Bedia Tribe Madhya pradesh

 Bednia often referred as Bedia , a Schedule Tribe in India,  inhabits Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. They are known to be skilled in the folk arts of dance and music, rural acrobatics and black magic. It is believed that to a member of the warrior caste, robbery or prostitution is preferable to manual labour. During the British colonial rule, this nomadic tribe was branded  as  Bad man  (known as  bedias in Hindi meaning wolfs) which later deteriorated and came to known as Bednia .  These people are notorious for their tradition of introducing girls into prostitution.Marriage generally is not allowed for Bedia girls, especially within their community, although community marriages do occur sparingly. But once these marriages take place within their own community, Bedia girls are not permitted to dance or resort to prostitution.

I waited for four months since I watched a documentary on a nomadic tribe in India who encourage their girls to prostitution and the boys therefore are pre-destined to become pimps. Driven by strong urge to visit to understand them and work for  betterment of this community took me to Madhya Pradesh last week . A different world which most of us cant imagine lies in out skirts of Bhopal , approximately 225 kms away from the city . There are about 51 such communities which inhabit Madhya Pradesh and live a non existent life. I travelled village to village and the bond I developed with them has given me one more aim to achieve, though an uphill task but I strongly believe " Where there is a will there's a way " And I am sure to find a way for upliftment of this tribe and the work has already begun.

In my next post I will be sharing the facts that I learnt from the ground zero and the perception people have about them from little they have learnt about Bedias on television channels or read about them . They live with a  painful past with some hope in the present  and  a bright future that I promised to them , which I hope I will be able to live up to with the determination I have. I make a strong appeal to everyone to support me in this great mission  

all pictures Copyright ©2012alkanarula 
Photo credits A.M.Faruqui.