Tribals involved in the construction of the chariots for the 75-day Bastar Dashahra fair, considered world’s long festival, demonstrate professionalism of such high quality that leaves even experts in awe.
Tribals involved in the construction of the chariots for the 75-day Bastar Dashahra fair, considered world’s long festival, demonstrate professionalism of such high quality that leaves even experts in awe. The nearly 600-year-old annual Bastar Dashahra festival, which began at Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar district in south Chhattisgarh last week, attracts tourists both from India and abroad in thousands. The most interesting part of the festival that amazes the tourists is the manner in which different tribal groups, assigned with specific responsibilities for doing various rituals during the festival, accomplish their tasks on scheduled time even without being informed by the fair organisers. “For generations, our families have been tasked with construction of two chariots, the main attraction of the festival, without being informed. We accomplish our task on time”, Dalpat, in-charge of construction of the chariots, said on Sunday. The tribal families hailing from particular villages, located in remote areas in Bastar division comprising seven districts, have been assigned with different responsibilities from procuring wood for construction of the chariots to erecting them. Two chariots, one big meant for the presiding deity of the Bastar royal family, Maa Danteswari, and the other meant for sub-ordinate deities, are built with sal logs, cut and dressed with the help of a few crude tools.
