Sukhma

Sukhma belongs to the forested Bastar country of central India, where hills, rivers and cultivated clearings supported communities with diverse languages and institutions. Agriculture combined with the gathering of forest produce, hunting and local exchange. Weekly markets could bring together people from different environments, allowing grain, salt, metal tools and woodland products to circulate. Travel often followed river valleys and paths maintained through repeated local use.

During the later medieval and early modern centuries, the Bastar kingdom formed a regional centre of authority within the wider Gondwana world. Royal power depended on relationships with local chiefs and communities. Religious life combined courtly traditions with diverse Indigenous sacred practices. Outside states and merchants increased their interest in the interior, while Maratha expansion during the eighteenth century altered the regional political balance. Demands for tribute and resources placed new pressures on local society.