Saharia

Saharia, Sahar, Sehariya, or Sahariya is an indigenous Munda-speaking tribe in the Madhya Pradesh province of India. The Saharias are mainly found in the districts of Morena, Sheopur, Bhind, Gwalior, Datia, Shivpuri, Vidisha and Guna districts of Madhya Pradesh and Baran district of Rajasthan.

Etymology

The etymology of " Saharia " is uncertain but many possibilities exist. Some believe that the tribe's name means "companion of the tiger", where SA means companion, and HARIA means tiger. The most common view is that the present designation of tribe name is said to given by some Muslim rulers (probably by Ruler of Shahbad) who found them residing in the jungle: the Arabic word 'sahara' means 'desert' or 'wilderness'.

History

The history of the Saharia tribe is spotty and in many places completely lost. The older generations of the Saharia tribespeople fail to give any account of their history, and written records of ancestry are virtually nonexistent. Traditionally, they trace their beginnings to the days of the Ramayana and beyond. They trace their origin from Shabri of the Ramayan. Another theory suggests that Brahma, the creator was busy casting the Universe. He made out a place to seat all persons. In the centre of that place he put a Sahariya who was a simpleton. Others came to join him sitting but they pushed him further from the square centre to an extreme corner or khoont. The story goes that an annoyed Brahma chided the Sahariya for his inability to cope with the pressure and decreed that he would henceforth live in forests and such other out of the way places. Some Sahariya's claim descent from Baiju Bheel, a worshiper of the Hindu god Shiva.