Noted academician and Lebanon-based non-resident Odia (NRO) Dr Digambara Patra has urged the Centre to set up a branch of the Indira Gandhi Rastriya Manava Sangrahalay (museum) at Gudahandi on the border of Kalahandi and Nabarangpur districts.
Dr Patra, who is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the American University of Beirut (AOB) in Lebanon and a native of Kalahandi district, has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch in this regard. Dr Patra said Odisha is one of the richest States in terms of tribal culture and having a maximum number of tribal groups (about 62) in the country. Gudahandi is situated in a tribal and backward pocket having rich history, resources, forest, mountains, medicinal plants, water and indigenous tribal population. This site is famous today for its pictographic pre-historic painting.
Dr Patra further added that the site was discovered in 1946 by the then Archaeological Department of Kalahandi princely State. Out of the total 25 specimens of painting as reported earlier, only a few are available today for evaluation and the rest fading fast. These paintings are found in a number of caves that figures in the foothill zone of Gudahandi. At the proximal top, however, a large number of caves with paintings still remain unexplored. These paintings highlight the lifestyle of the primitive people at least from Lower Paleolithic to Neolithic cultural phases. Caves and its surrounding landscape too have yielded Lithic implements belonging to Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic, Microlithic and Neolithic cultural epochs, he said.
However, Gudahandi is not the only cave painting site of Sahajkhol region in Kalahandi-Nabarangpur region. There are a series of hills of volcanic rock in the reserve forest that exhibits a large number of natural caves. A good deal of tribal hamlet surrounds Gudahandi – Dukrichanchara zone such as Ampani, Temra, Kabhdala, Dabrigurah, Porhagurah, Kutru, Ghantigurah, Siuni and Birimal etc. These villages are inhabited by aborigine tribes, such as Kond, Gond, Paraja, Bhatra, Gadhva and Saura (Sabara) etc.
Dr Patra further maintained that Gudahandi – Dukrichanchara zone exhibits verdant bush and forest besides waterfall and gorge. Dokrichanchara, a flat granite terrace of about one kilometer radius exhibits a series of down streams from the surrounding mountains and flow towards the west for about a hundred meter on the stone terrace and ultimately joins together before its fall into a ravine. The site provides must-enchanting scene. Moreover, Behera dam project, minor irrigation project, locating at the foothill of the mountain is another enticing scene spot. The reservoir can serve the purpose of water sports.
Dr Patra further added that Gudahandi – Dokrichanchara area, its natural wealth and traditional skill and knowledge ought to be preserved for present and future. Therefore, setting of an open anthropological museum designated as Indira Gandhi Rastriya Manava Sangrahalay (IGRMS) at Gudahandi will serve this purpose through exploration, documentation and education. The Government of India, Department of Culture has already initiated the process by setting of such institutions at Samlahill in Bhopal and in Karnataka. None of them is located in eastern part of the country, specifically in Odisha. The succinct profile of Gudahandi – Dokrichanchada is in no way inferior to the sites where IGRMS has been established.
Dr Patra further argued that setting up of such an open anthropological museum at Gudahandi would boost tourism in KBK region, where poverty and backwardness saturates. The IGRMS would successfully harness the hidden talent of tribal experts and would reorient it as per contemporary requirement. Gudahandi – Dokrichanchara zone is rich in ethno-medicinal plants and local experts would be buoyant in their pursuit through this open museum, which is highly necessary for the benefit of mankind. In this case, vast tract of plain land available at Kholigarh at the foothill of mountains of Sahajkhol reserve forest can be utilized for structural expansion. The proposed site for IGRMS is located at the side of NH that runs through Koksara to Nabarangpur.
Railway line running from Lanjigarh road to Junagarh would serve the purpose of communication to the site. There is also a survey to extend this line to Nabarangpur via Ampani, which will directly link Gudahandi with railway. Raipur airport is within 200 km and Jeypore airport will be in about 100 km from the site, he said.
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