Paper short abstract:

In age of environmental crisis and struggle to claim customary rights, Jani Shikār, presents a perfect example of asserting forest rights through a cultural practice. This paper seeks political consciousness behind larger environmental movements by studying indigenous practices likes Jani Shikār.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores how the introduction of forest protection laws in late 19th century in

Chotanagpur gave birth to a practice called Jani Shikār(hunt by women). Jani Shikār in the

current historiography has been studied in several writings as a symbolic past of tribal

women’s valour and resistance. But this paper situates Jani Shikār as a conscious assertion

attempted by marginal community to claim their customary rights over forest access which

were curtailed heavily on the name of forest protection.

The increased hunger deaths due to encouragement of mono culture of rice and crop

failures which was even more impactful with the unavailability of alternative food items

because of the forest restrictions, created unrest among the indigenous group.

Revolts which were an outcome of unjust of landlords, moneylenders and British officials,

also highlighted issues related to the environmental injustice and demanded to claim rights

over forest, land and water.

This paper shows how the reference of Jani Shikār was completely absent in earlier

ethnographic and missionary writings but with the increasing forest restrictions it became

more prominent in later narratives. This paper will deal with the question of marginal

assertion through both writing and practice and how it provided strength to the political

consciousness and ecological movement in late 19th and early 20th century. This paper sees

Jani Shikār as a different form of marginal resistance which needs to be studied, especially to

trace various method and language of resistance, where women’s lives remain at the centre of

forest-centric conflicts.