Saturday, August 31, 2024

Wonderful Tharu Tribe, Alluring Tharuhat & Charming Champaran by Dr Ajay Kumar Ojha



Wonderful Tharu Tribe 
Alluring Tharuhat & Charming Champaran 

by 
Dr Ajay Kumar Ojha 

डॉ. अजय कुमार ओझा 










 


This book is not only on the Wonderful Tharu Community but also on alluring Tharuhat - the land of the Tharu Tribe, and above all on the historic and splendid, captivating and charming Champaran of Bihar . This book is published by Rachna Publications of Delhi.




From the Author’s Mouse  






Some relations are formed by blood, some are made during the journey of one’s life and some are god-sent opportunities. My relation with the Tharu Tribe of West Champaran  of Bihar comes under the third category. Though I came into contact with a Tharu friend Dharmraj Khatait during my school days and seed of affinity was  sown  but never imagined that I would be pursuing my research on the Tharu Tribe itself. 


After completing my MA in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, I got myself admitted into MPhil/PhD course in 1982. I finished  my M.Phil course  in 1984.   I decided to do research on the Tharu tribe of West Champaran  for my PhD, and that too based on participant observation, a field research method. In this method the researcher develops an understanding of a group or setting by taking part in everyday routines and rituals alongside its members.


Some of my friends threw comments upon me for my decision to work in a remote and inhospitable area of West Champaran in those days which had been known  for being the den of dreaded dacoits and hotbed of Lal Salam (Maoists). In fact that region inhabited by the Tharu tribe had become Mini Chambal  but nothing could dampen my spirits. I continued with my mission of working among the Tharus of West Champaran against all odds. 


I stayed in the hut of the Tharu community for months together during the later part of the eighties of the 20th century, in an area where there was no electricity, no proper road and transport, no communication facility, not even landline, no proper health facility.  During the rainy season Bakhari Bazar village remained completely cut off from the rest of the world  as there was no bridge on the seasonal  Singha river . Bakhari Bazar is the village on the Ramnagar-Gobardhna road where I stayed  during the formative years of my research  with the blessings of late Shankar Mahto, and even now whenever I happen to visit Tharuhat I live in the same hut. I was awarded a PhD  degree on 8th September 2010 by Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi - a field  based social science research which took almost  twenty four years to complete - a feat one of its kind in social research. 


Even after getting a PhD degree  in 2010 my association with the Tharu community unexpectedly continues today. I have  written, and continue to write  many articles at different points of time in my Blog @Tharu Dr Ajay Kumar Ojha and produced videos also  uploaded on my YouTube Channel @Dr Ajay Kumar Ojha - posted and uploaded after 2010. These articles and videos contain  very interesting and thought-provoking information forcing me to compile and collate  most  of them into a book for the benefit of readers, researchers, policy-makers, social activists.


 This book is not only on  the wonderful Tharu Community but also on the alluring Tharuhat - the land of the Tharu Tribe, and  above all on the historic and splendid, captivating and charming Champaran. There are altogether thirty seven articles, most of them not very big but undoubtedly significant and worthy of attention - almost all lifted from my Blog with date.


I hope this book in your hand will open the gates of your intellectual horizon, and take you to a different world altogether, and acquaint yourself with a wonderful tribe and their alluring habitat, not to be properly explored and not to be adequately highlighted. Now I may be allowed to take  leave of you so that you can  go through this informative, enchanting and engaging  book. Isn't it ?



Jai Hind, Jai Bharat !



Dr Ajay Kumar Ojha 

Former Correspondent, United Newspapers, Delhi   

Former Senior Programme Officer, Doordarshan (Indian Broadcasting Service) 

Advocate, Supreme Court of India

                                                              Place: New Delhi

E-mail : ajayojha60@gmail.com 

Contact : 9968270323 












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