Bastar - Part 7 - Stroll through the Colorful Traditional Tribal Haat Market

As mentioned in my earlier blog, post lunch we set off to explore the Nangur market.


Nangur “Haat” (Market)

We parked our vehicle at the parking lot and started walking towards Nangur Market. This is a very colorful market of Nangur where Dhurwa Tribes (Warrior Tribes) play the host by selling traditional products, grains, millets, vegetables, local liquor, and crafts. We had a good time here.


Lip smacking snacks 😋

These are jaggery balls

These are dried prawns(kept in Bamboo basket) and red ants chutney (kept in leafy bowls).
Red ant chutney is a local Bastar delicacy, 

The circular cut vegetable on the left is Tapioca. And the red leafy vegetable is the Red Amaranth leaf which was served to us on our arrival day at Jabarra.

Tribal people make lot of creative stuffs with Bamboo

Local authentic turmeric. The root resembles like ginger and is bitter to taste if eaten raw. Making authentic turmeric powder at home involves 4 step process - Wash, Boil, Dry and Grind

Daily essentials

Truly lip smacking 😋. We tasted the Jalebi's and they were tastier than what we get in our city


This is the local rice beer and this lady drank it bottoms up😊. 


Cock fight

We took a tea break in a small tea shop in Nangur. Post this we started towards our next stop to watch cock fights which is close-by from the market. It is believed that day at a local Haat market ends with this sport. This is a traditional sport in Bastar and favorite past time for the local tribal people here especially men. 

They come here to place bets on their favorite cock. I stood away and refrained from watching this since it is little upsetting for me. But heard the rules of the fight – Basically two roasters with sharpened blades tied to their feet lunge at each other. When one roaster gets hurt and gives up it starts running. That’s how the fight ends. This sight was very disheartening to watch hence I don’t have any pictures about the same. Sharing one picture below taken by my co-travelers before the commence of the fight.


Bell Metal handicrafts at Mahesh homestay

We next visited Mahesh Homestay where we could see all the members of this one family residing in this homestay are artists of Bell metal art by profession. And the finished products created here are sold across India. When we reached there, we could see one old lady creating designs with the wax available. Then there was an old man (Her husband) who explained us the story of Jhitku Mitki (as mentioned in the earlier blog). We were served hot tea here by his daughters. We had a great time here watching them give finishing touch with wax threads to one finished product with such precision and accuracy.




This is the guy who narrated "Jhitku Mitki" story to us 😊

Next, we went to visit the shop inside this homestay only where they sell their finished products. We found some great stuffs here to take back home as souvenirs. With Shakeel sir’s encouragement, the daughters in this family are studying and we were very happy to see them calculate our final bill for the purchases made. A great deed - Kudos to him for the kind of work he is doing for the development of people in Bastar.

After a power packed day, we reached our homestay.

Since it was 31st Dec night, campfire was arranged for us along with local alcohol drink called Mahua. Hot food was served for us in leafy plates. 

Also forgot to mention in my earlier blog, that we had some interesting companions at homestay.

Cute little Puppies 😊

We had food, relaxed, chatted, sang songs and sharp at 12 PM wished each other new year. Even though we went back to our rooms for a good sound sleep, we could hear some soothing music of drumbeats at a far-off distance. Looks like tribal people were also welcoming new year in their own way.  For a second we thought, wish we were also invited. But understand that every community has their own way of celebrations and we need to respect that. But those sounds were very soothing and we didn’t realize when we slept.  This was in fact my best new year celebration till date 😊.

So, signing off from Bodal and wishing everyone Happy new year 2022 from Bastar. In my next blog, I will be taking you all to the most famous Teerathgarh falls and very interesting valley where we camped for the night called “Valley of Fog”.


Bastar - Part 1 - Arrival at Raipur and Half day Sight Seeing

Bastar - Part 2 - Exploring Jabarra : The Tribal Village of Natural Healers

Bastar - Part 3 - Drive to Tatamari View Point

Bastar - Part 4 - Bell Metal Handicrafts of Kondagaon

Bastar - Part 5 - Official Introduction to Baster Vibes

Bastar - Part 6 - Cave Explorations 

Bastar - Part 8 - Teerathgarh Falls 

Bastar - Part 9 - Mendri Ghumar : Valley of Fog

Bastar - Part 10 - Chitrakoot Falls : Niagara of India

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