Bastar Dispatches: A Passage Through the Wilds

by Narendra

Abujhmad in the deep interiors of Bastar is inhabited by the Abujhmadias, a primitive hunter-gatherer tribe whom Verrier Elwin has called the Hill Murias. Abujhmad stands today as one of the few mirrors left the world over wherein modernity can view itself - its calamities and collapses. Abujhmad asks no questions of itself nor provides answers; neither are there searches, quests or creation of utopias, ideas and ideologies, elaborate languages, agricultures, technologies and endeavours.Based on the author's over thirty years of association with Abujhmad (he is probably the first outsider to live there) and its contiguous areas in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh, Bastar Dispatches brings out how forests and the wilds, humans and animals, distances, spaces and the skies, the knowns and unknowns together make up societies and intimacies. There is a nebulousness, an 'undefined' to Abujhmad's ways. Written in what may be called the Adivasi sensibility of nurturing the tentative, the book provides a compelling narrative of a people at peace with themselves and nature, their dialect, their festivities, their delightful interactions.

Genres: India

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 25, 2018

Reviews

[John Trident · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cover is beautiful, designed well, looks realistic.
Title is catchy, it's unique, sounds pleasing & interesting.

The book talks about Abujhmad which is located in the deep interiors of Bastar. It's basically inhabited by the local primitive tribes called 'Abujhmadias.' These tribes basically thrive on hunting & gathering to fulfil their basic needs & so they are called as 'Hill Murias.'

This place surrounds one of the mysteries of mankind where modernity is encapsulated with calamities & collapses with time. Though this place maynot hold any significance in terms of other counterparts. However, this place is like a sanctuary which is inhabituated by forests, wildlife, flora, fauna, humans, animals, distances, skies, spaces, knowns, unknowns, societies & intimacies.

The author has lives & researched for most of his life on this contiguous areas in the Bastar division of Chattisgarh. He called the nebulousness as 'undefined.'
Language is simple, good, easy to understand. Written in a subtle, what one may call as Adivasi sensibility of nurturing the tentative. The book also provides a riveting compelling narrative on the account of people who are at peace with themselves, nature, their dialect, festivities & delightful interactions.

[Meghna Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover is beautiful. I fell in love with it - the moment I saw it. I like to read unique books, based on their design, their intricate details. I procure them from time to time.
Title is realistic & interesting.

The book talks about Abujhmad in North India which is sparsely inhabited by people. Their views on life, is different considering the fact that the place is located in the deep interiors of Bastar. It's basically inhabited by the local primitive tribes called 'Abujhmadias.' They're primitively tribals thriving on hunting & warfare (melee ones). They fulfil their their basic needs by gathering whatever they find in the forests, grasslands & so they are called as 'Hill Murias.'

I liked the idea of presenting this in the form of a novel which is very useful & unique in every aspect. Language is good. Narration could have been improved. I've marked this as one of my favourite reads.

[Sampada Nayak · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Abujhmad is a metaphor for communion-with oneself as much as with nature.'
This book has given me perspectives and understandings that have affected the way I think. I have been immersed in the debate of what development actually means and how modernity has decided to violently force the idea of development it has on Adivasis and indigenous people. But this book very simply explains that we have been doing what we should not. It's Abhujmad we should be learning from rather than trying to teach them anything. We have nothing worthy to give to them and yet our arrogance has not let us see that.
I have probably underlined most of this book because I learned something with every line. I wish everyone reads this.
To Abhujmad <3

[Brintha]

felt like a meditation. ill keep coming back to this.