Saharia community living in the north-western part of Madhya

Pradesh has been kept in the category of special backward

tribe. They mainly reside in Shivpuri, Guna, Gwalior, Morena,
Bhind, Vidisha, Raisen, Sehore and Sheopur districts in Madhya
Pradesh. Kota, Shahbad, Kishanganj areas of Rajasthan also
have some villages of Saharia people there. According to the
1991 census, the total number of Saharia tribe in Madhya
Pradesh was 3,32,748
The video is a presentation on the Saharia Swang, a dance form of the Saharia community. The Saharias are a tribal
community from Shahabad, a place in Rajasthan which borders the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Saharias were
originally forest dwellers, the word Saharia coming from the Hindi word, ‘sahar ‘ for ‘jungle’, who were settled at
Shahabad and 12 adjoining villages with the objective of modernising them. The Saharias are known for their dance
the Saharia Swang which is performed during the month of Holi. The dancers organize themselves into troupes and
they travel from village to village to perform Swang. The dance is performed to the beats of the dhol, nagari and matki.
The Swang features a male dressed in female attire who dances around the male performers. The performers adorn
their heads and hips with leaves and put colourful striking body paint on their bodies.

Society of the Sahariya Tribe

Sahariyas generally reside in separate basti in the village which is called Saharana. They follow Hindu religious
practices and speak a dialect influenced by Hadoti. The Sahariyas maintained ecological equilibrium with their
environment for ages, despite a low level of technology. Mostly they were engaged as gatherers of minor forest
produce and agricultural labourers. The main business is gathering and selling of forest wood, gum, Tendu leaf,
honey, fruits and vegetables. Though Sahariyas, in general are primitive, all of them are not so. Some of them are
also settled cultivators. Others are landless labourers and forest produce gatherers. They live in small families. The
elder sons live separately after marriage and the younger sons bear the responsibilities of the parents and unmarried
brothers and sisters. Marriages are performed after attaining the age of 15 years. There are some arranged marriages
and ceremonies held in the fairs.
Food Habits
Sehariya takes seasonal 'Kandmul' fruits and vegetables found in forests. Vegetable like 'Senjna', 'Phang',
'Bichotiya', 'Kanna', 'Bansi', 'Charetha', 'Churangli', 'Barsak', 'Lahaylai', 'Chaurai', 'Totam', 'Chani', 'Bajar', 'Rajan'
etc. are usually eaten by Sahariyas. Another form of food, 'Sawa,' is used by the tribal people too. 'Sawa' is the
seed of a special grass found in the jungles. Sahariyas make delicious foods from the seeds of these grasses.
The seeds of the sawa grass are crushed to flour and chapatis are made. The sawa flour is also used to make
'kheer', 'Rabri' etc. The sawa seed's flour has nutritive value too, and it is also used by the urban people during
their fast.

Festivals of Sahariya Tribe

The tribes follow Hinduism. They worship Goddess 'Tejaji', 'Dhakar Baba', 'Goddess Durga', 'Lord Hanuman',
'Lalbai', 'Bejasan'. They mainly celebrate the festivals like 'Makar Sakranti', 'Savni Amavasya', 'Janmashtmi', '
Raksha Bandhan', 'Diwali', 'Holis' and 'Teja Dashmi'.
Sahariya men and women prefer dark bright colors and their costumes also have the impression of other
communities of Rajasthan. Apart from farming, Sahariyas do the work of collecting forest produce. Sahariyas
eat jowar, bajra (millets) roti along with a variety of vegetables and roots-potatoes obtained from the forest.
Gram flour bread is made on auspicious occasions like marriage etc. Sahariya is also very fond of hunting and
fishing. Along with the knowledge of herbs, Sahariyas are also very skilled in collecting honey from beehives.
Apart from this, making baskets, ropes, brooms, cutting wood from the forest etc. are their some other
traditional works.
Sahariyas have been living with the folk communities for a long time, that's why they have started following
popular deities and festivals. Sita is their most adorable goddess, apart from this many village deities such as
Thakur Dev, Bheru Dev, Nahar Dev, Dareth Dev, Karas Dev, Bhumiyan Dev, Hariman Dev and Tejaji are also
worshiped.
The Sahariya community has lost its own language and they speak the dialect of the area where they live, but
their Ceremonial songs, Seasonal songs, Goth-leela, Pandav Katha, Languria, Phag, Janaki Vivah songs, Chakia
songs, Sagdawat- Bagdavat Katha etc. gives an idea of their interest in story-telling. Lehengi is a special dance
form of Sahariyas and they also have a tradition of performing theatrical songs based on the life of Tejaji.
The Sahariyas live in huts made of straw, bamboo, wood and mud-walls. At
some places, six feet high mud walls are raised and a tiled roof is put on them.
The average length and width of a house for a sahariya family is twelve to fifteen
feet only. Overall, the house of the Saharias, whether made of grass or mud-
stone, is like a big room, in which there is a kitchen, a sleeping place and all the
necessary things for life. The technique of making Sahariya house is very simple.
Houses are built in supervision and suggestion of village elders.
Any flat and square piece of land is chosen for the house. Later the women
plaster the walls of the house with Chhuhi clay, Geru (ocher) or yellow clay.
Sahariya women are very skilled in making graffiti and ‘Mandanas’ on the wall
according to the occasion.
Every house has a big earthen pot ‘Pei’ to store the grain, on which Sahariya
women carve the shapes of flowers, tree-leaves, human shapes, animal shapes
and birds with fine lines of clay. Their decoration attracts the attention of
visitors. The practice of making Otla (platform) in the house-courtyard is also
found equally everywhere.
Education among the Sahariya Tribe
Sahariya tribal people are not too well educated. Only 3-4 percent people are literate.
Efforts are being consistently being made by the State Governmenttowards their education.

In News
The Sahariya were always bedevilled by malnutrition but the recent soaring food prices have made them extremely vulnerable.
About Sahariya Tribe
Location:
The Sahar, Sehariya, or Sahariya is an ethnic group in the state of Madhya Pradesh and some districts of Rajasthan.
Particularly vulnerable tribal group:
They are classified as particularly vulnerable tribal groups.
Social Life:
They consider everyone in an endogamous group to be brother and sister; marriages have to bearranged from other clans.
Governing council:
The Sahariya community considers every adult member part of a governing council which is headed by a patel.
Economy:
The Sahariyas are expert woodsmen and forest product gatherers.
They are particularly skilled in making catechu from Khair trees.
Our study reveals that the people of Sahariya tribe still live in the remote and forest areas.
Their economy is primitive and they are the most downtrodden and the economically
weaker section people. Because, they are not stable, always moving from one place to
other in search of livelihoods, policy measures for their economic development could not
take shape so far. The state government has set up the ‘Sahariya Tribal Development
Authority’ with its headquarter at Shivpuri. Its main objective is to enhance the socio-
economic status of the tribal people through framing and implementing several
development schemes. However, like the other development programmes of the state
government, this scheme also could not take shape. We suggest several policies measures
for overall development of the Sahariya tribe such as a portion of arable land should be
allotted to each family so that their unwanted movement can be stopped. Along with this,
financial assistance should be given to them to construct permanent houses. They are
uneducated people mainly because of lacking in educational institutions in the areas
where they live thus, schools and colleges can be set up to educate them. Infrastructural
facilities such as transportation, and food based small-scale village industries can be set
up to bring them in the main stream of development. Their cultural heritage should be
protected and for all above programmes, short and long-terms policies should be framed and implemented
CONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT
The Sahariya people are involved in the stone mining, agricultural practices as landless
labours, collecting forest products for food and making handicrafts that exhibit their
cultural manifestation. Collecting forest produces as tendu leaf, gum, herbs, honeybee and
khair wood is another major break through for their economic activities. At the
development block level, the tribe belonging to Shivpuri, Pichhor and Khaniyadhana
has given agricultural land in lease to some of them but most the tribal people are still
working in the agricultural fields of the adjoining districts such as Gwalior, Datia, Guna
and Morena, where they seasonally migrate during the sowing and harvesting seasons of
crops. These landless labourers are locally called, ‘Chaitua’.
Per day intake of food grains among the Sahariya people is below than the average.
Sahariya takes seasonal ‘Kandmul’ wild fruits and vegetables found in the forest.
Vegetable leaves of ‘Senjna’, ‘Pheng’, ‘Bichotiya’, ‘Kanna’, ‘Bansi’, ‘Charetha’, ‘Chaurangi’,
‘Barsak’, ‘Lahaylai’, ‘Chaurai’, ‘Totam’, ‘Chemi’, Bagor’ and ‘Rojan’ are common food ofSahariya. Crushed dry ‘Ber’
with salt is popular food item. The main food grains are Jawar,Maize and wheat. Chicken, mutton, egg, pigeon, rabbit
and fish are the main non-vegetarian dishes. ‘Sawa’ is the seed of the special grass, which grow in the
jungle.Sahariya cooks delicious food from the seeds of these grasses. The seeds of the sawa grassare crushed to
floor and chappatis are made. The sawa floor is also used to make ‘kheer’
and ‘rabri’. Its floor has nutritional value, widely used by the other people during the
religious fast
2015
HABITATION
The habitats vary from khanda, patia, woods or grasses to brick houses, according to
economy of people and distance of habitats from the towns. However, their habitats are
isolated, located in the jungle or in stony and barren land, in the various ecological and
geo-climatic zones, and are called Saharana. In Shivpuri District, the habitats are located
in and surroundings of the Madhav National Park. They move frequently from one place
Highway No. 3 between Shivpuri and Gwalior cities. Generally, they are landless workers,
mainly working in stone mining.
CULTURE AND SOCIETY
The Sahariya tribe follows the Hindu traditions; celebrates all fairs, festivals and customs.
However, the people are conservative and orthodoxies. They speak a language, which is
influenced by Hadoti dialect and live in a small family. The elder son lives separately after
marriage and the younger son bears the family’s responsibilities. Marriage is performed
after attaining the age of 15 years, mainly through consensus between bride and bride
groom. Gautra1 plays a significant role in marriage ceremony. The main Gautras of the
Sahariaya tribes are ‘Sohara’, ‘Gorchia’, ‘Dotiya’, ‘Chauhan’, ‘Seliya’, ‘Bakhuchia’, ‘Patodiya’,
and ‘Goyaiya’. The Sahariya tribe restores the environment through worshiping local
deities as ‘Tejaji’, ‘Dhakar Baba’, ‘Durga’, ‘Hanumana’, ‘Lalbai’ and ‘Bejasan’, and believes
in obeahism2. The main festivals are ‘Makar Sakranti’, ‘Savmi Amavasya’ and ‘Teja Dasmi’.
The tribal people practice traditional herbal medicine to health cure. Hard working, the
tribal people are well organized, live in a group, perform sacrifice of hens to satisfy their
deity and worship their forefathers. They eat Go (a reptile) and sale its skin. Sehra is a
famous dance, which they perform during the festivals.