Tribal Village Life In Dang Forest, Gujarat, India || Cooking By Tribal Women ||Tribal Life In India

Dang is a district in the state of Gujarat in India. The administrative headquarters of the district are located in Ahwa. Dang has an area of 1,764 km² and a population of 228,291 (as of 2011). As of 2011, it is the least populous district of Gujarat (out of 33). As per the Planning Commission, Dang is one of the most economically distressed district out of 640 districts in India. 98% of the population belongs to one of the scheduled tribes. Today, the Dang tribes, collectively called ‘Dangi’, still largely rely on the forest for their livelihood; and an overwhelming 73.84% of the population falls below the poverty line. The Kotwalias weave bamboo baskets and the Kathodi collect katha, a red powder extracted from the khair tree and used in paan. There is a big trend of migration to sugarcane plantations in Surat, Valsad and Bardoli, and to vineyards and strawberry fields in Maharashtra. The five Royal Bhil Kings of Dangs are currently the only hereditary rulers in India. Before Independence several wars were fought between the five tribal kings of Dang and the British Raj. According to the history of Dang, the biggest war to took place at 'Lashkaria Amba', in when the kings of all the five states joined together to protect Dang from British rule. The British were beaten and agreed to a compromise. As per the treaty signed in 1842 the British were allowed to use the forests and their natural products against which they had to pay around 3,000 silver coins to the five kings. Currently the kings receive a monthly political pension by the Government of India, which is the main source of their income. This payment is continued even though all privy purses for the Princely states of India were stopped in 1970 since the agreement was between then monarchy of Dangs and the British. At the end of each fiscal year during Holi, the kings gather in Ahwa for a traditional royal ceremony, in their richly decorated buggies and bands with tribal dancers, to receive the payment as per the agreement of 1842. In ancient Indian Scriptures Dang is known as Dand Aranyaka, meaning Bamboo Forest.Recently the Dangs Kings have urged the government to protect their depleting forest cover due to illegal logging.