The recent initiative of the Union Government, which is to bring a translation tool for tribal languages, also offers a translated collection of folk stories of the BHIL tribe in Madhya Pradesh. The collection, in Hindi, contains stories about intermediate love, discrimination of caste, guru Pujan and theater celebration.
In compilation, entitled Anuvad, a recurring theme in several stories appears to be a narrative where casteism is defeated by arguments, such as “Caste has never been part of the Sanatan Dharma”, or “there is no caste in Manusmriti”.
The electronic book will be made available on the website and the Adi Vaani application of the Ministry for Regional Affairs. Other stories speak of farmer’s distress, healers of faith and worship of Lokmat Ahilya Devi, Narmad and Sant Singaji.
The story of the love among the caste called “Jaativaad Khatam Karo” (End Casteism) speaks of Basant and Palasi who live in a beautiful village where the only problem is the problem of caste. While Basant’s caste placement is not revealed in the story, Palasi is Dalit and Basant has a “higher” caste. Basant, participation in the factory, falls for Palasi, worker, but villagers protest against it. The villagers, led by the village of “Pandit”, will one day stop Basant to stand with him about Adharm (Sacrilege), whom he commits.
Basant stands his earth and enrages Pandit, forcing Basant to argue with him in a public square. In this dialogue, Pandit claims that the caste is part of the Hindu religious texts, while Basant claims that the caste has never been part of manusmriti, but that it was inserted into the created clumps (verses) later in the form of a conspiracy. He also claims that inter -reging relationships are not bad “because all Hindus are the same”, which further presents that “casteism” goes against the “brewhouse” system “based on karma and not on birth.
Pandit listens to Basant, changes his mind and claims it “innocent” and calls him a “protector of faith”.
Another story is about the wild night competition for night gaming, where the audience “Vanvasi” wins the theater group of the protagonists, which begins to play the roles of “vanvasis” on stage, speak their language and dance their dances.
These stories were gathered from the traditions of oral narratives of the BHIL community in the regions of Madhya Pradesh, some of which refer to the region of Nimar State. The stories do not mention the year in which they take place, but some of them have vague traces that indicate that they are taking place in the modern world, mentioning cars and roads and characters that are police officers and district officials.
Officials said Hindu that such folk stories from communities Gondi, Santali and Mundari were also translated and will soon be available.
In a story entitled “Guru Pujan”, Samandar, a hardworking teacher in the village is preparing for the Guru Purnima festival. As preparations are going, the crowd is impressed in silence by a drunken policeman who beats the child. When he stops, he threatens violence and cases against teachers, children and guests and vandalizes an idol who was to be worshiped.
Samandar is preparing the courage to face the police officer, stand on the ground and ensures that he runs away. When students see their teacher who advocates their lives, they say they are now worshiping him as their guru. At this point, Samandar assumes that instead of guru guru – “Bhaagwat Flag” – a religious flag, usually yellow or saffron. He says: “This flag represents our culture and civilization. It’s a means for our nation. Our Sanatan Culture is reflected in it. This is our guru.”
According to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s V. Bhagaiah, RSS considers “Bhagwa Dhwaj” (Saffron Flag) to be a guru. ARUN Anand, who studied RSS, writes that this concept was created when RSS members wanted to consider the founder of KB Hedgeware as their guru, but Mr. Hedgewar reportedly suggested that he worshiped the flag of Saffron as on their guru.
In the “mandala”, the story is told from the perspective of Tukaram, the player of Dalitský Dhola, known for his fascinating rhythms. The story takes place in the conflict between Dalits and Thakura from the village above the water. The village has only one hands that the Thakura who discriminate against Dalits. When Tukaram leads his people to use his hand, clashes explodes, and then local police stations appear on the scene.
The police officer confronts the village of Mukhiya (boss), known only as “patella”, which was towed with Thakura. He asks him if he knew something about “Indian culture” and then proceeds to the argument that “Sanatan Dharma never had a caste. It was created later and was a mistake.” Explains that “caste is evil in our society. It must be removed.” He adds that foreign attackers have used casteism to “enslave us”, and if the casteism is not removed, “we will be enslaved”. Mukhiya and the Thakura listened and changed their minds, hugged Tukaram and allowed the Dalits to use their hand.
Other stories that have been translated in this dose concern the perceived “supernatural possession” of a local man, but told from the perspective of a young skeptic that decided to find the truth about “possession”. Another story speaks of Jhabba, farmers in need because of the changing weather, which is to dig well, even though the enemy of his family Pemla is trying to “give a curse” on his efforts.
While Pemla pays the tantrik (magician) to ensure that Jhabba never encounters water, his mother, who worships the nearby river Narmad and deals with Lokmata Ahilya Devi, praying. Pemla’s efforts fail and Jhabba manages to dig well and hit water.
Published – September 8, 2025 22:16
