Sanskriti Samvardhan
These traditions were not folklore to be preserved. They were working institutions — for holding a forest, for rescuing a neighbour, for deciding together — and they still work.
Tribal people have historically been viewed as ‘backward’ — first by foreigners, and then by their own countrymen. That perpetuated a sense of inferiority towards native wisdom, traditions and practices, hurting the self-esteem of tribal people and, in the end, costing them interest and confidence in their own traditional knowledge.
Why traditions, then? Because these were formulated to fit local requirements, and every one of them empowers community participation and connection with nature. Refined over time and passed down generations, they remain potent enough to counter many local problems — and combined with professional skills, they become an ingenious, sustainable answer to planetary problems as large as global warming.
‘Parmarth’ — the highest good of others, expecting nothing back.
Halma is that idea made into a working institution: a call goes out, and the village turns up. It is the reason a bare hill can be re-cut in a single day.
Each of these is doing a job in Jhabua today — holding a forest, moving a hillside, or holding a community together well enough to do either.
‘Forest of the Mother’
‘Matavan’ literally means forest of the Mother — the Mother here signifying Mother Earth. It is the traditional Bhil term for a specially protected forest area where trees are not cut under any circumstances. That absolute rule is what has made Matavan such a significant tool in afforestation.
A call, and the village comes
Halma is an ancient tradition of the Bhil tribe of Jhabua which conceives and promotes Parmarth — the highest good of others, with no expectation of return. The folklore goes that when a person could not get out of difficulty after their best efforts, there is a call for Halma, and the community comes to the rescue expecting nothing back.
Halma is prevalent today in more than 1,300 villages across the Jhabua–Alirajpur belt, in some places under different names. Shivganga has practised and promoted it extensively to carry the water and forest conservation effort.
Ten days, alongside Holi
A festive celebration of ten days running parallel with Holi, in which people gather to meet, sing and dance together. It falls when the farmers are done with their cultivating season and the rabi harvest is home — which is exactly what makes it the right moment to celebrate.
Shivganga worked on debunking the false narratives about Bhagoria and propagating its original form: a socio-cultural celebration by the tribal people of Jhabua. Today it is a mass celebration where more than 30,000 tribal people celebrate their culture with pride, and visitors come from across the world.
Jal, jangal, jameen, jan, janwar — and nav-vigyan
The Mela is dedicated to exploring the methods and means of bringing prosperity to the villages through the enrichment and conservation of natural resources — water, forests, land, people and animals. Nav-Vigyan, new technology, has its place there too, so that villagers meet it firsthand. It is an important event for identifying what resources a village actually has at its disposal, and experts are invited for a two-way conversation rather than a lecture.
The mattock, carried like a weapon
Shivganga organises various yatras through the year to empower tribal people and make them aware of different issues. Among them Gaiti Yatra holds a special place, because of what it carries: the gaiti, the mattock these farmers dig with, shown as a weapon of change.
As a soldier walks with pride with a gun on his shoulder, so does a tribal farmer with his gaiti. It restores self-esteem and pride in the farmers, and generates respect for farming in everyone watching.
Not as heritage to be admired, but as methods that work — and that other places with bare hills and empty wells could use.
