Indian Tribes in Transition: Anthrolpological Perspective (Set of 2 Volumes)

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About The Book The Indian tribes constituting about eight per cent of India's total population form a distinct cultural category with their unique values and traditions, beliefs and practices, customs and rituals, and perception of health and diseases. The recent forces of globalization and consumerism have brought significant changes in their ways of life and culture to an extent that their core cultural elements are getting transformed. This volume comprises the biocultural profiles of ten tribal communities spread over three states and one union territory. They are Bharia, Halba, Kamar, Majhwar and Panika of Madhya Pradesh, Gaddi and Gujjar of Himachal Pradesh, Tharu of Uttar Pradesh,Central Nicobarese and Shompen of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

These volumes have a special significance and reflect the geographical distribution of the tribes with reference to their population dynamics, environment, demographic profile, health and hygiene and prevalence of diseases. It is an important contribution to the understanding of the tribal situations in different eco- cultural zones, and the transformation that has taken place due to the impact of external contacts, urbanization and industrialization in different regions of India.

These contributions could be useful for anthropologists, planners, administrators and all those interested in the study of tribal cultural mosaic of India.

About the Author P.B.S.V. Padmanabham, a Superintending Anthropologist with the Anthropological Survey of India was born in 1954. His post- graduation in Human Genetics and Physical Anthropology was followed with a doctorate in Anthropological Genetics. Passionate about Anthropology and its subfields, he is also equally interested in the broad areas of interface between disciplines, genres and cultures and while understanding them and trying to find a niche for himself.

Kattoju Ravi (b 1955) is presently working as Superintending Anthropologist (Cultural) at Anthropological Survey of India and posted at Central Regional Centre, Nagpur He served at different Regional Centres viz., Port Blair, Mysore, Dehradun and Nagpur, and Visakhapatnam Field Station. He did his Master's Degree in Anthropology with specialization in Social Anthropology from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam in the year 1979. His area of research interest is in the field of agrarian situation, study of tribal cultures, indigenous knowledge systems and biocultural studies across the country particularly in Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. In his credit two books and one edited book, and more than 45 research reports and articles in various journals and books have been published.

Biswanath Sarkar (b.1956) is an Anthropologist (Physical) at Anthropological Survey of India and posted at Head Office, Kolkata He did his Master's Degree in Anthropology from University of Calcutta, in 1978 with specialization in physical anthropology and human genetics and awarded Ph.D degree for the title Biological Ant of the Onge: A Negrito Isolate of Andaman Islands, Indian the same University. His research interest is in the field of population genetics, molecular anthropology and community genetics and health. Dr. Sarkar has been recognized as Visiting Fellow the Centre for Advance Studies, Department of Anthropology, Utkal University in 2012. He has also been recognized as supervisor for three Ph.D scholars in various universities. In his credit five edited books and more than 45 research articles/ reports have been published in various national and international peer reviewed journals.

Foreword Nearly 84.3 million people in India are Adivasis or Scheduled Tribes as per the Census of 2011. They constitute about 8.2 per cent of India's total population. Typically they are spread over wide ecological and geo-climatic regions like hilly and mountain terrains, forest, sea coast and river banks. The tribes in India form a distinct cultural category with their unique values and traditions, beliefs and cosmology, customs and costumes, and perception of health and diseases. But the impending forces of globalization and consumerism have so deeply penetrated into their ways of life that the secondary culture features, and even sometimes the elements of cultural core, are getting transformed. This, of course, is the nature of any culture, which is dynamic and sensitive to forces outside it. But at the present juncture the transformation has reached a point of almost no return, eventually leading to cultural loss and cultural genocide. In the post-independence period a plethora of state- sponsored development programmes also contributed substantially to this trend of transformation among the tribes of India.

Anthropologists have been on constant lookout for these transformations among the vulnerable tribal populations in India and elsewhere. My colleagues at the Anthropological Survey of India have ventured into exploring this trend of tribal transformation, which was earlier conceptualized as a National Project, "Tribes in Contemporary India". This present series of volumes is an outcome of this National Project, which has an important contribution to the understanding of the tribal situations in different eco-cultural zones, and the transformations noticed due to the impact of external contacts, urbanization and industrialization in different regions of India.

The Chapters in these volumes were initially in the form of project reports. These reports, contributed by the researchers of Anthropological Survey of India, in a nutshell comprise brief introduction with reference to earlier census records, environment of the area of the study, demographic features of the communities delineating their health status, prevalence of diseases and hygiene, and so on. Conventional treatises of ethnographic profiles of the study tribes, including social structure and organization, their life cycle rituals, political organization and economy have also been delineated in these reports. The reports conclude with information on changes that have taken place with the implementation of different development programmes launched by the Government for the benefit of these communities.

All the contributors to these volumes deserve our appreciation for presenting enormous amount of ethnographic data in their respective reports. These volumes have a special significance, as they richly contribute to our understanding of many least known tribes as well as those widely distributed in India. I am sure these volumes could, be very useful for anthropologists, planners, administrators and all those interested in the study of tribal cultural mosaic of India.

Preface The population of the tribes in the country is about eight per cent of India's total population (Census 2011). In India they are spread over wide ecological and geo- climatic regions. These volumes are the outcome of the National Project entitled "Tribes in Contemporary India". The main objective of the study is to determine the trends of change in the tribal ways of life resulting from the impact of external contacts, urbanization and industrialization. Hence, it was proposed that two villages may be taken up for study of which one location of each tribal group should have been considerably exposed to external contacts calling it an acculturated or more exposed section, while the other section of the tribe should preferably be living comparatively in isolation.

This volume comprises ten reports based on the study conducted in three States and one Union Territory, namely Bharia. Halba, Kamar, Majhwar and Panika of Madhya Pradesh, Gaddi and Gujjar of Himachal Pradesh, Tharu of Uttar Pradesh: Central Nicobarese and Shompen of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Twenty one researchers of the Anthropological Survey of India were involved in this National Project and contributed to this volume. Each one of them deserve appreciation for their effort in undertaking the field work in difficult situations and for their co-operation for the successful completion of fieldwork and finalization of all these reports.

We are very much indebted to Dr. A.K. Danda, the then Joint Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata for giving an opportunity for the researchers to undertake their studies in different States and Union Territories of India. We are extremely grateful to all the then Regional Officers of different Regional Centre, and Sub-Regional Centre, who had taken keen interest and inspired the researchers during their field work and submission of their respective reports. We are immensely grateful to Prof. K.K. Misra, Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata, who has given his valuable suggestions and advice in bringing out the volume.

We are also thankful to all the Project Officers of 1.T.D.A/I.TD.Ps, Officers of Tribal Development Blocks, Officers of various other State Government and Union Territories, Officers of Tribal Welfare Departments and others who have helped and extended all possible co-operations in this endeavour. We are also thankful to all the village elders and key informants of the villages studied by the researchers. We are thankful to all our colleagues who have given their valuable suggestions.

We also acknowledge with gratitude, the understanding and kindness with which all our tribal brethren of the studied village who cared the researchers during their field work days. We cherish and try to recall the curiosity and interest of our tribal brethren for successful completion of field works in different parts of India.

Dr. Kakali Chakrabarty, Shri D.N. Pandey and Dr. B.K. Mohanty extended all possible cooperation at different level, Ms. Dipa Saha and members of the Publication Division of Anthropological Survey of India have rendered invaluable support and assistance in bringing out this volume.

Introduction The discussion on tribes in India may have to proceed from the assumption that a tribe is an administrative and political concept in India (Singh 1984). In the year 1963-64, the Census of India had preliminarily reported of 532 Scheduled Tribes and their subgroups, which are by and large based on existing ethnographic material, However, the total number of tribal communities in India as identified by the Anthropological Survey of India is about 461, of which as many as 172 are segments. The Scheduled Tribes population constitutes about eight per cent of the total population of India (Census 2011). They are distributed in all the states except Punjab, Haryana and Delhi and all over the Union Territories except Chandigarh and Pondicherry. The tribal mosaic reveals communities pursuing hunting-gathering, pastoralism, horticulture, shifting cultivation and settled cultivation as their livelihood in different geo-climatic regions of the country with various dialects of languages mostly the Austro-Asiatic, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Indo-European.

The present volumes are important contributions towards understanding the trends of change in the tribal ways of life resulting from the impact of external contacts, urbanization and industrialization among various tribal populations inhabiting different States and Union Territories of India. These works are the outcome of the National Project "Tribes in Contemporary India" undertaken by the Anthropological Survey of India. The main objectives of this project were to determine the trends of change in the tribal ways of life resulting from the impact of external contacts, urbanization and industrialization. In this regard two different locations of the tribe were studied one being in considerable exposed location to external contacts and the other living in comparative isolation. The details of the guideline are appended in this volume. The volumes comprise detailed reports of various tribal communities inhabiting different parts of the country, which are least known as well as those which are widely distributed, are discussed in the following paragraphs in brief.

The ten tribal communities covered in three states and one Union Territory namely Bharia, Halba, Kamar, Majhwar and Panika of Madhya Pradesh: Gaddi and Gujjar of Himachal Pradesh; Tharu of Uttar Pradesh; Central Nicobarese and Shompen of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, are presented in this volume which depicts the diversity of culture, livelihood practices, health and health care systems and the impact of various developmental programmes initiated by both the States and Central Governments.

The Bharia of Madhya Pradesh was studied by Shri Pranab Jyothi De and Shri J. Sreenath. The Bharia who are also referred to as Bhumia use the language which probably belongs to the Kolarian or Mundari group. But they have totally forgotten language of their own and speak only Hindi. They are concentrated in the erstwhile state of Madhya Pradesh in Surguja, Jabalpur, Raigarh, Chhindwara and Bilaspur districts. While narrating their ancestor's origin, some Bharia opined that Arjun, one of the Pandavas took up a handful of bharru grass and pressed it hard.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages