DUSSEHRA IN BASTAR: CELEBRATING PROGRESS AND TRANSFORMATION

Every year, the otherwise laid-back life of Bastar comes alive in all its colours when the Dussehra festival sets in, which is in the month of Ashwin, the seventh month in the Hindu lunar calendar.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

The more than 600-year-old Bastar Dussehra is the only Dussehra where the happiness is not about the victory of Ram over Ravana or good over evil, but the worship of the local goddess Danteshwari, that can only be done by all the different tribes uniting together for one cause.

In this festival, which lasts for 75 days, hundreds of other local 'deities' come to Bastar and Dantewada, riding on beautifully crafted small wooden chariots that the local tribal community members carry on their shoulders as they congregate near the Bastar royal palace after emerging from their villages, some of which are as far as 150 km, to pay obeisance to Goddess Danteshwari and meet their 'king.' Despite the presence of multiple tribes in the region, including Gond, Muria, Bhatra, Halba, Kondar, Kanwar, Dhurwa, and Koya, each having their own gods and customs, everyone comes together at one place and participates in a series of rituals and dances, an event that has managed to keep alive a tradition that has been going on for over six hundred years.

Kamal Chandra Bhanj Deo, the 24th and present titular ruler of Bastar, which is located in the southern part of the state, said that the state was established in the early 1300s by the first king, Raja Annam Dev. Dussehra celebrations were initiated by the fourth king, Purshottam Dev, who ruled the state from 1408 to 1439.

"The love that our family has received from the people of Bastar over a period of 600 years has never diminished. Whatever we are it is because of their affection for us," he said even as an elderly lady made her way to her king to offer a small basket of flowers that she had brought to keep at his feet.