Tribal Cultural Heritage in India

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“Was Narmada valley the centre of human evolution?”: Excavations along one of India’s
seven holy rivers
Posted on 24/05/2020 by website administrator

The broken skull specimen of Narmada Man (Homo erectus), first and only

of its kind in India – TheBetterIndia.com, March 18, 2017

Sanchari Pal, TheBetterIndia.com, March 18, 2017 | For the full story and view more images, click
here >>

[…] Was India home to one or more unknown hominin species, fossils of which we have not yet
been discovered? And did they interbreed with the pre-existing hominid groups in the region?

There is no definitive theory that can answer these questions but archaeologists agree
that most of these scenarios are possible. What they also agree is that they need to literally dig
deeper and wider for the answers to these fascinating questions. With archaeologists busily
hunting for artefacts and even fossils of the first modern humans in India, the wait may not be
long.
Source: Ramapithecus, Sivapithecus & Narmada Man: India’s Earliest Inhabitants
Address: https://www.thebetterindia.com/91960/ramapithecus-sivapithecus-narmada-man-homo-erectus-early-
humans-india/
Date Visited: Sat Aug 12 2017 13:08:19 GMT+0200 (CEST)

MP: 50,000-year-old archaeological remains discovered in Narmada valley

The excavation carried out in the Narmada valley at Mehtakhedi village under Khargone district
has led to the discovery of 350 archaeological remains which the experts claim to be 50,000 years
old.

Source: MP: 50,000-year-old archaeological remains discovered in Narmada valley | india-news | Hindustan
Times Mar 13, 2017
Address: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/mp-50-000-year-old-archaeological-remains-
discovered-in-narmada-valley/story-z7nQYgxard3jP0DzS4fLJN.html
Date Visited: Sat Aug 12 2017 13:05:12 GMT+0200 (CEST)

Prashant Ruperal, Times of India, August 14, 2012 | To read the full article, click here >>

Through the largest exploration exercise ever undertaken, M S University’s Department of

Archaeology and Ancient History […] and Indiana-based Stone Age Institute at Gosport have
joined hands for the ‘Narmada Basin Paleoanthropology Project (NBPA)’ with the target to collect
all the paleoanthropological evidence within the last two million years. […]

Study at Narmada Basin is important because of its geographical location which is very
strategic for migration of animal population from North to South and East to West. It is not only
rich in fossils and archaeological sites, but it has a long history of human occupation
and this region is facing submergence due to dam construction […]

Source: Was Narmada valley the centre of human evolution? – Times of India
Address: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/Was-Narmada-valley-the-centre-of-human-
evolution/articleshow/15485975.cms
Date Visited: 23 December 2018

This sacred site is also a cultural capital of the tribal people of Madhya Pradesh
 Outlook Magazine (Traveller), April 1, 2017

Rewa: the jumping one. Maikal Suta: the one born of the Maikal Hills. Shiva’s child.
Mother of the tribals. One of India’s seven holy rivers. The only one whose parikrama is
performed by devotees. The Narmada River embodies all this and more. She is accorded the same
status as the Ganga and Saraswati; virtue accrues by bathing in, or paying homage to these
rivers. At Amarkantak, you can follow this river, which the native communities of this
region call ‘Ma Rewa’, from her divine source where she begins her tentative journey through
green sal woods and black basalt rocks, to her more efficient march down to the plains.
Amarkantak is really a hamlet; most of it lies along a main road, which comprises a market with a
few dhabas, ashrams and the Narmada Temple complex. Amarkantak is also the place to realise
that the tribal idyll described by websites is now a fissured one. The tribals are now working
blue-collar jobs. The forests, in the words of a local, are ‘hollow’. And the Narmada continues to
push forward facing 30 big dams, 135 medium dams and 3,000 small dams en route to the
Arabian Sea.
Source: Outlook Traveller – Travel Magazine |News|Articles and Guide Books Madhya Pradesh: A Quick Guide To
Amarkantak – Outlook Traveller
Address: https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/destinations/madhya-pradesh-quick-guide-
amarkantak/
Date Visited: Mon Apr 17 2017 22:44:07 GMT+0200 (CEST)

Baba Amte on the banks of the Narmada river. Photo: Courtesy Sheetal Amte | To read the full
story with more photos, click here >>
In 1973, 24 years after setting up Anandwan, a refuge for persons with leprosy in Maharashtra’s
Chandrapur district, Baba Amte travelled 225km eastwards to set up the LBP for the Madia
Gond tribe living in the forests of Gadchiroli. Then, as now, the tiny hamlet of Hemalkasa,
where the Indravati river merges with its tributaries—the Parlkota and the Pamul Gautami that
flows through the densely forested Narayanpur-Jagdalpur-Gadchiroli range—was cut off from the
more developed districts. Forest dwellers died of dysentery, cholera and malnutrition. Government
aid seldom found its way there. His son Prakash, then newly married, left his postgraduation
studies and settled there. The young couple started a makeshift hospital for the tribals. In 1976,
they also started a school under a tree, beginning with 20 tribal children.

By this time, Baba Amte had become well known for working with those marginalized and
ostracized by society. In 1967, he had embarked on a project for cured leprosy patients to practise
agriculture. With a large group of Anandwan residents, he started Somnath, spread over 1,300
acres in the forests of Tadoba; the project now provides all the grains and vegetables consumed at
both Anandwan and Hemalkasa.

When Baba Amte and Prakash got involved with the LBP, elder son Vikas stayed back at
Anandwan. Over the years, Vikas and his wife Bharati—both doctors as well—modernized
Anandwan, mixing scientific temper with grass-root innovation. They shared the late Baba Amte’s
vision of Anandwan as a place where everyone would get a chance at a better life, one of equality,
dignity and opportunity. […]

1990: Shifts to Madhya Pradesh to support the Narmada Bachao Andolan; goes on to build and
live in the Nijibal ashram in Kasrawad, on the banks of the Narmada river, to protest against the
building of the Sardar Sarovar dam that would displace thousands of tribals. Wins the Templeton
Prize for progress in religion.

1999: To protest against the Supreme Court order that allowed the height of the dam on the
Narmada river to be raised, leads a march of thousands with activists Medha Patkar and Swami
Agnivesh, from Madhya Pradesh to Delhi. He is arrested and taken to Ram Manohar Lohia
hospital in New Delhi. Wins the Gandhi Peace Prize the same year.

2000s: Failing health forces Baba Amte to return to Anandwan.

9 February 2008: Baba Amte dies in the wee hours of the morning, in the Anandwan ashram.
He was 94.
Source: 100 years of Baba Amte – Livemint
Address: https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/hXutfFX4xgsCs8rgqFBDrI/100-years-of-Baba-Amte.html
Date Visited: Fri Aug 11 2017 16:00:16 GMT+0200 (CEST)

Vijay Lapalikar, Indian Express (Opinion), New Delhi, December 28, 2015 | To read the full
obituary for Brahma Dev Sharma (1931-2015), click here >>

Destiny took away Brahma Dev Sharma (B.D. Sharma) from us on December 6, the
Mahaparinirvan Din of Babasaheb Ambedkar. While Ambedkar remains the original icon of the
oppressed classes, mainly Dalits in Hindu society, Sharma will be remembered for his contribution
to the emancipation of the tribals. […]

He would recall how farmers were forced to repay loans at over 14 per cent when the original
British laws of 1884 provided for 4 per cent interest with a repayment span of 35 years. […]

Vested interests were hostile to Sharma’s dogged fight against the usurpation of tribal resources
by the government and private entities. […]

A lesson from an experiment in a Bastar village guided him throughout his life. He
had built an “ideal village” with facilities like school and hospital. But no tribal
would shift there. He realised it was best to ask the tribals what they needed and
make plans accordingly rather than thrust one’s own ideas upon them. […]

Sharma was, as health activist Abhay Bang described, “the Mahatma of the tribals”.

Source: Mahatma of the tribals | The Indian Express

Address: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/mahatma-of-the-tribals/
Date Visited: Mon Apr 17 2017 23:15:51 GMT+0200 (CEST)

[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]

The Narmada, also called the Rewa, is a river in central India and the fifth longest river in the
Indian subcontinent. It is the third longest river that flows entirely within India, after the
Godavari, and the Krishna. It is also known as “Life Line of Madhya Pradesh” for its huge
contribution to the state of Madhya Pradesh in many ways. It forms the traditional boundary
between North India and South India and flows westwards over a length of 1,312 km (815.2 mi)
 before draining through the Gulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea, 30 km (18.6 mi) west of
Bharuch city of Gujarat. […]

States: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat

Source: Narmada River – Wikipedia

Address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmada_River
Date Visited: Mon Apr 17 2017 23:01:56 GMT+0200 (CEST)

Tips

What the Sardar Sarovar megadam on the Narmada River means to the lives and future of millions of people:
Interview in Frontline Magazine (from the publishers of The Hindu) >>
For up-to-date information on any of the above topics and names, type “Narmada Basin archaeology”,
“tribal community Narmada”, “tribal ecology water”, “Baba Amte Narmada”, “Brahma Dev Sharma”, “tribe
Madhya Pradesh”, “Bastar tribal custom” or similar search terms into the search window here: Google custom
search – Indian press coverage of tribal culture and education >>
Learn more about Government institutions and NGOs: Govt. of India, NGOs and international
Use the WorldCat.org search field seen here for authors or titles dealing with the above mentioned topics or
persons:

Search for an item in libraries near you: Enter title, subject or author

WorldCat.org >>

Research the above issues with the help of Shodhganga: A reservoir of theses from universities all over
India, made available under Open Access >>
 Learn more about Baba
Amte and the Narmada
valley on Safe search >>

Related posts

Baba Amte
Bastar
Bhil
Community facilities
Ecology and environment
Economy and development
Forest Rights Act (FRA) | Legal rights over forest land
Gadchiroli
Gandhian social movement
Health and nutrition | Recommendations by the Expert Committee
Narmada | Narmada Valley
People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI) | RuralIndiaOnline.org
Seasons and festivals
States along the Narmada river’s course (source to Arabian Sea):
Madhya Pradesh | Maharashtra | Gujarat
Tribal identity
Worship and rituals
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Secretary, Tribal Cultural Heritage in India Foundation (2010-2022)
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This entry was posted in Anthropology, Archaeology, Bastar, Central region – Central Zonal Council, Colonial policies, Cultural heritage, Customs, Ecology and environment,
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