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"The jungle dwellers"
The Sahariyas possibly
derive their name from sher or jungle in Persian. Although they are
believed to be an off shoot of the
Bhils, they supposedly earned this name form the Muslim Ruler
of Shahbad, since they had chosen to make their home in the jungle
hide outs of the Shahbad district of the Princely State of
Kota and in the neighboring
regions of Jhalawar, Sawai
Madhopur, Dungarpur and Udaipur.
They have also spread to the districts of
Jaipur and
Bharatpur.
The Sahariyas have much in common with Hindu rituals and barring a few
exception their food habits are very similar too. Since they consider
everyone in an endogamous group to be brother and sister, marriages
have to be arranged from other clans.
Totems drawn on paper as also made from floor are worshipped for the
marriage ceremony. The Sahariyas live in a joint family and do not
favor child marriage. Widow marriage called Nat is permitted but only
to a widower or a divorcee, polygamy is permitted to a man but a woman
can not take more than one husband.
Every adult member of the Sahariya community is part of a committee,
which decides disputes by a consensus. The inter-village dispute is
referred to a Chokla Panchayat. The Sahariyas worship Hindu gods and
Goddesses. Although they are jungle people, it is curious that
sometimes they put jungles on fire to propitiate their deities
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