Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (7.1992/1995)

TOOLS & TILLAGE VII 4 1995

229

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my thesis supervisor Nee-
ladri Bhattacharya for his comments on the drafts
of the chapter from which this essay is extracted. I
would also like to thank the chair of the Science
and Technology Studies Shiela Jasanoff, William
Storey, Minoti Kaul and the editors of T&T.
I am grateful to Niall Brady for helping with the
Maps.
Notes
1. See also Colonel Wards “Notes on the Baigas”
in: Mandla Settlement Report, 1886.
2. The Wentworth method is used by geographers
to represent undulating slopes around a chosen
area. Here the village of Rajnisarai at 81 degree
15' East latitude and 22 degree 30' North longi-
tude is taken as the centre point, Fig. 4. Fig. 5
shows the Contour Map of the Chak with the
village Rajnisarai at the centre. Then 5 cm cross
sections are taken from all four sides of the vil-
lage. The table is drawn from a map of the scale
1:50.000 metres. Therefore 1 cm = 0.5 km. In or-
der to cover the entire area around the 2.5 km
radius a square of 2.5 cms is made on each quar-
ter. The entire table represents an area of 25
sq.km - i.e. 5.75 sq.km in all four directions.
Here this area has been divided into two hori-
zontal cross sections. Table A represents 12.5
sq.km north of the village and Table B 12.5
sq.km south of the village. Each series consists
of two rows. The first row of figures in each
grid show the number of contour intersections
that have taken place in each grid. The contour
map of Rajnisarai village (Fig. 4) has been used
for this. The second row of figures shows the
slope of each grid in degrees. The slope has been
worked out with the formula: N/L multiplied
by V.I/3660. Here N = number of contour in-
tersections; L = parameter of total grid in this
case 2 km; V.I = contour interval in this case 20
and 3660 is constant. This gives the natural tan-
gent value. For the degree value the log of the
tangent value is taken out. For example if N = 4,
then the tangent will be 0.01092 and log tan
0.01092 is approximately 0.61 degrees.
3. Though diagram E belongs to a present day
Baiga village, Elwin’s diagram of 1939 is not
very different. See Verrier Elwin 1939, 32.

4. Notes of the Khonds, Verrier Elwin Papers.
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Delhi,
No. 165, 1935 - when referred to: Khond
Notes.
5. Axel Steensberg argues that since the ard, bak-
har, is meant to clear old field stubble from the
field, it is likely that the bakhar was a later de-
velopment of old fire clearing husbandry,
Steensberg 1993, 44.
6. The differences in cropping patterns are mainly
because of the differing climate and soil surface
and thus different diet patterns and technolo-
gies.
References
1. Unpublished Records
Bastar State Records, (Forests), 1870-1930, Man-
dla.
Central Provinces Secretariat Records (Forests),
1860-90, Madhya Pradesh.
Central Record Room, Nagpur.
J. N. Dixit, Private Collection, Mandla.
Government of India, Agriculture and Revenue
Department (Forests), 1865-1890, National Ar-
chives of India, New Delhi.
Khond Notes = Verrier Elwin Papers, 1930-45,
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New
Delhi.
Mandla Collectorate Records (Forests), 1930,
Mandla.
Survey of India Records DDN vol., National Ar-
chives, Delhi.
2. Reports and Manuals
Mandla District Gazetteer 1909, Nagpur.
Mandla District Settlement Report 1866, Nagpur.
Manual of Geology, volume I-II, 1877-1979, Cal-
cutta.
3. Secondary Works
Aggarwal, Rambharose (1986): Garh Mandla Ke
Raja. Gond Public Trust Mandla.
Conklin, Harold C. (1957): Hanunoo Agriculture
in the Philipines: A Report on an integrated
study of shifting Cultivation. Food and Agricul-
ture Organisation, FAO, Rome.
Dharampal ed. (1971): Indian Science and Tech-
nology in the Eighteenth Century. Academy of
Gandhian Studies, Hyderabad.
Elwin, Verrier (1939): The Baiga, Delhi.
Elwin, Verrier (1942): The Agaria, Delhi.