Bava Mahariya

“Khundu Dudu of Tinih Mal and Gangu Motu of Jalsindhi lived in the Narmada valley with their people and their livestock in the forest area. They said they were born here. They said that mother Narmada when she emerged, she came from Amarkantak, so our elders told us. And we also heard them say that Narmada packed herself a dish made of chillia and dungli vegetables to sustain her when she embarked on her journey. Narmada River set out with her six other sisters, they were seven in all, to meet Dudu Daria, the ocean. The others flowed through the plains but Sati Narmada came through the hills because she did not want to cause much loss to people by flowing through the plains. She made her way through the hills and forests and gradually arrived at Jalsindhi where she stopped for the night…“

Bava Mahariya

Bava Mahariya, is one of those leaders of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, who have refused to leave the Narmada banks. He has refused to move out of his village Jalsindhi in Madhya Pradesh, in spite of repeated submergence of the village due to the Sardar Sarovar dam. The people living on the banks of the River Narmada have a deep attachment and a very close relationship with the river and their lands. Bava and his family preferred to shift to lands higher and higher up the hills as the waters of the dam rose and drowned their farm lands, their home and the village Jalsindhi, but refused to consider resettlement far from the banks of the river Narmada. It is important to listen to Bava, who speaks here of the Narmada River, his village Jalsindhi on its bank and its historical, religious and mythological significance.  

Interview Duration:
00:24:34

Language:
Bhilali , Subtitles in English

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