The Bhariya tribe of Patalakot does not have that splendour of cultural heritage, that has remained with the other tribes for some reason.
Neither do they have exhaustive narratives or stories left. Even their songs, are full of contemporary colours of the surrounding towns which are over shadowed with Bollywood songs.
But I had to know the Devalok of the tribes only through vocal traditions. This was my attempt to understand Bhariya Devalok after Korku, Gond and Bheel. In 2007, I went to Patalkot for the first time. It was a awfully strenuous journey. After this I kept going there till 2014. It did not take me so long to work on the Devlok of any tribe, as much as for Bhariya. One reason for this is geographical challenges. It is not easy that you pack up and start your bike or car and set for a long drive to any far-off villages. This mode was fine till I was approaching Gonds and Korkus. The journey to Patalkot was not trouble-free like that. Up to Geldubba, Karrapani, Ghatlinga, Kodia, Harrakachahar, Pachgol, Chimtipur Well, anyway you can go by road, but for Kareaam, Raated and Doriyapatha, there no option except to trek on feet, And if you have the dream to go to Rajkhoh too, you will not get a track properly. Centuries back whosoever has given it the name 'Patal Valley' was right in selecting the name - 'Patal' means abysm.
It was perhaps the month of June that we reached Patikot for the first time. It was decided to move from Tamia to Patalkot at 4 pm. Moujilal Pachaliya had come to help us, Varun Bharti also accompanied us. His two daughters Sevanti and Susheela were also in our team. About 20 km from Tamia, we travelled in a vehicle by road, there we left the driver and vehicle in a house. It had rained that day. The real journey started from there. Rajendra Malaviya, Krishna Pandit, Sevanti and Susheela and Varun we started descending for Patalkot. Just after sometime we heard someone yelling, it was a call for someone. We arrogant people could not understand what happened? But Maujilal commented immediately "I have to go now," pointing towards Varuna and Susheela-Sevanti, he said "Now you have to come with them." There was no time to contemplate or think. Moujilal seemed somewhat disturbed. We were not ready for this emergency. There was no question of refusal. We were curious about what had happened? Moujilal left us and quickly ran by a short route. We also moved slowly. Now, we talked to Varun, Sushila and Seventi, who were our guides, they told us that they rarely go to their village Kareaam in Patalkot. They were studying in the cities. Now there was some worry. The day had also set in. Our Bhariya companions were walking by keeping their feet on rocks and stones. The three of us namely Rajendra, Krishna and I were having a lot of difficulty in walking on this uneven way. Sevanti started to tell that if you walk with feet on dry leaves, then there were risks, there could be a pit, and also there could be scorpions or snakes due to the humidity under those leaves. It was frightening. For the first time in life, we faced such inaccessible conditions. Even a slight lapse could lead to death. It started getting dark! Varun whom we were relying so far and following was getting confused to find the path. Then Sushila took charge of the guidance. Sevanti broke a stick and handed over to me to, and asked to keep the stick to probe the place, full of dry leaves. By doing this, one will be able to find the fathom of that place, also it will help in detecting presence of any reptile under them. This trick really worked.
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