BELAGAVI: They were untouched and uncontacted till yesterday.... living in their own world. Today, some of them are in contact with what they see as the other culture – the “civilized” world. They live in the middle of the forests where they have different laws and traditions.
Wanarmare or Mangimare, a tribal community noted for hunting and eating monkeys, have their small nest called ‘Katkariwadi’, about 10 km away from Bacholi hamlet, located in the jungles of Khanapur taluk in Belagavi. A result of efforts to introduce them to our way of living.
Till recently, even the government did not have records about their existence and so many members of this tribe do not have an Aadhaar card. In neighbouring Goa, decades after Independence, this tribe cast their vote for the first time in 2017.
There are several groups of Wanarmare tribes who practise their traditional nomadic way of life in the jungles across Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Goa. They don’t wear clothes, don’t have permanent dwellings -- they don’t feel the need for them.
A few people of the community got introduced to the outside world and found it totally different from theirs. They tried to convince other members of their community to settle down by constructing dwellings in the jungles but near urban areas. And this is how the world of Katkariwadi came into existence.
It was Suresh Sitaram Nikkam, a member of the Wanarmare tribe, who was accidentally introduced to the people of Khanapur. The staff of the forest department played a big role in familiarising Suresh with an unfamiliar world. He then managed to convince a group of his tribe to form Katkariwadi about 10 years ago. The forest department provided a portion of the land on which they built huts for the first time in their lives. However, they do not like anyone to interfere in their world.
Suresh says there are 22 families of Wanarmare in Katkariwadi, with a population of about 100 people. Though his family has Aadhaar cards, the other members do not have one, he says. He says that thanks to the efforts of social workers and the forest department, the members of the tribe started wearing clothes and stopped hunting monkeys after they were introduced to rice, dal, and vegetables.
And some of them have even started farming in small patches of the forest land, he adds. They are known for their hard work and strength. Reaching Katkariwadi especially during rains is very difficult for anyone. But Amit Parmekar, a social worker of Khanapur, manages to reach it every alternate day, to help the tribe. He gathers donations for them like clothes and groceries.
Amit says that for the last seven years he has been interacting with them. He says they have their own law. “They do not have a wedding or naming ceremony. If a boy and a girl like each other, they inform the leader and then they are considered to be married. If a baby is born, the couple will immediately name it,” he says. Children have not attended school till date. Amit is convincing the parents to send their children to school for which he has even approached the taluk administration, which has responded positively.
The women have to daily trek about 5 km in the jungles to fetch drinking water. Amit is also trying to get them a pipeline. Still there are groups of the tribe moving in the deep jungles and a few of them know that their relatives have settled at Katkariwadi. If any of them happen to pass through Khanapur jungles, they do visit Katkariwadi – and it will be celebration time for them.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Traditionally, the nomadic Wanarmare people hunted monkeys (until the law prohibited it), due to which they get their name: ‘Wanar’ (monkey) and Mare (killers)