Dang district, India

Etymology

The origin of the name of the Dang is uncertain. In common parlance the word 'dang' means a hilly village. There is another connotation of the word 'dang' which means bamboo (a place of bamboo). The name is also associated with Hindu mythology. It is related to the Dandakaranya of the Ramayana. It is said that during the exile, Rama passed through this area on his way to Nashik.

Kings of Dang

Before Independence several wars were fought between the five tribal kings of Dang and the Company. According to the history of Dang, the biggest war to took place at 'Lashkaria Amba', in when the kings of all the five states joined to protect Dang from the British. The British were beaten and agreed to a compromise.

As per the treaty signed in 1842 the Company allowed to use the forests and their natural products against which they had to pay around 3,000 silver coins to the five kings. Currently the kings receive a yearly political pension by the Government of India, which is the main source of their income. This payment is continued even though all privy purses for the Princely states of India were stopped in 1970 since the agreement was between then monarchy of Dangs and the Government of India, not the Crown.

At the end of each fiscal year during Holi, the kings gather in Ahwa for a traditional royal ceremony, in their richly decorated buggies and bands with tribal dancers, to receive the payment as per the agreement of 1842. In ancient Indian Scriptures Dang is known as Danda Aranyaka, meaning 'Bamboo forest'. Recently the Dangs Kings have urged the government to protect their depleting forest cover due to illegal logging.

The five kingdoms are Daher-Amala, Linga, Gadhvi, Vasurna and Pimpri.

Rulers

1. Linga - Raja Bhawarsinh
2. Daher-Amala - Raja Tapatrao Anandrao Pawar
3. Gadhvi - Raja Karan Singh Yashwantrao Pawar
4. Vasurna - Raja Dhanrajsinh Chandrasinh Suryavanshi
5. Pimpri - Raja Trikamrao Sahebrao Pawar

Dang States

Historically there were 14 Dang states in the region:

• Amala
• Avchar
• Bilbari
• Chinchli Gaded
• Derbhavti
• Gadvi
• Jhari Gharkhadi
• Kirli
• Palasvihir
• Pimpladevi
• Pimpri
• Shivbara
• Vadhyawan
• Vasurna

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Dang district has a population of 228,291, roughly equal to the nation of Vanuatu.{{cite web | author = US Directorate of Intelligence | title = Country Comparison:Population | url = https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070613004507/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = June 13, 2007 | access-date = 2011-10-01 | quote = Vanuatu 224,564 July 2011 est.

Language

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 59.55% of the population in the district spoke Dangi, 32.53% Gujarati, 3.18% Gamit, 1.99% Marathi and 1.21% Hindi as their first language.

Politics

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Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Dang District as an economically distressed district, one of 250 out of a total of 640 districts.

Forest

Dang District has part of a forest that includes Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, which is shared between the districts of Dang and Tapi in Gujarat and Nandurbar District in Maharashtra, and Vansda National Park in Navsari District, which shares a continuous tract of forest with Valsad district.

A rusty-spotted cat was sighted for the time in 1991 in Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary.

In Purna and Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuaries, eight bird species are considered locally extinct, including Indian grey hornbill, jungle bush quail, red spurfowl and large woodshrike. Also, Bengal tiger, Indian giant squirrel and gaur are reportedly extinct in Gujarat.

Talukas

1. Subir
2. Waghai
3. Ahwa

Rivers of district

• Purna River
• Ambika River
• Gira River
• Khapri River
• Dhodad River

Places of interest

• Botanic Garden, Waghai - Large Government Ayurvedic Medicinal Garden (Botanical Garden) near Waghai
• Gira Falls on Ambika River near Waghai
• Hill stations: Saputara and Don
• Gira Falls on Gira River at Girmal village
• Rupgadh Fort
• Shabri Dham and Pampa Sarovar at Subir

References

References

1. "Census GIS India".
2. "District Census Hand Book – Dangs". [[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]].
3. [http://groundreport.com/Governance-in-Gujarat-Under-Modi-A-Critique/ "Governance in Gujarat Under Modi - A Critique"]
4. (5 April 2019). "In Gujarat's Dangs District, Tribals Are Left With No Option but to Migrate For Survival". News18.
5. "About Dang".
6. "Konkanian Origin of the 'East Indians'".
7. "DNA India {{!}} Latest News, Live Breaking News on India, Politics, World, Business, Sports, Bollywood".
8. (1971). "Gazetteer of India: Dangs District". Directorate of Government Print., Stationery and Publications.
9. Mehta, Yagnesh Bharat. "Dangs darbar gets off to royal start".
10. Chandra, Kavita Kanan. (2017-06-24). "Kings of the Dang". The Hindu.
11. Andrabi, Jalees. (13 March 2009). "Once a year, peasant rulers are given the royal treatment". The National.
12. [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/Dang-tribal-kings-urge-Modi-to-protect-their-jungle/articleshow/5822620.cms Dang tribal kings urge Modi to protect their jungle]
13. (28 February 1999). "Kings hold durbar at Dangs, but at Govt expense". Indian Express Newspapers.
14. "The golden book of India; a genealogical and biographical dictionary of the ruling princes, chiefs, nobles, and other personages, titled or decorated, of the Indian empire, with an appendix for Ceylon", https://archive.org/details/goldenbookofindi00lethrich/page/40/mode/2up
15. [http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/A2_Data_Table.html Decadal Variation In Population Since 1901]
16. (2011). "Population by Religion - Gujarat". [[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]].
17. "Table C-16 Population by Mother Tongue: Gujarat". [[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]].
18. Ministry of Panchayati Raj. (September 8, 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme". National Institute of Rural Development.
19. Trivedi, P. and Soni, V.C.. (2006). "Significant bird records and local extinctions in Purna and Ratanmahal wildlife sanctuaries, Gujarat, India". Forktail.
20. "Mahal Eco Campsite". Gujarat Tourism.
21. [[Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala. Jhala]], Y. V., Qureshi, Q., Sinha, P. R. (Eds.) (2011). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120120232451/http://www.projecttiger.nic.in/whtsnew/Tiger_Status_oct_2010.pdf ''Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India, 2010.''] National Tiger Conservation Authority, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. TR 2011/003 pp-302
22. "Vansda National Park". Gujarat Tourism.
23. (1991). "Sighting of the rusty-spotted cat ''Felis rubiginosa'' (Geoffroy) in Shoolpaneshwar Sanctuary, Gujarat". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
24. Worah, S. (1991). The ecology and management of a fragmented forest in south Gujarat, India: the Dangs. Ph.D. thesis, University of Poona, Pune, India.
25. "Waghai Botanical Gardens".