DOI article:
Prasad, Archana: The political ecology of swidden cultivation: the survival strategies of the Baigas in the central provinces of India, 1860-1890
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49004#0235
220
ARCHANA PRASAD
VERNAC-
ULAR
NAME
ENGLISH (LATIN) NAMES
USES
Surye or
Rinjal
Sal (Shorea robusta)
The seeds are used for food and sold in the
weekly market. Its resin is used for medicines.
Saj
Black Eyne (Terminilia to-
mentosa)
Used for breeding lac and its resin is sold to
local craftsmen for dyes.
Salai
Basewellia thurifera
Used by the Agarias to make charcoal, also
used for medicinal purposes and is a drought
resisting tree.
Aoula
Embilica officinalis
Its fruit is eaten during famine.
D hamin
Grewia elastica
Used for making bows, arrows and traps.
Mahua
Bassia latifolia
Used for liquor and food.
Khel
Dichanthium caricosum A
Principal grazing grass.
Sukra
Medicinal grass.
Kanda
Roots
Appendix I. Forest trees and grasses in the Maikals. □ Waldbaume und Graser in den Maikals. Landesiib-
liche Bezeichnungen, Englische Bezeichnungen und Verwendung.
The Dynamics of Bewar Cultivation
1860-1890:
1. Family Organisation and Cultivation:
Bewar has been commonly described as a
“shifting cultivating” system. Like all such
systems it involved the burning of the forest
and the shifting of fields (as different from the
shifting of villages). It was practised by the
Baigas of Mandla and Balaghat, the Khonds
of the Feudatory States in Orissa, and Marias
of Chanda and Bastar. The names, associated
agricultural techniques and cropping patterns
of swidden cultivation differed from one re-
gion to another. For example the Marias of
Bastar called it penda and used the ard to
grow rice. Like the Baigas they shifted fields
but not villages. The Khonds shifted both
fields and villages. In this section the details
of the Maria and Khond systems will be com-
pared with the characteristics of bewar culti-
vation. This in turn will help to show the dis-
tinctive nature of the Baiga cultivation form
as well as illustrate general points on crop-
ping patterns and techniques of swidden in
eastern Central Provinces and its neighbour-
ing areas. The siting of Baiga villages was near
the bewar fields, which facilitated their
guarding during harvest time (Table E). The
settlement patterns of the villages were gener-
ally as follows:
Within the cluster, houses generally be-
longed to the same family, whose members
were related to each other by marriage or by
birth.3 The granary however could be shared
by more than one family and served not only
as a storehouse for grain but also as a shed for
hens, goats or cattle. The phenomenon of
sharing granaries was especially true for the
Maria villages in Abhujmarh (Grigson 1927,
117).
ARCHANA PRASAD
VERNAC-
ULAR
NAME
ENGLISH (LATIN) NAMES
USES
Surye or
Rinjal
Sal (Shorea robusta)
The seeds are used for food and sold in the
weekly market. Its resin is used for medicines.
Saj
Black Eyne (Terminilia to-
mentosa)
Used for breeding lac and its resin is sold to
local craftsmen for dyes.
Salai
Basewellia thurifera
Used by the Agarias to make charcoal, also
used for medicinal purposes and is a drought
resisting tree.
Aoula
Embilica officinalis
Its fruit is eaten during famine.
D hamin
Grewia elastica
Used for making bows, arrows and traps.
Mahua
Bassia latifolia
Used for liquor and food.
Khel
Dichanthium caricosum A
Principal grazing grass.
Sukra
Medicinal grass.
Kanda
Roots
Appendix I. Forest trees and grasses in the Maikals. □ Waldbaume und Graser in den Maikals. Landesiib-
liche Bezeichnungen, Englische Bezeichnungen und Verwendung.
The Dynamics of Bewar Cultivation
1860-1890:
1. Family Organisation and Cultivation:
Bewar has been commonly described as a
“shifting cultivating” system. Like all such
systems it involved the burning of the forest
and the shifting of fields (as different from the
shifting of villages). It was practised by the
Baigas of Mandla and Balaghat, the Khonds
of the Feudatory States in Orissa, and Marias
of Chanda and Bastar. The names, associated
agricultural techniques and cropping patterns
of swidden cultivation differed from one re-
gion to another. For example the Marias of
Bastar called it penda and used the ard to
grow rice. Like the Baigas they shifted fields
but not villages. The Khonds shifted both
fields and villages. In this section the details
of the Maria and Khond systems will be com-
pared with the characteristics of bewar culti-
vation. This in turn will help to show the dis-
tinctive nature of the Baiga cultivation form
as well as illustrate general points on crop-
ping patterns and techniques of swidden in
eastern Central Provinces and its neighbour-
ing areas. The siting of Baiga villages was near
the bewar fields, which facilitated their
guarding during harvest time (Table E). The
settlement patterns of the villages were gener-
ally as follows:
Within the cluster, houses generally be-
longed to the same family, whose members
were related to each other by marriage or by
birth.3 The granary however could be shared
by more than one family and served not only
as a storehouse for grain but also as a shed for
hens, goats or cattle. The phenomenon of
sharing granaries was especially true for the
Maria villages in Abhujmarh (Grigson 1927,
117).