Hazaribagh Landscapes: A day in the Hazaribagh Countryside- Jarwadih a Santal Village 40km east of Hazaribagh

Throughout the thousands of square kilometers of forests encircling the Hazaribagh town one will find rice fields such as the one shown above. These rice-fields are the feed granaries of the jungle-fowl and the wild animals of the forest. Hazaribagh probably has the best rice fields found in the the forests of eastern India. The low lying land being called the dong and the up land tanr.

This view would have made a painting by the Daniels in the School of landscapes during the 19th Cent.

This is my favourite hillock near the Jarwadih village.

This is an impromptu photograph on arriving a Santal homestead.

Standing beside the corral in which the cattle are kept. It is worth noting that the Santal cattle are mainly bulls used for ploughing and a few cows for milk. The cattle are the south-east Asian variety with a small hump and a shotter back used throughout eastern India and Southeast Asia in ploughing the smaller rice fields of the hilly forest areas of the region which go up in the Nepal and Northeast hills.

Santal women standing on her doorway which is decorated with colour spots made of lime, manganese, ochre. The Manjhi Santal women of eastern Hazaribagh are known to decorate their doorways in this special way. The walls are made of thick layers of mud and the tiles on the roofs are made by hand. All materials of the house are found within a radius of half a mile and fulfill Gandhi-ji's requirements for making an indigenous house.

A typical view in a Santal countryside in the heart of the jungles of Hazaribagh.

A typical Santal dwelling with decorations for the coming Diwali season.

A decorated doorway with red coloured wainscotting of red ochre with floral edges.

Walls decorated with red ochre in a Manji Santal village

Manjhi Santal women making brooms from bamboo in the village of Jarwadih

A typical courtyard with wall decorations and Saal poles used for the corral for the cattle

Another typical view of a forest village

This shows how the bamboo broom is laid out while it is being made. When it is rolled up, it becomes a familiar object used for sweeping mudden floors clean.

A manjhi Santal women with children in the decorated courtyard of her house which is a glimpse of the woman's world in the forest village of Hazaribagh

Bulu Imam with some old friends in the Jarwadih village

The entrance to a Santal house with a long drive

... and in the courtyard

This goat seems to be doing puja at the Manjhisthaan or wodden post dedicated to the ancestors in the courtyard of a manjhi Santal house

A decorated doorway

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Elizabeth and Bulu with an old Santal friend in his father Sanjhlu Hansda's house

Note the careful laying of the handmade tiles in the roof.

Both these dogs (Santal Hound) were given back as pups to the village by Bulu Imam and the village is known for this special breed which can also be found by searching the internet.