The Baiga are an ethnic group found in central
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
primarily in the state of
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
, and in smaller numbers in the surrounding states of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
,
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...
and
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...
. The largest number of Baiga is found in Baiga-chuk in
Mandla district
Mandla District is a district of Madhya Pradesh in central India. The town of Mandla is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of Jabalpur Division.
The district has an area of 8771 km², and a population of 779,414. It ...
and
Balaghat district
Balaghat district is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in Central India. The town of Balaghat serves as its administrative headquarters.
Balaghat is known for its tile factories, rice mills and forests.
History
At the beginning of the 18th cen ...
of Madhya Pradesh. They have sub-castes: Bijhwar, Narotia, Bharotiya, Nahar, Rai maina and Kath maina. The name Baiga means "sorcerer-medicine man".
Demographics
![Baiga distribution](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Baiga_distribution.svg)
The Baiga are designated as a
Scheduled tribe
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
in much of Uttar Pradesh. The
2011 Census of India
The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...
for that state showed those so classified as numbering 17,387. They are, however, designated as a Scheduled Tribe in
Sonbhadra district
Sonbhadra or ''Sonebhadra'' is the second largest district by area of Uttar Pradesh after Lakhimpur Kheri. It is the only district in India which borders four states, namely Madhya Pradesh to the west, Chhattishgarh to the south, Jharkhand in th ...
.
Livelihood
The Baiga do not plow the land, because they say it would be a sin to scratch the breast of their Mother, and they could never ask their Mother to produce food from the same patch of earth time and time again: she would have become weakened. The Baiga tribes practice
shifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned while post-disturbance fallow vegetation is allowed to freely grow while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cul ...
, called 'bewar' or 'dahiya'.
Live-in relationships are common among the Baiga. If marriage does take place, the man compensates the woman's family for the loss of a working member. This reverse
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
either involves footing the bill of the marriage celebration or offering the woman's family mahua liquor. If divorced, the new husband must compensate the old one for the dowry amount. If the divorced couple have children, the wife has the first right, followed by the husband. If neither wants to raise the child, the community will allot a guardian to the child until age 15.
The Baigas in Chhattisgarh are classified as
Particularly vulnerable tribal group A Particularly vulnerable tribal group or PVTG previously known as a Primitive tribal group is a sub-classification of Scheduled Tribe or section of a Scheduled Tribe, that is considered more vulnerable than a regular Scheduled Tribe. The PVTG list ...
(PVTG) by Government due to their declining population and low level of literacy.The Government of India has notified 75 PVTG which reside in 18 states and one
UT which are classified on the basis of five criteria and in Chhattisgarh Baigas along with Abhujmaria, Kamar, Pahadi Korwa and Birhor are included in this group.The women of these tribes were not provided reproductive rights like right to use contraceptives but in 2018 on a
Public Interest Litigation The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). ''Public interest litigation'' (PIL) refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and de ...
Chhattisgarh High Court allowed them to have access to contraceptives. The Baigas were found to be highly focused on family planning.
Culture
Language
![Baiga tattoos, India](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Baiga_tattoos%2C_India.jpg)
It is believed that the ancestors of the Baigas spoke an
Austroasiatic language
The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are t ...
, however no trace of it is left now. Some Baigas (specifically those from the
Mandla district
Mandla District is a district of Madhya Pradesh in central India. The town of Mandla is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of Jabalpur Division.
The district has an area of 8771 km², and a population of 779,414. It ...
) have mentioned "Baigani" as their mother tongue in the past: Baigani is now recognised as a variety of
Chhattisgarhi influenced by
Gondi. Most Baigas speak
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
, and some of them also know a few local languages such as Gondi and
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
depending on the region where they live.
Cuisine
![Kodo Millet in Chhattisgarh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Kodo_Millet_in_Chhattisgarh.jpg)
Baiga cuisine primarily consists of coarse grains, such as kodo millet and
kutki, and involves very little flour. Another staple food of the baiga is ''pej'', a drink that can be made from ground macca or from the water left from boiling rice. They supplement this diet with food from the forest, including many fruits and vegetables. They hunt, primarily fish and small mammals.
Forced evictions
Since the 1960s, the Baiga have been the victims of forced evictions at the hands of the Indian authorities. These are often carried out in the name of
conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
, in an attempt to protect the tiger populations, but have disastrous consequences for the displaced communities.
Notes
Notable people
*
Jodhaiya Bai Baiga, tribal artist
References
Journals
*
*
*
Bibliography
*
Further reading
*
External links
THE THREATENED TRIBAL:THE BAIGAS*http://www.tribalphoto.com/pages/tribes/india,madhya_pradesh_baiga.html
Ideas of Life and Love from the Tribes of Chhattisgarh
{{authority control
Scheduled Castes of Uttar Pradesh
Social groups of Madhya Pradesh
Tribes of Jharkhand
Scheduled Tribes of Uttar Pradesh
Tribes of Chhattisgarh