A documentary film on Sauria Paharia of Rajmahal Hills (Part 2, produced in the year 2002)

The Sauria Paharia, the largest Paharia group, accounted for 65,000 persons in 1988 but it is going down very fast and according to 1998 there are only 45000 Suria pahadia left. The Sauria Paharia are basically shifting cultivators and live on mountain spurs in very small villages. They have a feeling of animosity toward the Santal who live largely on the plateau and use more sophisticated tools for agriculture. They speak a language which belongs to the intermediate Dravidian group so widely different from the Austric speech of the Santal.

Sauria Paharia settlements comprise ten to fifty houses. The houses are very small and rickety compared to Santal houses. Their main occupation is slash-and-burn cultivation, known locally as kurwa. They move from field to field after a few years. They use only the digging stick for putting in the seeds. They grow maize, millets, beans and pulses. Some of these tribesmen have picked up settled cultivation if they have some plain land. The Paharia as compared to Santal are more dependent on the forest. Earlier they used to make some money by cultivating sabai grass. But now they do not do so in a big way as its market has shrunk. The cutting down of forests and the restrictions placed on their exploitation led to a reduction of their resource base. Although the Sauria Paharia have cherished a healthy relationship between nature, man and the spirits for a long time, they are extremely frustrated as their gods have failed to protect them from the ravages of time. Abject poverty and disease have made them panic.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Paharias
• hill tribe
• poverty
• nature
• Santhal Parganas
• jharkhand
• India
• Austro-Asiati
• Rajmahal hills
• environment