Trip Report: A Little Bit of Bastar (and Amarkantak)

Thanks Synonymous. The Sriyantra temple gate (that has the 3 headed structure) is actually rather large - I did check masroor after your post. I'd think the gate including the structure is no less than 10 metres high.

Kunal - I had to avoid the priest seeing me just to get these pics!! There's no time frame as per the locals ...

Interesting thread, Vaibhav. Your unique way of story telling along with the photos are really enjoyable. Keep it up. Waiting for more.

BTW, the Sriyantra Tantrik temple seems to be following the footsteps of Radha Swami temple in Agra.

I then asked a taxidriver regarding the possibility of visiting Kapildhara and Dughdhara - twin waterfalls on the nascent narmada river situated about 7 kms from the town. They didnt seem too keen to pick up a lone traveler (suspecting, and rightly so, my likely disinclination to pay for the entire cab). I finally found an autowallah who was willing to do the round for Rs 150/-. We drove on a heavily battered road for about 5 kms and came to a parking lot. From here on I was on foot. There's a small tribal art museum as one approaches Kapildhara. The exterior is rather pretty.



The area near the waterfall had 6 different villagers (including tribals) selling various herbs and oils based on ayurveda and other systems of ethnic medicine. Cures for ailments ranging from baldness, blood-sugar, joint pains, blood-pressure and many more are available at rock-bottom prices (and i do not mean to sound flippant here - some of this stuff actually works and is very popular apparently). I had not ever seen most of the herbs that they were selling.

I went down kapildhara that are scenic falls and worth the visit.





Dugdh-dhara (a little downstream) was a disappointment due to a large contingent of school-students who had jumped into the water and were happily taking a bath - I didnt take a single snap there.

After about an hour of this walk up and down, I was back in the auto and off to town. Post lunch, the next stop was the Sarvodaya Jain mandir (Temple) opposite the dharamshala I was staying in. This modern temple, dedicated to the first tirthankara, Adinatha, is being constructed by the traditional method of placing stones atop each other with as little lime-mortar as possible. It has an impressive madapam (seen here)



The size of the temple may be gauged here (From the tree and the crane).



No concrete is used in the construction and any bricks you see in the pictures will be removed once it is completed in 2014.

The temple also houses, purportedly, the largest ashtadhatu (8-metal) jain idol anywhere in the world! Seen below -



Irrespective of the veracity of this claim, the idol is done well and the temple is also worth a stop over.

The sun was quite direct and the postprandial muscle relaxation forced me to rest for a bit in my room. I got out again in the late afternoon and walked over to a couple of Ashrams that I hadnt seen earlier, viz Mrityunjaya ashram and Sri Ram kutir.

Mrityunjaya Ashram has a decorated gate and a superb Queen of Jhansi (Jhansi ki rani) idol - probably done in bronze with a rock for the base. Seen below are the gate and the self shot in front of the Jhansi ki rani statue (to give a better idea of size)at the Mrityunjaya Ashram.





Sri Ram Kutir has a well decorated gate and a manicured garden. I learnt from the guard that the well-maintained ashram is available for stay by any visitors for free! however, one of the people staying inside or working in the establishment must refer the person desirous of staying here.



The main temple inside the kutir actually has a south Indian sytled gopuram! (seen below).



It was about 5 pm when I decided that I'd had had enough of Amarkantak and that it made sense to move towards the main draw of this trip ... the state of Chhattisgarh. Little did I know that this sudden urge to move on ... on the cold evening of 22nd December was to cost me dearly ....

Great report! It is getting exciting....

Great report Vaibabh. Great story narration packed up with great snaps.

Thanks Mithun and TD ... I'll come back with more soon. Another 9 days worth of the trip is left.

My next destination was north of Jagdalpur, over 500 kms by road. Given my experience of the previous day (arriving over seven and a half hours delayed due to the fog, I was convinced that the train that I was scheduled to take from Pendra Road to Raipur at 9:30 am the next morning - the Jammu Tawi - Durg Superfast special would be delayed beyond redemption). I had to take a bus.

So, I started calling up the principal bus operators of Chhatisgarh such as Mahindra travels, Kanker roadways and Royal travels to find out the best way of getting from Amarkantak to Raipur and onwards to Kondagaon (an hour and a half north of Jagdalpur). A few were unhelpful and others all gave conflicting advice regarding the time taken by road.

Then, I finally had some luck and got through to the local man-in-charge of Kanker Roadways at Bilaspur. Matku Kasturia had this to say: "Vaibhavji, if you can, by all means, take a train. It will save your time, money and more importantly, your body from the ravages of the roads that connect Chhattisgarh with Madhya Pradesh". I was in love with this man - he didnt care about the Rs 120/- that his bus company would have made if I had bought a ticket. He wanted me to ride safe and enjoy my vacation!! How could I not follow what he had to say ...

My next steps were clear now - take a bus or shared taxi to pendra road, buy a general class ticket (for the first time ever in my life) and hop onto any one of the mail / express /passenger trains that connect pendra road to Raipur. Take a bus from there.

So at 5 pm, while the light started fading, I was sitting with a large, wheeled bag under a pipal tree in front of the sarvodaya jain mandir at amarkantak, waiting for a taxi driver who would take me down to Pendra Road railway station.....and there were none! This wasnt the tourist season - the last bus driver had left a bit early down the hill as it was getting cold and he'd rather get home before sunset.

I asked Mr Anil Pradhan (a taxi driver who brought and took away passengers from the dharamshala regularly) if he'd be able to take me down (and i was willing to pay more than what I had paid while coming up). The amount would be sufficient, however, he just wanted to get home to his family. So that was that and i continued to wait. It was about 6 pm.

The town is so small and the people so helpful that even two shopkeepers and their assistants all rallied around, asking others if there was any taxi headed downhill. 'There will be one, shortly, with a bengali couple from the Mrityunjaya Ashram'. Nice!! Ashok-the driver- gave me his number and assured me like a dutiful officer 'Sir, I will not leave you behind, dont worry'. That assurance kept me warm for another hour till I called him back (he had gone to Mrityunjaya Ashram to pick up the couple) only to be told 'it will take time'....this waiting game continued till 8:30 pm when suddenly, the same white jeep pulled up and from the driver's window, a beaming Mr Pradhan said out loud 'Vaibhavji, shall we go?'
'But Mr Pradhan, you said you're going back home ... three hours ago'
'Sir, the car's owner called and said I have to drop his guest down at Pendra road so I was going anyways - why don't you come along, I will drop you and you can pay me whatever you like' . Talk about luck!

We started the downward descent and all i remember is the detailed story of Narmada and a smiling Mr Pradhan navigating the totally wrecked road never even once looking at it! I and the passenger in the middle seat prayed to our respective gods while the driver continued nonchalantly.

It took us about three quarters of an hour to reach the station. I requested mr pradhan to help me out with the bag and help me find a hotel for the next few hours (the first scheduled train that would take me to Raipur- Sarnath express- would arrive at 1 am - I had four and a half hours to kill and it was freezing out there). After being bounced around a couple hotels near the station I settled for a dorm accommodation for one hundred rupees and chained my luggage to the bed.

I paid Mr pradhan another one hundred (the going fare per person between amarkantak and pendra road is rs fifty but he is a good story teller and a helpful chap). In case anyone is looking to go there, he may be reached on +91-9098866989.

I didn't get much sleep and my stomach was hurting already (thanks to the raw tomato and chilly chutney from the morning). Around 1:00 I dragged my luggage to the railway station and bought a current ticket to go to Raipur and shortly after that I was seated, very uncomfortably, on an iron bench at Pendra Road station next to a trader who dealt in fabricated steel and was headed towards Sarguja. We exchanged pleasantries and killed the hours chatting about the general levels of corruption in Chhattisgarh, the maoist situation, etc. More importantly, he assured me that the parts I was headed to later (Bastar) were perfectly safe for an average tourist.

The durg ambikapur passenger passed by and so did another train in the opposite direction (my intended direction of travel was south- south east from Pendra Road). The temperature dropped further, my stomach felt worse and every single minute I doubted my decisions and questioned if this trip was too adventurous for me. At 2:30 the arrival of Sarnath express was announced and I could see the train approaching rather rapidly. Despite the fog, the train was delayed for just over an hour....finally. And then, as the train leveled with the platform, my mode changed from relief to panic - the train was arriving at platform number 2 and I was at 1 (the scheduled platform) and there was no way to cross other than climbing up an overbridge. I ran as fast as i could with my fifteen kilos of luggage.

The train was about to depart when I managed to clamber on board a sleeper coach that had a few empty berths. I spread the sleeping bag, and tried to wrap all the woolen and synthetic layers around my body as the train pulled out of the station at around 3 am. It sped quickly and I was thankful to my mother who insisted I carry an extra sweater when i was leaving delhi - the draft was bad. I barely remember the next 5 hours except seeing large smoking chimneys from the glass windows as we neared raipur.

At 8:30 am on the 23rd, I was at Raipur station - a busy, gleaming, newly constructed and surprisingly clean railway station. The Raipur railway station is in marked contrast to its surroundings and resembles an airport terminal from the outside (I do not have any photos of the station as the camera was inside the bag for safety reasons). Later that morning, before boarding my bus, I did manage to take this snap of the 'all faiths hanuman temple' near the station. This five story high structure is highly unusual as it depicts (amongst others) gods of multiple faiths - Gautama buddha, Brahma, Vishnu and even Jesus Christ in a temple dedicated to the hindu god hanuman.





My immediate worry was to find a western style rest-room. I scurried with the help of a cycle rickshaw driver and asked four hotels across the railway station if i could rent a room for an hour - one was very unhelpful (you have to pay the entire 1000/- even if you use only the rest room) and the remaining didn't understand or did not have a western style toilet.

I wished I could squat and go like most of the people do but we're all spoiled in our own ways. I've never felt worse about not having kept in touch with my roots....before, or since.

It was 9:30 am when I walked into the hotel Sun Om very close to the railway station. The young lads at the reception agreed to watch over my luggage while I could 'freshen up' at their premises. They served buffet breakfast of idli, vada, bread butter and madras coffee (the cook was from karnataka - I could tell from the vadas and the sambar). It was an excellent spread (and no, I do not write this from any excess of emotions due to the episode earlier - the man knew how to make good vadas and coffee). I was satiated, the cellphone battery charged and I left the hotel for a total expense of Rs 100/- including a tip!

Excellent report ... definitely off the beaten track. Some really unusual temples which makes me extremely curious to want to visit them and see them first hand.

The Mahendra travels bus was scheduled to depart at 10:10 am from Pandhri, Raipur and claimed to cover the 200 odd kilometres distance to Kondgaon via dhamtari and kanker in about 4 hours.

'4 hours?'
'yes(....and pigs can fly)'

An electric vehicle that theoretically sat 7 people excluding the driver was loaded with 11 people and their luggage at the scheduled departure time of the bus and we were all transferred to the Pandhri bus stand from where the buses depart. The ten minute transfer was the low point of the trip (Raipur is the most polluted large city in India and my eyes were hurting from the growing smoke). Once near the bus I had to shout at the conductor that my bag was too large to be kept below my seat.

The bus was also supposed to be air conditioned (This being the month of December the aircon it was switched off - but the windows wont open for most part). The inside of the bus resembled a russian nuclear sub's sleeping quarters. On the right was a two by two seating arrangement topped with a two by two sleeping berth. On the left was the same except the berths were single sleeprs - the seats remained two by two. Being used to the Rajasthan roadways aircon buses - this was a very rude shock. Come the highway, it became clear that the 'air-suspension' was only good enough to throw each passenger two inches into the air above their seats as we encountered pothole after pothole. Whatever happened to the smooth roads?

Here's a snap of my transportation for the day:



The inside of the bus grew uncomfortably warm and I finally managed to push open my glass window to let some cool air in. We stopped at non-descript bus stands in towns like Dhamtari (seen below is the bus stand) where the locals sold 'punjabi lassi' in the hot sun. ('psst, are you homesick for delhi belly? dont worry, we have it here over 1500 kms away - just drink this!!').



At one thiry pm we stopped at Pathari - a lone dhaba for over fifty kilometers, and clearly surviving due to his 'business tie-up' with all three bus companies of the state.



Mr pappu (the man at the dhaba counter) was a socialist - he charged people based on their ability to pay. Since I was the only DSLR toting yuppie in the bus, I had to pay Rs 70 for the same dish of mix vegetables that cost my co-passenger Rs 40. I found this later, about 10 kilometers later.

After the non-descript town of Kanker, we were soon into Keshkal valley - a place I would definitely return to explore some day. Keshkal is unique as the forest is very old, dense and stunningly green. It also has some palm trees mixed with deciduous (the forest if i understand correctly, lies on the northern limit of the moist tropical and the southern limit of deciduous tree lines). Due to the moving bus, I can at best present a faint impression of what I saw.




The bumps of the road notwithstanding, my mind was racing ahead to plan for the rest of the day. I called up Mr Bhupesh Tiwari who runs 'Saathi' - an NGO in Kondagaon (we had been in conversation for past few weeks about my possible visit) and he advised me to get town at Naryanpur T-junction instead of continuing all the way to Kondagaon.

At nearly 4:00, I was at Narayanpur junction where his man friday, Mr Ramnath arrived with a bike. Thanks to the luggage I had with me, I just gave him my bag to carry to the Saathi campus while I walked that 1 km distance. The sun was getting lower already and it was a beautiful, peaceful countryside setting.



Mr Tiwari has been running Saathi for a while now (over ten years) and has a small functional guest house for visitors who're interested in either terracotta (for which Kondagaon is famous) or Dokra (the traditional bell metal craft of bastar). My interest was in the latter and I had reserved most of the next day to just look around and more importantly understand the process from some of the masters that live in Kondagaon - quite a few are independent and some work on campus of Saathi. The room had a view of the nearby fields.



After a cup of sweet, milky tea and a quick wash, I was escorted by one of the employees to visit their workshop area. A few metal workers were trying to beat a deadline for a custom order that would be delivered (of all places) to a gym in Jaipur!! Upon learning that I am from Jaipur, they grinned and got quite chatty. I learnt a bit about the 'dokra creation' process that day.



It was nearly sundown when I left the workshop after looking at some spectacular pieces that the metal-workers had created. Seen below is a large, heavy lamp that showed 'telagin mata' - a tribal goddess along with Raodeo (in the centre) - the spirit god that rides a mythical horse and protects the fields of the many tribes that dot bastar.



The workshop has a great pottery collection as well, statues of lions, elephants, tribal men and women (seen below).



A master potter's home was the next stop on the itinerary. I wanted to understand how they created these large, unique and very heavy terra-cotta elephant statues.
The elephant statues of bastar usually depict decorated elephants. A short walk later, I was in the village nearby and sitting on the mud and dung floor of the master potter's house.



He was very happy to have a visitor and explained everything in detail. In a nutshell (and please look again at the elephants in the photo above), each rounded element of the elephant (his trunk, his legs, each bell that adorns the body) is created on the potter's wheel. The potter gets one chance to get that piece right - if it's not right, the piece is discarded. The ears of the elephant are actually one large circular piece that is simply cut when not in a totally dry state using a knife (they look like sectors). Finally, the entire elephant is pieced together by hand, left to dry for two days or more and baked in a kiln. It's an old (several hundred years at least) process that's handed down through generations....He was a bit sad that his son, at present, is not as proficient at the craft as he is, but was optimistic.

I was very tired when this day ended - but very happy and looking forward to knowing more about Bastar and its crafts.

I am bookmarking this to read at leisure. It will be very useful for when we decide to visit Bastar. A trip to Chhattisgarh has been on my wish list for a very long time already. Many thanks for your excellent write-up.

Feels refreshing after reading your trip report, more so because I am now able to relate to it. Waiting for the rest of it. And meanwhile, finishing my own.

Thanks biman for the kind words. Ive been to dayal bagh a long time ago and was very impressed by the workmanship though I couldn't quite figure out what is making them take so long.

Fascinating report Vaibhav, what an adventure! I've been saving this up, waiting for an opportunity to read it.

It brought back happy memories for me of Amarkantak. I used to love doing a circular walk to Sonemunda and through Mai ki Bagia, but the last time I was there the path through the forest had been converted to a jeep track which I found sad. It's still a wonderful place, and I'm glad you mentioned how quiet it is at night and in the early morning. I remember waking up in the early morning and there was not a sound in the place - that's unusual in India!

I've done my time at Pendra Road station too, possibly sitting on that same bench waiting for a train .

I sympathise with all your delayed trains / bumpy buses trials! Again it sounds very familiar, but it's often only by going through these experiences that we really appreciate the places we have reached, and even though it might have been uncomfortable at the time it's great to look back on it.

I'm looking forward to the next instalments

24th of December - Christmas eve morning - I was in Kumharpara, Kondagaon district, Chhattisgarh at the Saathi (an NGO) premises. It was too early for the caretaker - Ugresh - to heat water. The immersion rod that had been shown to me the previous evening by Mr Tiwari was accidentally removed by some other tenant it seemed. So i just washed my face and headed out for the river front about a kilometer away. It was quite dark and I stumbled across some stones and loose gravel. It took me a while asking around (hindi is understood though not the first language of most of the tribal villagers that inhabit the area) to get to the river. Dawn was just breaking ...



Despite the impression given to me the previous evening, there were no birds at all near the river or inside it!! I was very disappointed. I did learn later that day what causes the stark absence of any bird of animal life near waterbodies. This is in marked contrast to Rajasthan - my home state- where even a bit of water invariably is accompanied by vegetation and birds and animals of different sizes. In that parched land, water gives life and the desert celebrates every drop like no other terrain does.



I was rewarded by some wonderful early morning views though. See below:



I walked around a little bit more through the village roads, narrowly avoiding a rather unhappy cow hitting me (the owner came out stating - 'she can recognize between local and outsider, I will tell her to move away') Holy Cow!!

There was also an angry rooster - trying his level best to balance a cart in the absence of the bullock pair. He fluttered and failed and perhaps he was at his failure to tip the cart the way he wanted to? Anyways, I kept my distance.



The village is largely inhabited by the Muria tribe (one of the major tribes of bastar). Some interesting information was to be found on many of the houses that the government had helped built. The writing on the wall reads 'I, so and so, am a below the poverty line citizen and I obtain x Kgs of rice for y rupees per month. It also shows the amount of grant given to the person for constructing that house and outstanding government loans'. As a city dweller, I'd find it strange and perhaps just plain offensive if I were forced to put up the name of my lender (say a bank or an FI) on the front of my home along with how much my mortgage is worth, but the villagers seem to have no problem with it. See a shot below.



I asked later about the significance of the colors on each of those houses (some were green, others pink, some blue) and found that its pure economics. They simply paint the house in the cheapest color available!

Back at Saathi, after taking a bath, over a leisurely breakfast discussing the economics of the weekly markets with Mr Tiwari and the daily lives of the tribes with his friend Mr Joshi, I learnt of the terrible secret behind the empty forests and fields of bastar. Due to the hunting gathering culture of the tribes, they simply shoot, capture or otherwise hunt and eat all the birds that not only live there but also the ones that migrate from over these lands. Hence, the forests, though they are thick and green house only rodents, reptiles and other species that do not yield sufficient meat. That explained the empty river bank.

I started on a hired bike for the village of Bhelwapadar (5 kms from where I had spent the night) to learn more about the dokra (traditional bell metal) craft of bastar. En route, stopped by the wayside to notice hundreds of fruit eating bats (flying foxes) hanging from eucalyptus trees.




It was a wonderful sight. The photograph does not do justice to the size (about the size of a small dog or a very large angora rabbit) of these flying mammals.

Hi Vaibhav!

On reading your trip report (so far), I just can not stop myself in making this comments:

I'm (as if) travelling Bastar (which in any case I wish to do) with you Vaibhab. I feel like travelling with you in trains, buses and even in Mo bikes, staying in budget hotels, dharmashalas, NGO home; sitting on cold iron bench on the railway station waiting endlessly for the train to come; taking food at the roadside dhabas (where cost is customer-specific!)etc. etc. and I am sure I will continue to share many more of your adventure in days to come.

Hats off to you Vaibhab, the master story teller!