Purpose | Project Mahua | Madhuca longifolia tree | Communities Flower Liquor Laddu

"Mahua is not a tree, it's our way of life. If mahua survives, Munda survives.
But, alas, you know it only as low quality booze"

Natabar Singh Munda,

a Munda Adivasi in his mid-seventies

a bunch of mahua (madhuca longifolia) flowers - source of food, medicine, liquor, culture, livelihood

The same sentiment resonates among all the Adivasi communities of dry forests of India.
Project Mahua is a humble attempt to explore the world of Mahua and her people.

Not only social taboo, data deficiency and inaccuracy also cripple mahua.

Vast spread across India

So many communities

involved

On the other hand,

lack of young mahua trees,

low seedling density and regeneration rate

are common observation.

Mahua population status - no info!

For example, one report estimates 7.5 million Adivasis depend on mahua.

But with over 75 million tribals in mahua-growing regions, this suggests only 10% are involved — likely a gross underestimation.

So, no. of lives dependent - no info!

Though 7.5 million is itself a huge population .

Mahua needs

ATTENTION

Tropical deciduous forests -

All around Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha;
Parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh;
Arid regions of Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh;
Also in Kerala, Tamil Nadu.

Gond, Santhal, Munda, Kol,

Bhil, Baiga, Oraon, Bhumij,

Ho, Kharia and many many more.

It is difficult to imagine an Adivasi community of this region without any association of mahua.

Its impact on forest, livelihood

- no info!

A Mahua tree with its lush foliage. Its role for forest and people is undeniable. But lack of credible info undermines mahua.

history of mahua liquor - colonial acts, temperance movement

A kid is collecting mahua flowers. It's a source of livelihood for numerous Adivasi / tribal communities

women engaged in preparing mahua laddu. such value added products like mahua laddu are adding value to people's life as well

History

A quick peak in the history of mahua is a good starting point to know mahua.

Featured Articles

Info about mahua are scattered through out the web. This section curates a few of them covering different aspects.

Special Segments

This section is special in the sense that it summarizes what generated attention for mahua in the present.

disclaimer

Disclaimer !

This website isn’t perfect - factually or otherwise - though we tried our best to be. It’s a humble attempt to accumulate as much info as possible under a single domain. The Mahua-verse is huge! And we started with the contents in English only, but incorporating contents of regional languages is also in our wish list. So, this process of documentation is a journey - ongoing, ever-enriching.

At any point, if you find something factually incorrect, misleading; that would be regretful, unintentional. In such an instance, please reach out to us, we will acknowledge you, discuss and rectify that.

Also, we are open to suggestions of how we can improve the site, how better we can represent the information. Please keep in mind that this is an entirely voluntary initiative - a result of being mesmerized by the world of Mahua. So, an attempt to tell her stories to the world. Lack of resources to keep this website up, running and updated and up-to-date is a challenging task. We will try our best. Thanks!

P.S. We are yet to touch upon facets like folk art and culture, ecological importance of the tree and various other uses of the tree. We will build upon these components in the coming days.

"Mahua is not a tree, it's our way of life. If mahua survives, Munda survives. But, alas, you know it only as low quality booze"

The same sentiment resonates among all the Adivasi communities of dry forests of India. ​Project Mahua is a humble attempt to explore the world of Mahua and her people.