Umesh Kumar Ray

Author

large_HP-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

medium_HP-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

small_HP-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

thumbnail_HP-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

HP-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

Lajo Devi is curious as she looks at the diary in which this reporter is noting down details. Within a few minutes her curiosity turns to fear.“Ee sab likh ke thanwa mein debahu ka [Are you going to give all this to the police station]?” she asks in Magahi – a language spoken here in the Magadha region of Bihar. She has been talking about how brewing mahua liquor made from the flowers of the mahua tree (Madhuca longifolia var. latifolia) – her only source of income – has been helping her survive.Although initially reluctant to admit it, the eight kilograms of jaggery rotting in two canisters in a corner of her kutcha&nbsp;house give her away. Seeing this reporter’s gaze wander to the canisters, she immediately covers them up with black polythene sheets. “I am only making it [liquor] to sell during Holi,” she explains quickly.Lajo Devi’s fear and worry about brewing liquor at home is warranted. The<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/bihar-prohibition-and-excise-act-2016/">&nbsp;Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016</a>, bans the manufacture, possession, distribution or consumption of liquor or intoxicants including mahua&nbsp;liquor. Punishment for doing so includes imprisonment, which could extend to life, and fines of Rs. 1-10 lakh.&nbsp;

“I make it just to survive,” she says. A landless member of the extremely marginalised Musahar community (categorised as a Scheduled Caste in Bihar), she bears the additional burden of leprosy.&nbsp;The 60-year-old shows her fingers which carry wound marks, a sign of the leprosy which killed her husband Janaki Manjhi six years ago. The state government’s Bihar Shatabdi Leper Welfare Scheme provides monthly financial assistance of Rs.1,500 to leprosy patients with visible deformities. But Lajo Devi is yet to receive a single rupee. “No government officials have so far visited us to know about my deformity,” she says.&nbsp;The wounds make it difficult for her to do physical labour and she has few options or opportunities to earn a living. Brewing mahua liquor has been a traditional occupation for Musahars and Lajo Devi herself has been making it for over four decades.Standing in front of her dilapidated house she says, “I spend around 400 rupees a month on jaggery and 25 rupees on cow dung cakes,” she says. “And earn about 1,000 rupees.” Apart from this she receives Rs. 400 from the government under the state’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sspmis.bihar.gov.in/aboutUs">old age pension</a> scheme.&nbsp;

“When I got married 45 years ago, my husband had leprosy. He was unable to do any work. During those days, I saw that people around me were making and selling liquor, so I also started doing it.”&nbsp;Lajo Devi claims that she was arrested a couple of times by local police but the police records have no mention of her name. A few years ago, she stopped brewing liquor and tried other options including goat rearing. She’d borrowed two goats from an acquaintance who had then given birth to two kids. But in a cruel twist of fate, one day someone stole all four.With the goats gone she turned back to mahua. “Eho bandh kar debai ta konchi kar ke khaibai [If we stop this too then what will we do to eat]?”Names of the people and their exact location have been changed in the story to protect their identity.

When mahua is the only option

جہاں مہوا روزی روٹی کا واحد ذریعہ ہو

महुआसुद्धा बंद केली तर खावं काय?

విప్పసారా తయారీ తప్ప వేరే గతి లేనప్పుడు...

જ્યારે મહુડો જ એકમાત્ર વિકલ્પ હોય

মহুৱাই য’ত একমাত্ৰ বিকল্প

இலுப்பைக்கு மட்டுமே சாத்தியம் இருக்கும்போது

ਜਦੋਂ ਮਹੂਆ ਹੀ ਜੀਵਨ ਦਾ ਇੱਕੋ-ਇੱਕ ਵਸੀਲਾ ਰਹਿ ਜਾਵੇ

ଯେତେବେଳେ ମହୁଲ ଫୁଲ ଏକ ମାତ୍ର ପନ୍ଥା  

മഹുവ മാത്രം ഉപജീവനമാർഗ്ഗമാവുമ്പോൾ

ಮಹುವಾ ಒಂದೇ ಬದುಕಿನ ದಾರಿಯಾದಾಗ

महुआ की शराब और पेट की आग

जब महुए अंतिम सहारा बा

মহুয়া ছাড়া যে গতি নেই

Nalanda

medium_MOBILE-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

small_MOBILE-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

thumbnail_MOBILE-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

MOBILE-COVER-IMAGE-UKR-When mahua is the only option.jpg

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

When mahua is the only option

For many people in Bihar, brewing mahua liquor is the only source of income. It’s a job they do under the constant fear of police action

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit