ABSTRACT
The present chapter is an ethnographic analysis of the concept of health and well-being of Baiga who is one of the primitive tribes (PVTGs) of Madhya Pradesh, categorized by the Government of India on the basis of pre-agriculture technology, low literacy rate, and stagnant diminishing population. The origin of the Baiga tribe is believed to be from the Bhumiya of Chota Nagpur, India, which literally means land or earth. The main seven branches of Baiga are Binjhwar, Narotia, Bharotia, Nahar, RaiBhaina, and kandBhaina and Mudia or Muriya (Elwin, 1935).
The Baiga tribe in Madhya Pradesh is concentrated in districts of Mandla, Balaghat, Dindori, Anuppur, Shahdol, and Umariya, respectively. The total population is about 4,14,526, spread over Madhya Pradesh (Census, 2011). The tools and techniques for collection of data for the present research are observation, FGD (focused group discussion) interview and case study methods from three Baiga villages, Sarhakona, Vegri, Garjan Bija and Hiran, respectively of Pusparajgarh Block of Annuppur district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The chapter explains how Biaga s way of life is associated with nature and mother earth, which entails a healthy life and well-being of the community. Their health and 198illness are inextricably associated with ethnomedicine, the traditional knowledge system of the primitive tribe. Scientific study reveals that their pre-agriculture type of economy, which produces millet crops, their staple food – kodo (Paspalum scrobiculatum), Kutki little millet (Panicum sumatrense), and ramtila (Guizotia abyssinica) are very much preferable to food security and present condition of climate change. The women folk s traditional knowledge of food preservation needs special attention from scientific research that preserves the crop intact for three generations, i.e., for 75 years long. Their folklore depicts the human values that sustain the tribe and bring joy, wisdom, and resilience to cope with adversity and overcome the stress of life. Ancestral worship in the form of annual meeting in the garh (place of origin of clan members) observation of Beeja or Bidri festival ((festival of seeds) by different clan members where ritual is performed by the clan priest to shower blessing of prosperity or richness from 1 to 21 (ek se ekish), i.e., 21 times higher of the seeds sown in the field, in fact is the latent prayer of well-being of the clan members, act as a catalyst to sustain community integration and keep their cultural identity which helps to inculcate altruistic attitude that ultimately sustains the Baiga tribe s well-being and happiness.
