THE ADIVASI'S OF KODAGU Understanding the adivasi’s of Kodagu District, Karnataka thru three months internship with CORD
A few days in the office to get oriented with the environment and we were off on our first field visit to Hanian hadi, around 40km’s from Kushalnagar in the Virajpet Taluk. What, was in store for us we were not sure. On arrival to the first hadi there were no mud huts with the thatched roofs, neither were their people dressed in leaves and hay. But there were unknown people who were friendly to us who were strangers to them. Yet we were warmly welcomed. However something that struck me was that the huts here were small and some had no doors. Moving to another hut it was a fully open hut only with a wall on the side where they cooked. Whilst my companion was all scared and wondering how we would spend the night I was ready for the challenge. I had been briefed well about the environment and the conditions that we would have to face by friends who had been here earlier so I had prepared myself for any situation and was looking forward to and was prepared for three months of adventure.
THE ADIVASI
The Adivasi people of India called tribes, adivasi’s[ii], giri jana[iii] and also known as ‘the forest dwellers’ have primitively lived in forests and their livelihood has been largely dependent on the minor produce and cultivation of land and tending and caring for the forest, without in anyway compromising the ecosystem and biodiversity of the natural habitat. While this specific section of the Indian population is “Indigenous” the government of India considers all its citizens as Indigenous. However, for administrative purpose the Adivasi community is categorized as “Scheduled Tribes” (ST).
The STs inhabit about 15-20% of the land area of the Indian Sub-continent. The ST population is estimated to be 84 326 240 or 8.2% of the Indian population. This constitutes approximately 600 tribal communities throughout India, which shows that India is home to over a quarter of all Indigenous peoples in the world. The planning commission of India observed in its Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007 – 12 that the Scheduled Tribes are mainly landless poor forest dwellers and shifting cultivators, small farmers and pastoral nomadic herders. This indicates that the adivasi people are essentially dependent on agriculture, for which land is a basic need though it is not so.
The adivasi community has been a community which has lived in the forest for generations by co habiting with nature and have in no way been an obstruction to the biodiversity or ecosystem of the forest. They use the forest to collect minor forest produce – honey, soap nuts, marapachi, wild fruits, mushrooms and roots (genusu) and bulbs. Extracting honey from the hives they don’t destroy the habitations of the bees but leave some for the bear and birds to enjoy. When hunting small animals they make it a point to share it with their friends, family and don’t forget to leave some for the creatures like the cows, dog’s pigs and hens. Roots and bulbs are not plucked in full but a portion is left back for its replenishing. When they have no water they know how to quench their thirst by extracting water from the ‘maththi’ tree. Performing shift cultivation they know how to select a place, the period they should cultivate, trees are not cut to the root but always a stump retained so that once they move on the forest will regenerate. Such is the responsibility of the adivasi community. Yet this community has been deprived of its right to dwell in the forest and have been pushed out to the fringe of the forest, at times keeping them out of the forest by cutting elephant trenches and erecting electric fences.
APPROACH AND CHALLENGE
Approach
“Visit the community with open eyes, open ears and an open mind” the words spoken to us at the inception by Mr. Roy David; Director of CORD was very useful, as he said it is very important for community workers or developers to be open about the community they will work with. This helped form an objective – to unearth the richness of this community and through them to better understand the scriptures. In time it also brought realisation that as Christians how open we ought to be about the community around us to learn from them and also to share the love of Jesus.
Challenge
Before I left for my internship and during my internship the many questions from around was “are you going to do missionary work among the adivasi’s?”, “are you doing missionary work?”. These questions did challenge me it was not the intention and the end result was that the adivasi people themselves were missionaries just as the leapers who entered the Aramean camp and took back the good news about food when there was a famine in Samaria (2 Kings 7:9).
EXPERIENCE WITH THE ADIVASI’S
The adivasis of Kodagu consist of Jenu Kurubas, Beta Kurubas, Soligar and Paniyar. During the three months in Coorg I have stayed in Hanian hadI, Anchithitu, Avaregunda, Chota Para, Bommadi, Brammagiri, Rani Gate, Kattehadi as well as have stayed in Gate hadi, Thota hadi, Basnahalli, Dubare, Basavanhali, Gongathota, Thathadi, Thithhadi, Theithadulu, Kesankara, Reshmay, Mavinahalla, Ranie Gate, Lingapura, Gowrikolli, Empathacre, Bagahadlu, Yedavanadu, Sajjalli, Sulebavi, Handigudda, Gaddehadi. As we kept moving on from hadi to hadi, staying in their huts, partaking of their food and adjusting to their life style I was able to understand the importance of this community and the difficulties that the adivasi people lived with. Three months with CORD[iv] was balanced between visits and stay in the field as well as to work in the office. Working in the office gave a broader picture of the adivasi community and furthered my knowledge of this community nationally and it enabled me to see and understand that in each region these people were oppressed and isolated in various ways. The opportunity to participate in meetings was an opportunity to meet personalities from other organisations working with the adivasi’s in different areas and regions.
Houses – Hadi to hadi the huts of the adivasi community differ. Their huts made of bamboo, mud, mortar or unburned bricks made from their own garden and where housing has been provided by the Panchayat or government it may be built by bricks or cement blocks. I was able to see the difference when we moved to some of the stone houses where the difference can be felt when it is cold - the floor and walls of the mud huts did not let out the cold but he cement floors and walls did retain the cold. Most houses don’t have doors and are not secured yet they never attract rats or snakes.
Food – The adivasi’s of Kodagu have been influenced into consuming normal food as we do. Yet we were fortunate to have bamboo shoot, wild mushroom, food made of ragi, some of the indigenous food that they still continue to have.
Religion - The tree is seen as the primary manifestation of earths self activity. Thus its base is considered the most appropriate place for making the altar. And so the adivasi community trek into the forest once a month to worship nature whom they consider their god and once a year as a whole community to celebrate and thank nature and mother earth for taking care of them and providing for them. We were fortunate to experience one of their worship.
Land – In many of the places their land is surrounded by thick fences. One has to walk through tiny little paths which may even take you through another person’s land if you have to collect water or even to reach one of the main jeep tracks. Small gaps are let in the fences made by branches in a ‘V’ shape for the others to pass through and to keep away the cattle straying in. Seeing these fences made me misjudge the adivasi from a layman’s thinking where I thought that the influence of the outside world has had an impact on this community too, where a fence meant ‘this is my property do not enter’. However on visiting another organisation in Hunsur for a programme, I saw through some of the posters that this was nothing but agro forestation. Many of the adivasi people have utilised the land they by cultivating coffee, pepper, maze and ginger. They still hold on to the traditional methods of cultivation. They consider the earth as mother and refuse to do any harm to it. They use organic fertiliser, though a few have been influenced by the quicker methods of getting higher yields through chemical fertilisers.
Water – Water is an important resource not only for humanity but for nature itself. Clean water is what is appropriate for humans to drink. The adivasi community fulfil their water requirements through wells, bore wells, little streams and in some places tap water or water tanks provided by the Panchayat. How clean this water is depends on each area. Whilst some enjoy the luxury of clean water some don’t, and rainy weather gives them no option but to utilise the murky water. The other extreme will be where the tanks are built but there is no water because one government department or the beaurocracy obstructs the other department from providing the adivasi community with water. The example of Mavinahalla where the water tanks are erected, the electricity posts are erected but the forest department has obstructed the electricity board from providing electricity hence the inability to pump water.
Electricity – The oil lamp is the only source of light. Yet the adivasi’s are given only 3 litres of kerosene on the ration card which is not sufficient enough. Some hadis have received electricity, but to some the electricity cables run through their hadi yet they have no electricity. Solar lights have been installed in the garden of some hadis whilst a few people have received solar power or solar lamps.
Education – Children are encouraged to attend school and most are studying in the government schools and some are boarded in the ashrama schools. Most of the hadis have a Pre-Primary Centre known as the anganavadi where children upto 6 years are nurtured. An Adivasi Ashrama school which is a boarding school is available in many places exclusively for the adivasi children to study till the 7th standard. It is free education from food to clothes to books. Visiting many hadis we have been able to see the enthusiasm in some of the children to study and a striking factor was in the hadi at Sulebavi where on a school holiday the children were seated out with their books studying. The likes of J.P. Raju’s daughter – Thulasi who has completed her Law or the three children of Subru of Jungle hadi – who have completed BA, B.ED, BBL and the youngest who has completed MBA bear witness to the success of those who have taken the effort to pursue their education. The fact that some children have not availed this opportunity to study despite having the anganavadi and the ashrama school at their own doorstep is disheartening. But the question that remains, does such a knowledgeable community need to go through the education system which at some point will make them embrace the elements of the globalised and capitalist and the so called developed world driving them away from the rich quality of live they have lived for ages.
Employment – The adivasi community have been known to always depend on the minor forest products. But with the passing of time and the challenge they face to continue living in the forest, the adivasi community has been forced to take up labour in nearby estates and agriculture lands, to sustain their livelihoods. So when they have no work on their plot of land they go out for labour.
PROBLEMS
Before the nationalisation of the forests, the adivasis were the sole guardians of the forests. They knew the forest intimately. They knew the names of the trees, and knew the animals, negotiated with the life found in abundance in the forests. The forest sustained them; in return the adivasi revered them[v]. However after the British handed over the forest to the forest department they have deemed it fit to claim ownership of the forest and slowly but systematically displace the people of the forest thereby denying them their right to their age old heritage and habitat. Elephant corridor, tiger habitat, national parks and now the move to make the Western Ghats a world heritage site has deprived the adivasi community to utilise the forest to live in it, to collect minor forest produce, to send their cattle for grazing, for worship and in some instances even to bury their dead. This made many organizations take up the issue of the rights of this forest community through protests, deputations and lobbying.
In 2006 the Forest Right Act was passed and on January 2, 2007, the government of India notified the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers the recognition of their forest rights through the FRA, 2006. As per the Notification of Central Government. But the Government has failed to implement this law to date.
Some significant provisions that the 2006 FRA provides
i. Tenurial security and access rights to forest dwellers
ii. The right to hold and live in forest land under individual or common occupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood.
iii. The right to own up to 4 hectares or 10 acres of land.
iv. The right of ownership access to collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce that has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries.
v. Other community rights of uses or entitlements such as fish and other products of water bodies, grazing and other traditional resources accessed by nomadic or pastorolised communities.
vi. Rights of settlement and other conversion of all forest villages, old habitation, un-surveyed villages and other villages in forests (whether recorded, notified or not) into revenue villages.
vii. The rights to protect, regenerate, conserve or manage any community forest resource that they have been traditionally protecting or conserving for sustainable use.
viii. The right of access to biodiversity and community rights to intellectual property and traditional knowledge related to biodiversity and cultural diversity.
Since the introduction of this legislation, the Adivasi community, along with community organizations have been working tirelessly to try and implement this key piece of legislation. Training programmes for adivasi leaders, protest campaigns, media campaigns are frequently carried out. However, the spirit in which the act was passed and informed to the community has not been shown by the government nor the forest department officials or the bureaucrats. Four years on and the process of implementation is moving at a snail’s pace though the FRA implementation process should have ended by the end of 2009. .
Visiting many of the hadi’s the main problem they face evolves around the implementation of the FRA. Survey of less land against the land they hold, dislocating and displacing the adivasi’s through misinformation, barring them from entering the forest, making false court cases against them and physical abuse are some of the experiences they have to face in the process of claiming their rights. A few cases are given below.
False Case
In February 2010 the adivasis of the Hannianthota hadi which is surrounded by teak forests, caught hold of illegal transportation of teak logs by forest guards. When they made complaints, the Adivasi’s were held responsible and false cases were made against them by the forest department.
Relocation under false pretext
The Adivasis from the Nagarhole national park area were evicted and relocated to Veeranahosali in the name of Critical Tiger Habitat and Wild Life Sanctuary. However, as the alleged facility inside the forest was not located, they returned once again to their natural habitat. At the end of 2010, 13 families from Kodange, 13 families from Kolli hadi and 41 families from Murkal, in the Nagarhole National Park area, in Virajpet taluk, were evicted to Shethali of Hunsur Taluk in Mysore district. They were evicted on voluntary relocation, promising to give them Rs. 10 lakhs of which 3 lakhs would be in a fixed deposit and three acres of land.
Abuse
On the 1st of August 2010, Mr. Y. C. Raju of Bombu Kadu hadi, Thithimati, Nagarhole was pulled out of his hut and was verbally and physically abused by forester Shivappa Doddamani and Guard Lingaraju. A police case was filed accusing him of disturbing their official duty.
Barred entry of the forest
In the Averegunda hadi when the survey was completed and individual rights given the forest department started digging elephant trenches around the hadi under the guise of preventing elephants from entering the hadi. However it was to prevent the adivasi community from entering the forest which is their rightful habitat.
Harassment
The huts of 18 of the 28 families of the Meenukolli hadi in the Somwarpet taluk were destroyed by the forest department with the help of the police on the 5th of February 2011.
Misuse of funds
Joint Forest Management (JFM) as part of the Forest Department is funded by the World Bank, JAICA (Japan) and Asian Development Bank to provide participation for Adivasi people yet the involvement has been menial. Requisites for this funding are therefore, inadequately met. If the JFM funding is channelled into the Employment Guarantee Act, the rights of the community to manage forests would be enacted. The information centre built at the entrance to the Nagerhole National park which is not in use is an example.
Change of names
The adivasi’s take their names after various elements of nature. Yet they are made to lose their identity by nurses or teachers or a village is made to lose its name by the panchayat. To cite an example the name: Thundu Munduga Hadi in the Nagerhole area was changed to Gaddehadi and the name of Ramakrsihnan from Nanachegathehadi again in the Nagerhole area had his name changed from the original name of Rama. Teachers, nurses and government officials who do this have violated the adivasi right to inherit names native to them. Very often it is the nearby estate owners who are being an obstruction to the community receiving its rights to the forest and the land as they will stand to lose good labour.
AS I SAW THEM - THE ADIVASI
Indigenous Peoples are a significant and important portion of humanity. Their heritage, their ways of life, their stewardship of this planet, and their cosmological insights are an invaluable treasure house for us all. While the world will look at these people as illiterate, wild and not suitable for society, being a student of the bible I spent my three months trying to see what was different in them and what can be learned from this community of people in the forest.
THE ADIVASI - TEACHER
- They don’t waste food. Food is cooked for each day. Balance food is always re-used. They may use it the next day as tamarind rice or lemon rice in the morning.
- Even though water is available they practice rain water harvesting. Not a drop of water goes waste.
- The whole family works for their existence teaching us shared responsibility, which is essential for the stability of the family.
- They are satisfied with what they have. Whilst they ask for their basic rights they don’t go accumulating possessions.
- They maintain neat and tidy surroundings. No garbage litter is found in the hadi’s.
- The adivasi’s are very friendly and welcomes anyone even though they maybe strangers to them. Even though we didn’t know the language they always made us feel at home.
- At their worship the community works together coming before the worship begins to prepare their place of worship. Boy and girl, man and woman, young and old, and the priest they all put their hand together. Worship becomes truly participatory, from preparation and through the act of worship.
- They utilize the resources they have. Their constructions bear testimony to this.
- They share what they have even their physical labour. They work in each other’s fields without any payment and would even share their cattle for ploughing the field.
- The adivasi extracts honey without destroying the habitation of the bees, he will also leave some for the bear and the birds, he hunts small animals without leaving its breed to become extinct, he will gather shoots, small bulbs and roots leaving some behind for it to regenerates, he will only take from the forest what he needs and not in excess. Today they dont hunt but they may take what has been hunted by the wild.
THE ADIVASI – WISE
The adivasi is not one who has gone to school, university or got a doctorate in ecology or biodiversity. They are not scientists. Yet this community – man, woman and child, knows the dynamics of the forest.
- They don’t need to know lunar months. Changes in plant and animal life across seasons provide a rich variety of markers of time……[vi] One experience I had is when we need some logs for the PPC which we were building in Kattehadi. When we went into the forest they looked around and cut down a few trees which were dead. They did not harm the life of a growing tree instead identified trees which were going to be of no use standing tall and made use of them. And when cultivating or clearing land for cultivation they know when to burn the refuse going by the direction of the wind which avoids creating forest fires.
- Herbs, mushrooms, fruits, bulbs and roots from the wild is used as the food intake of the adivasi community. They have no book giving them instructions as to what to use and what not to. Yet when they were thrown out of the forest they have proved their right to the wild by providing a list of wild mushroom, and herbs in the forest which was enough proof that the forest was their rightful habitat.
- Eco tourism is the latest to attract tourist to the greener part of the country. Imagine a situation - trekking through the forest and no water available. But the adivasi knows to extract water from the tree (mathi) to quench his thirst in a difficult situation.
- The adivasi still uses ancient methods of preservation of food. Yet it does not get spoiled.
- Our own experience when we had to return to Chottaparai after visiting a hadi in Reshmay. Our guide Baswa said that we could walk it from the place he left us. But we thought, as the rural people would generally make out the distance to be close even though it was far, and ended up paying Rs. 100/- back where actually we had walked the same distance the day before.
- The adivasi huts are built of mud, bamboo or unburned bricks, with mud floors and a bund right around it. With the rains no water seeps through. Some houses have roofs which slant very low so that water never beats into their huts. The sand structure does not retain the cold as the cement floor does.
THE ADIVASI – NOTHING LOST
The adivasi’s are considered illiterate, they are considered foolish, they are looked down upon as people who don’t belong to this society. In today’s world under the guise of development and growth, people’s values of society have been lost, a relationship between one another is minimal and life has become self centered. In the three I months spent with the adivasi community, speaking to their leaders and representatives from NGO’s and community organizations I was able to see the difference between us in the city or those in urbanization as against the adivasi community.
- Children in the city have and are losing their identity of childhood. With urbanization and the concrete forest increasing children are relegated to the four walls of their homes. But it is not so with the adivasi children. They may not have computers or play stations yet you see them happily playing with one another, running around, making little toys from whatever material they would find enjoying their childhood.
- City life requires security. Enough precaution to protect houses is taken. Doors have to be locked, gates have to be locked and keys have to be hidden. Sometimes one member will have to stand security whilst the rest would go out. Yet the adivasi huts don’t have doors, even if they have they are hardly locked. Some huts are built open. Accumulated possessions bring with it a cost of security which the adivasi community doesn’t have.
- The sharing characteristic of this forest community is something to be desired. The sharing of their time, their food, their labour or their resources all remind us that there is much to be desired in today’s competitive world.
THE ADIVASI – IMAGE OF GOD
The adivasi’s from generations known are people who worship nature. They claim that nature takes care of them and they worship it. However living with them and reading about them has created a new perspective of this community which has lived in the wild for ages. We read and learn of a theology where God is seen as one who is not high above but living with the different suffering communities and sharing their suffering. A God who through identifying himself with the suffering communities brings hope to these communities of liberation from their situation. Very often in this process those who speak of such theologies themselves may not have any experience of such communities, do not live an exemplary life and tend to use the ‘God identifies with you, he knows your situation” to keep these communities as they are for their own personal gains. However want to move away from such concepts and hence saw the adivasi community amidst their difficulties, oppression and denied rights move beyond having a God suffer with them, rather through their actions and lifestyle become what God truly created humanity to be – his image.
“Then God said let us make man in our own image, in our likeness……” Gen 1:26. At the end of creation God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Good meaning not looking good. What God created was useful to all and didn’t come with defects or harmful reaction. Not only nature but humanity too was created without any defects and not to be harmful to anyone or anything and for that purpose they were created one step ahead in the image of God. Humanity – man and woman, was created in God’s image or in his shade and his likeness or appearance – not physical but one that brings out the attributes, characteristics, attitude, mind and behavior of God, bringing into this world in the form of humanity a visible image of the invisible God. As a child would reflect the character of its parents which communicates to others whose child that is, humanity created in the image of God is also called to live with an image which has the highest expectations of its creator. Created with a purpose, given the fact that they were carrying the image of their creator, called humanity to successfully live His character. This meant they were to live on this earth just as God would, not only care takers of the earth but in all ways, representing the image of God in every situation, living as God expected them to be.
After humanity was created, they were given a command “……subdue it, Rule over……….” Gen 1:28, as that was the intention when God wanted to create man in His image. ‘……and let them rule….over all the earth…...” Gen 1:26. The meaning conveyed from the text to ‘rule’ is the notion of exercising dominion over those who are powerless or otherwise under ones control – here it is creation, but also more of a God-ordained relationship with all that is around humanity. Reading verse 28 without verse 15 of chapter 2 will be inappropriate and lost of its true meaning. Gen 2:15 says “The Lord took and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it”. Knowing the meaning of the words ‘work’ and ‘take care’ will indeed help to understand what this verse truly means. Work means physical work, to till, serve. Take care means to watch, preserve, to keep, to be careful. Above all he was put in the garden which meant he was given a habitat live in, till it and care for it. These two verses put together gives humanity a higher responsibility. These portions of scripture could be read as the whole earth being entrusted to man to live in it, make use of it but also protect it. That is to take control of God’s creation in a responsible way and to see that it continues as it is. The mandate to be responsible stewards of nature. However as always we are well known for misunderstanding scripture or reading into it for our own gains and here too only the ‘subdue & rule’ in its direct sense has been taken and the ‘work and take care’ has been left out. Subdue and rule we have this earth and that has created a destabilized situation with changing weather patterns, global warming, carbon emission, etc. Instead of this verse helping us to protect what has been given to us and for the coming generations humanity has deviated from its mandate of using as well as caring for the earth.
I will understand this portion of scripture in the following way. ‘God saying to humans I have created this earth and everything in it. It is good. The only difference between creation and man is that I have created you in my image. Now I am giving everything to your care. It is good. It doesn’t have any defects neither will there be any harmful reactions provided you uses it as it should be used. Keep it in your control, use it but make sure to safeguard it and care for it just as I would do. If you take care of it you will live if not the good what I made will destroy you’. And today humanity is on the road to self destruction. The increase in carbon emission, global warming and climate change, the ozone layer being pierced are all the repercussions of the image of God failing to take care of the earth and by doing so today the earth itself is in need of salvation, and it is only a saved earth which can save humanity.
In this context, the adivasi community over generations has been fulfilling the true purpose of man by being protectors of the earth and truly reflecting the image of God, being responsible stewards of this earth. This can be contested, so here are a few images from the community.
· The adivasi considers the earth as mother and god. Hence they see to it that their actions will do no harm to hurt the earth. When cultivating, they refrain from using chemical based fertilizer as this not only takes away the richness of the soil but when mixed up with the water table becomes poison to all. They use compost and involve themselves in organic farming which only preserves the richness of the soil. Very often we were left with no choice but to drink water which was muddy but it did us no harm.
· Caring and sharing is the order of the day in adivasi life. Caring for nature and sharing among our brethren has come naturally to us. Exploitation is not our motive as we believe in leading a contended life with whatever is available[vii], says J. P. Raju. Whatever they take from nature: bee honey, roots, herbs, fruits it is not taken in full but a part left back for their cohabitants and for nature itself.
· When the adivasi cuts the jungle, they obey the rate for cutting the tree from 0.5 to 1.5 meters high. After being cut the trees and their undergrowth are burned and they are is cultivated for 2-3 years. As being then left to 5 – 7 years without cultivation, the forest will regenerate again itself[viii].
When the adivasi’ have lived and cultivated the wilds for millenniums with their indigenous meanings, the wilds have survived and regenerated in a much more natural condition than today. Wilds, which were earlier well sustained by indigenous life, have however now become governed by the modern literal meanings of ‘forest’, which have made wilds less natural, less wild and more controlled, thus undermining the access to wilds as indigenous people[ix]. The many teak forest bordering as well as part of the many forest of the Coorg is the best example of this.
So the adivasi becomes an illustration of the true image of God who was given a responsibility to rule, work and take care or in today’s terms to dominate and have control over nature. It doesn’t mean to destroy but to protect, tend and take care of nature in the same way that it was given to us so that the next generation too will have a good life. However mans race to compete for dominance and wealth is not only pushing the adivasi out of his habitat, but is also shrinking the forest creating a threat to the humans living in the visibility from the animals of the now congested forests and putting the future generation in jeopardy.
Living in the forest and caring for it is not the only thing that makes them a community living in the image of God. The image of God goes further. For every one who would live with the characteristics of God or will fulfill what has been said in the bible will reflect to others a visible God. Hence experiencing their lives there are many more cases to prove that the adivasi’s are the best illustration we have for being the image of God. Jesus who lived on this earth through his life and teaching was the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3). He imaged God. Jesus wanted us to do what he did and live as he did. And when we follow him we reflect to this world the image of him and through that the image of the Father. This goes beyond mere identification or solidarity.
“Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear….” Mathew 6:25. The adivasi’s don’t waste their time on collecting material things even though when one puts together their income for a month it would be in the region of Rs. 10,000. Yet they live for the day. They have no stocked up larders neither do they have wardrobes piled up with clothes. Neither are they people who have heard these words from the scriptures. Yet they are living the very words that Jesus said. Isn’t our desire to match up to the other in our standard of living a contradiction of these words? Doesn’t having more mean that we are having what someone who is in need should be having? There are people who stock their larder with so much food that they forget what they have and end up throwing a lot of it. There are the people who would have a wardrobe full of clothes, some never worn but will have to get rid of them for the simple reason that they cannot wear it. And these are the traits of consumeristic world into which all of us have been dragged into or are holding onto, some claiming this to be a blessing from God. But let us not forget that God does bless, giving us exactly what we need and if he gives in excess it is also for the purpose of us to be generous to others and to be a blessing (2 Corinthians 9:11). This also reflects in their houses which either have no doors or which have makeshift doors which are not locked.
The hospitality of the adivasi community reveals again the image of God which they poses. ‘……… I was a stranger and you invited me in,..” Mathew 25:6. We walked into every hadi mostly unannounced and as strangers to them. As strangers we were warmly welcomed into every adivasi home. They shared their food and gave us shelter in their little huts. It is a community which practices hospitality (Romans 12:13b). They would even give of their valuable time sacrificing a day’s labour to take us around visiting other hadies, something which we mostly may do only for family or friend. No home would send you away without offering black tea or coffee and some even food. They consider it rude or an insult not to do so and even if the visitor would refuse. Many of their homes are open to the community and anyone who comes in is offered some thing. This reminded me of this portion of scripture where the people will be judged by their deed. Here the adivasi who doesn’t know Christ or has heard or read the scripture is fulfilling the service to one another.
IMPLICATIONS TO THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
Jesus coming into this world was to restore the lost relationship between humanity and God, to restore to humanity which had marred the image of God once again with the image God initially wanted humanity to be. In that context when we understand the teachings of Jesus and apply it, it is equal to doing God’s will and returning to his original plan of living with his image. That is what the ministry of Jesus is about.
But the question we need to ask ourselves is, as Christians, are we relevant in today’s society, or is our ministry relevant in today’s world? Or is the world telling us, stop! It’s time you stop promising and preaching, start acting on it. We have the tendency to walk the paths of extremism – to only do evangelism or to only do social work. However if we are to read through the response of Jesus, to the disciples of John the Baptist in Mathew 11:5 or his discourse in the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4:18, 19 words and works have to go hand in hand. It is then that we are able to bring to this world the image of the invisible God. But have we got dragged away with the trends of the so called developing and growing world that the marred image of God in us is further marred? Luke 19:29, 30 comes to mind, where Jesus says ‘if these people don’t praise me then the stones will rise up and praise me’. It shows that there are people outside especially those who do not know the bible imaging God, living the bible and reminding us of our responsibility on this earth, towards nature and to one another. Here living within nature is a community – the adivasi’s, living the way God had planned it to go. Such a community stands as a challenge to the Christian community, be they lay or ministers.
ALIENS AND STRANGERS
During this period one of the portions of the meditations I followed through EDWJ was about Christians being aliens and sojourners in this world. That the earth is not a permanent residence. (Maybe today’s theological thinking may not be in line with this). The three months in the Coorg has reminded me of these truths. We have been travelling and staying in different conditions and situations. Most places had bare minimum facilities. Sometimes with the luxury of a room in the office and at times making way for some persons of importance and having to sleep in the hall of the office of CORD. A few days in the farm house and then to a rented room turned into a seminar hall whenever needed or to wake up on mornings to find there is no water. Throughout I have never lost sight of the purpose but learned to adjust, adopt and be accommodative to the changing environment and to keep focus of the purpose, and by being positive have been able to enjoy the three months throughout. This experience reminded me that we who not permanent residents of this earth have settled down very well and are comfortable that as God’s people have drifted away from his purposes and rather than being the trend setters have been transformed into trend followers.
PERSONAL
Three months in a State that is of a different language and different cultures and in a district with indigenous people is not without its share of experiences and memories. I never expected to drive a Scorpio or a jeep. That too, a jeep which had no hand break and wiper and which had a hanging accelerator not forgetting the snapped accelerator cable and going off the road. Walking through the forest through tiny paths with walls of undergrowth on both sides not knowing what may come out of it, facing elephants coming at you on the main road to Waynad, the sauna at the farm and a guinea hen which refused to get cooked, working late into the night, being disturbed in the middle of sleep to be shown a flower that blooms very rarely, the late night travels, not forgetting walking into wedding receptions to enjoy a good meal will continue to linger in the mind.
CONCLUSION
The business of the wild is to provide for our requirements. But creation of nature work doesn’t belong to the people but the people belong to it. When we transgress the wild it retreats and one cannot pursue it. This can be an endless pursuit, futile and foolish. It may never make itself to be available to us again. We will have to fend for ourselves. Our business is to live and not transgress[x].
The forest is the heartbeat of humanity. And that heart beat has been kept beating by the adivasi community which has protected the forest for ages not only in India but throughout the world. But in pursuit for more, with the excess of population this heart beat is slowing down, and one day will stop.
In this backdrop we are called to be in solidarity with the adivasi’s. Solidarity of firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good[xi]. We may not be able to help them directly, but understanding this community and living in a responsible manner, wherever possible working toward protecting the earth and imaging God in the society we live in will help serve this community well. Making aware to the outside world that within the forests lives a community through whom the invisible God is made visible will help further the cause of the adivasi community.
The adivasi’S keep asking questions. Why should we be deprived of our rights over the resources that our mother land has to offer? How can someone else dictate our way of life? These are some of the many questions that the adivasi community keeps asking. The biggest question that this exemplary community faces, is anyone listening?
[i] Hadi is a term used to describe the community / village the adivasi people live in.
[ii] Adivasi is a term connoted to describe the indigenous people of the forest in India. It takes its meaning from the word adi – early and vasi – people.
[iii] Girijana is a term used in Kodagu to describe the indigenous people of the forest. It takes its meaning from the word giri – forest and jana – people.
[iv] CORD: Coorg Organisation for Rural Development, who’s director is Mr. Vijay Singh Ronald (Roy) David, was founded in 1981, and is a secular and apolitical voluntary oarganization that works for the poor and underprivileged in society, for their emancipation and empowerment. It targets the indigenous / tribal population of the Kodagu district who are extremely displaced and alienated and the dalits, women and children who are experiencing ongoing severe socio-economic and socio-cultural oppression and discrimination.
[v] K. N. Vittal, K. K. Jaji, Planting Trees to Restore Forests in NSP, August 2009, 3.
[vi] Savyasaachi, Glimpses of Shringar Bhum, Wild Forests, 40.
[vii] J. P. raju, Salutations to mother nature-life of Jenu Kuruba in Wild Forests.
[viii] Sabitri Patra, Cultivated wild forest gardens in Wild Forests.
[ix] Making sense with people, Wild Forests, 36.
[x] Narendra in Bastar, Wild and forests.
[xi] Daily Gospel, Claretian Publications: Bangalore, 2010.
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