The Fair at the Baba Adghad Nath (Lord Shiva) Temple: As a Potential Resource of Cultural and Rural Tourism

Dinesh Kumar Jayswal¹ and Dr. Shyam Narayan Singh²*

¹Study center for Tourism Administration, APS University, Rewa (M.P.)-486003

²Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur (C.G.)

ABSTRACT:

India is the land of cultural diversity especially Madhya Pradesh is known for forest, mountains and various tribal communities such as Kol, Gond, Bheel, and Baiga etc. The villager, tribal communities and their life style and culture are always attracts the tourists for exploring about their ethnic knowledge and tradition. Baba Adghad Nath (Lord Shiva) Temple is situated at Northern Vindhya Range near Teonthar in Rewa District (M.P.) and also considered as the oldest route to connect north India with south, where millions of people are gathered on the occasion of Pooshi Teras every year to celebrate a fair in the memory of Lord Shiva. The main attraction of fair is handicraft, local herbal medicines and display of cultural tradition of Kol Tribes. The Fair is the important meeting place of different Kol communities beside the worship of Lord Shiva. This fair contributes to promote the Rural Tourism along with the spreading of the fragrance of their cultural and socio-ecological scenarios.

KEY WORDS: Handicraft, Rural Tourism, Fair, Socio-ecological, Cultural diversity.

INTRODUCTION:

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world. According to WTO, in the year 2006 saw 842 million International tourist arrivals and tourism receipts were of the order of US $ 682 billion. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) for 2006 forecasts that Travel and Tourism will generate 234 million direct and indirect jobs worldwide, accounting for 8.7% of the global economy and contributing 10.3% of the global GDP. According to the same estimate, the global travel and tourism activity is expected to increase by 4.7% between 2007 and 2016¹.

Worldwide tourism is ranked second highest revenue generating industry next to the oil industry. It is necessary to differentiate between different type of tourists to understand and analyze their purpose of visit. There are different ways to attract domestic and foreign tourists, we need to understand what types of services are required to attract and retain the customers. There is a large potential market for rural tourism especially for foreign tourists, which has not yet considered because government has not taken up any systematic approach to attract foreign tourists².

India is endowed with a very colourful religion, vibrant cultural and enriched history especially Madhya Pradesh has the largest tribal population in the country. The tribes in India belong to different ethnic linguistic and religious group and have unique social and economic characteristics. There are 58 major, 102 medium sized 133 minor and 61 numerically insignificant tribal groups in India as recorded by government of India. Most tribal belongs to Austroloid, Mongiloid and Negrito racial group³.

The main aim of study is to measure the potential of rural tourism in Vindhyan Region. The specific objectives of the study are-

· To find out the role of fairs for the promotion of rural tourism.

· To identify the essential elements for development of rural tourism.

Concept of Rural Tourism:

The basic concept of rural tourism is to benefit the local community through entrepreneurial opportunities, income generation, employment opportunities, conservation and development of rural arts and crafts, investment for infrastructure development and preservation of the environment and heritage. Rural tourism will bring people of different cultures, faiths, languages and life-styles close to one another and it will provide a broader outlook of life. It will not only generate employment for the people but it can also develop social, cultural and educational values. The potential for rural tourism to be a major force in rural economic development resulting in poverty alleviation is yet to be realized to the fullest extent. Tourism growth potential can be harnessed as a strategy for Rural Development. The development of a strong platform around the concept of Rural Tourism is definitely useful for a country like India, where almost 74% of the population resides in its 7 million villages ⁴.

Besides all, there are other factors which are shifting the trend towards rural tourism as

· Increasing levels of awareness,

· Growing interest in heritage and culture

· Improved accessibility, and

· Environmental consciousness.

In the developed countries, this has resulted in a new style of tourism of visiting village settings to experience and live a relaxed and healthy lifestyle.

Concept of Cultural Tourism-

‘Cultural tourism’ is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region’s culture. It generally focuses on traditional communities who have diverse customs, unique forms of art, and distinct social practices, which basically distinguish it from other types/forms of culture. It includes tourism in rural areas showcasing the traditions of indigenous cultural communities (i.e. fairs and festivals, rituals and religions), and their values and lifestyle. It is generally agreed that cultural tourists spend substantially more than standard tourists do. This form of tourism is also becoming generally more popular throughout the world ⁵.

Fairs and Festivals as a tourism product in Madhya Pradesh

The use of local festivals as an instrument for tourism development has gained worldwide momentum in recent years. While in some instances time-honored existing local cultural or religious events have been revived or repackaged as tourism events, in other cases new festivals have been invented and promoted for the singular purpose of drawing new visitors to a city or region. The composite population of Indo-Aryans and Tribals have given Madhya Pradesh a host of religious festivals and fairs. A few of these have national importance while majority are of regional and local interest. The festivals of Shivratri, Makar Sankranti, Dussehera, Diwali have their own socio-religious significance, but are not necessarily tourist oriented. The fairs and festivals of the tribal groups are still at primitive stages and have no facilities for the tourists (GOI, 2007-2012).

METHODOLOGY

Study Site

Baba Adghad Nath (Lord Shiva) Temple is situated at Northern Vindhya Range near Teonthar (6 Km.) in Rewa District (M.P.) and also considered as the oldest route to connect north India with south (NH 27), where thousands of people are gathered on the occasion of Pooshi Teras every year to celebrate a fair in the memory of Lord Shiva. Normally the fairs at this site are always it has not found any type of literature and evidence about the historical background of the destination but the local people tells the legendry and mythological story.

According to respondents this old Lord Shiva Temple was established before 330 years in Samvat 1740 by Maharaja Shri Randhir Singh Sanger. He used to come at this place for hunting then he saw the origin of a Shivalinga from the leaf of Tendu shrub. After that he constructed a temple, a pillar and a Well which are now on the right front side of the temple. After that the local people started to organized fair for the worship of Lord Shiva. The local fair is organized in every month on teras but two fair Poosi teras and Mahasivratri fairs are very big in scale.

The Major attractions at the sites are as follows:

Baba Adghad Nath (Lord Shiva Temple):

This is the main temple of the site situated at the Centre of the site. In this temple a shivlinga height 3 ft. has been established.

The temple is situated left front side of the main Lord Shiva Temple at the height of 5 meters above surface by stairs. The height of the statue is 4.4 ft.

Lord Ganesh Temple:

The Lord Ganesha Temple is situated at the right side of Goddess Parvati Temple and above the height of 4 meter from surface connected with stairs.

Goddess Durga Temple:

This magnificent temple located at the front of Lord Shiva temple and beside of Lord Hanuman Temple. The statue of Goddess Durga is very beautiful.

Goddess Parvati Temple:

This temple is situated at the right side of the main Lord Shiva Temple and beside the Lord Ganesha Temple; the statue of Goddess Parvati is very beautiful.

Goddess Lakshmi Statue:

This statue is situated under the Banyan tree in front of the main entrance of the Fair parisar.

Victory Pillar:

This is a pillar of height approx. 20 ft. situated at the right front side of the Lord Shiva Temple.

Ardh Narishwar Statue:

This is situated beside the gate of the Lord Shiva Temple. It shows the incarnation of half male and half female of Lord Shiva named Ardh Narishwar Roop.

Allopin Mata Temple:

This temple is situated at 5 Kms distance from the site on Teonthar Road, and the statue of Yaksha situated in front of the temple.

Shri Bhuneshwar Nath Temple:

This Grand temple is at the 8 Kms. distance from the site. It is oldest temple of 18 century made of five histories.

Scenic attraction:

A magnificent panoramic view of hills, scenic beauty and flora and fauna at the site.

Connectivity

By Road: Nearest Bus stand is Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel Inter State Bus stand, Rewa 60 Kms.

By Rail: Nearest railway stations are Rewa 60 Kms. and Satna 120 Kms.

By Air: Nearest Airports are 140 Kms. and Khjuraho 310

Weather: Pleasing weather with dense green forest.

Temp.: Min. 15^oC, Max. 30^oC

Best season for Visit: From July to March

Collection of Data

A questionnaire was prepared to assess the potential of tribal fairs and its role in development of cultural and rural tourism. Our study was based on convenient sample method to collect the data from the local communities like villagers, Tribal peoples and government officials. At least 1000 samples were collected within a period of two years.

In order to determine whether statistically significant differences exist at destination development with respect to rural and cultural tourism and socio-demographics, a series of cross tabulation and an analysis of variance was employed because the independent variables are measured as a nominal scale, whereas the dependent variable is measured as an ordinal scale. Additionally, a discriminant analysis was used to discover a relationship between the local indigenous peoples and their rural, cultural worship destination the sample respondents comprising both tourists from different socio-economic category of society. The empirical data had been collected to understand the market potential for rural tourism by organizing tribal fairs, to evaluate its positive and negative impact on the society, especially in the area of environment, economy and socio-culture. The survey was conducted using the convenient sampling method. Primary data was collected from 1000 respondents by administering them a detailed questionnaire and interview. The secondary data was collected from different sources. Standard statistical tools are used to analyze the collected data.

Table- I. Profile of Sample

Gender	Demographic	Numbers	Percentage
	Male	800	80
	Female	20	20
Age	> 18	100	30
	18-29	100	50
	30-49	300	10
	50-Above	500	10
Education	Primary	180	18
	Secondary	300	30
	Graduate	400	40
	Higher	120	12
Respondents Income	>5,000	380	38
Respondents Income	5,000-8,000	240	24
	8,000-10,000	260	26
	10,000-above	120	12

Table II – Visitors data

Category of Visitors	No. of Visitors	Sex of visitors		Age of visitors			Purpose of Visit
Category of Visitors	No. of Visitors	Male	Female	Old	Adults	Adolescence	Religious	Amusement	Professional
Locals	4,53,000	3,17,100	1,35,900	90,600	1,54,020	2,08,380	1,13,250	1,26,840	2,12,910
Outsides of Distt.	1,17,600	64,650	52,950	17,650	94,080	5,880	11,760	67,032	38,808
Outsides of State	1,28,000	74,250	53,750	128	1,15,200	5,750	12,800	96,000	19.200
Outside of the Country	1,400	420	980	21	1372	7	210	1190	0

As by our study we have divided to all visitors into three age group: olds, adults and adolescence. By the observation of collected data we found the total percentages(including the local visitors, visitors from outside district, visitors outside from state and visitors from outside of country) of old age visitors, adults visitors and adolescence age visitors were 15.5%, 52.1% and 32.4% respectively.

DISCUSSION:

As discussed above, these fairs attract rural people in large numbers. These fairs then become a very large rural consumption story. Huge amount of consumerism takes place which in turn stimulates the rural economy. These fairs also act as a source of accessing the hard-to-reach rural markets. And in addition to all, rural tourism can be heavily boosted by such fairs and festivals. The culture and heritage associated with the fairs and festivals becomes a huge attraction for local and foreign tourists. Fair-based rural tourism can also be promoted in the nearby urban areas for one day or on weekends. Thus it will help boosting the local rural economy and become a growth engine which is driven by domestic demand, insulated from the global gyrations. Rural tourism is an important means of enhancing employment and income and can help social and economic development of rural societies. It also takes account of the people who must have access to the villages, which makes it possible to get benefits to the local people. Therefore, having access must be in balance with other rural needs and a long term protection of rural resources. The development of tourism in rural areas has been increasingly important, because there really no such concepts as traditional culture, lifestyles, and folklores, and therefore these concepts are going to be colorless and invisible ⁶.

Job creation typically occurs in the hotel and catering trades, but can also take place in transport, retailing, and in information/heritage interpretation. Tourism generates new opportunities for industry. Even those rural businesses not directly involved in tourism can benefit from tourist activity through developing close relationships with tourist facilities where local foods can be used as part of the tourism offering in a locality. Rural tourism facilitates expansion of complementary businesses such as service stations and new businesses are created to cater to tourist needs for hospitality services, recreational activities and arts/crafts.

Visitor information services can be provided by existing outlets, such as shops, thus increasing income flows if payment is made for acting as information outlets. Services can also benefit by the additional customers which visitors provide. Finally, tourism‘s importance to national economies can strengthen the political case for subsides to help retain services ⁷.

REFERENCES:

1. Report of the steering committee on tourism for the eleventh five-year plan (2007-2012) government of india planning commssion, page- 4.

2. Haldar Piali Rural Tourism – Challenges and Opportunities, Part II – Co-Operative, Rural and BOP Marketing.

3. Akhilesh, Trumen’s special series for UGC NET, Tourism administration and management, chapter II, page 93.

4. Ministry of Tourism Govt. of India, Rural Tourism scheme for infrastructure development scheme guideline (Revised as on 09.12.11).

5. Barman Arup, Singh Ranjit and Y Venkata Rao, Empowering Tribes through Cultural Tourism in India- A Dream Project on ICT Integration (http://ssrn.com/abstract=1718126).

6. Felsenstein Daniel and Fleischer Aliza, Local Festivals and Tourism Promotion: The Role of Public Assistance and Visitor Expenditure.

7. Govt. of Alberta, agriculture and rural development, Oct. 2010, Rural Tourism – An Overview, page 8-9.

Received on 03.03.2014

Revised on 22.05.2014

Accepted on 19.09.2014

Research J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 5(3): July-September, 2014, 253-259