Gond With the Wind

In the remote Adivasi regions of Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Gonds and Mandavis are staking an ancestral claim on Raavan who they believe was an Adivasi

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IN 2017, Korchi taluka in Gadchiroli district of Vidarbha in Maharashtra was gearing up for the Raavan dahan event on Dussehra. It was to be a regular evening with the effigy of the demon king going up in flames, followed by a fireworks show to be organised by the villagers.

Suddenly, tension began to simmer as the Gond Adivasis took out a rally, chanting slogans like 'Raja Rao Ravana Seva Seva'. The villagers, who were preparing for the Raavan dahan event later in the evening, stopped and questioned those leading the rally. "We told them that Raavan is our god. They should not burn our god as we were not doing the same to their god, Ram," says Rajaram Netam, a Gond Adivasi and the president of the Gram Mahasangh, a cultural organisation in Korchi.

A heated argument followed, and the quarrelling groups arrived at the police station. When the police asked them about the sudden change of heart towards Raavan, the Adivasis said: "He is our ancestor. We worship him and are taking out a rally to show our devotion to him." As the police tried to reason with them that there was no such precedent, some Adivasi activists waved photocopies of pages from books like Kalyug Ramayana and Raja Ravan written by Venkatrao Atram to prove Raavan's Adivasi ancestry. "Police protection had to be provided to us for the rally, and tension prevailed during the festivities that mark the burning of Raavan's effigy," recalls Roopesh Kumre, a Gond Adivasi, who resides in Korchi.

Until 2017, the Gonds would take part in the Raavan dahan ceremony. "We are just 12 km away from the Chhattisgarh border. All these years, artists would come from there to perform Chhattisgarhi dance and narrate Ram katha. We used to enjoy that," says Netam.