Indigenous Knowledge and Rare Traditions of Western India’s Janjati Communities

Abstract

The distinctive survival patterns used in the tropical rain forests to the semi-arid and dry lands, set apart the tribal culture of western India from the rest of the countryside. The tribes stand by with a contingency plan comprising several ancient techniques to sustain in the characteristic natural habitat. The evolution of these practices proceeds the settlement age of tribes. Their ways of hunting water species, procuring horopter greens, single seed farming, hamlet guarding, etc., are a complex yet simple ritualistic composition of technical skills, religious beliefs and artistic forms. But these ancient forms of wisdom passed  from ancestors in small morsels got gradually altered by modern inventions; hence, making them a rare practice. Fish hunting in the Mavchi groups of western India is an example of such a rare practice. The joy of going in groups for hunting small fishes, the pre-preparations of threshing the gooda (a type of rice crop grown in water), making special concoctions to faint the fishes, singing songs in one voice while pulling the chopdi (a traditional net) filled with hunted fishes back from the water, and then equally distributing them amongst the members of the community. All these practices have become the story of the past. Now, the entry of big hybrid fish in the market has lost the joy of community for striving together to catch the fish, whereas it has also impacted the growth of the smaller fish in the rivers. Likewise, this paper showcases various other indigenous practices of Dungri Bhils, Mavchis and Gond that have led to the dual impacts of losing the indigenous knowledge and heritage and affecting the regional biodiversity of the tribal land. The collection of rare practices in this paper is based on the extensive ethnographic field work conducted (2020-2023) amongst the Mavchi, Bhil and Gond janjati communities residing in the western part of India.