jounsar bawar

  jounsar and bawar somewhat oval in  shape its lie between latitude 30 31 and 31 33 north and longitude 77 45 and 78 72 east
and is divided into 39 khats  and 385 village river yamuna  from its  eastern boundary and seprated it from dehrdun paragana
. rivertons western  from its north-western before it confluences with river yamuna near kalsi .
it is surrounded by tehri garwal uattarkashi district in east and north.
bashar , raeingarh , taroach, jubbal and sirmur in the west and doon valley in the south.
previously bawar was an independent paragana. it consisted of  bawar , division , banadhar , phandhaar , chail gaon and devdar  division consisting
of one third of the hilly region of dehradun district.
later all five division have been scrapped and whole area  known as bawar . most of area covered with dense forest . bastil, chausaal, hanaul , koti, mendarth, are the famous
village of bawar . a famous temple of mahasu devta also  situated in mendrath.
 the altitude of jounsar bawar varies from 3000ft to 7000  ft. the  village devban is situated at height of 9331 ft (2844.09 meter) above the see level.

climate .........

the climate of area is moderately cold .summer is pleasant and winter is chilly. during the month of january and febuary area are subjected to extreme cold , forcing inhabitants to remain indoor's. minimum and maximum temperature is
1.3 to 41,1c respectvely.both rabi and kharif crop are cultivated in this area. wheat ,barely ,  lentil and onion, potatos are important rabi crops.
rice, maize , manduwa , jangora potato( danda aalu), ginger are main kharif crops .
the area is rich in fruit production. walnut , apricot , peach , pear, prune and apple are grown at various places. in the valley mango and banana is also cultivated.
jounsar bawar consist  two development blocks namely chakrata,kalsi.

village organization...

 jounsari lives permanantaly in village s . on the basis of population strength villages are large or small. 10 to 40 houses consitute in jonsari village but a village named as bankoli
have near about 300  house ..the villgae community consist of families unmarried males and unmarried females (aproxx all have joint family)
and a sayana(head) of house. a particular village have a syana ( village head). syana hold a hereditary office .
he must be a rajput traditionally considered the administor of village. for decision on all important matter communual or other social offence a meeting of panchayat the syana  invites the elderly person of the community to discuss and and decide . some cases if village panchayat can not solve are solved in khat 
( group of villages) panchayat. and extremely complicated cases of legel importance are genrelly decided in govt. intervention.
. the khat ( group of village) are namely athgoun , bamtad , birmau , dwar khat , mohna , samalta, silgaon, sili , gaothan and udpalta , bandoor ( are the khat of jounsar).
jaunsari vilages houses are very small in size . the size of house may be due to the cold and hilly habitat.
due to cold climate only small opening are providing in place of window and ventilators which are kept shut during the night time to avoid the cold wind.
often triple storage house are found. most of houses have one room one ground floor .which is known as " obra"( store room)
and one room on upper floor known as "bittar"( house ) , is used for sleeping and kitchen purposes an open space are provided infront of houses known as"aangro"( courtyard)
. some local and their english naem is as such daar( main door) , chhaja ( balcony), ugaar( internal door to come down upper floor to down floor ) kahtai(ventilator on the house roof)
teere ( window) obra ( store room),.
Jaunsar-Bawar is a village, 85 km from Mussoorie, in Chakrata tehsil, in Dehradun district,
 it also represents the geographical region inhabited by the ;Jaunsari; tribe, 
which traces its origin from the Pandavas of Mahabharata Ethnically,
 the village, Jaunsar-Bawar, comprises two regions, inhabited by the two predominant tribes: 
;Jaunsar;, the lower half, while the snow-clad ;Bawar, which includes, the;Kharamba peak (3084 mts.)
Though geographically adjacent, they very different from 
each other, as one claims origin from the Pandavas of Mahabharata, while the Bawar,
 who live in the upper regions of the area claim to be the descendents of Duryodhana, 

the Kaurava prince who lost the battle of Mahabharat;
 this makes them a unique tribal community, added with the fact that they have 
remained cut off from the external world for centuries, leading to the retention of their
 unique culture and traditions, which have attract historians, anthropologist and 
studies in Ethno-Pharmacology to this region for over a century .The two tribes rarely 
marry into each other, while Jaunsari tribe practiced polyandry, which they claim
 to have come down from the fact that the Five Pandava brothers, 
were married to a single queen Draupadi, 
the Bawar however do not comply with this belief and shun the practise, 
and maintain their historic animosity with the Jaunsaris, who are known for their 
light eyes, fair skin and facial features 
which clearly distinguish 
them from other people of Garhwal, living close
	Women wear the Ghagra, Kurti and Dhoti and are fond of ornaments. 
Polygamy and polyandry are practiced here
 which may perhaps be due to their close association with the 
 legendary Pandavas, who had a common wife called Draupadi
Jaunsar Bawar is located in the Himalayas and forms the northern half of Dehradun 
District. The area was under the rule of local Rajput kings till 1815 and its
 history goes back to the Ashokan period containing as it does a rock edict of 
Ashoka;s inscriptions. It;s present however however is hardly anything 
to be proud of, being as it is, a living testimony of a special form of bondage 
which leads to women of indebted families into the brothels of North India.
The extent of bondage in the Chalaota and Kalsi blocks of Northern 
Dehradun District has been detailed by government functionaries 
themselves according to whom there are as many as 19,000 bonded labourers.
 This large number does not however give an account of the enormity and intensity
 of their exploitation unless we take into consideration 
the large scale trafficking in women that exists in the area and 
which is the outcome bondage. The bonded labourers are mainly drawn from among 
the aboriginals such as the Koltas, Bajgis, Doms etc. 
who constitute the rock bottom of the society. 
They are bonded mostly to the upper castes consisting of Rajputs and Brahmins who control the land and practice money-lending. 
Polygamy and polyandry are both practiced in the areas with the richer folk practicing polygamy 
and the poorer ones sharing a wife in common.
;Thee Koltas who are Harijans are landless,
 are very poor and can be described as representing a democracy of beggars.
 In the last two hundred years the condition of the indigenous
 tribals of the area has deteriorated sharply since 
the British introduced land legislation which was detrimental to the tribals.
;The result was a complete proletarianisation of the tribals who becomes totally 
dependent on the Rajput and Brahmin money-lenders for their basic needs.
n the 1920;s the area came into contact with procurers who were on the lookout 
for 39;white slaves; to supply to the brothels in the cities. Using the 
comparatively freer  norms of the tribals with its tradition of polygamy
 and polyandry, the procurers built up a flourishing trade in flesh by 
exploiting the abysmal poverty of the poorer sections.
;When the Koltas and other tribals are desperately short of resources they 
take loans from urban agents who in turn take their women into 
custody and have them work as prostitutes in the city brothels.
;The women are kept under observation, their earnings are confiscated for 
lodging and for repaying the loan leaving only a meager pittance to the women 
for their basic needs. They cannot leave the premises till the loan is repaid
 and as they earn by little, it often takes them years to free themselves.
;There are virtually no medical facilities resulting in their vulnerability to 
diseases of all kinds. Many of them have children who are sent back to the village
 to be brought up by their husbands.The following case studies give 
a graphic account of the transition from bondage to brothels.
														 

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3 February 2013 at 05:16 delete

Nice post i love our culture and always want to be connected with it, i thankful to you who are describing jaunsari culture

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