A heart stealing landscape

A dense forest, in the state of Karnataka, India, surrounded by high hills, tall trees, infested by wild animals and a plethora of poisonous and vicious creatures.

The name of the place is, Biligirirangana Betta.

The name of the place is derived from the name of the deity Ranganatha. The tribals of that place believe that Ranganatha married a girl named Kusumale of their own tribe. The temple of Ranganatha is located atop a mountain.The temple presents a breath taking view when it's viewed from the foot of the hill. It looks as if the temple is bathed with snow white fog. 

Biligiri means, White Mountain. Because of Ranganatha's temple, the place earned the name Rangana Betta.

Some interesting facts about Biligirirangana Betta.

Biligirirangana Betta is located at an altitude of 1780 meters above the sea level spread over an area of 540 square kilometers. The height of this mountain range varies from 750 meters to 1850 meters.

Rich in wildlife.

Biligirirangana Betta is also known as B.R. hills.

It is estimated that there are about 1200 Tigers in India. Out of this, in the state of Karnataka itself there are about 280 Tigers. And out of this 280, there are about 30 tigers in Biligirirangana Betta's dense forests. Additionally , there are about 600 elephants, 29 snakes of different species, 270 varieties of Birds, 7 varieties of Frogs and 220 varieties of different creatures made Biligirirangana Betta as their haven.

The resident tribals of Biligirirangana Betta treat these animals and creatures as Precious as their own lives.

A treasure of Medicinal Plants.

Biligirirangana  Betta is a treasure chest of Medicinal plants. There are about 300 varieties of very valuable medicinal plants. Out of these, the tribals are very well conversant with approximately 250 varieties of medicinal plants. And the medicinal plants are one of the sources of livelihood for the tribals.

Traditional knowledge of the tribals.

Tribal women give birth in a sitting posture. It's different in the civilized world. This practice of giving birth in sittiing position  prevalent in the tribal women is being brushed away as a superstition by the civilized world until recently conducted researches by several experts from different foreign countries proved that the traditional practice adopted by these tribal women is the safest way of giving birth to a child.

It's not all. The tribals of Biligirirangana  Betta  are endowed with a vast traditional knowledge which is far ahead of the modern knowledge in several fields.

Haven for "Love Birds."

While the modern society largely still frowns at"Love Marriages",for the tribals of  Biligirirangana Betta,, love marriages are an accepted norm in their society.

Once the boy and the girl come to a decision to marry, they elope in to the deep forests. The absence of the youngsters is an indication to the elders of both the families that a marriage is in the offing. The young couple,after their return from the forest are received by the parents and they will be declared as man and wife in a traditionally  conducted marriage. No hue and cry. No heated arguments. No hullabaloo .

Simpletons to the core.

The tribals of Biligirirangana  Betta, for centuries  lived on whatever their mother forest gave them by selling the honey, glue or the medicinal plants and lead a contented and satisfied life. And above all, they never even in their wildest dreams thought of plundering their own mother forest, though the entire forest is at their disposal and within reach

But, in the recent times, the evil eyes of the greedy and unscrupulous have fallen on the humongous wealth of the forests and their produce.These evil forces use the unsuspecting tribals for achieving their end. They make the tribals toil and collect all most all the forest products.

They pay pittance to the tribals and earn huge amounts of money by selling the forest products in the urban areas. The simple and unsuspecting tribals did not know about the massive exploitation perpetrated  by these unscrupulous  middle men. And the saga of exploitation went on unabated year after year.

 But the day has come that changed the conditions of Tribals in a big way.

Turning point.

It's at this juncture a miracle happened 35 years ago that changed  the destiny of the tribals of Biligirirangana Betta. No,a fairy did not descend from behind the Blues. Nor an Angel with a Magic wand. A mortal.Dr.Hanumappareddy Sudarsan arrived.

Dr.Hanumappareddy Sudarsan, a young doctor,happened to attend a medical camp at Biligirirangana Betta three and half decades ago. During his stay , to his utter astonishment discovered,how the tribals were exploited by the unscrupulous lot from the civilized world. Dr.Hanumappareddy Sudarsan, then and there decided to stay in Biligirirangana Betta and vowed to put an end to the exploitation perpetrated on the tribals.

Mission Dr.Hanumappareddy Sudarsan.

Since then Dr.Hanumappareddy Sudarsan made Biligirirangana  his abode.He simply said NO to his lucrative medical profession. It was a difficult decision no doubt. But, Dr.Hanumappareddy Sudarsan, in his long journey of Service met with more difficulties . Dr.Hanumappa Sudarsan has become more tough  and decided to stand by the tribals by giving them a support, 

Strong, Solid and Secure.

Tribals looked with suspicion, When  Dr. Hanumanthappareddy Sudarsan started his mission, the tribals looked at him with apprehension and suspicion. They simply could not convince themselves, why this man with a needle held in hand so interested in serving them. They flatly refused to accept his helping hand. They even asked him to leave their Biligirirangana.

But, Dr. Reddy is not a person to leave his mission midway. 

Faith, at last.

As luck would have it, an incident that occurred ,made the tribals create immense faith on the Doctor. Dr. Reddy, one day came to know that a tribal was bitten by a venomous snake. He rushed immediately to the victim and sucked the venom from the victim's wound and spat it out. 

This life saving deed by the doctor, risking his own life, won the hearts of the tribals. From then on-wards, the tribals became faithful followers of the Doctor. And this incident in turn doubled the Doctor's determination to direct all his endeavors to stand by the tribals and give them Support in order to make them realize their own worth and their rights.

Education is the top priority.

Dr. Reddy thought of no other alternative to see the tribals come in to the main stream except education.

For this Dr. Reddy learned the tribal language to establish a rapport with them. He learned their customs and rituals. He made a thatched house to serve as his house and the clinic.

He went to every home and taught them the benefits of education. He coaxed them. Cajoled them. And succeeded in getting 8 students for his school, that was nothing but a rickety thatched hut. It hasn't taken much time for the doctor to realize, how hard it was to retain even those 8 students. Many ran away. But the Doctor's relentless efforts not only brought them back to the school, the number of students rose to  100. The Doctor's efforts paid him rich dividends. A group of Germans, who visited the place were immensely satisfied with the efforts of the Doctor. 

Heavy amounts were donated by the Germans for expanding the school with more amenities and equipment.Over the years , the humble thatched roof school has metamorphosed in to a full fledged college that has become a synonym with quality education .

The saga didn't stop here.

Dr. Reddy a firm believer in the fact that every human irrespective of his or her social background is endowed with a quality that places him or her on a higher pedestal . But it's required to unearth that quality.

That's what the Doctor has done to the tribals. Generally, most of the tribals are blessed with good physique. This trait has been utilized well and the Doctor moulded some of the tribals in to Sportsmen of high quality. Some of them won national acclaim. 

Self - reliance.

Another, noteworthy trait in the Tribals brought to fore was, the tribals can be turned in to good entrepreneurs in their own fields with a bit of knowledge that the forest products they were selling for generations can be used to cater to the needs of the market.

For example, the tribals were collecting the mangoes from the trees and selling them for a pittance to the middleman. The middleman in turn is selling the same mangoes converting them to pickles of different kinds for which they are earning  many times more than what they paid to the tribal.

Now imagine, how it would be, if the tribal himself will do what the middleman is doing ? It not only helps the tribal earn more money, but also eliminates the middleman.

This is what the Doctor has done. He taught the tribal men the nuances of marketing and made the tribals in to successful  entrepreneurs.With this move the tribals attained immense self confidence.

Fight for Rights.

To eliminate disease you have to remove poverty. The only way to do that, the doctor realised, is to organise the people for their rights.They should know that there are rights to be used for their own welfare.

Vivekananda Tribal Welfare center.

Dr. Hanumappareddy  Sudarsan was born in Samanur in Bengaluru district, Karnataka state. Hanumappareddy and Chennamma are his parents.. Dr. Hanumappareddy Sudarsan , lost his father in his childhood. Sudarsan's mother brought up the 4 children undergoing severe hardships as the family had meager resources. But, Sudarsan's mother stood courageously.

Sudarsan's  ambition was to become a doctor. Because his father suffered a lot for lack of medical facilities. But, medical education was expensive and the family financial resources were very low, Sudarsan took up a job in  a flour mill to take care of his expenditure on books and college fees. During his medical education, he came in touch with Ramakrishna math in Bengaluru.

It was there, Sudarsan was influenced by Vivekananda's teachings. On behalf of Ramakrishna math, Sudarsan participated in medical camps throughout the country.

And it was while conducting one of such medical camps, Sudarsan happened to visit Biligirirangana Betta. Seeing the plight of the tribals there, one of Vivekananda's teachings flashed into his mind. The gist of  Vivekananda's teaching is, Man should not be taught to live on charity and donation. He should be taught Self-reliance. 

Besides Vivekananda, Dr. Sudarsan was influenced equally  by Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Dr. Albert Schweitzer worked all his life for the welfare and upliftment of under privileged in Africa. Dr. Sudarsan has firm faith in Vivekananda’s view that those who live for others are the only people who live. Others are as good as dead.

Vivekananda Tribal welfare center is aimed at teaching the tribals Self-reliance.

Transparency, behind success.

What's the secret behind Dr. Hanumappareddy Sudarsan's success?

if Dr. Hanumappareddy Is able to achieve success after success, it's due to his transparency in his activities. From a school, housed in a thatched hut to big educational institution,it's due to his open policies. He has never hidden anything from the people who financed him. It's not the end of it. He has built a modern 20 bed hospital. He has built a nursing school, which in turn provided employment to the tribal youth.

One can imagine the expenditure involved for maintaining these establishments. Seeing the good work done and the results which are visible for all to see, many came forward willingly to help Dr. Hanumappareddy Sudarsan to continue his Mission further.The help came in the form of moral support. In the form of money. And in every possible forms.

All this could happen due to transparency of Dr.Hanumappareddy's policies. 

Image : Wiki commons

Line drawing : Author.