'Duvval': Why tigers are worshipped by tribals of erstwhile Adilabad

Adilabad: Given their propensity to attack and kill anything that shows life, tigers are being considered as a menace by people living closer to the forests or even in deep nonforested areas. In the erstwhile united Adilabad district, however, it was not so until 4 or 5 decades back when tribal communities shared a well-defined 'peaceful' relationship with the wild animal.

This was the time when the thick forests of North Telangana boasted of a healthy population of resident tigers and human population density was thinner. In the current times, transient tigers are posing a danger to humans like the one which is creating havoc in Kagaznagar forests.

Tribals across the country are known to worship the tiger, called `duvval' in Gondi, which once thrived in comparatively closer proximity to forest habitations. For example, the tribes of Sunderbans in West Bengal worship tigers, calling them 'bonobibi', believing the animals to be the owners of the forest, and the Adivasis of erstwhile Adilabad worship the big cats accepting them as the king of the jungles, terming them as rajul pen or king god.

The tribal folklore of the Raj Gond, Kolam, and Pardhan Adivasis in north Telangana is another example of the untroubled relationship that existed between humans and wild animals. The folklore or personal stories of ethnic people do mention encounters with tigers in the wild but there is no instance that shows the ferocious wild animals attacking humans.

Tiger worship of the Adivasis partly banks on superstition but to those who understand the dynamics of the spiritual tribals and natural vegetation, it is not so. The former have always tried the appeasement method via the puja and so far it has only fetched them good results.

The aboriginal tribes in erstwhile Adilabad perform the rajul pen puja during the month of Akadi coinciding with the second half of July and the first half of August. The cowherds in a given village lead the puja wherein they make a plea to the tigers to spare their cattle while grazing in the jungle.

The late Mesram Tukdoji, the Pardhan bard of the Mesram clan of Raj Gonds always narrated about encounters with tigers while on the famous walkathon of the clan elders to fetch holy water from Godavari river in Jannaram mandal, now in Mancherial district before the start of the very famous Keslapur Nagoba Jatara. "Tigers used to appear suddenly in the thick forests but used to go away without causing harm to us," he told this correspondent during one of a regular tete-e-tete with the bard.

Talking about the painting of a tiger in his home in Sirpur (U) mandal, Athram Tukaram, a Pardhan elder said the painting was done as per the wishes of his father Mogliah. "He had come face to face with a tiger while on a pilgrimage to Sungapur Avval pen temple and had since then wanted such a painting in our home," he recalled.

It may be mentioned here that the tiger is the totem of the six god clans of Raj Gonds, Kolams, and Pardhans. Athram clan belongs to the six god phratry and hence the worship of the big cat is quite sacred to them.

But otherwise, too, no Adivasi leaves a chance to perform some kind of puja. In Bela Mandal in Adilabad for instance, tribals performed puja of the pug maaks left behind by a wandering tiger.

Old Mandadi Isru, a katoda priest of the most revered Jangubai goddess belonging to Shettihadapnur in Jainoor mandal of KB Asifabad district remembered that some 4 decades back, tigers used to kill 3 or 4 cattle but nobody complained about it. "The hide of the killed animals was used in making the membrane of tudum, our sacred kettle drum, as mandated by customs.

"This hide belongs to a cow killed by a transient 'duvval' in the Demmala forest in October 2019. We are using it to repair the tops of all the tudums in our village," he revealed.

The Adivasis perform the Akadi puja or rajul pen puja in special temples which are actually temporary in nature. These temples, which have an aesthetic value of their own, are set up only during the time of the puja.

Some of the temples are at Girjai and Birsaipet in Bazarhatnoor and Utnoor in Adilabad and Vagai in Jainoor. The Vagai temple belongs to the Kolam tribe.

There are a number of places like caves in the forest of Adilabad and KB Asifabad associated with tigers. Among the well-known ones are the cave at Puli Kahchar in Gudihatnoor Mandal, Jangun Bhuyari in Indervelli Mandal, both in Adilabad district, the Palkan Bhuyari in Jainoor and the Kadamba den in Kadamba forest in Kagaznagar.

There is less likelihood that things will revert to the old form. One can only hope that the tiger-human conflict be avoided by more intensive tiger monitoring by the Forest Department.