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DESCRIPTION OF LOCALITIES

The present state of Madhya Pradesh consist of 51 districts (in census,

198lit was 38) including Chhatisgarh region which has been formed as a new state

(as shown in the state map) Madhya Pradesh is now bounded by Rajasthan, in the

north-west, Gujarat in the west, Uttar Pradesh in the north, Maharastra in the south

and Chhatishgarh in the east. It lies between latitudes 21 0 15’N-26 °52’N and

longitudes 74 * 02’E-82 °45’E with an area of about 3,08,252 sq.km and is

segmented into several division, viz.

I. Bhopal division 1. Bhopal 2. Raisen 3.Rajgarh 4.Sehore 5.Vidisha.

II. Chambal division 1. Morena 2.Sheopur 3.Bhind

III. Gwalior division 1. Ashok Nagar 2. Shivpuri 3. Datia 4. Guan 5. Gwalior

IV. Indore division LAlirajpur 2.Barwani 3.Burhanpur 4.Thar 5. Indore

6. Jhabua 7. Khandawa (East Nimor) 7. Khargone (West-Nimore)

V. Jabalpur division 1. Balghat 2.Chhindwara 3. Jabalpur 4. Katani 5. Mandala

6. Narsinghpur 7. Seoni

VI. Narmadapuram division 1. Betul 2.Harda 3.Hoshangabad

VII. Rewa division 1. Rewa 2.Satna3.Sidhi 4.Singruli

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VIII. Sagar division 1. Chhatarpur 2.Damoh 3.Panna 4.Sagar 5.Tikamgarh

IX. Sahdol division 1. Annupur 2.Sahdol 3.Umaria 4.Dindori

X. Ujjain division 1. Agar Malwa 2.Dewas 3.Mansaur 4.Neemuch 5.Ratlam

6.Shajapur 7. Ujjain

HABITA T PROFILE
■ i

The state can be divided into three district physiographic regions, viz.

,Malwa, Bundelkhand and Vindhyachal-Bhaghelkhand regions. Each region has its

own cultural entity within the respective ecological niches in terms of local dialect

dress, food habit, social and religious ritual.

The Malwa region falls into well marked physiographic units, viz.

i. Malwaplateau ii. Vindhyan range iii. Narmada basin and iv. Satpura hills. The

region is drained by the following main rivers: Narmada, Tapi (Tapti), Mahi and

Chambal.

The Bundelkhand topography is marked by gentle undulating surface dotted

with flat topped hills. The Vindhyachal range in this region never exceeds boom.

The region is drained by Betwa, Dhasan and Ken. They are the tributaries of thew

Yamuna river.
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The average altitude of the Vindhyachal-Baghelkhand region ranges from

150m-1200m. This region has formed a hill-valley complex comprising the Ganga

plain in the north and the Narmada-Son through in the south connected by the

Vindhyan scarps and the gorges on the rims of the river basins. This region is

mainly drained by the Narmada and the Son£,'

The total forest area in the Madhya Pradesh state is 75,140 sq.km. which is

24.84 percentage of the total area (Forest Survey of India, 1999). The tropical dry

deciduousforests cover most parts of the state exclusive the south-eastern comer

where tropical moist deciduous forest dominate, Sal, teak, bamboo are pre —

dominant forest species. Teak forests are mostly confined to Rewa, Satna and Sidhi

occuring both on hill slowps and plateaus. Sal is mostly available in the distracts of

Mandla, Sahdol and its adjoining areas. Bamboo, Khair, haldee, tendu, etc. is

conspicuous on the hill slopes and plateaus in this region.

Mineral of this region are mostly coal, limestone, bauxite, dolomite and

building stones like marbles, slate sandstone, etc. Coal is most significant minerals

and is confined to the Gondwana basin.

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DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBAL POPULATION

The total population of Madhya Pradesh numbers 72,597,565 (census

2011) of which 12,23^million are tribes consisting: 20 percent of the state

population. There are about 46 tribal communities distributed unevenly over

almost the districts. Among the tribals communities the Gonds hold population

wise the second position in the state with strength of 4,357, 918. Bhil is most

populous tribe with the total population of 4,618,068 constituting 37.7% of the

total S.T. population. Gond is the second largest tribe with a population of

4,357,918 constituting 35.6%. The next 4 populous tribes are Kol, Korku, Saharia

and Baiga. These are six tribes constituting 92.2% of total S.T. population of the

state. Pardhan, Saur and Bharia, Bhumia have a population ranging from 10,5692

to 15,2472 together they for 3.2% of state population. 4 tribes namely Majhi,

Kharwar, Mawasi and Panika have population in the range of 47806 to 81335 and

account for mother 2.2 percentage of the S.T. population.

GOND TRIBES

The Gonds are among the largest trible groups in South Asia and perhaps the

world. The term Gond refers to tribles people who lives all over India, Deccan,

Penisula. Most described themself as Gonds (Hill people) are as Koi or Koitur.

The Gonds as sechdule tribe communities is the second largest group in

Madhva Pradesh.
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The Gonds are numerically the dominant tribal groups in Madhya Pradesh

with the total population of 4,357,918 and by and large distributed across all the

districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The major concentration of Gonds in the districts of Mandala, Chindwara,

Sahdol, Betul, Balghat, Jabalpur, Raisen, Hoshangabad, Narsinghpur, Sagar,

Damoh, Satna, Sehore and Bhopal.

The mother tongue of the Gond’s is Gondi which belongs to the Dravidian

language family!TPresently they are bilingual and can speak Hindi. They are

cultivators and forest laborers. Some of them are also engaged asjlabourers in

mining and quarrying. Among the lands the Raj Gonds are the land-owning

community. They practice cross-cousin marriage and preference is giving to

mothers, brothers, daughter and fathers, sister’s daughter,

The rate of literacy is very poor. They follow their traditional religion

and also work ship Hindu God & Goddess. According to the 1981 census, about 98

percent of the Gonds are followers of Hindu religion, through this traditional faith

in tribal religion is still strong. They have a rich tradition of folklore.

The Gond women can be identified by their ornaments. They are

various patterns to tattoo their bodies.