Folk Icons And Rituals In Tribal Life
BGAR OR V GAR is a Gujarati word which means sparsely populated. It is loosely used for that area of southern Rajasthan which includes the territories of the erstwhile states of Dungarpur and Banswara as well as southern Chappan of Mewār State. Although, nowadays the people of Rikhabdev and Salumber, the southern part of Mewār do not want this area to be included in Bagār, I have included it in my study because Rikhabdev is an important centre of religious activities of the Mina tribe and the main creative centre of icon-making for Bagār villages.
Bāgar lies between latitude 23.11 and 24.01 and longitude 73.23 and 74.47 in the southern part of Rajasthan state in India. There are three main rivers in this region—Māhi, Som and Anās. The Māhi separates Dungarpur district from Banswara district and the Som forms a natural boundary between Dungarpur and Udaipur districts. Bāgar is hilly and mainly formed out of parts of these two districts. The hills in Dungarpur are however not very high. The highest peak, in the extreme northwest of this district, is approximately 572 metres (1876 ft) above sea level. These hills are offshoots of the Arāvali range.
