BANDITS OF CHAMBAL

"बीहड़ में तो बाघी होते हैं । डकैत मिलते हैं पार्लीयामेंट में"

Irrfan Khan, Paan Singh Tomar

The word 'Chambal' is synonym to dacoits and bandits in India. If the Caribbean had pirates, India had its own version in the form of bandits. Spread along the Chambal river valley between Agra and Gwalior region, the large ravines has been a hideout for outlaws and bandits since the 1970s. Majorly because of extreme poverty coupled by feudal conflicts of local clans and extreme patriarchy, the dacoity (which originated from the Hindi word डकैती) has been a subject for various Indian films, such as Sholay (1975), Dacait (1987), Bandit Queen (1994), Paan Singh Tomar (2010), Sonchiriya (2019) etc.

Some of the most notorious bandits in Indian history originate from this area. The map here points out the location of a few such names and their place of origin. The town of Porsa is hometown for Paan Singh Tomar (1932-1981) and is located in Morena district, Madhya Pradesh. Gabbar Singh Gujjar (1926-1959), on whose character the famous antagonist of Sholay movie, Gabbar Singh is based, was born at Gohad, Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh. Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh is the hometown for Nirbhay Singh Gujjar and Phoolan Devi (on whose biography the 1994 movie Bandit Queen was made and was the official entry for 67th Academy Awards in a foreign language category).

Chambal river valley is quite not safe completely for visitors. Hence the area is left untouched from commercialization and industrialization. And thus, its a nature's paradise. The Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary is home to various mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds, some of them including the Gharial (fish eating crocodile), macaques, jackals, foxes, civets, mongoose etc. The rivers are naturally clean and nature has maintained its balance here. So dacoity turned out to be a blessing in disguise, after all.