Natural dye-yielding plants and indigenous knowledge of dye preparation in Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve, Central India

82-87 The Chhattisgarh state, in the heart of India, is very rich in biodiversity as well as in the forest cover. Forests of Chhattisgarh have a number of dye yielding plants which produce different colours. The tribal folks of this region locally use different colours obtained from plants for different purposes such as ornamentation, cosmetics, decorating houses and colouring home utensils made up of mud. The present study was undertaken to assess the diversity of dye-yielding plants of Chhattisgarh, the indigenous method of dye extraction and ethnic uses of dyes. This will be a step towards the biodiversity and ethnic conservation and will also be helpful in understanding the social and cultural life of tribes of this region