The economy of Koraput district is primarily based on forestry and agriculture, including shifting cultivation. The bulk of commodities used domestically for everyday use are agricultural and forest produces. The district with semi-evergreen to deciduous vegetation is endowed with various wild plants as a natural resource. The perennial streams and rivulets, the availability of huge underutilised groundwater, the economic activities and the village and cottage industries are the strengths of the district’s economy.
However, the tribals’ economy is centred around the labour of their own and the eco diversity is guarded through ages of their self-conserved culture belief system. Dandakaranya, one of the seven great forests, Sapta Maharanyas that guarded the eco diversity of ancient India, immortalised as lord Rama’s heritage for fourteen years, is a living heritage of this region, though thanks to the limitless greed of so-called civilised men, it has lost its pristine sanctity and primordial glory. The local inhabitants still preserve the memory of the lord’s association with their habitat in the form of ‘Ramgiri’, ‘Balimela’, ‘Sitakund’, river Sabari and other places.
The tribals conserve and protect the ‘sacred grooves’ which are in small and large covered areas in various parts of the region. The sacred cave temple of the famous shrine of Gupteswar, surrounded by deep green forest, is one of the major areas protected by the local original inhabitants. No axe is put to these deep green forests, no hunting spree to the wild in the cave shrine area is a belief mechanism that continues in their culture.
River Sabari passing through the foothill of the temple, the forest which is part of Dandakaranya in the epic fame of Ramayana is believed to be lord Rama’s hermitage site during his fourteen-year exile. It is believed that lord Rama in a confinement had worshipped lord Shiva before his war against the demon king Ravana. The surrounding forest Ramagiri is named after him and the famous poet Kalidasa wrote his volume Meghadoot in this place. The wild monkeys, bears inhabiting in the areas are believed to be the descendants of famous characters Jambaban and Banara Sena in the epic Ramayana.
Tribals are the aboriginal inhabitants of Koraput. They are possessive about their unique ethnic identity. Koraput is home to a number of tribal communities and all have their own cultures, customs, traditions and practices in connection with the rituals of their life cycles. The religious beliefs of the tribals are specific to each group. Among most of the tribes, the deities are believed to reside in sacred groves, and even the village goddesses are worshipped under a tree at the outskirts of the village. They show utmost respect to these places and preserve them like precious treasures.
Gupteswar is a place of natural beauty and that starts from the east of Ramagiri through the thick sal forest. The cave temple was discovered during the rule of Maharajah Viravikrama Dev of the Jeypore ruling dynasty during 1648-1669. The Maharajah organised a great feast and worshipped the lord to establish the legend, but the local tribals through their indigenous practice play the key role which is involved in the protection of the environment for religious reasons that has saved the forest.
The main shrine has a number of tall plants standing tall up to 200 feet. There are several other caves and more different patches worshipped atop the hills. The forest on which depends the entire ecology of the land is stoutly protected for the very survival of the people and their land. People from the nearby villages of Siribeda, Malipadar, Talur, Gadagha, Haldipadar, Pujaribeda and other places throng the shrine every day. More rushes of devotees and visitors are seen on the weekdays and Mondays. Shivaratri is the main festival of the god where tribals throng on a barefooted Jatra from far for some time for participating in the Jagara Mela and Mahashivaratri.
The Upper Kolab Power Irrigation Project, which has disturbed the flow of water in river Sabari that passes through the foothills of the cave temple and the issue of record of rights (Patta) on the forestland to the tribals may disturb the ecology of the region.
(The writer is a tribal research scholar at the Council of Analytical Studies, Berhampur University and is based at Koraput)