<p>While not widely known, India just had a blockbuster tribal festival that witnessed 12 million people gather at the small village of Medaram in the Mulugu forests of Telangana. What was a small festival restricted to the Koya tribes not so long ago has now become an identity of the many tribes of central India!</p>.<p>The festival celebrates the tribal queen Sammakka and her daughter Sarakka who valiantly fought the mighty Kakatiyas. It is said that during the Kakatiya king Prataparudra’s reign, there was a multi-year drought in the Mulugu region where the Koya tribes lived. The Koya warlord Pagididda Raju was unable and refused to pay his annual taxes to the Kakatiya overlords. Without a concern for the reasons, the Kakatiya armies attacked the Koya tribes to enforce their authority. The Koya warriors fought bravely but were outnumbered. Pagididda Raju, his son, and his son-in-law were killed in the battle.</p>.<p>Sammakka, the wife of Pagididda Raju, picked up the sword and pushed back the Kakatiya forces along with her daughter Sarakka. With impassioned fighting, the Koyas led by Sammakka and Sarakka gained an upper hand against the Kakatiya soldiers. However, Sarakka, too, was soon killed and Sammakka wounded. The aggrieved Sammakka cursed the Kakatiyas and foretold their fall for having served grave injustice to a starving tribe.</p>.<p>Sammakka, wounded and alone, disappeared into the forests. Prataparudra’s soldiers had won this battle against the Koyas. However, Sammakka’s curse or otherwise, Prataparudra soon faced his own terrible end. The Kakatiyas were attacked by the General of the Delhi Sultanate, Ullugh Khan. After several attempts, Ullugh Khan defeated the Kakatiyas, plundered the kingdom, and took Prataparudra prisoner. While being taken captive to Delhi, Prataparudra took his own life on the banks of the Narmada. The mighty Kakatiya kingdom came to a sudden, unceremonious end.</p>.<p>The Koyas believe this fate of the Kakatiyas to be the doing of Sammakka’s curse. Since Sammakka’s disappearance into the forests some 700 years ago, the Koyas gather every other year to celebrate the sacrifice of their brave queen and her daughter.</p>.<p>The Koyas were also centre stage more recently in the struggle against the 1882 Madras Forest Act of the British rulers. The Forest Act prevented free movement of the tribals in their ancestral forest land. The Act also proscribed the traditional tribal method of burning small patches of forest land in rotation for agricultural purposes. Under the leadership of Alluri Seetaramaraju, in 1922, the Koyas rose in revolt against the laws interfering with their traditional living. The revolt ended with the capture and execution of Seetaramaraju in 1924. Seetaramaraju was not a tribal himself but joined forces with the Koyas because of his opposition to colonial rule.</p>.<p>The largest tribe of India are the Gonds. Komaram Bheem was a Gond tribal leader, contemporaneous to, and inspired by, Seetaramaraju. Bheem led the Gond tribes in revolt against the Nizam and the Zamindars of Hyderabad State. The Gonds under Bheem were also fighting for their Jal, Jungle, Jameen (water, forest, land). Negotiations with the Nizam having failed, Bheem was killed in an encounter with armed policemen of the State in 1940.</p>.<p>The Rajamouli movie <em>RRR</em> will release on March 25, sketching the stories of Seetaramaraju and Bheem. It is to be seen whether the stories of our tribes are presented well in this action drama with a Rs 400 crore budget!</p>.<p>The struggle of the tribals fighting for their right to live their lives on their terms continues to date in independent India. The tribals have struggled against the kings of the distant past, the colonial rulers of the recent past, and continue to struggle against the rulers of the land today. The conflict of the tribal and mainstream way of living is not unique to India. The Masai tribes of Africa were also displaced from their fertile grazing lands by the British colonists in the early 1900s. Robbed of their pastoral self-sufficient lifestyles, the Masai are struggling to adapt to their new lands, while facing starvation and being killed off by animals of prey.</p>.<p>The mainstream population, on the one hand, mines and harvests the forest land to fuel its unbridled growth and development and, on the other hand, presents environmental arguments against the slash-and-burn shift agricultural and pastoral methods of the tribal population. This struggle between the government’s role in protecting our forests and ensuring the rights of our tribal population is not a trivial problem to solve. It’s a known unknown.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>While not widely known, India just had a blockbuster tribal festival that witnessed 12 million people gather at the small village of Medaram in the Mulugu forests of Telangana. What was a small festival restricted to the Koya tribes not so long ago has now become an identity of the many tribes of central India!</p>.<p>The festival celebrates the tribal queen Sammakka and her daughter Sarakka who valiantly fought the mighty Kakatiyas. It is said that during the Kakatiya king Prataparudra’s reign, there was a multi-year drought in the Mulugu region where the Koya tribes lived. The Koya warlord Pagididda Raju was unable and refused to pay his annual taxes to the Kakatiya overlords. Without a concern for the reasons, the Kakatiya armies attacked the Koya tribes to enforce their authority. The Koya warriors fought bravely but were outnumbered. Pagididda Raju, his son, and his son-in-law were killed in the battle.</p>.<p>Sammakka, the wife of Pagididda Raju, picked up the sword and pushed back the Kakatiya forces along with her daughter Sarakka. With impassioned fighting, the Koyas led by Sammakka and Sarakka gained an upper hand against the Kakatiya soldiers. However, Sarakka, too, was soon killed and Sammakka wounded. The aggrieved Sammakka cursed the Kakatiyas and foretold their fall for having served grave injustice to a starving tribe.</p>.<p>Sammakka, wounded and alone, disappeared into the forests. Prataparudra’s soldiers had won this battle against the Koyas. However, Sammakka’s curse or otherwise, Prataparudra soon faced his own terrible end. The Kakatiyas were attacked by the General of the Delhi Sultanate, Ullugh Khan. After several attempts, Ullugh Khan defeated the Kakatiyas, plundered the kingdom, and took Prataparudra prisoner. While being taken captive to Delhi, Prataparudra took his own life on the banks of the Narmada. The mighty Kakatiya kingdom came to a sudden, unceremonious end.</p>.<p>The Koyas believe this fate of the Kakatiyas to be the doing of Sammakka’s curse. Since Sammakka’s disappearance into the forests some 700 years ago, the Koyas gather every other year to celebrate the sacrifice of their brave queen and her daughter.</p>.<p>The Koyas were also centre stage more recently in the struggle against the 1882 Madras Forest Act of the British rulers. The Forest Act prevented free movement of the tribals in their ancestral forest land. The Act also proscribed the traditional tribal method of burning small patches of forest land in rotation for agricultural purposes. Under the leadership of Alluri Seetaramaraju, in 1922, the Koyas rose in revolt against the laws interfering with their traditional living. The revolt ended with the capture and execution of Seetaramaraju in 1924. Seetaramaraju was not a tribal himself but joined forces with the Koyas because of his opposition to colonial rule.</p>.<p>The largest tribe of India are the Gonds. Komaram Bheem was a Gond tribal leader, contemporaneous to, and inspired by, Seetaramaraju. Bheem led the Gond tribes in revolt against the Nizam and the Zamindars of Hyderabad State. The Gonds under Bheem were also fighting for their Jal, Jungle, Jameen (water, forest, land). Negotiations with the Nizam having failed, Bheem was killed in an encounter with armed policemen of the State in 1940.</p>.<p>The Rajamouli movie <em>RRR</em> will release on March 25, sketching the stories of Seetaramaraju and Bheem. It is to be seen whether the stories of our tribes are presented well in this action drama with a Rs 400 crore budget!</p>.<p>The struggle of the tribals fighting for their right to live their lives on their terms continues to date in independent India. The tribals have struggled against the kings of the distant past, the colonial rulers of the recent past, and continue to struggle against the rulers of the land today. The conflict of the tribal and mainstream way of living is not unique to India. The Masai tribes of Africa were also displaced from their fertile grazing lands by the British colonists in the early 1900s. Robbed of their pastoral self-sufficient lifestyles, the Masai are struggling to adapt to their new lands, while facing starvation and being killed off by animals of prey.</p>.<p>The mainstream population, on the one hand, mines and harvests the forest land to fuel its unbridled growth and development and, on the other hand, presents environmental arguments against the slash-and-burn shift agricultural and pastoral methods of the tribal population. This struggle between the government’s role in protecting our forests and ensuring the rights of our tribal population is not a trivial problem to solve. It’s a known unknown.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>