Author: Randhir Khare
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2000
Language: English
Pages: 358
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8172233787
Description
Weaving myth, legend, history, ecology and personal experience, the book presents a fascinating tapestry of man and nature locked in a struggle for survival.
This is the story of one man's journey of discovery through the jungles of the Indian subcontinent, unfolding exhilarating experiences and witnessing the inexorable forces of change sweeping through the lives of traditional communities. Beginning with boyhood encounters as shikari and angler, the author journeys into adivasi worlds scattered across the country.
One meets Bhoona Baba - the Bhilala priest, traditional doctor, religious painter and the last surviving storyteller of Jhinkhini village, Bhunia, the Bhil, who educates the author on the art of slicing chickens, the mysterious old Kurumba tribesman in the jungles of Korakunda who keeps appearing and disappearing . ., and an enthusiastic IAS officer who wants to set up a 'tribal museum'.
And then, midlife, the author arrives in the Dangs jungles of south Gujarat. What begins as a professional visit quickly slips into a bewilderingly passionate relationship with a place and a people. For six years, Randhir Khare keeps returning to the region, bearing witness to the ravages of change. People fill the narrative.
There's Jankiben, the Bhil rebel from Chikar, Janubhai, the Kunbi Bhagat of Dhavalidod village who generously shares his knowledge of medicinal herbs and healing with the author and a string of self-important bureaucrats like 'Che' who thinks he's brought about an educational revolution and his counterpart who wants to turn Dangs into another 'Switzerland'.
The Dangs: Journeys into the Heartland is a metaphor for all of Khare's searchings, findings, lovings, wanderings and strivings.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Map
Introduction
ONE
Rifle, Rod and Roots
TWO
Desolation Place
THREE
Thunder in the Hills
FOUR
Che and the Dangi Revolution
FIVE
Dark Whispers
SIX
Chikar in the Rain
SEVEN
Silent Bow
EIGHT
A Strange Safari
NINE
The Flight of the Blue Rock
TEN
Green Heart
ELEVEN
On the Fast Track to Oblivion
TWELVE
The Temple of the Dangs
Green Notes from a Dangi diary
Glossary