination of two words, “abujh” meaning unknown & “marh”, a Gond word meaning landscape or hills, is the ethnic land covering 3 districts of Chhattisgarh, Narayanpur, Bijapur & Danteshwar. As the name suggests, this area is home to numerous tribal communities of India, most popular being the Gond & the Maria.

The Maria tribal women dress fancy especially during the festive seasons, harvest season being the most festive of all.

Over 5000 years of human civilization, prosperity in arts, science, philosophy and non-materialistic sciences have also harbored religions, rituals & various customs in India. Very often we follow these rituals mechanically these days without completely knowing the purpose or completely following the processes as prescribed in the Vedas.

More such incredible India in our Pictures gallery.

The post Incredible India – Abujhmaria Women first appeared on Explore India TV.

The students of Jay Shakuntala Welfare Foundation celebrated the occasion in Balrampur, Chhattisgarh with the traditional hoisting of the national flag & the rhythm of the national anthem at the primary school grounds.

In spite of the rising Covid situations, the small community gathered in school grounds early morning with JSWF members.

While in a non-pandemic situation the celebrations would have included numerous cultural festivities, for now the community had to be satisfied with just a simple reminder of democracy & the freedom that every Indian enjoys.

The Republic Day celebration was attended by the officials of the Block Development Office & the Vice President & Directors of Jay Shakuntala Welfare Foundation. Mr Sanjeev Gupta, VP JSW Foundation served as the chief guest in the celebration.

JSWF is setting up small community libraries & a play school for these ethnic children in an honest effort to forward literacy. The pandemic would leave a lasting impression on the economy as well as the moral & mental healths of these ethnic people. The children would be the most badly affected in the post pandemic period according to studies released by the anthropological department of Delhi University.

Unless mindful and conscientious people step forward, it would be too late to assist an already struggling heritage of the country. If you would wish to help with any of the JSWF Educational Programs, please contact us with your thoughts.

The post JSWF Children Celebrates Indian Republic Day first appeared on Explore India TV.

We were curious to know how the ethnic communities of Chhattisgarh are preventing the spread of Covid so effectively, while the whole world was reeling from its deathly pangs!

Covid raged through India in the initial days, sweeping devastation across the length & breadth of the country. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh as well as most of the major metropolitan cities were badly hit. Unawareness, misconceptions about the virility & in many cases sheer ignorance of people caused death & devastation.

However, in the rural tribal communities, the virus was somewhat controlled. The government working with the local panchayats, ethnic community leaders & many social organizations, took to several unique ways to communicate the deadliness of the virus & educate the tribal people on the need to get vaccinated.

Jay Shakuntala Welfare Foundation, a non-profit organization led by an ethnic team from Balarampur, Chhattisgarh, went from one tribal village to another, accompanied by community members, nurse & mid-wives who were familiar with those communities, spreading the news of the vaccine, providing with masks & personal protection medicines and providing on-site assistance to those who wish to get vaccinated.

This video was taken in the community of the Khairwar Oraon ethnicity & the singers are singing the merits of a good & healthy life & how the vaccine could keep the villagers alive & healthy. The language is an archaic version of Sandri, a local language spoken in some very rural areas of Chhattisgarh.

The communities came together, not only having close to 100% vaccination rate but also implementing proper social distancing rules, personal hygiene etc. Looking back, the intent to save lives, these innovative approaches & the desire to persist with these programs till every community member is safe, led to saving all these heritage tribes.

The post Covid Vaccinations in Tribal Communities first appeared on Explore India TV.

A photographic journey from the past to the present, from the tribal regions deep in India to the beautiful destinations that shows the veracity of the largest democracy in the world today.

Incredible India in pictures depicting Indian diversity in cultures, heritage, history, archaeology, literature & religion, from tribal communities to popular settlements.

The beautiful landscape of Chhattisgarh is a photographer’s eye candy. This is the landscape of north Chhattisgarh that faults beautiful farms, hills and a diverse range of tribal communities, flora & fauna.

More such incredible India in our Pictures gallery.

The post Incredible India – Farmlands of Chhattisgarh first appeared on Explore India TV.

Explore India TV is attempting in a small way to rediscover the tribal cultures in its originality. For long people have inadvertently misrepresented the simplicity & mindfulness of our tribal cultures, often not knowing the history and the evolution of many practices. A case in point is that of the Ghotul culture that more or less mimics the ancient Gurukul system of education.

• Modern day Muria Tribal Ghotul
• Customs of Muria Ghotuls
• Current Situation of Ghotuls in Chhattisgarh

While the rediscovery process is both authentic & research based, it is not fast enough. So we have also started to create small trivia videos on our YouTube Channel.

Support us in this effort by subscribing to our YouTube Channel & commenting on our videos. Your feedback will go a long way in helping us do better.

The post Rediscovering Indian Tribal Heritages & Cultures with Trivia Questions first appeared on Explore India TV.

Also spelled as Basraj Kuwar or Busraj Kunwar Dham, Baba Bachhraj Kunwar Temple lies within a riding distance of Balrampur, Chhattisgarh. The location of the temple is somewhat obscured by the forests surrounding it, the unmetalled road leading to it & the visible interruptions by water from flash floods that are quite common almost throughout the year.

A very close driving location is likely going to be, that sort of works with Google Maps is:

Address : Balrampur, Chhattisgarh 497220, India
Coordinate : 23.7239746, 83.4046593
Compound Code : PCF3+HV Manpur, Chhattisgarh, India

Though our team had not really planned to be there, it was a stroke of luck that the rain held up for a few hours in Balrampur, and we could get our 2 wheeler out even tough we risked the flood & the long stretch of road & no road that sinks bikes easily.

If not known for anything else to outsiders, the locals have deep faith in the power of the deity of the Bachraj Kuwar temple. And to bolster that faith to this day, the villagers have continued the ritualistic practice of sacrificing animal blood. Goats are regularly sacrificed and the oblations celebrated in traditional local culture.

Animal sacrifice to a higher power has been known to be practiced in almost all countries, especially those who have evolved from ancient civilizations.

Animal sacrifice can be productively theorized as a practice of kindred intimacy between human and nonhuman animal. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in India’s Central Himalayas, I trace how the ritual sacrifice of goats in the region’s mountain villages acquires power and meaning through its anchoring in a realm of interspecies kinship.

This kinship between humans and animals is created and sustained through everyday practices of intercorporeal engagement and care. I contend, in fact, that animal sacrifice is itself constitutive of interspecies kin relations. The spectacular act of violence at the heart of sacrifice—the beheading of the sacrificial animal—is crucial to the constitution of kin solidarity between human sacrificer and animal victim.

From this perspective, animal sacrifice creates a world rich with the possibility of mutual response and recognition between different beings entangled in intimate and complex ways.

– “The goat that died for family”: Animal sacrifice and interspecies kinship in India’s Central Himalayas by Radhika Govindrajan

Similar sacrifices were very common even as late 1900 in various parts of Eastern India & in West Bengal the ritualistic sacrifice of goats were common both among priests, householders as well as various sects of Shakti worshipers.

Suchitra Samanta details it in her 1994 book The “Self-Animal” and Divine Digestion: Goat Sacrifice to the Goddess Kālī in Bengal [citation: Samanta, S. (1994). The “Self-Animal” and Divine Digestion: Goat Sacrifice to the Goddess Kālī in Bengal. The Journal of Asian Studies,53(3), 779-803. doi:10.2307/2059730]

It was reported in a 2016 news article that the skulls of the sacrificed goats were auctioned for INR 1.8 million.

The goat sacrifices apart & the feast that follows the oblations, Bachraj Kuwar is also regarded very holy by the Hindus. It is supposed to be the resting place of Sati Mata (holy Mother) and there is a well that continues to pour out water continuously. Nonetheless, Busraj Kuwar remains a hidden gem for those who would love to rediscover tribal rituals & practices of Chhattisgarh.

The post Goat Sacrifice Ritual at Baba Bachraj Kunwar Temple of Chhattisgarh first appeared on Explore India TV.

The tales of Chandaini, or Lorik Chanda tells the story of the romance of an Ahir hero and heroine Lorik and Chanda. Versions of the story told across north and central India, particularly in U.P, Bihar, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

They emphasize different elements of the narrative—the bravery of Lorik as a Ahir hero who defends the honour of his caste, the intrepidity of Chanda who steers the course of the love story between Lorik and herself, or the many challenges faced by Lorik and Chanda when they elope—a strain that was moulded into a masnavi, or a Sufi tale with mystical overtones in the Chandayana, composed by Mulla Daud in the 14th century.

Directorate of Culture and Archaeology, Government of Chhattisgarh

Lorik Chanda Story Telling on YouTube

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6_YGz1ITdmJqtWHCLWXufEyKa-0jmIJJ

Subscribe to the Channel: https://youtube.com/ExploreIndiaTV

While there are numerous other love stories prevalent among the various tribal communities of India (like the Love Story of Jhitku & Mitki video below), the stories of Lorik & Chanda have stood the test of time, probably because of the relevance of these stories to various modern day relationships & their challenges.

One can draw a lot of parallel & relevance to modern day societies. For example, love affairs have remained a major theme to this day in literature & novels. And love triangles, often seen as a taboo in cosmetic cultures, have been thriving in societies ever since rules & social laws have been put to practice.

However, one cannot avoid the simplicity of the stories of Lorik Chanda, set in medieval India & the straighftorwardness with which they are presented. Such presentation implies the often ignored innocence in the players. It is also argued by anthropologists who have studied these tribal cultures that the so called love-romance that existed between Lorik & Chanda is more on the side of devotion than physical attraction.

Subscribe to the YouTube Channel Explore India TV for more episodes and stories from the Lorik Chanda saga.

The post Lorik Chanda Videos – The Love & Romantic Tribal Short Stories first appeared on Explore India TV.