Jaunsar-Bawar

Jaunsar-Bawar
village
Jaunsar-Bawar Location in Uttarakhand, India
Coordinates: 30°45′N 77°50′E / 30.75°N 77.83°E / 30.75; 77.83Coordinates: 30°45′N 77°50′E / 30.75°N 77.83°E / 30.75; 77.83
Country	India
State	Uttarakhand
District	Dehradun
Elevation	2,118 m (6,949 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	90,000
Languages
• Official	Hindi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)

Jaunsar-Bawar is a hilly region, 85 km from Mussoorie, in Chakrata tehsil, in Dehradun district, it represents the geographical region inhabited by the 'Jaunsari' tribe, which traces its origin from the Pandavas of Mahabharata.^[1][2]

Ethnically, Jaunsar-Bawar comprises two regions, inhabited by the two predominant tribes: 'Jaunsar', the lower half, while the snow-clad upper region is called 'Bawar', which includes, the 'Kharamba peak' (3,084 metres (10,118 ft)).^[3] Geographically adjacent, they are not very different from each other. the Bawar lies in the upper regions of the area. they are a unique tribal community because they have remained cut off from the external world for centuries, leading to the retention of their unique culture and traditions, which have attracted historians, anthropologist and studies in Ethno-Pharmacology to this region for over a century. the Jaunsaris with their facial features clearly distinguish from other people of Garhwal, living close by.^[4]

Jaunsar-Bawar region

The Jaunsar-Bawar region, is a tribal valley, spread over 1002 km² and 400 villages,^[5] between 77.45' and 78.7'20" East to 30.31' and 31.3'3" North.^[3] It is defined in the east, by the river Yamuna and by river Tons in the west, the northern part comprises Uttarkashi district, and some parts of Himachal Pradesh, the Dehradun tehsil forms its southern periphery.^[3]

Modes of livelihood in this region are agriculture and animal husbandry, which in the upper region is mostly for self-sustenance, as merely 10 percent of cultivated area is irrigated. Milk, wool and meat are an integral part of the local economy.^[4] Jaunsar-Bawar is the place where even today people do not lock their houses and if somebody left behind in completing any farming activity then all the other villagers would help them.

History

In 1829, Jaunsar-Bawar was incorporated in Chakrata tehsil, prior to which it had been a part of Punjab state of Sirmur, till the British conquered it along with Dehradun after the 1814 war with the Gurkhas.^[6]

Before the establishment of British Indian Army cantonment in 1866, the entire area was known as Jaunsar-Bawar, and the name continued to be in popular use for the region, till early 20th century.^[7] While western Hindi was popular in most of the neighbouting hill areass, 'Jaunsari' language, part of the Central Pahari languages was spoken by most of the people of the region.^[8]

Geography

Traditionally, Jaunsar-Bawar region is known for its rich reserves of forested areas, in the high hills region, with trees of Deodar, Pine, and spruce, made for it becoming an important destination for the timber even during the British period, when the logs were rolled down the slopes and floated on Yamuna river to Delhi.^[9] Gate system, time table based traffic diversion on one way hilly roads, which was there since the time of British, is now removed.

Villages

1-Kyawa is respected village in jaunsar bawar. it is situated 15km from chakrata. it is famous for fare of 3 may. this fare is being organised for giving tribute to keshri chand. he was a freedom fighter and soldier of the subhash chandra bose army. he was hanged by Britishers on 3 may 1945.

2-SAKNI is a village of jaunsar, near to 'KALSI'tehsil.Sakni is situated near the 'SAHIYA'approximately 9.00 km from Sahiya. The total no. of families in SAKNI is 20, These include the families: Benan(Chaman Singh Panwar),Thanaao,Mirjan,Negan and Baliyan

3-Bhanjra is a small village 30 km from Kalsi, and Klasi iS 40 km from Dehradun: it comes under the Tehsil of Kalsi, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The name of this village is derived from the name of the person Bija Bhakan, a thakut of Rana families of Himachal, Jaunsar and Babar. The residents and ruler of this village are connected with the Rana dynasty, and in their history they have close relations with rulers of Bhakanua (Himachal), Bastil and Makti (Jaunsar).

4-Binhar:it is also a small village of Jaunsar Babar,it is situated approximately 80 km from Dehradun, now it a part of Kalsi tahasil and kath Lakhwar and a village of gram panchayat Bhagi. Its post office situated at Dem side Lohari and near by market is Vikasnagar, total population is approx 250, there are 13 families (Naktaan, kamyaan, sanjayaan, jagaan and angthaan, etc.), literacy rate is above 85% and most of people are government servant some of them are Dr. Sandeep tomar and Vaishali tomar are medical officer at Delhi, Mr. Avtar Singh tomar,smt babita tomar, Hriday singh, Suresh & Narinder tomar are teachers and working at educational dept. Delhi.

5-Kanbua is a village of Jounsar, near to Chakrata. Kanbua is situated on the top of a mountain, approximately 10 km from Sahiya, 29 km from Kalsi and approximately 80 km from Dehradun district, Uttarakhand. The village is famous for the temple of Shilgur-Bijat (Shiva-Vishnu). It is also famous for the sport game kabbadi. The percentage of educated people and Govt. servants from this village is higher than other villages of Jaunsar Bawar.

Panwar and Kanbua have a blood-relation or brotherhood relationship with the villages Sakni (Jaunsar)& Kuna (Bawar). The total number of families in Kanbua is 25, these include the families : Naugan (K. S. Panwar),Rayaan(Daya Panwar), Naktaan, Dilyaan, Nankaan, Thanaao, Sadhaan and Sugraan.

Culture

The culture of the local Jaunsari tribe is distinct from other hill tribes in Garhwal, Kumaon and Himachal Pradesh,^[10] a fact demonstrated by the presence of polygamy and polyandry in the local traditions, with richer tribesmen practicing polygamy, while their poor counterparts, choose to share a wife (polyandry), though the husbands should be brothers,^[11] a fact which is often connected to, the five Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata, marrying Draupadi, from whom Jaunsaries trace their ethnic origin.^[4][12][13] Though, anthropology studies in the 1990s revealed that these practises were fast phasing out, and is being replaced by monogamy and these practices do not exist now ^[14]

An important aspect of their culture are festive sports and dances like the folk dance named 'Barada Nati'/Harul/Raso/ during all festive occasions,^[15] like 'Magh Mela' which is the most important festival of the Jaunsaries. It is marked by an animal sacrifice ritual, which celebrates the killing of 'Maroj', an ogre, which according to local legends, stalked the valleys for years.^[5]

During festivals, people wear the Thalka or Lohiya, which is a long coat. The dancers – both boys and girls – wear colorful traditional costumes.^[10] Bissu is an important festival of Jaunsar-Bawar.

Architecture

Jaunsar Bawar follows the Vernacular architecture components. Houses are usually built in stone and timber and roofed with slate tiles. It is usually a two or three storey structure with a linear arrangement of one to four rooms on each floor and is typically sited on a terraced piece of land along the contours of the hill. In many villages in Uttarakhand, due to low temperature range, the housing and other buildings of socio-cultural values are generally shaped like pagodas or have sloping roofs.

The common building material used under construction includes wood (generally deodar, due to its abundance and durability), plain stones and other locally available materials like mud and stone slates. One of the important aspects of architecture in the area is the wooden carvings and the slate laden gabled roofs.

As temple architecture commonly develops from the form of folk houses, the figure of a small temple is not so different from that of a folk house. Therefore, the oldest and simplest temple type in this region is a single storied structure covered with a gabled roof.

Since the local deity is Lord Mahasu, most of the temples are dedicated to him. Famous temples include Mahasu Devta Temple at Hanol, Mahasu Temple at Lakhwar, Mahasu Temple at Lakhsiyar and newly constructed Mahasu Temple in Bisoi.

Medicine

The Jaunsari tribe of the region has been using over 100 plants for the treatment of various ailments, which have remained a subject for many Ethnobotanical and Ethnopharamcological studies.^[16][17]

Bonded labour

Traditionally, due to abject poverty, arising from infertile land and adverse climatic conditions in the region, bonded labour has been a fact of life, but the situation improved after the implementation of the 'Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1976', when over 20,000 bonded labours were reported from the region.

In 2005, presence of bonded labour was reported again in the Jaunsar-Bawar region,^[18] especially amongst the poorest of the tribal communities, like Koltas, Das and Bajgi communities, who are entrapped in the bonded labour for generations, by their rich counterparts in the tribal belt. They are bonded mostly to the upper castes consisting of Rajputs and Brahmins who control the land and practice money-lending.,^[19] This is despite the fact that, due to non availability of local land records, the government had made a separate legislation for this area, 'The Jaunsar Bawar Zamindar Abolition of Land Reform Act 1956 (U.P. Act XI of 1956)', which came into effect in July 1961.^[20]

In Media

Raaste Band Hain Sab, a film based on the work of Dr. Jayoti Gupta, Dept. of Sociology, Delhi University, on Jaunsar-Bawar, and made by Manjira Dutta, won the National Film Award for Best Anthropological/Ethnographic Film in 1988.^[21]

Further reading

• Himalayan Polyandry: Structure, Functioning and Culture Change. A Field-Study of Jaunsar-Bawar by D. N. Majumdar. New York, Asian Publishing House. 1962.^[22]
• The Abode of Mahashiva: Cults and Symbology in Jaunsar-Bawar in the Mid Himalayas by Madhu Jain. 1995, Indus Publishing Company, ISBN 81-7387-030-6.^[23]
• Ritual complex and social structure in Jaunsar-Bawar (Census of India, 1971, series 1, India), Office of the Registrar General, India 1974.

References

External links

• 30°37′53″N 77°50′14″E / 30.6315054°N 77.8372979°E / 30.6315054; 77.8372979
• Detailed data about the region