Mandla Baiga Tribal Pith Craft Gondi Heritage Kanha

Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh's Satpura-Maikala range is the ancestral homeland of the Baiga tribe — a PVTG designated as the forest's original inhabitants (bhumiputra) who are allowed paddy cultivation by Madhya Pradesh government as their traditional livelihood. The Baiga practise tattoo (godna) as a full-body art form and produce pith helmets from sholapith (Aeschynomene aspera) plant pith — lightweight, water-resistant head-pieces traditionally used for forest work and ceremonial wear. Kanha Tiger Reserve, partly in Mandla district, is one of India's premier tiger reserves where Project Tiger's first scientific management was implemented and which provided the setting for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book — the Barasingha (hardground swamp deer) recovered from near-extinction in Kanha through one of Project Tiger's earliest conservation successes.