BHIL BHAGORIA

INTERNATIONALLY RENOUNED TRIBAL FESTIVAL OF LOVE, ROMANCE AND ELOPEMENT

One has often heard and seen the scenes of love, romance and even elopement among the youth of the modern societies of western world. But what the Bhils the largest and the former ruling tribe of ancient India has been doing until today, is not only fashionable for the youth of today, but socially and culturally a more progressive thought and behaviour. Than even as compared to the youth of America and Europe with no exaggeration. A weeklong festival of love, romance and elopement begins in the ancient Bhil Land around the ancient city of Bhagor in the present district of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh. Bhagor the ancient city of Bhagor region of the Bhils, had been the city of Bhagor Bhil, a name very common even today among the Bhils of Western India. The Bhils of Western India, inhabiting from the prehistoric times around the ancient city of Bhagor are called Bhagoria Bhils. One of the anciet folk saying among the Bhils of Bhagoria says, ' Bhagi bhagor vahi Ratalam ane Indore.' (Only after the dismantling of the city of Bhagor, the present day cities of Ratlam and Indore were inhabited).

A German speaking cultural anthropologist from Vienna, Austria Dr. Hermann Matthias has written a massive volume in German language, on the origin, history, culture and the folklore of the Bhils of Bhagor region called Bhagoria Bhils. In fact the Bhils had a great culture of their own, who after the coming in contact with Aryans, Muslims, Rajputs, Labhhanas, Marathas and others suffered massive regression; memories of the ancient and the past glorious old days of the Bhils are still prevalent in their oral tradition. What the western youth from the modernised societies including India are doing today, in the matters of sex and ethical practices or morality, the Bhils always practised with no feelings of guilt and inhibition. The guilt and inhibition came to the Bhil regions with the sensitisation which adulterated the tribe today.

The Bhagoria festival is actually begins in the region of Bhagor on the last weekly market of the place, prior to the Hindu festival of Holi which the Bhils also celebrate but in their own fashion. So this is a weeklong festival of love and romance not heart being celebrated with so much enthusiasm, glamour, cultural pride, love and romance. Only now a day’s one can see the police and administration has spoiled by unduly interfering in the inner matters of the bhil tribals, a breach in the human right matters of society, their cultural and social values. Jhabua-Alirajpur are the main centres of the great Bhagoria festival. In one day at least in 3 to 5 last weekly markets prior to Holi festival Bhagoria is celebrated in this great ancient festival of Bhagoria in the Bhil Land. In a day some 200 thousand to 500 thousand Bhil youth or more with the elderly people will be drinking and dancing, singing, playing, music, romancing, loving, eloping, and making merry, which is the customary tribal right of the Bhils and it is conventional or unwritten law of the tribal youth select their of their liking and and elope with the clear intention to be future husband and wife. Parents of such partners come together mutually with the members of the clan, lineage, bilaterally and settle the matter amicably. But the administration and police has respected the tribe and their customary laws especially of Bhil folk or conventional marriage and make the matter worse by making cases punishable according to their norms disrespecting the tribal’s.

On this day the police should restrain and respect the tribe. Not disrespect and violate their human, marriage, social and cultural rights granted to them by their own societies. It is a great honour for the tribe to celebrate, sing, make merry in their badly placed social conditions of oppression, exploitation, to rejuvenate their lost psychic energies for recuperation to further face the hardships of life. Will the non tribals respect the folk festivals of Adivasi India in socially and culturally conditioned perspectives in an honourable way....?

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KOTTHI OF MALHING KATTARA

Malhing Kattara is an indigenous Bhil, social worker, social analyst and social activist from the Bhil dominated District of Jhabua, MP, India. There are over 70 social work organisations claiming to serve the Bhils under the pretension of social work with negligible results over decades or one century. More than 90% of these bogus NGOs who are often unchecked, in the districts of Jhabua - Alirajpur have made a prosperous business out of these the social works. Most of them are non tribals, do not know their language and culture, nor they have love for the Bhils due to their prejudices towards the tribal way of life, language, culture, geographical setting, facilities in this geographical region of the Bhils but love to remain willingly and joyfully under the difficult conditions, due to the easily availability for tribal funds, in the name of tribal development, since there can help themselves because there is no transparency, local participation, social accountability, right to information’s, etc. Hence they are thriving on the tribal developmental funds achieving nothing over the years and decades. Malhing is uniquely exceptional among them developing some of the indigenous approaches to the tribal development of the Bhils under the influence of adivasikaran of Mahipal Bhuriya.

Kotthi is an earthen vessel indigenously made by moulding mud for storing grain and other agricultural products by the Bhils other tribes of western India. Malhing Kattara takes very appropriately the symbol of Kotthi for the sustainable development and under the basic concepts of Adivasikaran of M. Bhuriya. He develops some of the concepts of development around it in the context of self-help, indigenous forms of organic fertilizers, irrigation, social justice, utilisation of local artifacts, language, music, orchestra, food-items, clothes, fruits, accumulation of agricultural products for the difficult time, local alcohol and its use in modest way, which is healthier and in purer form than the western brands or brought from outside of tribal habitats, logical reasoning, and so on. Malhing Kattara is one of the social workers in the district of Jhabua applying adivasikaran for the sustainable development and finding encouraging results.

Malhing Kattara is the most successful social worker. Yjis enthusiastic young man is not only social worker, social activist, social analyst, but a singer, Bhil mandal player, dancer, folklorist, singer, folk-writer, poet, writer, editor of Samanvaya Magazine and so.

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CONGRESS CANDIDATE XAVIER MEDA WON FROM JHABUA

Xavier Meda the youth Congress President of the Bhil dominated district of Jhabua, MP, India won with huge majority defeating his many nearest rivals both from Congress and BP parties. Among many Congress expectant candidates and few deserving ones, Xavier Meda too put up his candidacy in opposition to a Congress leader Madam Kalawati Bhuriya the Congress President of the same district. Till the last moment nothing was sure as to whom the party's top leaders would award the seat for the contesting of election. In the last moment the Congress Party High Command favoured Xavier Meda against Kalawati Bhuriya. This was a crucial moment for Lalawati Bhuriya and her uncle who is also a Congress leader and sitting Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) besides being s state minister for agriculture of Government of India. Since it turned out to be an emotional and prestige issue for the Congress leaders and the party workers in the district of Jhabua especially in the Jhabua constituency of the assembly elections, it was feared that the opposition party candidate Mr. Pavesingh Pargi the sitting MLA of the BJP would win. Beisides there was a controversy being spread and was being strongly feared that Xavier being a Catholic from Anthonpur Parish of a Bhil Catholic Diocese of Jhabua, the vested interest people were strongly advocating the voters to choose between Rome Rajor Rama Raj. The local Christians feared that if Xavier failed it was end of their happy and peaceful period. Hence many withdrew from the active participation in support of the Congress candidate fearing that if at all he lost what would happen to the Christians both Catholics, Protestants including the members of Free Churches. Adding to these many rumours and controversies, in the midst of all these Mr. Rahul Gandhi too appeared one fine day to appeal the voters in the MP state assembly constituency of Jhabua.

Many Hindus of good standing, senior lawyers, intellectuals, media persons, youth, sarpanches, government workers, and Hindu voters from the town of Jhabua favoured in Xavier Meda an honest, simple and genuine person who served and works for Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jains and Adivasis equally. From the Districts of Jhabua - Alirajpur about of five , four Congress candidates have won, but the state assembly of Madhya Pradesh has BJP majority due to the good administration of the former chief minister Mr. Shivraj Chauhan.

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ADIVASIKARAN

Tribalisation & Aboriginalisation



There are various approaches and methods being used by the non Adivasis in India for the Tribal Development, prominent among whom are isolation, assimilation and integration proposed from the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and besides few others present day in modern India. All these methods are playing down the total and ideal tribal or indigenous peoples development in the country as you see today, where participation, transparency, accountability, right to information, felt needs, in other words roles of indigenous populations of India(SC, ST & Adivasis) are either denied or absent, leading Adivasis towards more backwardness, degradation, alienation, dalitisation, ultimately a breach of their total human rights in terms of culture, religion, languages, self-rule, participation, equality, justice, indigenous laws, indigenous knowledge, many others and then a possible biological extinction which appears imminent in near future. The non tribal’s are developing and controlling, further accumulation and manipulation of indigenous peoples over all resources in terms of almost everything. Hence the tribal’s are becoming Dalits and over all totally impoverished even in the working areas of reputed NGOs where funding agencies in India and abroad loosing their 90% of their funds spent in the names of SC, ST & OBC, because non tribal’s are depriving them almost of away everything, which was never before. Today as it is apparent, non tribal’s are becoming more powerful and resourceful even in the tribal matters which was never before even in the working of NGO and the tribal’s and tribal’s are becoming holistically poorer and poorer which was not there earlier. In the best method proposed for tribal development that is Integration, basically something wrong. Because unless all in the country of India establish the relationship of Roti (bread7food) and Beti (daughter) from bilateral or both sides this method is a bogus or fake one. Total sansritisation or Brahanisation is imposed one sidedly on these 80% populations of the country.

A total way of social and cultural life, language and literature, folklore and other practices of a small minority, in the name of national integration is being imposed of a small minority. A huge breach of human rights for these 80% folks of the country, in India, uncaring, denying, the social and cultural ways of Adivasis, Dalits and OBC communities in India who are original Adivasis of India or the indigenous peoples. Hence to reverse this process of impoverisation of 80% peoples of the country, and bring in the empowerment in the field of social development we are introducing the method of Adivasikaran for the Adivasis as Professor Sachidananda said in one of the anthropological conference that this is the best method of tribal development in India besides many other scholars are appreciating and accepting this idea. If in this crucial juncture of time the SC, ST & OBC peoples of India do not envisage their own future destiny , they all 80% of them shall be not in less than 30 years or even in less period of time shall be socially, biologically, culturally, geographically will be totally impoverished and vanished. It appropriate time to reflect on what the Constitution maker of India Baba Saheb Ambedkar has said in the context of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes(ST) and today also in terms of Other Backward Communities(OBC) let us preserve our roots, promote ourselves, innovate and integrate in the national mainstream of India as respectful citizens of the country maintaining our identities for the sheer protections of Total Human Rights or else we shall be vanished as you see the processes are taking place in the clandestine way in the country.

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THE BHILI GRAMMARS

The Bhili language is the great oral and ancient language of over 70 million Bhil speakers of the Bhilanchal spread over this vast Bhil region of Western India. These different Bhil folks or the peoples of Bhilanchal densely inhabit in the adjoining region of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Their negligible population is even found in various other parts of the country including in North East and Pakistan. Today due to the facilities provided by the Constitution of India, in the form of reservations in educational institutions, jobs, political representation, migration and education, they are loosely also found not only all over India, also in some parts of the world in the countries like England, Canada, USA, Germany, Japan, Portugal, etc looking towards very much for the cultural and social identification in the context of their origin. As such the Bhils all over India will be over 150 millions. Today one should excavate a Bhil territory for their human survival, for the due promotion, protection and innovation of their largely denied cultural, linguistic, human and other rights. Hence it is good to envisage a Bhil territory like Bhilanchal or Bhil Desh within the 5th and 6th Schedule of the Great Indian Constitution, establish language links with each Bhil group especially in densely populated Bhil regions and other areas throughout the country. Doing this for the Bhils shall be a great and noble job by the genuine NGOs.

In this context of the present day, it is good to search, research and restore the great Bhil linguistic, social and over all their rich cultural heritage, which is vastly under damage and distortions’ by non tribals, due to large ignorance and also denial of recognition for Bhil cultural heritage, which was and is the prideful historical wealth of their antique Bhil society in whose language, values, oral literatures and folklore the Bhils found securities, consolation, rejuvenation in all through their suppressed and oppressed centuries from the time of Eklavya, in the great upheaval their social and cultural history, in which context not much is being done even the best of NGOs working in the Bhilanchal.

To start with the first Bhili Grammar was prepared by a Dutch missionary called Leo Jungblut SVD in early thirties of the last century and published in Mission Press, at Mhow, Indore (MP) India in 1937. It had less than 100 pages but the small volume served well the purpose for the linguists, administrators, scholars, missionaries, admirers of Bhili as a language, colleges, universities, research institutes, individuals, etc. The author Leo Jungblut SVD who lived and worked among the antique Bhils of Jhabua (MP) India, Rambapor, studied meticulously like a professionally trained linguist, even the nuances of Bhili phones and morphemes’ together with their syntax. Much more than this he brought out the beauty of Bhil culture, language, literature and their living Bhil folklore. The Bhili Grammar prepared by the author Leo Jungblut SVD served it purpose till his death, while he was revising the manuscript with M. Bhuriya. Now the same Bhili Grammar due its demand in the scientific, administrative and popular fields will have its second enlarged and revised edition by Mahipal Bhuriya. Later Dr. Nemichand Jain a scholar, Hindi Pandit, writer, Hindi critic and linguist brought out a sort of two volumes of Bhili Grammars, with similar nature but for different and vaste felt need among the members of the tribe and also in the mainstream society. Then in early eighties, later Deveprasad Ganava a Bhil from the same region of Jhabua, inspired by the beauty of the Bhili language and Bhil culture, published from Meghnagar, an important volume of Bhili grammar, called BHILI Vyakaran (Bhili Grammar).

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SUBLIME VALUES OF ADIVASI INDIA

The prehistoric or the ancient India was the land of Adivasis or indigenous peoples of Indian sub-continent, who in the course of time till today were invaded, won over, enslaved greatly sansrkitised. The sublime values those are in India, are largely found in the rural, Adivasi or among the indigenous peoples of India, where these indigenous populations of the country are still retaining these values and exhibiting through their social, cultural and various aspects of their folklore in-spite of hardships which are to great extent man made such as modern day oppressions and exploitations. Even though they are struggling for their survival, and yet they portray these innate and God given sublime values in their day today life. If corruption is found in their social habitats, it has come from outside of their geographical spaces or territories.

Which are these innate and sublime values which make them ideal citizens, living saints and sages in India are the following:
1. Love for God
2. Mellanerium
3. Hope for survival
4. Social solidarity
5. Simplicity
6. Sense of Social justice
7. Honesty
8. Loyalty
9. Love of neighbours
10. Hospitality
11. Social equality
12. Love of Nature
13. Equality of both sex
14. Empowerment of women
15. Water conservation and irrigation
16. Cleanliness
17. Devotion to their indigenous deities
18. Simple living and high thinking
19. Tribal Unity, 20. Perseverence
21. Genuiness
22. Largeheartedness
23. Freedom
24. Oral Tradition
25. Love for singing, dance and Music
26. Tribal aesthetics
27. Consistent
28. Hard Working
29. Loving & caring
30. Social sympathy
31. Self-employed
32. Self-sustaining
33. Love for oral literature
34. Respect for physical and social environment
35. Respect for women
36. Clan & village unity
37. Serviceable
38. Love for independence
39. Ideal Panchayati raj or local self-rule
40. No alienation or encroachment in other land or territory.

Against this social, cultural and historical background one can view that if at all there is corruption it has come to them through outsiders in their regions, as the media people have time and again pointed explicitly, including the social and cultural anthropologists. Governments in all honesty should preserve and promote these social and cultural values of Adivasi India through formal and informal education, mass media, etc, instead of bringing in corrupt systems in the name of administration, maintenance of law and justice, national integration, etc

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THE INCREDIBLE VALUES OF ADIVASI INDIA

Some time back, Dr. Stephen Fuchs SVD a a great and pioneering cultural anthroplogist of India persuaded me to me study and affirmatively write about the tribal heritage or Ancient heritage of Adivasi India specifically about their innate values which are unique in the country.. He further mentioned that the rich heritage of Adivsi India in the form of their persisting social and cultural values from remote past should by no means be lost in the process of modernisation. Some of these values coming down from the centuries are so unique that they are impossible to be found in the mainstream of the Indian society. Due to this significant and unique aspects of this antiquarian tradition, these values at this juncture of modernisation, be preserved, promoted and innovated. In those day, like any other tribal or the indigenous Indian youth of today, I had inferiority complex and lack of will, to positively acknowledge the cultural heritage of ADIVASI INDIA and bit of aversion towards this particular tribal heritiage of India to uphold as vauable cultural tradition in the country against the powerful process of sanskritisation which is sweeping away the good old traditions of indigenous peoples and replacing only with the Bramenic ones Even though in the heart of heart I had desire to resist the devastating process which ruined my Adivasi cultures but no ecourage to say boldly anything in this connection. Today when after three decades of my obervation and studies of tribal cultures of India and aquiring many of the elements of Brahmenic cultures , and loosing over these decades many uniquely valuable elements of tribal cultures , I regrette much in doing so. I feel that the Adivasi heritiage of this sort is not aquired by human efforts, but endowed on these simple and innocent folks of the country by God, the Creater himself to the Adivasis of India, who are genuine saints and sages, andata (giver of India as Adivasi heritage of India possess today, even the main stream society inspite of their best efforts possibly may not achieve them. Each Adivasi group of India is the living embodiment of innate, uncorrupt and unsullied values which others have either not noticed or ignored, on the contrary try to imposed the corrupted values through social encounters, weekly markets, public administration, maintenance of law and order and so on spoiled the tribal cultures of India. The Indian print and electronic media has certainly pointed out this fact positvely and a times very explicitely.

Which are these innate Adivasi values of India,....? Let us take time, look around in the remote parts of the country, positively, with no feelings of caste prejudices and superiority complex and then one will see the image of divine light always buring, unixtingvishable, in the present days of colossal exploitation, edprivation, suppression and alienation, poverty, miseries by all walks of peoples including reputed NGOs. Others have taken away from them, in great measures, but given, today their life, ligacy and silent history is speaking.

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