general description of study area -...

Chhattisgarh state was constituted on first November 2000, by the division of

Madhya Pradesh. Geographically the state lies between 170

46’ to 240

6’ north

latitudes and 800

15’ to 840 51’ east longitude, the state is located at an average

altitude of 300 meters. It is surrounded by Orissa in East, Madhya Pradesh and

Maharashtra in West, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand in North and Andhra Pradesh in

south (Fig-2). The state is spread over in an area of 39114 sq. km. with about 31.76%

population of tribal and 45% of its geographical area under forest cover, which is a

third largest forest cover in the country (Fig-4). The state is a part of Deccan plateau.

Major hill ranges of the state are Vindhyans, Escarpments, Bastar hills

(Dandakaranaya) and Mahanadi valley. Mahanadi and Indrāvati are the main rivers of

the State. Sal, teak and mixed forest are the main forest types of Chhattisgarh. There

are one Biosphere Reserve, three National Parks, and eleven wild life sanctuaries.

Chhattisgarh has been declared as an Herbal State by the state government owing to

its abundance in medicinal and Herbal Plats.

Study site

Bastar District of the Chhattisgarh state was selected as a study site for the

present work. Bastar is one of the tribal districts of the state. Before splitting in to

three districts in the year 1999, was one of the largest district in India, the area of the

district was even larger than the area of Kerala state and some other countries like

Belgium, Israel etc. Bastar district was divided in to three districts namely Bastar,

Kanker and Dantewada. Later in new state of Chhattisgarh Bastar incorporated five

districts namely Bastar, Kanker, Dantewada, Narainpur and Bijapur. In the year 2007

Bastar became one of the districts amongst the five divided districts of old Bastar.

The district of Bastar is located in the southern part of Chhattisgarh state,

situated at the height of 2000’M. above plateau MSL. In Chhattisgarh, state Bastar

district is surrounded by Kanker district in the north Maharashtra state in the west

Dantewada district in the south and Orissa state in the east. The total forest area of the

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA

CHAPTER - 3

Fig-1: Location map of Chhattisgarh State in India.

Chhattisgarh

N

Fig-2: Location map of district Bastar in Chhattisgarh.

Fig-3: Map of Study Area, district Bastar.

Bastar is 7112 sq km, which is more than the 75% of total area of the district. Out of

the total population, more than 70% are tribals like Gonds, Abujhmaria, Dardamaria,

Muriya, Doriya, Dhruva, Bhatra and Halba etc. The largest and the most important

river in the Bastar districts is the Indrāvati, neither the river nor its tributaries dry of in

the hot session. As per 2001 census, the population of Bastar is 1302253, out of them

648068 are male and 654185 are female. Majority of population 1172265 lives in

rural area. (Fig.-3)

Geology of the Bastar:

The common rocks are granites with granitoid gneiss, sandstone and lateritic.

Lateritic soil and alluvial soil are main soil types of the area. The texture of the soil

varies from sandy to fine textured clayey soils. The primary lateritic is found as a cap

on the top of the trap and gneissic rocks. Secondary lateritic are usually found in the

valleys and low-lying places. These soils are of fine texture and darker hues and are

rich in humus. The river banks of Indravati are arid and its tributaries have deposits of

fertile alluvial soils.

Soil of Bastar:

Laterites and Lateritic soil covers a large area of the district. In some areas red

and yellow soils also occur in patches. In Abujhmar tract where the trap rocks occur

over the slopes have thin light soil, whereas fresh alluvial soil is found in the beds of

streams and rivers Indrāvati, Godavari and Mahanadi. The texture of the soil varies

from sandy to fine textured clayed soils. pH of the soil varies from 4.5 to 6.5 in Sal

forest and 5.5 to 7.8 in teak forests, while miscellaneous forests have generally mid

values. Thus the soil is slightly basic to slightly acidic and capable of supporting both

Sal and Teak forests. In spite of the frequent summer fires the percentage the organic

matter in the top layer of the soil is generally quite high, varying from 0.5 to 2.5%.

Forest vegetation of Bastar

The forest vegetation of Bastar district is divided in to four forest belts namely –

I. Northern mixed forest.

II. Central moist region comprising of Sal belts.

III. Teak belt zone.

IV. The dry region.

Fig.-4: Forest cover map of India.

N

Fig-5: Forest cover map of Chhattisgarh.

N

General Description of Study Area

31

Ethnobotany in relation to health and livelihood security in district Bastar of Chhattisgarh State.

The northern mixed forest found in the northern part of Bastar district is widely

important for minor forest produces, while in the moist region of central Bastar, Sal is

found predominantly. The south western terrain is the most important, in which the

best quality teak is found. The dry forest region is interspersed between the moist

belts and teak belts but more confined to western and southern point of the district.

Some of the trees found in Bastar forest are Teak, Sal Sirsa, Bijasal, Kusum, Palas,

Mahua, Tendu, Harra, kauha, Slai, Achar, Dhawra, Bhulra Rohni, Amla, Khair Semar

etc.

Major types of forest in Bastar district are Sal forest, teak forest, mixed forest

and bamboo forest. The Bastar forest is one of the rarest forest area of the country,

where Sal, teak and miscellaneous forest naturally occur over extensive areas. Bastar

is the only area in India where hard wood and bamboo occur together in large

quantities. Sal forest occurs on sandy loam and lateritic soil. The major portion of the

Sal forest lies on the plateau. In the hilly region, Sal is confined to narrow valleys and

on lower slopes. The Sal forest also occurs intermingled with mixed forest is large

grassy banks. The moist peninsular high level Sal forest are the richest single forest in

the plateau of Jagdalpur, where average minimum temperature is 150C and rainfall

varies from 1095 mm to 2080 mm.(Fig.-5).

The minor forest produce of the state which is contributing major revenue

income are the Chironji, Amchur, Baybidang, Karanji, Shikakai, Ghotphal, Mango,

Kernal, Tamarind, Karkatiya, Nirmali, Chirayta, Mahua, Harra, Bamboo, Tora,

Dhavaiphool, Bhelva etc.


32


Climate of Bastar:

Bastar – plateau region comes under moist, sub – humid agro-climatic region

of Chhattisgarh. The climate is dry moist tropical type on the basis of the

meteorological data 2006 to 2008, study period (Table-1,2,3 and Fig.-6-14).

(a) Temperature:

The diurnal changes of temperature is narrowest in the months of August 2006

and 2008, while in July 2007 there was an increases in temperature from

January to April and September, October in the year 2006, January to may and

September to October in 2007 and 2008. In forest area the temperature was

found less due to shedding of the leaves and the forest cover. The new foliage

specially of Sal (Shorea robusta) obliterating the effects of sunlight causes

covering effects on the ground. The maximum temperature was recorded

36.10C, 37.7

0C and 39.6

0C in the month of May during 2006, 2007 and 2008

respectively, while minimum temperature was recorded 7.80C, 8.8

0C and

9.30C in the month of January for the study period 2006 to 2009 respectively.

Maximum average temperature was recorded 29.90C, 31.3

0C and 31.9

0C in the

month of May for the year 2006, 2007 and 2008, while minimum average was

noted in the month of January 18.40C, for the year 2006 and 18.7

0C

respectively for the year 2007 and 2008.

(b) Rainfall : -

Rainfall is received mainly through south west monsoon, the major portion of

the rainfall was received during the month of June to September, and in rest of

the other months, and rainfall received were recorded random values; however

no rainfall was received during December and January. The average annual

rainfall of the region was noted 116.67 mm. for the year 2006, 96.00 mm for

2007 and 101.28 mm for 2008 respectively.

(c) Humidity :

The average relative humidity was highest in the month of August for 2006

and 2008, while for the 2007 higher value was recorded in the month of

September; the lowest value for humidity was recorded in the month of May

for the year 2006 to 2008.


33


(d) Vapor pressure :

The maximum annual average vapour pressure was recorded in the month of

September for 2006, 2007 and August for 2008 and the minimum annual

vapor pressure was noted in the month of December in the year 2006 and

2008, February in 2007.

(e) Wind velocity

Wind velocity was recorded maximum in the month of July for year 2006,

2007 and June for 2008. Minimum wind velocity was registered in the month

of December for 2006, 2007 and October for 2008.

(f) Sunshine hours and evaporation

Sunshine hour is the maximum in month of February for 2006, November for

2007 and December for 2008, while evaporation rate was maximum in the

month of April for 2006 May for 2007 and 2008.No direct relation was found

between sunshine hours and rate of evaporation during the study period.

Tribals of Bastar

Tribal constituted 26.76% of the total tribal population of Chhattisgarh state.

Some of the tribal is still living in interior forests and they do not like to come to the

outer world in modern civilization and or unaware of happening in the world. In

present study five predominant tribes Gonds, Halbas, Abujhmarias, Murias and

Bhatras of Bastar have been considered for ethnobotanical study.

(a) Gonds :-

Gonds (Koytoria), the largest tribal group in the state in terms of population.

More than 20% of Gonds live in Chhattisgarh state are in Bastar district. There

are three main sub castes of Gonds, Maria, Muria and Doria live in the district.

The livelihood of Gonds is based on hill agriculture, collecting minor forest

produce from inside the forest region, forging metal goods for cottage

industries, fishing and hunting. The Gond tribals of Bastar have Ghotul system

in which the unmarried young mature boys and girls live to gather in

separately made huts and copulate.


34


(b) Maria :-

The Abujhmaria tribals live in interior forest of Narayanpur and Bastar

district. The area in which they inhabited is known as Abujhmaria region

which has been spread over 1500 sq. miles in dense forest area. The

Abhujmarias are hill Marias, who are virtually living in isolation. They keep

themselves away from the outer world and leading a savage life. Their

traditional, cultural, moral values and social security has not yet been

disturbed. They are one of the rare tribals group of India living in this

traditional way. They practices shifting cultivation and coarse grain, banana

and tobacco are generally grown by them. There is a considerable significance

of weekly bazaar in this area. The Abhujmarias are still heavily depend upon

hunting and collection of forest produce. There is no individual owner ship of

land; all village land is owned collectively. The Abhujmaria do not plough the

earth. Pointed wood pieces are used for the ploughing. Stone implements are

used for harvesting produce. Marriages amongst the blood relation are

common.

(c) Muria :-

Muria live in Bastar district. Muria lives in plains and they are more developed

than the Abujhmaria. The livelihood of the Murias is based on agriculture and

collection of the forest produce. Minor forest produce is consumed as well

sold by the Murias. There is no functional division of the caste in barber,

cobbler, weavers and washer man. They prefer Mahua drinks rather than the

medicine for their ailments. The tribals of the area are famous for their

Ghotuls.

(d) Halba :-

The Halbas are mostly found in the Bastar district, their name is Halbas as

they use hal for ploughing. They are primarily agriculturist. Halba enjoy high

local caste status amongst the tribals in the state, mainly due to the fact that

they are land owners. The costume, dilect and social activities of Halba make

them different from Gonds.


35


(e) Bhatra:-

The tribals Bhatra are mostly found in Bastar district, but there is no proper

information regarding the origin of these tribals. The Bhatras practices shifting

cultivation. They collect minor forest produce and sell it to the traders of

Bastar in cheap rates in the market. The Mahua tree is used for making strong

liquor and marriage ceremonies are performed by taking rounds of this tree.

They begin the ceremony with hunting. Bhatras are superstitious and

backward.

Table-1: Meteorological data of Bastar district in the year-2006.

Month Max. temp

(0C)

Min. temp

(0C)

Avg. Rain fall

mms

Relative humidity Vapor pressure Wind vel.

kmph

Evap

mms

Bright hrs.

sunshine I II Avg. I II

Jan 29.1 7.8 18.4 0.0 93 75 84.0 8.2 22.0 2.7 3.7 9.5

Feb 32.6 11.0 21.8 0.0 96 74 85.0 10.3 26.6 2.9 5.2 9.6

Mar 32.6 18.1 25.3 55.6 92 74 83.0 15.5 17.7 4.7 5.7 8.3

Apr 36.1 22.5 29.3 0.0 84 60 72.0 18.7 25.6 5.5 7.1 8.3

May 35.4 24.4 29.9 38.3 79 52 65.5 19.9 21.2 6.7 6.8 7.8

Jun 31.9 24.0 27.9 109.0 77 64 70.5 19.5 21.6 6.5 5.1 0.5

Jul 27.7 22.6 25.1 380.2 91 81 86.0 20.1 21.5 9.4 3.2 2.2

Aug 27.0 22.1 24.5 426.0 92 86 89.0 19.8 22.2 8.5 2.7 2.3

Sep 29.5 22.1 25.8 291.4 93 83 88.0 20.3 24.1 4.6 3.4 5.1

Oct 29.9 19.6 24.7 2.6 92 81 86.5 17.6 24.9 2.8 3.7 7.5

Nov 27.7 15.7 21.7 97.0 95 54 74.5 14.0 14.5 2.6 2.4 7.0

Dec 27.9 10.0 18.9 0.0 93 44 68.5 9.8 12.2 2.0 2.8 8.9

TOTAL 1400.10 51.80 77.00

Fig.-6: Graph showing maximum, minimum and average temperature in the year 2006.

29.1

32.6 32.6

36.1 35.4

31.9

27.7 27.0

29.5 29.9

27.7 27.9

7.8

11.0

18.1

22.5 24.4 24.0

22.6 22.1 22.1

19.6

15.7

10.0

18.4

21.8

25.3

29.3 29.9 27.9

25.1 24.5 25.8

24.7

21.7 18.9

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Te

mp

era

ture

in

( 0

C)

Months

Max. Temp (°c) Min. Temp (°c) Avg.

Fig.-7: Graph showing rain fall (mm) and temperature (0C) in the year 2006.

Fig.-8: Graph showing relative humidity and average temperature

in the year 2006.

0 0

55.6

0

38.3

109

380.2

426

291.4

2.6

97

0 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Ra

in f

all

(m

m)

Av

g. T

em

pe

ratu

re (

0C

)

Months

Rain fall Avg. Temperature

84 85 83

72

65.5 70.5

86 89 88 86.5

74.5 68.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Re

lati

ve

Hu

mid

ity

(%

)

Av

g. T

em

pe

ratu

re (

0C

)

Relative Humidity Avg. Temperature


Month Max. temp

in (0C)

Min. temp

(0C)

Avg. Rain fall

mms

Relative humidity Vapor pressure Wind vel.

kmph

Evap

mms

Bright hrs.


Jan 28.6 8.8 18.7 0.0 93 57 75.0 9.0 16.1 2.7 3.4 9.3

Feb 30.0 12.5 21.2 8.0 86 27 56.5 10.9 8.0 2.9 5.0 8.9

Mar 34.3 17.1 25.7 0.0 81 25 53.0 13.4 9.8 4.7 6.3 8.8

Apr 36.4 22.1 29.2 0.0 73 31 52.0 16.8 12.9 5.5 7.5 8.7

May 37.7 24.9 31.3 56.8 65 30 47.5 17.9 13.7 6.7 8.2 8.1

Jun 31.3 22.8 27.0 292.8 76 61 68.5 19.2 18.5 6.5 5.0 3.4

Jul 28.9 22.3 25.6 198.6 89 70 79.5 20.9 20.1 9.4 3.5 4.2

Aug 28.8 21.4 25.1 351.4 93 73 83.0 20.7 20.6 8.5 2.7 3.8

Sep 28.7 21.6 25.1 162.2 94 76 85.0 20.7 20.9 4.6 3.1 3.7

Oct 29.3 17.7 23.5 82.2 94 58 76.0 17.0 17.0 2.8 3.2 6.7

Nov 28.6 11.6 20.1 0.0 93 47 70.0 11.8 13.1 2.6 3.5 9.4

Dec 28.2 9.3 18.7 0.0 91.9 40.9 66.4 9.6 11.60 2.0 3.4 8.3

TOTAL 1152.0 54.80 83.30


28.6 30

34.3

36.4 37.7

31.3

28.9 28.8 28.7 29.3 28.6 28.2

8.8

12.5

17.1

22.1

24.9

22.8 22.3 21.4 21.6

17.7

11.6 9.3

18.7

21.2

25.7

29.2

31.3

27 25.6 25.1 25.1

23.5

20.1 18.7

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40


Te

mp

era

ture

( 0

C)

Months

Max. Temp. Min. Temp. Avg.

Fig.-10: Graph showing rain fall (mm) and average temperature (0C)

in the year 2007.

Fig.-11: Graph showing relative humidity and avg. temperature (0C)

in the year 2007.

0 8 0 0

56.8

292.8

198.6

351.4

162.2

82.2

0 0 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Ra

infa

ll (

mm

)

Av

g. T

em

pe

ratu

re (

0C

)

Months

Rainfall Avg. Temperature

75

56.5 53 52

47.5

68.5

79.5 83 85

76 70

66.4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Av

g. T

em

pe

ratu

re (

0C

)

Months

Re

lati

ve

Hu

mid

ity

(%

)

Relative Humidity Avg. Temperature


Month Max. temp

(0C)

Min. temp

(0C)

Avg. Rain fall

mms

Relative humidity Vapor pressure Wind Vel.

kmph

Evap

mms

Bright hrs.


Jan 28.2 9.3 18.7 0.0 92 41 66.5 9.8 11.7 2.5 3.4 8.3

Feb 29.1 11.6 20.3 13.4 90 38 64.0 11.5 11.2 3.9 4.2 8.0

Mar 33.4 16.5 24.9 146.8 79 30 54.5 14.2 9.6 4.5 5.5 7.0

Apr 36.2 21.0 28.6 0.8 79 25 52.0 17.9 10.4 5.1 6.5 8.6

May 39.6 24.2 31.9 24.0 62 43 52.5 17.6 22.1 6.6 9.6 8.1

Jun 30.9 21.6 26.2 300.0 89 70 79.5 20.8 20.7 7.8 4.4 2.4

Jul 28.1 20.3 24.2 447.8 91 75 83.0 19.9 20.5 6.4 2.7 3.5

Aug 27.7 20.3 24.0 325.6 93 80 86.5 20.6 20.9 6.1 2.5 2.2

Sep 24.2 18.0 21.1 260.8 86 52 69.0 17.8 17.2 1.6 1.2 0.0

Oct 28.4 10.6 19.5 0.0 78 33 55.5 11.6 10.5 0.8 2.0 2.3

Nov 29.6 12.6 21.1 0.0 92 54 73.0 13.2 16.6 3.3 3.5 7.2

Dec 29.4 7.4 18.4 0.0 90.9 39.6 65.2 9.3 11.7 2.0 3.2 8.8

TOTAL 1519.20 48.70 66.40


28.2 29.1

33.4

36.2

39.6

30.9

28.1 27.7

24.2

28.4 29.6

29.4

9.3

11.6

16.5

21

24.2

21.6 20.3 20.3

18

10.6 12.6

7.4

18.7 20.3

24.9

28.6

31.9

26.2 24.2 24

21.1 19.5

21.1

18.4

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45


Te

mp

era

ture

in

( 0

C)

Months

Max. Temp. Min. Temp. Avg. Temp.

Fig.-13: Graph showing rain fall (mm) and average temperature (0C)

in the year 2008.

Fig.-14: Graph showing relative humidity and avg. temperature (0C)

in the year 2008.

0 13.4

146.8

0.8 24

300

447.8

325.6

260.8

0 0 0 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Jan Feb May Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Ra

in f

all

(m

m)

Av

g. T

em

pe

ratu

re (

0C

)

Months

Rainfall Avg. Tempreture

66.5 64

54.5 52 52.5

79.5 83

86.5

69

55.5

73

65.2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Re

lati

ve

Hu

mid

ity

(%)

Av

g. T

em

pe

ratu

re (

0C

)

Months

Relative Humidity Avg. Tempreture

general description of study area -...

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