Bihar

This article was initially published on Ghumr.com. To read the article with photographs please click on the following link
http://www.ghumr.com/bihar-gaya-nalanda/

Hidden Beauty of Bihar

Last year (2016) we were travelling to Assam by train. It was a very-very long journey (Kamakhya Express duration 55 hrs!!). We crossed many states including Bihar. We all were amazed by the beauty of this state. It was green almost everywhere we could see. Even month of March which is a season of harsh summer, its agricultural fields were full of crops. Located in Indo- Gangetic Plain, the state is blessed with most fertile soil of our country. The land appeared so beautiful that we decided to arrange one nature camp during next year to explore her natural beauty. After an extensive research and planning, here we were in Bihar in the month of June, 2017.

Bihar is visited by most of the tourists for its Temples – Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples are in plenty. The most famous is in Bodh Gaya. This is the place where Lord Buddha got ‘Enlighten’ under the ‘Peepal’ tree – ‘Bodhi Vriksh’. This is a why scientific name of ‘Peepal’ is Ficus religiosa - due to its importance in religions. Our first stop was Bodh-Gaya. It is always suggestible to take a guide who is approved by ASI (Archeological Survey of India) at such historical places. Off-course you can explore on your own but having a guide will always give an additional knowledge. Our guide shared many interesting facts about this place. Gaya also has sacred Hindu temple – ‘Vishnu Paad’ (Vishnu’s Feet) temple and is visited by many devotees.

Very few people must be aware about first man-made cave in Asia. D you know where it is?? No, it is not in Gaya. It is located at about 2 hrs drive from Gaya in Barabar hills. This was second stop of the day - Barabar caves. This is Asia’s first man-made cave also known as Lomas Rishi cave. Not much of the carving can be seen inside but what got our attention was the extremely smooth and reflective surfaced inner wall of the cave. At places it appears as if you are looking in the mirror. It has two chambers. Insides being very dark is ideal for ‘Dhyana’. Since we were on a nature camp, we could not resist ourself from looking for some lesser fauna in the cave. We saw some rock geckos here. We heard few Lapwings on while climbing on the way to caves and some Kestrels flying in sky.

Next stop was the world famous Nalanda University (Ruins). It is only after when you visit such places you gain more knowledge about our rich heritage and above all we realize the kind of knowledge that our ancestors had in-terms of architecture, nature, teaching methods, preserving knowledge and off-course respecting knowledge. Our guide said there were about 2000 students studying at a time in this university and each student was given a separate room to stay. The library of Nalanda was once so rich and full of documents that when Gazani attacked the university and burnt is library, it was burning for 2 months! The black fire marks are still visible on walls of Nalanda. Although the place is ruined now, it speaks a lot about the glorious past that it had seen. Again here, while our guide explaining a monitor lizard, Rufous woodpecker and hoopoe still got our attention. It seemed to be a good place for birding.

Now it was a time to stop our exploration for the day. We stared our day at 9 am (which was supposed to start at 7 am but, one of drivers came late by two hours). After having a ‘chai’ we moved to our night halt located another historical place - Rajgir which is about 30 mins drive from Nalanda. We reached Rajgir at 7pm. After having dinner we took a small stroll nearby and had an ice-cream. One year before form now I didn’t even imagine that I would be roaming somewhere in Bihar enjoying my ice-cream as late as 9.30 in night!

Rajgir was the first Kingdom of Magadha Dynasty. It is originated from ‘Raj Griha’ (King’s home). The capital was later shifted to Patliputra (today’s Patna). One can visit Gridh Kuta, it also has ‘shanti stupa’ and lots of historical structures. There are cab cars available. Rajgir also has a sanctuary which is spread over 35.845 Sq.Kms. Ghoda Katora site is a part of the same. It’s a 7 kms dust road that takes you to the lake inside. There are horse cart available. We could see some birds and on our way back we got to see Nilgai, Sambar deer and Hanuman Langurs. Then we moved towards Nakti and Nagi Dam Bird Sanctuary (NNDBS). The Forest Department of Bihar (RFO & WL warden NNDBS) helped us a lot during this visit. RFO briefed us about the sanctuary, its bio diversity and current situation. The area is hardly visited by outside tourists as this area was once infected by some illegal activities but now Bihar Government and forest department is trying hard to improve the situation and they have succeeded well. Their efforts are highly appreciable. We were taken on a boat ride.  Saw some interesting birds there such as Eurasian openbill, painted storks, common pochards, fulvus whistling ducks etc. Satisfied with our visit we went to Semultala our place for night halt.

Next day morning we took a small stroll in nearby area. There was small forested area. As we walked inside the forest we could see that soil contains Mica. We were amazed to see that. Then we remembered that we were in Bihar that too near to Jharkhand. The area is rich in Ore of Mica. India stands on first position in production of Mica. Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan are main areas where Ore of Mica is available. While we were wondering and wandering in the forest we came across a local lady. She was gathering leaves for making ‘Pattal’ (Leaf plates). She appeared hardworking and confident. W had a word with her. She demonstrated how she makes these plates. We came to know that they get Rs. 30/- for a pack of 100 leaf plates! But she seemed happy and busy so we didn’t troubled her much with our questions. After wishing her good-luck, we kept our exploration going on. The forest was beautiful with all the strata of vegetation and relatively thick. That day we left for most awaited destination of the camp – Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary.  June being a good season for Dolphin sightings, we were pretty excited to visit this place.

We reached little late by (2pm) to our place for night stay. Luckily, we got some good food at local food joint. Then it was time for trying our luck for a Dolphin sighting. Our local resource person a researcher from Vikramshila Biodiversity Research & Education centre had tremendous knowledge about Ganga, her people, all her biodiversity; the problems the sanctuary is facing. The forest department too helped us a lot for this visit as well. Next day early morning, we took another round of this sanctuary. Both the times we got to see a totally different aspect of The Ganga. We saw lots of birds including river lapwing, little tern, cotton pygmy goose, blue tailed bee-eater etc. Walking on the sandy deposits of the river was fantastic experience. We learned a lot from that visit.

The sanctuary was designated in 1991 for the protection of the Gangetic River Dolphin (the national aquatic animal of India). These are locally called as ‘Soons’ and are categorized as ‘Endangered’ by on 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are several threats for it’s (and ultimately our) survival. Threats such as - Multiple dams and barriers disrupting free movement of the dolphins, Pollution by fertilizers, pesticides and industrial and domestic effluents, which are responsible for the death of many fish and are likely to have a negative effect on dolphin population. Also, its hunting and poaching are majorly affecting its existence. As a matter of fact we saw the river getting polluted by domestic sewage being directly released n the river. Local NGOs and Government is trying to change this situation but it is impossible without people’s participation. On this note we ended our visit to the sanctuary.

It was time to get back to Patna for our return journey. We also visited to other important historical places such as Vikramshila university ruins (where we saw Flameback woodpecker and Common Hoopoe), Ruins of Vaishali (for lion emblem) and Remains of old Patliputra in Patna city itself.

We ended our OikoEssence tour to Bihar. But, the thought kept on coming to my mind - till today the Dolphins have survived but their number has drastically reduced and it applies to the rest of the plant and animal species as well. The nature will surely take its own course and ultimately it will bounce back on us. I really don’t know when we will learn from our mistakes OR Whether will we ever learn from our mistakes or not?

Chhattisgarh

This article was initially published on Ghumr.com . To read article with photographs please click on the following link
http://www.ghumr.com/chhattisgarh-bastar-sirpur/

Dakshin Kaushal – Full of Surprises - Chhattisgarh

There are many reasons for us – Indians to feel proud upon our country. Some of them are her natural beauty, her culture and heritage. Due to her varied landscapes and climatic zones variety of cultures nurtured and flourished here. All were (some are still) sustainable and designed according to the surrounding landscapes and biodiversity.  Talking about cultures and sustainable lifestyle some of our tribal friends are really doing a great job.

The State of Chhattisgarh, India is an excellent combination of tribal, rural and modern lifestyles. We (our venture OikoEssence along with our participants) have been planning to visit this state from past several years but, it kept on postponing due to several reasons. Ultimately got to visit this state in last year. It was a nature camp to Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. Since it was far a very short duration we couldn’t spend much time in exploring other destinations so there was a need to explore it little more.

I will slowly take you to the wonderful journey that I had in Chhattisgarh.

We reached Raipur station at 5pm in the evening which was supposed to reach at 4pm J (all that I can say is the reputation of Indian railways remained undisturbed). Our first stop was at Gariaband. It is at about hours’ drive from Raipur. We had dinner on the way at Aman dhaba as per the suggestion of Mr. Javed Memon – owner of The City Regency Hotel, Gariaband. He and his team were very helpful and offered us absolutely comfortable and hassle free stay at the hotel. The rooms here are clean, big and comfortable. Next day we started at around 7am. Our plan was to reach Jagdalpur via sitanadi & udanti wildlife sanctuary. This sanctuary plays a crucial role in saving Wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) which is listed in IUCN red data of species as an endangered. (more readings : http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/3129/0).  This species has fall prey to the habitat fragmentation and seen in few places in India and less than 4000 individuals are considered to be surviving throughout the world. Which is a real worry when it comes down to the population of an herbivore (that are supposed to present in large number in food chain). Well, we could not see the water buffalo anywhere during our ride through their forest but, we enjoyed it very much and continued our journey to the destination – Bastar. We reached here in the evening.

Bastar is a very important social , commercial and cultural place in Chhattisgarh. It is considered as an original place of Tribal culture in India. One must visit to its anthropological museum to get an idea of how rich their culture is. The way they use/used surrounding flora and fauna for food, shelter, and clothing as well as their fishing nets, agricultural equipment, kitchen utensils and musical instruments is simply amazing. Yet, not disturbing forest on large scale. Their lifestyle is so simple and so close to nature! Another important destination to visit is Kutumsar caves. These are excellent examples of stalactite, stalagmite and column formations of lime stone. Although the column formation of limestone can be seen in various places but it takes hundreds of thousand years to attend a considerable diameter. The columns of Kutumsar caves are very broad. This indicates the ancientness of this cave and forest in which it is situated. We saw a crested serpent eagle sitting leisuly on the tree branch and we spent good amount of time in photographing it. While doing that we saw a giant squirrel as well. The guides there were watching us with the curiosity as we were the only group actually looking and admiring these forest components. The guides although trained by forest department don’t come across tourists that are interested in forest. They are used to “general touristy” crowd. All the national parks and sanctuaries are less visited by the ‘wildlifers” as these are almost devoid of their favourite characters – ‘Tigers’. One has to hire an open gypsy for forest department as the road goes through Kangerghati National park. We saw few birds while going to the cave but, couldn’t spend much time in birding as the driver had to take his jeep back to the main gate to collect more visitors. On our way, he mentioned that this was under ‘naxal’ influence few years back but, now completely out of danger due lots of efforts taken by the Government. There is a waterfall nearby which is a famous tourist destination – Tirathgarh waterfall. Another famous fall is Chitrakote.

Bastar was one of 36 princely state of the state. The name Chhattisgarh itself is derived from 36 garh (kingdoms). Bastar too has an interesting origin. It is believed that when first king was planning establish his kingdom, he worshiped a goddess. The goddess was delighted by his prayers and offered him a piece of cloth which was tied at very high level from the ground. She mentioned that that entire land will be yours from where you will see this ‘Cloth’ – ‘Vastra or Bastra’. Hence name ‘Bastra’ which later became Bastar. Well, this is all what I understood from the guide who accompanied us in barsur- a heritage place which we covered while travelling to Kanker from ‘Bastar’. Basrur is located at 75kms from Jagdalpur. It is a smaal sleepy village and happened to be throwm of power during the tenure of Gangavanshi rulers in as early as 840AD. Barsur is situated on the banks of Indravati River and known as city of temples & ponds. It is believed that it had 147 temples and equal number of ponds in those glorious days. Although Barsur has lost all its glory but, still it four temples – one that has two interesting, huge Ganesh Idols carved in single stone. There are three more temples here Mama-bhanja, Chandraditya & Battisa. Both are less decorative but interesting. Battisa has thirty pillars (battis) and two shivlings inside. These two were established by two queens of King – Banasur. All these temples are from 6^th century. All these temples are ruined and have simple carvings. Only Mama-bhanja temple looks complete from outside.

We left from barsur at about 6.15 and as per our knowledge our night halt at Kanker was about 3 hrs drive from here. But, the road is pretty narrow, under repairs and goes through the nice, dense forest patch in the beginning. All of this made our journey interesting, lengthy and exhaustive. We reached kanker at 12.00 in the night! But, we saw our first wild mammal –the Wild Dog followed by a wild cat in forest at beginning. Our Kanker hotel – Bafna lawns was really nice and we had a very comfortable stay. Next day we started late as our next destination - Sirpur was actually 3 hrs drive from here. Our stay was at Hieun Tsang resort – a nice place to stay.

Next day was dedicated to Safaris in Barnawapara sanctuary. This name is a combination of two villages Bar and Nawapara – two villages near sanctuary. The animals here are very shy. We saw spotted deer, Sambar deer, Gaur, Neelgai, sloth Bear,  Langurs and Macaques here along with good number of birds. We saw forest owlet for a very long time. It seemed it quite liked our presence and allowed us to take good number of photographs. Here in this forest I had my very first sighting of a Gaur calf. It was around 3-4 days old! Even the fawn of the spotted deer was the youngest of all that I had seen so far. We enjoyed this day the most as there were very less tourists here. The forests in Chhattisgarh unlike other forests of India attracts less “wildlife lovers”. So there was no one to run here there in search of tigers and desperately waiting to shoot them with the camera. So the forest is how it should be - less disturbed. That day we reached the resort late evening but with the beautiful memories of Barnawapara.

Our last day was spent in visiting heritage sites in Sirpur. Sirpur of Shripur as it was known in ancient times, is a small village on the bank of Mahanadi. It was the capital of Dakshin Kaushal under the Sarabhapuriyas and Panduvanshis. Sirur has archeological remains associated with Hindu, Baudhha and Jainism. What attracted me more was the construction of walls massive thickness with the help of bricks at time! The Laxman temple has carvings on bricks! I was amazed to the creativity shown on stone carvings at Buddha vihara. The stories from Jataka are carved here. A snake is shown entering in a hole from one side and comes from other side of the pillar. The bricks prepared in those times are still algae free whereas at certain places where modern bricks are used by the government to hold the structure properly has got algal attack. Barsur also has remains of bazzar of that time. The Mahanadi was used as trade route and lot of trade used to take place here. Now the Mahanadi flow has reduced and it has gone little away from this bazzar leaving only stories of that golden era that this place has witnessed once.

I really hope that the Land of Chhattisgarh soon gets its glory back and attract more enthusiasts that actually respect her natural beauty and rich heritage. Somewhere in my mind I feel that I will make a visit here again through my venture OikoEssence to quench my thirst of experiencing and learning more places, its culture and admire the heritage.