Photographs from De long en large Ladakh by Jean Mansion - Édition Findakly. Copyright Lise Mansion
A vast region of central India - the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa - still harbours many tribes descended from the aborigines who, since the Aryan invasions, have been slowly but surely pushed into inaccessible and remote areas where they have continued to live. according to their own traditions. Some of these tribes still use bows and arrows and live from hunting, fishing and what they gather in the forest. Others practise a primitive form of agriculture, speak unwritten languages and transmit orally myths and traditions that set them apart from the much larger Hindu population.