The Forest of Many Souls-Discovering the hidden wisdom of the Baiga tribe and building community relations through a health cum

Project idea

““We won’t find another place like this. How will we set up home there? How will we raise our children? We need our fields and homes … Won’t we die?”
- Sukhdev, a baiga man.
My research and design proposal addresses the forceful evictions of the Baiga community from Kanha Tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India. The intention is to question their identity that is at stake due to forceful evictions from the tiger reserve and at the same time study their traditional practices and build stronger community relations through a health cum learning center.
Several thousand members belonging to the sect of Baiga, an indigenous tribe from the central parts of India, have been evacuated from the Kanha forest in the name of conservation. Unfortunately, these people are left to strive in neighbouring villages without any proper facility or alternative life - support. The baigas who on the other side, have lived in the forests for over centuries and have cohabitated with wild animals are even considered as conservationists since they have a broad understanding of their environment and its resources. However, they are pushed and resettled on unknown lands either to increase tourism in tiger reserves or to increase the number of tigers. But such major steps are still questionable and the intention, unclear. None of the basic facilities like education, healthcare and occupation are provided during the resettlement phase. Such a horrendous act has caused trauma and suffering to India’s most primitive tribe.
It may take the Baigas ages to call this new ‘land’ their ‘home’. Being mindful about that, this design proposal intends to help the Baiga achieve a good mental, physical and social health. My design proposes a health cum learning center for the Baiga of Charchendi village in the hope of reinforcing the dignity of every Baiga, winning back their individual identity.

Project description

The community of Baiga has endured endless and brutal trauma over the past many decades. The very first time that interacted with one of them, they were even scared to come closer and converse with me. It may so be that they think I am just another person pretending to help or undo what has been done. To my fortune however, I had a few local people accompanying me to their habitat and they tried to make them understand that my research was solely academic and that I am harmless. For a moment, I couldn’t come to grip with what was happening, for I was completely numb, before consequently realizing how sensitive these people really are.

The conflict between mankind and wild animals is one that is ongoing for as long as man set foot on this planet. While we seem to be heading towards a day where there will be nothing left to be called as “wild”, conservation of such critical habitats is no doubt the highest of priorities. Trying to achieve this at the cost of other humans who, for centuries have kept this very delicate balance in place is however a criminal act. Finding a common ground is definitely a tough ask but one worth investing in. To live among true wilderness I am certain, provides by far the most enriching and holistic understanding of the functioning of mother nature. We can only have everything to gain from such souls who have walked amongst tigers and slept amongst serpents.

It was perhaps no surprise that I started to wonder how could I even begin to intervene in the complexities of this tricky puzzle. Being architects, we can certainly not solve all the problems but we can surely attempt to make that first positive change that could lead to better outcomes with time. That is the intention I set to my thesis at the very beginning. What is it that I can do that will bring about slight differences in the lives of the tribals and reinforce their beliefs and spirits that have been long-lost along with their lands?

On the other side, Covid-19 has once again proved how fragile our medical infrastructure is and how there is a dire need for medical facilities in rural parts of India where reaching the nearest hospital can be unimaginably painstaking. My proposal for the health cum learning center has the potential to become a space where tribal cultures and values are given high importance; a space where the tribals feel safe and can call it their ‘home’; a space where education is not merely about learning what the rest of the world learns but about tackling the complexities that the tribal children face in these times and how they can attain the mindset and the skillset needed to overcome them.

The strength of my design proposal lies in the multiple layers of functions that serve as a platform to connect loose ends together. A building for the people, by the people; one that can take various shapes as per the societal demands, and not be a place that imposes ideas foreign to their inherent beliefs and fundamentals.

I was initially hesitant to take up this particular case as my master’s dissertation since I felt it is a context that is not entirely new to me and I might not have to cross my comfort zone. However, looking back today, I am glad I got this opportunity to visit one of the remotest of villages in India and make the human connect with incredible people. The prime takeaway for me was how I could perceive the situation from the victim’s eyes, psychologically absorb the emotions involved and then translate it into a realistic design challenge.
This maybe the end of my dissertation but I only feel energized and look forward to my step into my career as an Architect, a responsible instrument of change.

Technical information

The inferences from the extensive research all pointed to the need for an informal educational setup, an improved medical facility and an indispensable demand to establish community relations between the Baigas amd their immediate neighbors. The building proposal hence, is imagined to cater to all these three major functions under one roof, in the shape of a primary healthcare facility, two school classrooms that cater to two broadly divided age groups and a public communal space. Clubbing all of these necessities together was a way to retain a sense of belonging and identity for the community as a whole. The other major intention was to enable the building to serve distinct functions at different times of the day or week. For example, apart from the healthcare rooms, each of the other spaces can become open up to public, all connecting with the central courtyard, to host public events and including the weekend market. The school activities always end by the afternoon, but other activities like workshops or religious meets can take centre stage in the evenings. The polyvalent hall which is well away from the classroom block can function at any point in time. In this manner, opening the building to all sections of the social web is to create a shared sense of ownership, also resulting in efficient maintenance of the entire complex.

Running such a large scale building may not be entirely possible by the community itself, at least not in the nascent stages. Hence, external parties like NGO’s and similar organizations who have already been working in close relations with the tribal communities could come forward and such associations could bring about a broader development and open up new possibilities and link ups.
The built form for the final design proposal is shaped by three big influences:
1. The classroom and the healthcare facility are adaptations from the basic scale of existing village houses but display a tweaking of the rather shut nature of the gable roof form into one that draws in a lot of daylight.
2. The open courtyard central to all the buzz.
3. The form of polyvalent hall replicates the dance formation for the dance ‘The Dassereli war’.

Available Material pallette
Using locally available materials and construction techniques ensures an economical construction system and avoiding excess transportation of materials for one place to another.
Using local materials also brings a sense of belonging and connection to the users. It also gives the community independence to create their own designs and explore different ways of building in the present times.

Some of the materials available in the vicinity of the site are shown in the following images

Documentation

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