The bamboo bolt of the Birhor community is an extraordinary craft designed for hunting, which makes visible for hunting the consciousness of deep knowledge that the community possesses in the forest and their ethical hunting methods. The Birhor tribe comprises semi-nomadic tribal communities inhabiting parts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. They have used such traditional implements, even as early as today, for surviving in the wild.
Two principal elements make the bamboo bolt: a long bamboo shaft and a blunt head made of thicker pieces of bamboo. The head is mounted onto the shaft to form a secure connection without the aid of metal or synthetic materials. A carefully carved notch is made at the butt-end of the shaft to allow it to fit on to a bowstring for shooting.
While arrows end with sharp, iron tips, the bamboo bolt is a non-lethal hunting instrument, wounding or stunning small game without bloodshed, usually to ensure live capture or observance of some ritual or conservation practice. Such practice indicates the Birhor's connectedness with nature while hunting is done in restraint and respect for the balance of the forest.
The bamboo bolt stands today as a continuum of tribal sustainable knowledge bequeathed through generations in the Birhor community.