Tribal · rural · ethnic identity

Culture & Heritage

Nearly a third of Chhattisgarh is tribal, 44% is forest, and its festivals, crafts and languages are assets no other state can copy. Development here has to carry culture with it.

Languages

Hindi (official), Chhattisgarhi; Gondi, Halbi, Kurukh, Sadri, Surgujia, Bhatri and other tribal languages

Three cultural regions

Northern hills — Surguja
Pat plateaux, coal and bauxite, Oraon and Korwa communities, sal forests.
Central plains — Mahanadi basin
The 'rice bowl': paddy, canal irrigation, steel-cement-power industry, most of the urban population.
Southern plateau — Bastar (Dandakaranya)
Indravati basin, dense forest, iron ore, Gond-Muria-Maria heartland, LWE recovery.

Programmes

PM-JANMAN (PVTG development)
Housing, roads, water, health and connectivity for Baiga, Abujhmaria, Kamar, Pahadi Korwa and Birhor habitati…
Bastar Olympics & Bastar Pandum
Sports and cultural festivals engaging youth of Bastar, including surrendered cadres.
Chhattisgarh Homestay Policy 2025-30
Incentives for tribal-area homestays in Bastar and Surguja.
Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan
Saturation of basic services in tribal-majority villages.
Shri Ramlala Darshan Yojana
State-sponsored pilgrimage trains to Ayodhya.

Communities & tribes 9

Gond

Bastar, Kanker, Kabirdham and across the state

The largest tribal community, with sub-groups Muria, Maria and Dorla. Ghotul youth dormitories, Gondi language, Koya Punem faith.

Bastar →

Abujhmaria

Abujhmad hills, Narayanpur

PVTG of the long-unsurveyed Abujhmad forest; shifting cultivation (penda).

Narayanpur →

Baiga

Maikal hills — Kabirdham, Mungeli, GPM

PVTG famed for forest medicine knowledge and Godna tattoo art.

Kabirdham →

Pahadi Korwa

Korba, Surguja, Jashpur, Balrampur

PVTG of the northern hills.

Korba →

Kamar

Gariaband, Dhamtari, Mahasamund

PVTG known for bamboo craft.

Gariaband →

Birhor

Raigarh, Jashpur, Korba

Small PVTG, traditionally rope-makers and forest gatherers.

Jashpur →

Halba & Bhatra

Bastar plateau

Agrarian communities; Halbi is Bastar's lingua franca.

Bastar →

Oraon (Kurukh)

Jashpur, Surguja, Raigarh

Sarhul and Karma festivals; Kurukh language.

Jashpur →

Satnami community

Central plains — Baloda Bazar, Bemetara, Mungeli

Followers of Guru Ghasidas's Satnam Panth; Girodhpuri Jaitkham is the spiritual centre.

Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara →

Festivals 7

Bastar Dussehra

Jagdalpur

The world's longest festival — 75 days — honouring Goddess Danteshwari, with a giant hand-built chariot.

Bastar →

Hareli

State-wide

First festival of the farm year (Shravan Amavasya); farm tools worshipped, children walk on Gedi stilts.

Raipur →

Teeja-Pola

Central plains

Bullock worship (Pola) and women's fasting festival (Teeja).

Durg →

Chher Chhera

State-wide

Harvest festival of giving on Paush Purnima.

Bilaspur →

Rajim Kumbh Kalp

Rajim, Gariaband

Annual fair at the Mahanadi–Pairi–Sondur confluence — the 'Prayag of Chhattisgarh'.

Gariaband →

Madai

Bastar, Kanker, Narayanpur

Travelling tribal fairs from December to March.

Narayanpur →

Chakradhar Samaroh

Raigarh

Classical music and Raigarh-gharana Kathak festival.

Raigarh →

Crafts & GI 4

Dhokra (bell-metal) craft

Kondagaon, Bastar

4,000-year-old lost-wax casting; GI-tagged Bastar Dhokra.

Kondagaon →

Bastar wrought iron & wood craft

Bastar, Kondagaon

GI-tagged Loha Shilp and wooden craft.

Bastar →

Kosa silk

Champa, Raigarh, Korba

GI-tagged tussar silk woven in Champa.

Janjgir-Champa →

Godna & Sarguja wall art

Surguja

Tattoo-derived textile art and Rajwar clay-relief painting.

Surguja →

Dance, music & oral tradition 4

Pandwani

Durg and central plains

Sung Mahabharata epic; taken to the world by Padma Vibhushan Teejan Bai.

Durg →

Panthi dance

Central plains

Acrobatic devotional dance of the Satnami community.

Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara →

Raut Nacha

Bilaspur

Yadav community's post-Diwali dance with sticks and dohas.

Bilaspur →

Karma & Suwa

Surguja and plains

Community circle dances of harvest and women's song.

Surajpur →

Heritage & nature sites 10

Chitrakote Falls

Bastar

India's widest waterfall on the Indravati — the 'Niagara of India'.

Bastar →

Kanger Valley National Park

Bastar

Kutumsar caves, Tirathgarh falls; on UNESCO's tentative list. Dhudmaras village recognised for community tourism.

Bastar →

Sirpur

Mahasamund

7th-century Laxman temple and Buddhist viharas on the Mahanadi.

Mahasamund →

Bhoramdeo Temple

Kabirdham

11th-century Nagara-style temple complex.

Kabirdham →

Danteshwari Temple

Dantewada

One of the 52 Shakti Peeths; presiding deity of Bastar.

Dantewada →

Mainpat

Surguja

Plateau hill station with a Tibetan settlement.

Surguja →

Achanakmar Tiger Reserve

Mungeli

Part of the Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve.

Mungeli →

Guru Ghasidas–Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve

Koriya, Surajpur, Balrampur

India's third-largest tiger reserve, notified in 2024.

Koriya →

Girodhpuri Jaitkham

Baloda Bazar

Birthplace of Guru Ghasidas; 77-metre Jaitkham tower.

Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara →

Ramgarh — Sita Bengra caves

Surguja

Among the world's oldest theatre sites; on the Ram Van Gaman path.

Surguja →

Food & forest produce 3

Mahua, tamarind & minor forest produce

Bastar and Surguja

Forest economy sustaining tribal households; value addition through Van Dhan centres.

Bastar →

Chila, Fara, Thethri & Bore Baasi

State-wide

Rice-based everyday cuisine of the 'rice bowl of India'.

Raipur →

Jashpur tea, pear & lychee

Jashpur

Emerging horticulture identity of the northern plateaux.

Jashpur →

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