page_title: Chhattisgarh
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Chhattisgarh / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Famous Traditional Parrot Dance (Sua Nacha) at Khudmudi village, Chhattisgarh, India
context_page_description: Chhattisgarh is one of the 28 state of India, located in the East-Central India. Parts of South East Central India is a part of Chhattisgarh. The state formed on November 1, 2000 was earlier under its neighbor State of Madhya Pradesh.
  Chhattisgarh had been the center of progress and development of several culture since the Vedic and Mythological times. The ancient temples here and their ruins indicate that Vaishnava, Shaivite, Shakta, Buddhist cultures have had influence in various periods. A resource-rich state, it is a source of electricity and steel for the country, producing 15% of the total steel. It is the ninth-largest state in India, with an area of 135,192 km², with a population of 32.2 million as of 2020. Chhattisgarh is the 17th-most populated state in the country.
  The state was formed on 1 November 2000 by partitioning ten Chhattisgarhi and six Gondi-speaking southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh. The capital city is Raipur. Chhattisgarh borders the states of Madhya Pradesh in the northwest, Uttar Pradesh in the north, Jharkhand in northeast, Maharashtra in the southwest, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the south, and Odisha in the southeast.
context_section_description: The state hosts many religious sects such as Satnampanth, Kabirpanth, Ramnami Samaj and others. Champaran is a small town with religious significance as the birthplace of the saint Vallabhacharya, increasingly important as a pilgrimage site for the Gujarati community.
  Chhattisgarh has a significant role in the life of the Lord Rama. Lord Rama along with his wife Sita and his younger brother Lakshmana had started his Vanvas (exile) in the Bastar, then known as Dandakarayna. They lived more than 10 of their 14 years of Vanvas in different places of Chhattisgarh. One of the remarkable places is Shivrinarayan which is nearby Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh. Shivrinarayan was named after an old lady Shabari. When Ram visited Shabari she said "I do not have anything to offer other than my heart, but here are some berry fruits. May it please you, my Lord." Saying so, Shabari offered the fruits she had meticulously collected to Rama. When Rama was tasting them, Lakshmana raised the concern that Shabari had already tasted them and therefore unworthy of eating. To this Rama said that of the many types of food he had tasted, "nothing could equal these berry fruits, offered with such devotion. You taste them, then alone will you know. Whomsoever offers a fruit, leaf, flower or some water with love, I partake it with great joy."
  The Odia culture is prominent in the eastern parts of Chhattisgarh bordering Odisha.
caption: Suwa Nacha at Khudmudi Village, Chhattisgarh
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