21.0 Introduction
Religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally held by individuals and community; practices are generally various rituals including prayers, songs, dances, offerings, and sacrifices.
In essence, religion tries to manage supernatural power for the benefit of its followers. Individual faith and practices normally reflect the community context in which one is a member, for the community’s belief system is what an individual professes. That traditional religion has a social or community dimension is a truism. Understandably, there are community ways of displaying its people’s religious life. One such way goes through village shrines, particularly in non-propaganda types of religions like those of the tribes. Of course, other types of religions also have their respective village shrines, but differ from the former in the sense that these are formally organised.As shrines reflect the belief system of tribes, it is quite logical to understand religious life of a tribe by studying its shrines. Moreover, as the socio-cultural life of tribes change, shrines offer an opportunity to study the nature and extent of influence these changes exert on the belief system.
It is, therefore, not a surprise to find scholars studying shrines of tribes in India, particularly of village sacred shrines which exist in different forms, such as altars, menhirs, sacred groves, etc. Villages in Bastar have three kinds of Sacred Shrines are found namely matagudi, devgudi, and gaondevi (Giri 2005). Different tribes have their own mata or gaondevi (village goddess) in the devgudi. Studies are mainly descriptive in nature on the themes of socio-religious significance or conservation ethics or political dimensions of sacred village shrines. They have been rallying points of rights assertion.
Two important studies have been cited here on socio-religious themes.
V. Elwin (1943) has presented shrines of the Maria Gond in a wider context. He perceives religion of the Maria of Bastar round the earth, the state, and the clan. He talks about the shrine of the village mother goddess on the outskirts of the village and in a groove nearby where the shrine of one of the clan gods is present. About 60 years ago in 1963, P.K. Bhowmik had studied sacred shrines of the Lodha of West Bengal. Though he has highlighted its structure, rituals, etc. what is important in his study is the sense of common property resource attributed to338
DOI: 10.4324/9781003516415-27
these shrines by them. In the same year (1963) the joint study of A.K. Das and M.K. Raha also describes the shrine (gram than) of the Oraon of Sundarban in West Bengal and its presiding deity Devi Mai (Mother Goddess) (Das & Raha 1963:240-241). The shrine is a sacred grove amidst sal trees and therefore, the authors named such shrines as Sal Shrines. The study of D.N. (1990) has pointed out the changes in shrine culture in a discussion of women and forest. He has noted construction of temples in the spot of shrines or replacement of local deities by the idol of Mahavir Hanuman. He argues it as a mark of subjugation and marginalisation of the tribal communities by ‘the mainstream’ Hindu civilisation.
On political dimensions, studies by J.J. Roy Burman (1992, 1995, 1996) are significant. In a series of articles, he has articulated the political dimension of sacred shrines in the local and regional context. He informs that sacred shrines have often been supported by the local rulers. Sahu Chhatrapati, the king of Kolhapur, for example, is known for his support to a sacred grove dedicated to Amba Devi. Similarly, J. Troisi (1978) has pointed out the political aspect of the traditional shrine of the Santal. He has noted that the sacred shrine serves as a rallying point of territorial claim and social solidarity of the Santal.
Rights issue is at the core of several studies.
In this regard, J.J. Roy Burman (1995) has highlighted self-assertion among the Gond of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. He states that the Gond revived the Danteswari sacred grove to assert their identity and right of selfdetermination. Before him: C. Hembram (1983) informs that by the Sarna Dharma (religion of the sacred grove), discrete ethnic groups in Chottanagpur, i.e. in present Jharkhand, were brought to a common platform to assert their rights of self-determination. The Sarna Dharma, in fact, helped them in consolidating their common identity and solidarity between the Christian and non-Christian sections of the region. V. Bhasin (1999) deals with the religious and cultural aspects of sacred shrines of the Sahariya. She has noted that the shrine serves as a rallying point of the Sahariya’s rights assertion movement. She has also noticed the decline trend experienced by shrines due to pressure from humans and cattle. Study of D. Deb and K.C. Malhotra (1997) has focused on the conservation dimension of sacred shrines. They have highlighted the interface between biodiversity and tribal cultural heritage and found the use of forest products for different socio-religious purposes. In the face of severe economic hardships of the tribes, their persistence on socio-religious ethos in the field of protecting bio resources reveals the strength of the conservationist tradition of indigenous culture. Deshmukh, Gogate, and Gupta (1998) describe the conservation ethos attached with the sacred shrines of Maharashtra (of the region or tribe) and have studied the chronology of sacred shrines, changing proportion of species, occurrence of exotic species, decrease in plant cover, regeneration status, forest degradation, and thus, impact of human activities.Studies on sacred shrines of tribes as mentioned here are merely suggestive. One important point needs mention. L.P. Vidyarthi (1961) was the pioneer in conceptualising sacred shrines. In his study on Sacred Complex of Hindu Gaya, he has conceptualised sacred geography, sacred centres, sacred specialists, etc.
Shrines have been discussed under sacred centres. He has also applied these concepts to study religious practices of tribal villages (Vidyarthi and Rai 1985:254-265) of central India.A unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred shrines of tribes, which unites them into one single ‘moral community’ (Durkheim 1961:62) is observed in the villages of the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The sacred centre/shrine is popularly known as devgudi (in some areas as matagudi and gaondevi) in the villages of the region. The shrine unites the tribal community and reflects elementary forms of their religious life. The village religious life of the tribes of undivided Bastar, now inhabitants in the areas of Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Bastar, and Kanker, moves around devgudi. In religious studies pertaining to this region, however, anthropologists, sociologists, and other social scientists have not given adequate attention to the study of sacred village shrines. The present chapter is a preliminary inquiry in this regard and aims to fill up the gap in the study of village shrines of tribes in Bastar region in the present context. Its thrust area is structure, function, and importance of devgudi in Bastar region in contemporary time. So, the study aims to highlight changes introduced in the shrine culture and focus on its importance in the belief system of the people.
21.0.1 Methodology
The state of Chhattisgarh, with 16 districts, was bifurcated from Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 2000. Later in 2011 the number of districts increased to 18; and at present there are 28 districts with five regions. The regions are: Bastar, Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, and Surguja. The study area falls in the Bastar region consisting of seven districts, namely Dakshin Bastar Dantewada, Uttar Bastar Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, and Bastar. In the Bastar region, devgudi, the village shrine, is a characteristic feature of every village. In this region about 3,983 villages have been recorded having devgudis.
But out of 34 tehsils in this region, Narayanpur, Dakshin Bastar Dantewada, and Bastar have a large concentration of devgudis. It was reported that 14 Nagar Panchayat and eight municipalities were rural with their devgudis; but these devgudis do not exist at present probably due to the growth of urban centres and clearance of forests. An interesting fact that came to notice was that Jagdalpur, a municipality since 1951, became the Municipal Corporation, just before 2011 (Census Report 1951, 2011), but its devgudi was converted to the temple of Maa Danteswari back in 1890 by the then king. There is no iota of doubt to state that devgudies are a part of village culture. Data were collected from field studies conducted during several visits to the area from April to November 2021. Particularly, for study of the village shrines, data were collected from tribal dominated areas of Bastar, Dakshin Bastar Dantewada, and Narayanpur districts. However, key informants were selected purposely from among those involved in devgudi activities. Interviews and observations were main tools used during field study.Three villages, namely Garawand Kalan, Madpal, and Balikanta of Bhatra tribe from Bastar district; three villages namely Gamawada, Chitalanka, and Samlur of the Halba tribe from the district of Dakshin Bastar Dantewada (DBD); and three villages, namely Gadhbengal, Kukdajhor (Mawalibhatha), and Naumunjmeta of the Muria tribe from Narayanpur district were purposely selected for in-depth study. The villages in Bastar and DBD districts are near to the district headquarters, namely, Jagadalpur and Dantewada; but in Narayanpur district the study villages are quite interior and situated in the area of Abujhmad (Narayanpur has two Tahasils-Narayanpur and Abhujmad (Orchha)). Abhujmad is an inaccessible area. Abhuj means fool and Mad means Hill. The tribes of Abhujmad are known as abhujmadia.
In each village of three districts, devgudi priests, also called pujari1 or gayata, belonging to the Bhatra, Halba, and Muria tribes were interviewed.
The selection of districts was done on the basis of traditionality and change observed during official field visits. The changeTable 21.1 Profile of Sample Villages
| S. No. | Name of Village | District | District Headquarters | Distance from Dist. Headquarters (km) | Population | |||
| Male | Female | Total | Total ST | |||||
| 1 | Garawand Kalan | Bastar | Jagdalpur | 4 | 414 | 452 | 866 | 524 |
| 2 | Madpal | Bastar | Jagdalpur | 16 | 1405 | 1533 | 2938 | 1228 |
| 3 | Balikonta | Bastar | Jagdalpur | 7.6 | 554 | 545 | 1099 | 804 |
| 4 | Gamawada | Dakshin Bastar Dantewada | Dantewada | 14 | 732 | 842 | 1574 | 1520 |
| 5 | Chitalanka | Dakshin Bastar Dantewada | Dantewada | 4 | 1133 | 1157 | 2290 | 1135 |
| 6 | Samlur | Dakshin Bastar Dantewada | Dantewada | 17.5 | 815 | 785 | 1600 | 638 |
| 7 | Gadhbengal | Narayanpur | Narayanpur | 4.1 | 839 | 886 | 1725 | 990 |
| 8 | Kukdajhor | Narayanpur | Narayanpur | 11 | 535 | 494 | 1029 | 862 |
| 9 | Naumunjmeta | Narayanpur | Narayanpur | 8.2 | 225 | 225 | 450 | 380 |
Source: Census Report 2011
was noted during these visits related to financial assistance (an amount of Rs.7.51 lakh) of the government for the development of devgudis. However, during study, focus has been given to understand change beyond this financial assistance, particularly with reference to the outlook of the people.
The sample villages for study have been taken close to the urban setting in Bastar district, and quite interior as well as traditional in Dakshin Bastar Dantewada (DBD) district. Devgudi (the sample villages for the study have been taken closer to the urban set in Bastar district and in Dakshin Bastar Dantewada (DBD). In Narayanpur district one village was fully traditional, but two devgudis were found non-traditional. All of the above villages have been taken as a sample village under the study to know the importance of devgudi in the district of Bastar close to urban centres and in rural areas. Three villages each from three districts have been taken close to district headquarters and far from district headquarters. Garawand Kalan, Chitalanka, and Gadhbengal are close to districts of Bastar, Dakshin Bastar Dantewada, and Narayanpur respectively. Madpal, Samlur, and Kukdajhor are far from district headquarters. The rest of three villages Balikanta, Gamawada, and Naumunjmenta from three districts namely Bastar, Dakshin Bastar Dantewada, and Narayanpur are taken as sample villages for comparing the data and to know the diversity of village deities. Information is presented in Table 21.1.
21.1