Dandakshabari by Narayan Sanyal [Hardcover]

**"A book definitely worth adding to your collection. In the ‘Koyfiyaat’ (Preface), the author mentions that the information in this book should not be dismissed as mere fictional data but should be regarded as a documentary account of tribal life. If you want to understand the origins of humanity, this book is a must-read.

'Dandakaranya' is mentioned in the Ramayana. Manu's son, Ikshvaku, thinking that his youngest son deserved punishment, named him Danda and gave him the royal position in the city of Madhumanta in what is now known as Dandakaranya. Later, due to Danda’s immoral character, he raped Shukracharya's daughter Ajira, and as a result of Shukracharya's curse, that region turned into a wild forest full of predators – hence, the name Dandakaranya. Perhaps, the history of rape in Dandakaranya began in that era, which even today is inflicted upon tribal women by so-called civilized people. However, this evil did not end with rape; sages like Agastya, Matanga, Shabari, Atri, Bharadwaja, and others attained the eternal abode through their penance in that very Dandakaranya. This was the mythological story. In the Shabar language, the word ‘Dan’ means water, and ‘Dak’ also means water, and their language often uses repetition. Valmiki also mentioned that the part of Dandakaranya near the Pampa River was only water and water.

Like the author, I started with a reference to Dandakaranya – borrowed from the book. But to me, the core subject of the book is the lifestyle at the source of humanity. Reading about their way of life is astonishing – repeatedly making you feel like abandoning everything and merging with them! Alas, that’s not possible – firstly, because of the so-called civilized people's greed for natural resources and the superficial attempts to uplift the tribal society, their boundaries are shrinking, and they are moving away from their way of life. Secondly, because I am a ‘civilized’ person, and they are ‘uncivilized’!

We talk a lot about equality, and our minds get burdened with the complex theories of Marx and Lenin. But these uncivilized people have naturally embraced the ultimate form of equality. Even the most egalitarian person in the civilized world wouldn’t give up their rights over their spouse, yet in the lives of these uncivilized people, men and women are considered communal property. What surprised me most was the Ghotal system – a successful implementation of the idea of our collective farms. There, unmarried men and women live together, do all the work, and even swap partners according to rules. Men and women have equal rights everywhere. If a festival is male-dominated, there is an equivalent female-dominated festival. This social system has remained almost unchanged since ancient times, nearly unaltered. Their way of life is not rapidly changing like ours; in fact, we are racing for peace, advancing in science perhaps, but not finding peace. Yet those uncivilized people, far from educational awareness, live simple, unadorned, peaceful lives. Every action of theirs is done to the rhythm of dance, even punishments are given while dancing ‘Relo.’

There were no fences around their boundaries, there was a friendly coexistence from one village to another, traveling in groups, sharing food, dancing, singing, and even marrying between Motiyari (female) and Chelik (male) out of mutual love. Yet we are breaking down countries, states, districts – there’s only rivalry between neighboring places. And this hostility is gradually extending to those Marias, Murias, Gonds, Halbas, Shabars, etc. The greed of the civilized world is encroaching on their forest rights. The government is imposing the burden of modernity in the name of tribal development, and as a result, the word peace is vanishing from their peaceful lives under the influence of modernity. Some groups are either withdrawing into deep forests or heading toward extinction. And in this situation, some political parties are exploiting them, and the book hints at this towards the end. Yes, the book was published in 1962 and written around 1959-60. Since then, their lives have changed a lot – I don’t even know if the descendants of Chayon-Maleko are alive today, and if they are, whether their simple, unadorned way of life still exists!

Just as the water at the source of a river is sweet and pure, so is the life at the source of humanity – pristine and beautiful; as the river progresses towards its delta, it becomes polluted, and the water is no longer drinkable, just like those of us who are near the delta of humanity, our lives too have become tainted – full of unrest. That is why it seems true today that India had everything good only before the Aryans arrived in this country; our country’s original inhabitants had discovered a peaceful, simple, and straightforward way of life long before those who are praised by our nationalists came to this land."**