Rituals And Festivals Of The Ho Tribe by Basanta Kumar Mohanta

Introduction
Some of the eastern Indian states like, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal possess a large number of tribal population. These three states being contiguous have many tribal communities such as Santal, Munda and Ho, spread over these three states. This paper deals with the rituals and festivals of the Ho tribe spread in two contiguous locations of Saraikella-Kharsuan (erstwhile West Singhbhum) district of Jharkhand and Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. Of the two core villages from where the data are mainly collected, Rabankocha, is an uni-ethnic Ho village situated in Jharkhand and the Badhatnabeda, a multi-ethnic village, located in Orissa . While the Orissa village is exposed to urban and mining environment, the Jharkhand village is comparatively interior and less exposed to the urban influences. The Hoes of these two villages have much commonality in terms of cultural and religious beliefs and practices.
The People
The Ho is one of the major tribes of Jharkhand and Orissa. The Calhan area of Jharkhand is the original place of their inhabitant. In due course of time they spread towards its neighboring areas of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal and even a few to Assam. These Hoes belong to the Proto-Astrologic group. They are of short stature, dark complex with broad and flat nose. In the Ho language the word 'Ho' means a man and accordingly any human being can be designated as a Ho. From the field situation it is clear that the term 'Ho' is only used by this community to identify them, whereas the other neighboring communities address them by the term 'Kola'. The Ho belong to the Munda branch of Austro-Asiatic languages and allied to Sandal and Mandarin dialects in certain respect. In Jharkhand (as it belonged to erstwhile Hindi state of Bihar till recently) the Hindi language based on Denair script is used for inter-community communication where as among themselves they speak Ho dialect. The Ho of Orissa use both Hindi and Oriya languages and Oriya script. They have a strong belief in religion, spirit and super natural powers. They worship different Gods and Goddesses residing in nearby jungles and hills. The Singhbonga or the Sun God is the supreme deity worshipped by them, who is mainly responsible for the rain, crop, life, and other necessities related to life. Besides Singhbonga, the Ho also worship a number of other deities like Marangburu, Goodie era, Japer era etc. The worship of both benevolent and malevolent spirits is also practiced among the Ho. They celebrate both traditional and adopted festivals. Their traditional festivals are mostly associated to their agricultural activities. The Ho traditionally being a part of an elaborate political system, have a strong traditional base with corresponding political offices to maintain social control. Thus, the Ho of Jharkhand at the lowest level were places under Piers, which were under a Mankind (a divisional headman). Each Ho village has their own headman called Munda. Birth is considered as an important landmark in Ho life cycle. Though a father plays the main role in procreation of a child, it is believed that a child is a gift of Singhbonga. The Hoes practice tribe endogamy and clan exogamy. Marriage within the clan is strictly prohibited and the offenders are treated outcaste from their society. Traditionally, the Ho believe that person dies not because of its old age or disease but because of the evil spirit and black magic. The Ho both bury and cremate their dead. Each clan has their separate burial place, located close to their house.
The Studied Villages
The first studied village Rabankocha is a traditional village situated under the jurisdiction of Gobindpur (Ranger) block of Saraikella-Kharsuan . This studied village lies in between 22035’ to 220 37’ NL and 86002’ to 86003’ EL The total village area is surrounded with different hills and hillocks. This village itself is located on the foothill of Hatboro. Across the Hatboro the village Gadded is situated at the northern side of the village. The Denature and Baridunuri hills stand on the eastern part of the village. Badkadal, Chard and Human are three multi-ethnic villages situated at the other side of the Jonesboro. The Hatboro covers the entire southwestern part of the village. Another hilly village named Kalajharana is situated on the north-western part of the Hatboro. The hills located at southern side serves as a state boundary of Jharkhand and Orissa states.
The second studied village Badhatnabeda is situated near the mining town of Badampahar in the Bamanghati subdivision of Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. It is a multi-ethnic village lies in between 22003’ to 22006’ NL and 86000’ to 860 02’ EL. The village falls under the jurisdiction of Kashmir (Badampahar) block and Badampahar police station. It comes within the area of Rairangpur tahasildar and Kathabharia branch post office. The village is well connected by an all season metal road with the Rairangpur-Jashipur branch of state highway near to the Jhaldunguri chaw from where the villagers go to their local town Badampahar through a connecting road.
Concept of Saran
The Ho, the nature worshippers believe in Saran religion. The word Saran is derived from the word Sir (arrow). The place of worship of the Ho is known as Seneschal or Jarhead which is nothing but a sacred grove, where a set of old Sarcoma (Sal) trees exist. This Seneschal is usually present at a little distance of the village. In his first monumental work "Munda and their Country", Ray Abrader S.C.Roy (1912) has mentioned that "Although the greater portion of the primeval forest, in clearings of which the Munda villages were originally established, have since disappeared under the axe or under the jar-fire. Many a Munda village still retain a portion or portions of the original forest to serve as Saunas or sacred groves. In some Mandarin villages, only a small clump of ancient trees now represent the original forest and serves as the village-Saran. These saunas are the only temples the Munds know. Here the village- gods reside, and are periodically worshipped and propitiated with sacrifices"(1995:242). To describe Saran religion, Dalton (1872:56-57) and Dehorn (1906:124) have mentioned that it is composite in nature but as per Roy (1918:1) it is an organized system of spirits set on a background of vague animism, which institutionally recognizes the deities and ancestral spirits.
Concept of Bongo
The Ho believe in a number of gods and goddesses as well as some benevolent and maleficent spirits who reside in and around the hills, forests, agricultural lands and their village premises. They also worship their Buras Bury (ancestral spirits) inside their aiding (kitchen). The Ho call all their deities and spirits as Bongo and according to them these Bongos are non-anthropomorphic. Thus, Bongo is the generic term, which is used to signify power and spirit. The same term (Bongo) is also used by the Sandals and Munds of the region. According to Bodding (1942) "All the spirits worshipped by the Santhals are called Bongo". Similarly, Mital (1986:69) has mentioned that "The Bongos among the Santhals are not bound by temporal bodies. The Bongo world of the Santhals includes the benevolent ancestral Bongos as well as the malevolent demons which are worshipped and appeased out of deviation and fear. The major element of Santhal religion is the belief that they are totally of Bongos surrounded by Bongos. These Bongos reside in the house, village, forest and even on the mountain". Similarly, Roy (1918) has mentioned that Munds worship two types– one Manita-bongas and other spirit. While describing about the Bongos of Ho, Majumdar (1950:264-267) has mentioned that "the word Bongo is a generic name, and is applied indiscriminately to refer to gods and spirits. The real meaning of Bongo is a power, a force, and the religion of the Ho may be called Bongaism. This power is so distinctly conceived by the Ho, that the belief in particular spirits may be destroyed without affecting their belief in Bongaism. The power, which we have called Bongo, is possessed by every individual, every animal, every plant, and every stream, rivulet, tank, rock, tree, forest field and mountain. It is possessed in greater or lesser degree by man, which gives him power over or makes him submit to others. When a man possesses a personality and weilds authority over others, he is a Bongaleka, i.e. a man like a Bongo. Bongo does not have any shape. It can take any form. Although the Ho believe in the beneficence of their Bongos, they also know that these Bongos can, and do punish or chastise them. Earthly failures, bodily afflictions, and materials losses are accounted for by the fact that they often disregarded the traditional rules of conduct, and fail to follow the mode of life, which alone can ensure a peaceful and happy existence on earth. Whenever they fall victims to a disease or an epidemic, when their crop fail, or their dexterity in hunting and fishing are of no avail, they first blame themselves and not to the Bongos". From this discussion, it is evident that the Ho believe both in benevolent and malevolent spirits. Some of the important Bongos of the Ho are Marangbonga, Singhbonga, and Dessauli .
The religious head of the Ho is known as Dehuri/Deuri, who is a mediator between Hor (man) and Bongos. He works as a priest and officiates in all the village or community level worships. The sources of diseases, illness, drought and any other calamity etc. appear to him through dream. He is not able to know about the role of a Bongo directly in his day-today life, but he gets to know about them only through dream.
The Ho worship these Bongos during different festivals as well as at the each mode of their life cycle rituals. As per the hierarchy or position of the Bongo they offer them flowers, arua rice, bel sakam, tulsi sakam and illi or diang and sacrifice sim (chicken) of different colour, boda/merom (unsterilised he-goat) etc. Serious illness is thought to be an influence of Bongo. The Ho worship them and sacrifice different types of birds/animals to get relief from it. According to Prasad (1961:107-108) and Duary (2000:184) the size/type or grade of sacrifice varies as per the quality of diseases. Initially they sacrifice a sim, if it does not give a good result then a merom is sacrificed. If this sacrifice of merom fails to produce relief then the sacrifice is increased one after another like a sheep or even a calf, cow or buffalo are then sacrificed.
Traditional Festivals
As a settled agricultural community, most of the festivals of the Ho are associated to their agricultural activities. Their festivals may be divided into two types namely, traditional and adopted. Apart from their domestic traditional rituals, they also worship different bongos communally either in their clan or village levels in different festivals. The traditional Ho festivals are communal in nature where the socio-religious as well as the recreational activities are performed simultaneously.
Some traditional festivals of the Ho, where their Bongos are worshipped in both family and village/community levels are described below.
(a) Mage Para
It is the principal festival of the Ho tribe. It is celebrated in the month of Mage (January-February), when the granaries are full of paddy. For welfare of the villagers, the Ho worship the Singhbonga and Dessauli along with some other Bongos of lesser importance during this festival. Different villagers celebrate this festival on different dates, but at one place it is celebrated for six days. The village Dehuri, with the help of other village headmen, fixes the date for festival and later it is declared in different public places and weekly market centers. Sometimes, they also send special messengers to different villages to invite their relatives. During the fixation of the date, they always take care about the date of the same festival of their neighboring/relatives' villages. They always try to give an opportunity to the people of their neighboring villages and relatives to come and attend their village festival and vice versa. During this festival, the Ho take illi or diang, sing Mage songs, and dance. "Songs with high dose of sex themes were sung by boys and girls from the Marring pare day onwards" (Das Gupta 1978:80). The youth of both sexes visit village to village and participate in their Mage festival which also provides them a scope to get acquainted with one another, which ultimately helps them to select their life partner. " In spite of this folk belief, the festival is otherwise thought to be recreational and smoothens the process of selecting life partners" (Mishra 1987:60).
According to the nature of celebration each day of the festival is named separately like, (1) Gawamara or Gawal, (2) Ote Illi or Ate Illi (3) Loyo or Sange Illi, (4) Marring Para or Marring Musing, (5) Basi Para or Mage Basi or Basi Musing and (6) Hanr Magea or Hanr Bongo or Har Bagia which are briefly described below.
(1) Gawamara or Gawal
The first day of Mage parab is known as the Gawamara or Gawal. On this day, the Ho worship their ancestral Bongos in their house for the betterment of their cattle. Besides this, no such communal worship is made. In the morning they gather at the house of Dehuri with grass saim ba, pulses, illi and busumhasa (soil from white ant mound) and places all these items on a spot besmeared with cow dung solution. A cow-boy, who imitates or symbolically represents a cow, moves around the spot for seven rounds after uttering some incarnations and take a little amount of illi from the spot. Following to it, the villagers take some grass from the spot and keep it at their cattle shed.
(2) Ote Illi (or) Ate Illi
On this particular day, the Ho offer illi to their Bongos. For this offering one member, preferably the head man, from each family carry a pot full of illi to Demur's house, where Dehuri and his wife sit on the Michaela/gander, each holding a push (sale leaf cup). The villagers give their illi to Josie (assistant of Dehuri). Then Josie pours a little illi in the push of Dehuri. Dehuri utters prayers in mind and offers it to different Bongos like Singbonga, Dessauli and Maghebonga. There after the Dehuri and his wife take a little illi from the push followed by the other villagers present there. Following to it dancing and singing continue until the late night.
(3) Loyo (or) Sange Illi
It is the day of purification when the Ho clean their courtyard, houses and granaries and plaster them with the cow dung solution. They also sprinkle this cow dung solution over all their utensils, agricultural implements as well as on the other daily use artifacts. The Josie cleans the jahera (the sacred grove generally located on the out- skirt of the village which is believed to be the place of their village bonga-Dessauli) along with the courtyard of Dehuri. Besides this, the Ho donor perform any kind of work in this day. They spend their time on dinning, drinking , singing and dancing.
(4) Marring parab (or) Musing-musing
This is the day of the main festival, when the Ho sacrifice some sims (chickens) to their Bongos and perform other rituals. In this day, Dehuri observes fast. Besides, he is not allowed to make any sexual relation with his wife in the night before. The village youth decorate the place of worship in the morning and in the mid day the Dehuri goes to their nearest water source for having purificatory bath. The Jomsim and the other villagers accompany him along with different musical instruments. After bath, they all come to their worship place with procession. They bring with them some dried rice, sim, puh, illi, da (water) and a weapon to sacrifice sims. Dehuri scatters some sun dried rice on the ground for the sims. It is believed as auspicious if these sims swallow these rice freely. Then Dehuri sacrifices these sims before different Bongas. The white sim is offered to Singbonga, red is to Dessauli and black is to Nagebonga. The first two sims are sacrificed, where the last one i.e. black sim is not killed and is let free. The villagers then stone it to death. At the time of worship both Jomsim and villagers assist the Dehuri in different aspects where the female members look it from a little distance. Then the villagers cook these sacrificed sims at Dehuri’s house and take along with illi. Dancing and singing with obscene song narrating the different organs of both sexes or inviting each other for sexual relation is followed by it and continues till the late hour of the night.
(5) Basi parab (or) Basi musing (or) Maghe basi
It is the day when the Ho gives good-bye to their all invited Bongas. They offer the cooked food and illi to their ancestral Bongas at their aading. In this day Deonwa (the diviner or medicine man) worships the Bongas at his courtyard and sacrifice sim.
(6) Hanr Maghe (or) Hanr Bonga (or) Har Bagia
It is the typical day of this festival when the malevolent Bongas are driven out from the village. In the mid-day the village boys come in groups and hit the roof and wall of houses with sticks with the belief that it expels all types of diseases and miseries from the village. They collect some rice, vegetables and sims from villagers and finally all gather at the out-skirt of the village, where they sacrifice sims and make a feast. Likewise, they finish their Maghe parab.
(b) Baha (or) Baha parab
In the Ho language, "Ba" means flower and from the name of the festival it is clear that this festival is related to the flowers, particularly with the indigenous flowers like Sarjom ba or Sal flower. This festival is also known as Phulbhanguni and is celebrated in the month of Chaitra (February-March) in honour of the village deity Dessauli. It continues for four days and each day has a separate name of importance. The first day is known as He sakam diang, second day is as Marang musing, third day is as Basi musing and the last day is as Bala badni.
The Ho collect Sarjom sakam (Sal leaf), Sarjom ba, Tila ba and Icha ba etc. from their nearby jungle on the first day of the festival, where as on the second day the Dehuri worships the Dessauli, Gram siri and Singhbonga as well as sacrifices sims and boda/merom (unsteralised he-goat) to these Bongas. He offers some ba to the Bongas and distributes other to the villagers. On the third day the Ho worship their ancestral Bongas at their aading, while the last day is meant for the expulsion of their invited Bongas. Eating, drinking of illi, singing and dancing are the other major parts of this festival. Irrespective of age and sex every Hos enjoy this festival. In brief, it is a traditional, flower festival when the nature is worshipped in village level to invoke good flowering.
(c) Rajasala (or) Raja parab
It is a regional festival of enjoyment, which falls during the Yethe chandu/Yoisthya (May-June). The Ho celebrate it in family level for two days. In this festival neither any sacrifice is made nor any worship is done. It is the time of rest and during this festive period any kind of agricultural work is strictly prohibited. Group dancing, singing and taking of illi is the major features of this festival.
(d) Hero parab
It is essentially related to the agricultural activities which is celebrated for three days during the hero chandu/ashar (June-July) for sufficient rains and bumper crops. On the first day of the festival, the Ho collect, Sarjom sakam from jungle and clean their houses and courtyards. On the second day Dehuri worships Dessauli Bonga either at their paddy field or at the Kolom or threshing ground or at their courtyard. He offers arua rice and bel sakam (wood apple leaves) and sacrifices a sim or a boda/merom to her. After that the other villagers follow the method of worship of the Dehuri and even who does not have any landed property worship the Bonga in the same manner. In the evening, they offer the cooked food and illi to their ancestral Bongas at their aading and then the recreational part of the festival starts. On the last day Dehuri worships their Bongas and initiates sowing seeds on the land which is followed by the villagers.
(e) Bahtauli parab
This festival is also connected with the activities, which falls during the Bahare chandu or Sarvana (July-August). In this festival Dehuri, worships the Dessauli Bonga at Jahera for protecting their paddy fields from the insects and pests as well as for yielding bumper crops. There is no particular date for this festival. Before its celebration the Dehuri worships the Dessauli Bonga at Jahera and fixes a date, which is accepted by all the villagers. On the day of festival the Hos offer a tiril sakam (Kendu leaf) and sacrifice a sim at Jahera. On the preceding day each family erect a twig of tiril tree in their own paddy fields.
(f) Jamnawa parab
It is a harvesting festival. During this festival, the Ho communally offer the newly harvested paddy to their Bongas. On this day the Ho consume their new rice first, even if they have harvested it much before. This festival is equivalent to the Nua Khai or Nua Khia parab of the Oriyas, which is celebrated in the month of Aswina (September-October) of each year. Like some of the other festivals it has also no fixed date. The Dehuri, the Munda and other headman of the village as per their convenience fix the date. Even some times it is also evident that the Ho from the same village celebrate it in different days.
On the fixed day the Dehuri worships the Dessauli Bonga along with some other Bongas and sacrifices sim for them. Sometimes, some other headmen of the village can also perform this worship. The villagers worship their ancestral Bongas at their aading and offer them flattened rice prepared from new paddy crop along with illi. The time of the rest part of the festival is spent through eating, drinking, singing and dancing, which continue till the late night.
(g) Kakamontanri (or) Kalam parab
It is also an agricultural based festival, which is celebrated prior to threshing of their paddy, during the Kalam chandu (December-January) of each year. It is a family level festival where worship is made to Dessauli Bonga, Singhbonga and Marangbonga. In this festival, the Ho worship the above said Bongas at their threshing ground for the purification of paddy straw. During this worship the Ho place all of their agricultural related implements like, Siu (plough), Moi (long wooden field leveling implement) and sickle etc. at their threshing place and spray turmeric mixed water on these as well as on the paddy with the help of tulsi (basil) sakam and mango twigs for purification. At last they sacrifice three red sims, one white sim and a black sim to their Bongas.
Adopted Rituals and Festivals
Though traditionally the Ho believe in Sarna religion, now-a-days syncretism is noticed in their religious activities, where they follow their main religion along with the religion of wider pantheon i.e. Hinduism. The 1981 census in Bihar (including present Jharkhand) returns 81.65% of the Ho under ‘other religion’ shows a majority of their population as followers of a tribal religion. In the same census the religious status of the Ho is, 16.52% are Hindus, 1.43% are Christians and rest are the Muslims, Sikhs and others whereas in Orissa returns 81.49% of the Ho as followers of Hinduism, 0.87% as Christians and 3.70% to others. Similarly in West Bengal 97.69% as followers of Hinduism, 0.87 % as Christians, 0.22% as Muslims and 1.22% as those who profess ‘other religions’. From the comparisons of 1961 and 1981 census data it is evident in Bihar (including present Jharkhand) that the traditional tribal religion are increased from 73.30% to 81.65 %. The Ho who professes Hinduism decreased from 26.15 % to 16.52%, which is reverse in case of Christians, which increases from 0.55 percentages to 1.43%. Similarly in Orissa, 13.94% tribal have returned as ‘other religions’. From the comparison of the above census data it is also evident that the population of Hindus is on the decrease from 99.97% (1961) to 81.49% (1981). As per 1971 census 12.79% of the Ho has been returned under ‘other religions. This also includes their traditional religion of tribe. Here we noticed a slow resurgence of tribal faith (Singh 1994: 406-408).
After coming in regular contact with the wider Hindu pantheon, some of the Ho adopted several festivals, but they do not neglect their traditional ones. Though the process of syncretism in the ritual sphere of religion is noticed among the Ho, the level of syncretism varies in different areas depending on their different socio-cultural contact and ecological environment. The Ho of Kolhan area (West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand) are more traditional as compared to the Ho of Orissa. Further, the Ho of bordering area of Kolhan area are not much exposed like the Ho of other part of Orissa and because of this, the level of syncretism varies as per their exposure. For example, the level of syncretism is less among the Ho of Jharkhand as compared to the Ho of Orissa. Similarly, it is less among the Ho of Bamanghaty and Panchpir sub-divisions of Mayurbhanj district and Champua sub-division of Keonjhar district of Orissa, which are located at the immediate neighborhood of Kolhan area, as compared to the Ho of other parts of Orissa. Because of this, the Ho of the above said areas of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts of Orissa celebrate very limited Hindu festivals like Durga puja, Biswakarma puja, Ganesh puja, Swaraswati puja and Ratha yatra (Car festival) etc, where as the Ho of other parts of Orissa are more Hinduised who directly or indirectly participate in most of the Hindu festivals. Some times they give less importance to their traditional festivals. Similarly, some of the Ho, particularly those who work in different town areas with different people of wider pantheon, celebrate the Hindu festivals at their working place and also participate in traditional festivals in the village.
In some cases it is also observed that some of the educated/retired (from service) Hos, who are living in their native village, worship their traditional Bongas like, Singhbonga, Marangbonga and Dessauli etc. during their festive occasions and simultaneously they also worship the Hindu deities both in their family and village levels. Example may be cited of Mr. Satrughan Bari (M/42) of village Sunamara of Jamda block of Mayurbhanj district, who is a retired army person believes and worships his traditional deities at his village but when he purchased a bajaj kawasaki motorcycle in 1999 he bought it to his nearest Hindu temple to take blessings of deity. Besides, before he starts his motorcycle he utters the name of a deity, who is from Hindu religion. Similarly, lord Ganesh and Devi Saraswati are being worshipped each year regularly in their village school officiated by a Hindu priest. Another example may be cited here, that of Miss Subasini Singh (F/37), who is working as a nurse at village Kulgi, is highly qualified and she is living with the adherents of wider Hindu pantheon. She speaks and writes Oriya for communication and worships Hindu deities like lord Ganash, devi Saraswati and devi Laxmi etc. each day in her house. Her villagers celebrate Saraswati puja in their village. They also perform Soni-mela in their houses. Once she was also worshipping Sontoshimata continuously for fourteen Fridays for fulfilling some of her desires. We may also summarize that women folk in simple tribal societies are more prone to adoption of multifarious religious traditions seeking fulfillment of their desires. Duary has studied the Hos of Chaibasa area where also we noticed element of synthesis of dual religious beliefs. He has obversed that " many Ho people go to the local temple twice or thrice a week to make offerings of fruit, flower and incense like their Hindu brethren. Like wise whenever they purchase a new vehicle they visit a Hindu temple preferably the Kali temple to seek her blessings" (2000: 187).
Tusu vasani is the main attraction of the Makar Sakranti or Makar parab which is celebrated, basically by the Hindu caste people, in almost all part of south Jharkhand and north Orissa in the month of January. This festival is also popularly known as Tusu parab. During this festival the villagers prepare an image of Tusu devi and worship her. On the fixed date the villagers from all neighbouring villages gather their Tusus in a common place nearer to any water source, where they sing Tusu songs and dance. Finally they immerse their images. The Hos of Mayurbhanj district in general and the Hos of Bahalda, Tiring, Jharadihi, Jamda, Gorumahisani, Rairangpur and Badampahar area in particular also participate in this Tusu parab directly or indirectly. They go to their nearer Tusu vasani centres like Ranibandh, Satikudar (Rairangpur), Ghumal, Gambharia, Kulgi, Bahalda, Basingi, Mahulpani and Paharpur etc. on different fixed date and enjoy the festival with great joy.
The use of different types of colour papers, ribbons, flags, plastic flowers, colour powders is also evident during their different puja and festivals. "In some cases the Ho people also use the mango leaves, tulsi sakam (basil leaves) and da (water). It is probably borrowed from the neighboring Hindu society" (Duary 2000:187).
According to Majumdar most of the malevolent Bongas of the Hos are not their own and seems to have come from some Hindu equivalent deities found among the neighbouring Oriyas. As per him the Gara Satamai of Ho is not other than the Devi Nai Bhagawati of the Oriya, which is perhaps a name for that spirit that presides over the tanks and ponds. Satamai is the impure word of Sat-ma, the stepmother, and the actual mother being Nage- bonga or the river goddess. At the time of analysing the Kar-bongako like, Suni kar, Rahu kar, Dinda kar and Chuhar kar he argued that "Kar is not a Ho word, it is the same word as Kal, the destroyer, and is associated with ‘time’. The word Kali that signifies the goddess of that name in popular Hinduism is derived from the same word Kal. Suni kar, Rahu kar are none other than the planets Sani (saturn) and Rahu, known to the Hindus as Kal…….The word Chandi (Another name for Kali) is taken from the Hindus, particularly from the Oriyas. For example, Bisai Chandi (poisonous), Ranga Chandi (blood thirty or red), Chinta Dain and Kaltud (a corruption of Kalketu), Jugini-bonga is none other than Jugini, who with her counter part Dakini is said to accompany Kali or Chandi" (Majumdar 1950 :255-256). From this statement of Majumdar it is clear that most of the deities worshipped by the Hos during the different festivals are not of their own, but are borrowed from their neighbouring Hindus. We see here a long process of adoption of several deities from the dominant Hindu neighbours and moulding the original names to tribal pattern of vocabulary.
The popularity of Manasa Devi (A Hindu goddess, believed as a daughter of Lord Shiva who presides over snakes) is not only limited among the Hindus it is equally popular among the tribes (particularly of the Hos) of the region. The entire Kolhan area as well as its neighbouring areas are covered with hills and forests and the people of the region are very much dependent on their local ecology. Everyday they move in and around the dense jungle in search of games and other forest products. As different types of poisonous snakes are abundant in this forest ecology, there is much possibility of snakebites. Therefore, the Hindus of the region worship Devi Manasa for protection. In the earlier days, the Hos were trying to cure the victims of such accident by their own traditional methods. However, sometimes they were unable to protect the lives of the victims. Because of the insufficiency in their own method it encouraged a number of Hos to force to worship this Hindu goddess. Therefore, the Hos of the region adopted this alien goddess and started worshipping, which gradually got assimilated in their culture. According to Chatterjee and Das (1927:59) the people of Purti khili (of Ho tribe) of village Nohadi, which is situated near to the town of Saraikella, worship goddess Manasa to whom they offer sweets and flowers and before whom they sacrifice fowls and goats.
The religious syncretism is again noticed in the Ho, which is adopted. There are many Akharas (training centres) functioning in different parts of the region where a number of tribal and non-tribal people are learning incantations (mantras) from their Gurus or teachers. According to Majumdar "a number of young men have learnt the spells and prayers to this goddess as a protection against snake-bite, and as a method of driving the poison from the system. The Guru or teacher is usually an Oriya Ojha, who teaches spectacular methods of invoking the goddess. Mantras which are nothing but names of Hindu gods and goddess with their modes of worship, the details of the offerings of which they are fond, and stories of the assistance they have rendered to this or that individual in times of calamity. They are muttered and sung in such a sing-song tune that very few could understand them. They were mostly in Bengali spoken in Oriya style"(1950: 360-361). According to Majumdar in every fortnight, two days before the Amabashya or the new moon the Guru set in meditation under a tamarind tree. He decorates his forerhead with vermilion and place plates of Arua rice and banana cut into small pieces on his either side. Besides these offerings he (Guru) also keeps a few leaf cups of illi (rice bear). If we analyse these offerings it will be evident that though the tribals adopted their alien deities, they worship them in their own methods which includes both the Hinduised methods of worship along with their tribal method of worship.
All the tribal communities of the studied region have a very strong belief in witchcraft. Continuation of any kind of disease for a long time is regarded as the action of Dian (witch) or evil Bongas. These Dians are generally elderly women members of their society. Though some of the aged women are generally treated as Dian, irrespective of all age group they can learn the Dian bidya (the technique of witch craft). In the night of Amabashya the Dians go to their nearby Smashan (burial place) where they change their cloths and wear broom sticks at their waist and dance around the tree. Some times they supposed to have intercourse with the malevolent Bongas or spirits so as to acquire power to bring any type of natural calamity in their region or to harm their enemies or to kill. Ojha or Deonwa is the traditional medicine man among the tribes who tries to find out the causes of disease of the people and their solutions.
According to Das Gupta, the belief in Dian among the Ho is due to culture contact of Hindu where they belief in their Bongas (both benevolent and malevolent) as well as sacrifice to them their indigenous procedure through Dehuri to get rid of the problems. He further stated that the Deonwas cult is not originally of the Ho and is borrowed from the neighbouring ‘low’ Hindu caste people. Most of these Deonwas belong to Gouda (milkman) caste of Hindu. The Guru of these Deonwas is again from the Hindu community, who trains the Deonwas in their Akhara. As mentioned above the Mantras are nothing but the names of different Hindu god and goddess, and which are rearranged with some Hindi words. It shows a clear-cut influence of Hindu cultural elements in the Ho community (1978:86-90).
Whenever a Ho suffers from the severe disease they, usually, take the help of a Deonwa, who tries to detect the causes, whether it is happened due to some evil Bongas or Dian or some other causes. Some times, he first gives some herbal medicines and if he was unsuccessful, he tries to detect its actual cause. He usually follows two types of methods for identifying the causes. First of all, he checks the pulse rate at the hand where high pulse rate signifies about the influence of unnatural causes. Secondly, he grinds some Arua rice along with sindur either in a sarjom sakam or on a hata. Failure in traditional methods of treatment forced them to bring the patient to their nearby hospital. However, some times it is also noticed that they yet continue their traditional method of treatment simultaneously with the modern medicines.
Conclusion
Most of the rituals and festivals of the present studied tribe are associated with their agricultural activities, which is celebrated during their different stages of agricultural session. Due to the regular contact with the wider Hindu pantheon, spread of education, popularity of printed and electronic medias, availability of easy communication facility they gradually have started to adopt some rituals and festivals of their neighboring people. They celebrate their traditional rituals and festivals at their village and house levels side by side participate in various religious activities of their neighbors. Finally, it may conclude that though some aspects of rituals and festivals of the Ho are highly influenced by the Hindu religion and practices their traditional rituals and festivals are still not much changed. Source: http://www.thetribaltribune.com

The Branded Tribes of India -By G. N. Devi
[The following piece is by G. N. Devi, editor Budhan, the newsletter of the Denotified Nomadic Tribes Rights Action Groups (DNT-RAG). The newsletter is named after one Budhan Sabar who belonged to the Kheria Sabar Tribal community of the Purulia region in West Bengal. His dead body was handed over from the Purulia jail to his family in February, 1998. The police said that he had committed suicide in his jail cell. Jnanpeeth-Magsaysay award winner Mahasweta Devi took this case to the Calcutta High Court and alleged that Budhan was beaten to death. Justice Rama Pal of the Calcutta High Court rejected the police story in the judgment delivered on July 6 and ordered the State Government to pay compensations of Rs. 80,000/- to his wife and Rs. 5,000/- to his parents. The judgment also directed the State to punish the Jail Superintendent of Purulia and the office in-charge of Burrabazar police station. The newsletter of TNT-RAG is so named after Budhan Sabar - General Secretary]
The social category generally known as the Denotified and Nomadic tribes of India covers a population approximately of six crores. Some of them are included in the list of Scheduled castes, some others in the Scheduled Castes, some others in the Scheduled Tribes, and quite a few in Other Backward Classes. But there are many of these tribes which find place in none of the above. What is common to all these Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNTs) is the fate of being branded as 'born' criminals.
The story of the DNTs goes back to the early years of the colonial rule. In those times, whoever opposed the British colonial expansion was perceived as a potential criminal. Particularly, if any attempts were made to oppose the government by the use of the arms, the charge of criminality was a certainty. Many of the wandering minstrels, fakirs, petty traders, rustic transporters and disbanded groups of soldiers were included by the British in their list of criminal groups. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the tribes in the North West frontier had been declared 'criminal tribes'. This category became increasingly open ended and by 1871 the British had prepared an official list of Criminal Tribes. An act to regulate criminal tribes was passed that year. For instance, Bhils who had fought the British rule in Kandesh and on the banks of Narmada and were convicted under section 110 of the IPC were to be recognised as criminal tribes. The CT Act made provisions for establishing reformatory settlements where the criminal tribals could be kept in confinement and subjected to low paid work. They were required to report to the guardrooms several times every day, so that they did not escape the oppressive settlements.
By 1921, the CT Act had been extended to cover numerous other tribes in Madras Presidency, Hyderabad and Mysore. Thus, about the time Indian politics saw the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi as the leader of the freedom struggle, the Indian society mutely witnessed the emergence of a new class of people who were branded as born criminals.
Soon after Independence, the communities notified as criminal tribals were denotified by the Government. This notification was followed by substitution of a series of Acts, generally entitled 'Habitual Offenders Act! The HOAs preserved most of the provisions of the former CT Acts, except the premise implicit in it that an entire community can be 'born' criminal. Apparently, the denotification and the passing of the HOAs should have ended the misery of the communities penalised under the CT Act. But that has not happened. The police force as well as the people in general were taught to look upon the 'Criminal Tribes' as born criminals during the colonial times. That attitude continues to persist even today. One does not know if the police training academies in India still teach the trainees that certain communities are habitually criminal; but surely the CT Act is a part of the syllabus leading to the discussion of crime-watch. The result is that every time there is a petty theft in a locality, the DNTs in the neighbourhood become the first suspects. The ratio between the arrests and the convictions of the DNTs needs to be analysed to see the extent of the harassment caused by the police to these most vulnerable and the weakest sections of our society. The land possessed by the criminal tribes was already alienated during the colonial rule. After independence, various state governments have done little to restore their land to them. Schemes for economic uplift do not seem to have benefited them. The illiteracy rate among the DNTs is higher than among the SCs or the STs, malnutrition's more frequent and provisions for education and health care almost negligible since most of the DNTs have remained nomadic in habit. And above all, there is no end to the atrocities that the DNTs have to face.
Being illiterate and ignorant of the law of the land, the DNTs know very little about the police procedures, and so often get into difficult situations. The onus of proving innocence rests with them. I have known many of these people who are scared to wear new clothes for the fear of being arrested and therefore spoil them before using them. Mob-lynched, hounded from village to village, starved of all civic amenities, deprived of the means of livelihood and gripped by the fear of police persecution, the DNTs of India are on the run. Freedom has still not reached them.
It is time that the Census authorities take up the work of deciding on a procedure to count the DNTs as a distinct category in the next Census. Similarly, the police training academies will have to make special efforts to senstise the new trainees to treat this unfortunate lot with less brutality and greater understanding. They will have to be brought under the provisions made for the STs in the Tribal Sub-plans. Moreover, the people of India will have to raise their voice and alert the authorities at local and national level to the kind of silent genocide that the DNTs are facing. It is then that, some day, these first freedom fighters of our country will receive the benefits of independence for which they have carried the stigma of being branded for over a century.
Source: http://www.pucl.org

The Tribal Problem in All-India Perspective

In an industrialized India the destruction of the aboriginal's life is as inevitable as the submergence of the Egyptian temples caused by the dams of the Nile. . . . As things are going there can be no grandeur in the primitive's end. It will not be even simple extinction, which is not the worst of human destinies. It is to be feared that the aboriginal's last act will be squalid, instead of being tragic. What will be seen with most regret will be, not his disappearance, but his enslavement and degradation.Nirad C. Chaudhuri, The Continent of Circe, 1965

Fifteen years ago Nirad C. Chaudhuri, the provocative analyst of the Indian social scene, published this gloomy forecast, and readers of the foregoing chapters may well agree that the dice are heavily loaded against the likelihood of an unclouded future for the forty million Indian aboriginals. A comparison of the fate of the tribes of Andhra Pradesh, who share their environment with Hindu populations, and those in sole possession of the highlands of Arunachal Pradesh indicates the alternative lines along which tribal communities may develop. However, the choice of the road which any tribal society will take is hardly ever left to the tribesmen themselves but is imposed on them by external circumstances outside their own control.
During the last years of British rule in India, there raged a passionate controversy about the policy to be adopted vis-à-vis the aboriginal tribes. While anthropologically minded administrators advocated a policy of protection, which in specific cases involved even a measure of seclusion, Indian politicians attacked the idea of segregation and seclusion on the grounds that it threatened to deepen and perpetuate divisions within the Indian nation, and delayed the aboriginals' integration into the rest of the population. Today this controversy, though occasionally revived in newspaper articles and political speeches, has largely abated. It has become obvious that, on the one hand, a measure of integration is coming about automatically even in protected regions such as Arunachal Pradesh, but that, on the other hand, compulsory integration, even if rapidly progressing, has rarely benefited the tribals in the sense of assuring them a satisfactory place in the wider Indian society.
The protagonists of integration usually ignore the fact that there exists no homogeneous Indian society with which tribal groups could merge by adopting a standard cultural pattern. The so-called advanced Indian society, with its linguistic, religious, and caste divisions, is far from uniform, and it has never been specified into which of the numerous divisions any particular tribal group could be integrated. India's tribal population is equally divided, for its heterogeneity extends to race, language, and cultural levels, quite apart from its scattered distribution over numerous disparate environments.
Racial distinctions are superficially most obvious, though their social implications are of minor significance. As the most ancient population element in the subcontinent, some of the aboriginals belong clearly to very archaic racial strata. The oldest is formed by the Veddoids, exemplified by tribes such as Chenchus and Kadars (see the Introduction). They represent a racial type which extends from south Arabia eastwards across India, and as far as parts of the Southeast Asian mainland and Indonesia. Intermixed with other racial types, the Veddoid element is found in most of the tribes of Southern and Middle India, and its prevalence among the Gond tribes is reflected in the term Gondid , which some physical anthropologists apply to one of the Veddoid subtypes.
The Veddoid element is absent among the hill tribes of Northeast India, who belong to a racial stratum usually described as Palaeo-Mongoloid, which extends over wide areas of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and the Philippines. Mongoloid traces are discernible also among some of the hill tribes of Orissa, such as Saoras and Bondos, and it is not unlikely that in prehistoric times, before the invasion of India by waves of peoples of Caucasoid race, there were some marginal contacts between the Veddoids inhabiting Middle and Southern India and the Mongoloids who occupied the Himalayan and northeastern regions.
In discussion of the prospects for the integration of the aboriginals with the majority of the Indian population, these racial factors are often overlooked. Yet many tribals differ in appearance from the dominant population of their respective regions, and even complete cultural and linguistic assimilation cannot remove the fact that an Apa Tani or Nishi looks different from the members of Assamese Hindu castes or a Chenchu from the peoples of Hyderabad City. Khasis and Nagas of Northeast India often comment on the fact that on visits to Delhi or Bombay they are taken for Burmese, Thais, or Malayans, and are asked to produce their passports.
It is all the more remarkable that, despite racial differences no less obvious than those found in countries with acute race problems, India has never experienced any serious racial tensions. While religion and language have frequently figured as factors in communal controversies, distinctions in physical make-up have never been played up as facts of political significance. One of the causes of the unimportance of the race factor may be inherent in the ideology of Hindu caste society, which accepts that humanity is divided into intrinsically distinct groups. Since the endogamy and social exclusiveness of Hindu castes are in themselves a bar to close inter-group relations, there is no need to place social distance between racially differentiated groups. The normal operation of the caste system is quite sufficient to prevent intermarriage, commensalism, and intimate social intercourse between members of different communities, and hence there is no need to bring in the race factor. There is very little likelihood of any substantial miscegenation involving persons of basically different racial groups, and whatever progress in the cultural assimilation of tribal communities may be made, there can be no doubt that for a long time to come most tribes will persist as groups with distinct racial characteristics.
Another decisive factor is language, but unlike race, this is not an immutable feature. While a tribal community cannot change its racial make-up in order to conform to the characteristics of the population dominant in a region, its members can become proficient in the main regional language. The first step in such a process of assimilation is usually bilingualism, and many aboriginals in contact with advanced populations are fluent in languages other than their mother tongue. Sometimes bilingualism is only a transitional phase, followed by the decline and ultimate extinction of the tribal tongue. A process of linguistic assimilation has gone on for hundreds and probably thousands of years, and many tribal communities have lost their original tongues and speak today one of the main languages of India.
The smaller a group is, the greater is the likelihood that it will lose its tribal language and adopt the language of economically stronger and culturally more advanced neighbours. Examples of the displacement of one language by another are numerous. Telugu, one of the Dravidian languages with a substantial literature, is steadily gaining ground at the expense of minor unwritten tribal tongues, which also belong to the Dravidian language group. This process can be observed in the Telengana districts of Andhra Pradesh. The Koyas of some groups of villages south of the Godavari still speak their tribal Gondi dialect, but use Telugu as a means of communication with their Telugu-speaking neighbours. The majority of Koyas, however, have given up Gondi altogether and speak Telugu even among themselves.
The contact zones between tribal and non-tribal populations provide instructive examples of the manner in which new languages may infiltrate the speech of small communities. The Bondos of the Orissa highlands, for instance, speak a Munda language, but in conversation with their lowland Hindu neighbours they employ Oriya. Such contact is mainly in the sphere of commerce, and the Oriya terms for the higher numerals, lacking in Bondo, and those for weights and measures have been incorporated into Bondo speech. Surprisingly, many prayers and magical formulae are also spoken in Oriya, because the Bondos think it proper that deities and spirits should be addressed in a "superior" language. Thus Oriya is fast becoming the ritual and not only the trade language of the Bondos. School education imparted through the medium of Oriya no doubt accelerates the erosion of the tribal tongue. It goes without saying that the displacement of a tribal language also involves the loss of the entire oral literature of the tribe concerned, and this in turn leads to a blurring of the tribal identity and world-view.
Whatever the results of linguistic change for the development of tribal cultures may be, there can be no doubt that in an age of rapidly improving communications extreme diversity of languages cannot persist unmodified. In some parts of Nagaland one could, even when travelling on foot, pass in a single day through three different language areas, and this linguistic fragmentation had come about because villages were isolated from each other by long-standing feuds, often involving head-hunting raids, and there was hence no occasion for people from different settlements to converse with each other. The pacification of tribal areas in Northeast India has put an end to the isolation of small communities and created a need for a common language. In Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh a kind of pidgin Assamese partly fulfils this need, but the people of both territories have now chosen English as their official language and medium of instruction, and the educated, at least, increasingly use English for communication between members of different tribes.
The attitude of the Government of India and the various state governments to the tribal languages is ambivalent. In Andhra Pradesh, the use of Gondi as the medium of instruction in primary schools for Gond children was abandoned, and since the breakup of Hyderabad State no more books in Gondi have been printed. The avowed policy of the government is clearly to educate all children through the medium of Telugu, which is now the official language of Andhra Pradesh, even though much of the official business is still conducted in English.
Notwithstanding the fact that educational experts in most Indian states are unanimous in advocating education in the mother tongue at least up to high school level, this principle is not applied to tribal children, even in the case of such large tribal groups as Santals and Hos, who speak Munda languages not even remotely related to Hindi, the dominant language of the state of Bihar. The Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission set up by the Government of India in 1960 under Article 339 of the Constitution severely criticized the reluctance of state governments to satisfy the tribals' demand for primary education in their own languages. Under Article 350A of the Constitution, every state must endeavour to provide children of minority groups with adequate facilities for instruction in their mother tongue at the primary stage of education, but the commission pointed out that some of the states had taken this matter very casually, and failed to provide textbooks in even the major tribal languages. It does not appear that these admonitions have induced state governments to change their policies, and the prospects for the future of tribal languages are thus far from encouraging. The voluminous publications issued by the office of the commissioner for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and other agencies concerned with tribal welfare contain very little information on the problem of tribal languages, and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that politicians and officials alike regard their ultimate disappearance as inevitable and even desirable in the interest of the integration of the tribes with the majority communities.
Only in some states of Northeast India, where the growth of political consciousness has led to a new evaluation of tribal identity, is there also a revival of interest in tribal languages. Thus Khasi, an Austroasiatic language spoken in Meghalaya by one of the two tribal majority communities, has been developed as a literary language suitable as a medium of instruction. This move had the result that even the University of Gauhati, though situated in Assam, has now recognized Khasi as a language in which certain examination papers may be written. For major tribes determined to cultivate their own languages, bilingualism would seem to be a solution which would enable a people to participate in the wider national life without losing touch with its cultural heritage.
Besides differences in race and language, there are various cultural factors which set the tribesmen apart from the bulk of Hindu society. Some of these are intangible and do not lend themselves to statistical assessment or comparative analysis. For many years the factor of religion was a criterion by which the tribes were distinguished from such communities as Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, or Christians. Until 1931 millions of aboriginals were returned in the census reports as adherents of tribal religions, but in more recent census reports tribal religions were not separately listed but were included under the head "Others." The reasons for the discontinuation of the heading "Tribal
Religions" are partly of a practical and partly of a political nature. Tribal religions are clearly not as easily definable as Islam or Buddhism, and whereas no doubt usually exists whether a person is a Muslim or an adherent of a tribal religion, it is not so easy to distinguish between some tribal cults and certain types of popular Hinduism. The political objections to the separate listing of tribal religions are based on the argument that census statistics on religion tend to perpetuate communal divisions.
The undoubted tendency to classify members of aboriginal tribes as Hindus and to play down the distinctions between tribal religions and popular Hinduism must not be considered indicative of an organized movement to convert tribals to Sanskritic Hinduism. Apart from the discouragement of such customs as cow sacrifice and the use of intoxicating liquor as an offering to tribal gods, there is on the part of local Hindu communities little desire to induce the tribals to change their beliefs and religious practices. Indeed, a cynical observer of the relations between tribals and Hindus in such regions as the highlands of Adilabad may come to the conclusion that the Hindus "want the Gonds' land and not their souls." Though in areas of close contact between Hindus and tribals Hindu ideas and customs may gradually spread to tribal communities, they usually find acceptance as an addition to tribal beliefs rather than as their replacement. "Conversions" of tribesmen to Hinduism in a sense comparable to conversions to Christianity or Islam are comparatively rare, even though in recent years Hindu missions have been active in some tribal regions of Middle India. Their efforts have concentrated more on modifying social customs than on propagating a new doctrine. Even where there are no such agencies for the propagation of the Hindu way of life, school-teachers and minor government officials, who—except in Arunachal Pradesh—are almost invariably non-tribals, tend to discourage tribal customs objectionable to Hindu sentiment, and although India is constitutionally a secular state, there have been instances of official interference with such tribal religious practices as animal sacrifices.
In this respect there are certain discrepancies between the policies advocated by the central government and those pursued by individual states. The official policy of the Government of India is one of tolerance towards the beliefs, customs, and way of life of the tribal people, whereas some of the state governments have shown themselves less sensitive to the right of tribal communities to follow their traditional pattern of life, even in matters not affecting the interests of other sections of the population.
It is paradoxical that in many areas where tribals are exposed to the influence of caste Hindus just those features of Hindu society which modern India strives to discard are newly introduced among populations to whom they had hitherto been foreign. Thus, not only the prejudice against certain occupations such as leather working and butchering, but also dietary taboos, child marriage, and restrictions on the remarriage of widows and divorcées are gaining a foothold among the hill- and jungle-folk at a time when they are losing ground in the larger urban centres. This development is almost inevitable as long as throughout rural India compliance with the puritanical precepts of Hindu morality remains the principal criterion of social respectability.
Acceptance or denial of the necessity for assimilation with Hindu society is ultimately a question of values. Are the tribals to be left to follow their own inclination in emulating or rejecting the cultural pattern represented by their Hindu neighbours, or are they to be coaxed to abandon their own cultural traditions and values? In the past Hindu society has been tolerant of groups that would not conform to the standards set by the higher castes, and in some areas, notably Kerala, the emulation by low-status groups of upper-caste fashions in such matters as dress or marriage celebrations was resented and often prevented because the higher castes saw their monopoly of certain cultural features endangered. In recent years, however, there has been a change of attitude vis-à-vis cultural divergencies, and it may be the influence of the Western belief in universal values which has encouraged attempts to enforce conformity with the standards of dominant populations. Yet India is not only a multi-racial and a multi-lingual country, it is also a multi-cultural one, and as long as Muslims, Parsees, and Christians are free to follow their traditional way of life, it would seem only fair to respect also tribal customs and beliefs, however distinct from those of the regional majority community they may be.
Hinduism is, of course, not the only ideological force which has brought about fundamental changes in tribal culture and mores. Christian missions have been active in tribal areas, with the result that about 50 percent of all Nagas and Mizos and 20 percent of all Mundas and Oraons have been converted to Christianity. The advantages of missionary activities lie mainly in the field of education, for many of the literates among these tribes were educated in mission schools, and literacy certainly aided them in resisting exploitation by non-tribal populations. By reducing tribal languages to writing, usually in Roman script, missionaries were also helpful in securing the survival and development of tribal tongues, which without their efforts might have been displaced by regionally dominant languages. On the other hand, missionary influence has eroded much of the tribes' cultural heritage, which was inseparably linked with the traditional mythology, beliefs, and rituals, and wilted when these were abandoned. Above all, the conversion of part of a community tends to destroy the social unity of the whole tribe, as we have seen in chapter 11. Today foreign missionaries no longer play a significant role, but their work is continued by Indian Christians whose tolerance of tribal customs is no greater than that of the earlier European or American missionaries. Indeed, nowhere in India has there been a merging of Christian and traditional tribal practices such as I have observed among autochthonous communities in Mexico and Guatemala, where representations of Maya gods adorn the walls of some Catholic churches, and libations to ancestor spirits are offered in the aisles.
In the political sphere the interests of tribal populations should have benefited from the introduction of a system of grass-roots democracy, known as panchayati raj , which was intended to take the place of the more paternalistic form of government characteristic of the days of British rule, both in the British provinces and in the princely states. In territories such as Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, where tribals are in an overwhelming majority, government by elected bodies, both on the local and the state level, has certainly boosted the tribals' self-confidence and has also brought them some tangible advantages. In areas where tribals are in the minority, however, such as in Andhra Pradesh, decentralization has had far from desirable results. As early as 1963, the commissioner for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes expressed in his report for the year 1962–63 the fear that, due to the existing pattern of concentration of social and economic power in the hands of a dominant section of the population, democratic decentralization may lead to a more extensive exploitation of the scheduled tribes. This apprehension was fully justified, for recent experiences have shown that the panchayat samithi and zilla parishad , which in some states took over the functions of the former district officers, were dragging their feet in the implementation of tribal welfare schemes, for the simple reason that their leading members belonged to the very classes which traditionally profited from the exploitation of the tribes. By diluting the powers of civil servants, who alone were likely to safeguard the interests of the tribals, decentralization certainly did more harm than good to the tribal cause.
A problem even more important than the introduction of panchayati raj is the impact of industrialization on the tribes in areas rich in mineral resources. Certain areas within the tribal belt of Middle India, and particularly Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, contain rich deposits of minerals, and their exploitation and the establishment of great steel works in the very centre of the tribals' homeland have already led to a large-scale displacement of tribal populations. Focussing on one particular incident connected with such industrialization, the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission reported that out of 14,461 tribal families displaced from an area of 62,494 acres, only 3,479 were allotted alternative land. The disruption of the tribal econ-
omy and the degradation of tribals by large-scale industrialization, such as any visitor to the Ranchi area of Bihar can observe with his own eyes, is well described in the following paragraph of the commission's final report on the problem:
The tribals were dislodged from their traditional sources of livelihood and places of habitation. Not conversant with the details of acquisition proceedings they accepted whatever cash compensation was given to them and became emigrants. With cash in hand and many attractions in the nearby industrial towns, their funds were rapidly depleted and in course of time they were without money as well as without land. They joined the ranks of landless labourers but without any training, equipment or aptitude for any skilled or semi-skilled job.[1]
Though the commission recommended that the government, as trustee of the scheduled tribes, "should not allow the tribes to go under in the process of industrialization," little was done to rehabilitate the displaced tribesmen and to train them for work in the new industries. Their eventual proletarization seems inevitable, and in the streets of Ranchi one can still see Munda and Oraon riksha pullers who not long ago were independent cultivators tilling their own land.
Destruction or alienation of tribal land as a result of industrialization is not a process peculiar to India, and it is well known that in areas such as the Solomon Islands or Melanesia or the tropical forests of Brazil the welfare of primitive tribes was sacrificed to the interests of local or multinational companies exploiting mineral or forest resources. Great as the inroads into tribal forests have been in India, some comfort may be derived from the fact that the forests are exploited mainly by local contractors and not by large companies who have acquired felling rights for long periods. Thus, state governments are still free to reverse their policies and to take up a system of forest exploitation compatible with tribal interest, such as has been suggested by Dr. B. D. Sharma (see chapter 3).
Yet the drive for modernization and industrialization pursued by all Indian governments committed to the improvement of the country's standard of living does not augur well for the future of tribal populations affected by projects promising to raise industrial output. This applies in particular to hydroelectric and irrigation projects located in hilly country inhabited by tribals whose land is to be submerged by the construction of reservoirs. One example of such a project is a great dam to be built in the 1980s across the lower course of the Godavari. This will involve the flooding of all the riverside villages of Reddis and Koyas, many of whom settled there because the reservation of
forests had forced them to move down from the hills on which they used to practise slash-and-burn cultivation. At a time when a growing population pressure has produced a scarcity of cultivable land throughout India, any resettlement of displaced communities is inherently difficult, and tribals, who have no political pull, are likely to remain at the back of the queue for land promised as compensation for their holdings sacrificed on the altar of India's modernization.
There can be no doubt that the establishment of vast industrial enterprises in tribal zones lends urgency to the extension of protective measures to all tribals whose rights and way of life have been placed in jeopardy. The architects of the Indian constitution were determined that, while the age-old isolation of the scheduled tribes would have to be ended, they should be saved from exploitation and from the erosion of their rights to their ancestral land. It was clear that this aim could be achieved only by special legislation, but unfortunately for the tribals the original idealism of politicians and legislators is wearing thin, and while the laws for protecting tribals are still in existence, their implementation leaves much to be desired. Even among educated Indians, there seems to be a growing unwillingness to face the fact that forty million tribal people will for a long time form a separate and unassimilated element within the Indian nation. While many may concede that there is a need for some special protection, there is also a widespread feeling that any privileges enjoyed by tribes were required only for a period of transition, and that within a span of perhaps ten or twenty years the integration of the tribes within the mainstream of the population should be completed, whereupon there would be no more justification for the continuation of scheduled areas and privileges for scheduled tribes.
This new trend in public opinion represents as great a threat to the future prospects of tribals as the greed of land-grabbers does to their present well-being. The manner of the integration of the tribals into the wider Indian society will ultimately be determined by political decisions, and these will be made on the basis of moral evaluations. It thus seems that unless the intellectually leading sections of the Indian population develop a spirit of cultural tolerance and an appreciation for tribal values, even the most elaborate schemes for the economic improvement of tribal populations are likely to prove abortive.
In conclusion I can do no better than to quote from the principles which Jawaharlal Nehru, the most idealistic of Indian politicians, formulated as a guideline for the policy to be pursued by his administration in its dealings with tribals:
People should develop along the lines of their own genius and the imposition of alien values should be avoided.

Source: http://content.cdlib.org

Introduction to Importnat Tribes of India

Abujmaria: Known variously as Abudjamadis, Abujmariya and Hill Maria, these tribes are found in the geographically inaccessible areas of Abujhmar Mountains and Kutrumar Hills in the Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh. They speak a Dravidian language called Abujmaria. The Hill Maria tribes are considered as a sub-group of the Gonds, who are historically the most important group of original Indian tribes.
Adivasi Girasia: These tribes inhabit the Banaskantha and Sabarkantha districts of Gujarat and are believed to be the descendants of the Rajputs who married Bhil women. The name "Girasia" refers to the Rajput and other landholders living in the Gujarat and Rajasthan regions. Their language, also known as Adivasi Girasia, is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Bhil subgroup.
Aka: These tribes are found mainly in the Andaman Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and also in parts of Assam. The Aka people are so named for a black, sticky paint they use on their faces. They used to speak Aka (now an extinct language) on the Andaman Islands and Aka Lel, a dialect of Nisi, in Assam. The Aka people in Assam celebrate the Nechido Festival every year on the first day of November.

Apatani: These tribes, also described as Apa, are found south of the Tibetan border in the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Their language is also known as Apatani. These tribes are renowned for their cultivation, especially the Terraced rice fields, which are located along the sides of the valleys.

Badaga: Also known as Badag, Badagu, Badugu and Vadagu, these tribes are found in the Nilgiri and Kunda Hills of Tamil Nadu. Their language is also called Badaga. The name "Badaga", meaning "northerner," was given to this group during the Middle Ages when they migrated from the Mysore plains to the Nilgiri Hills in southern Tamil Nadu.

Bhils: The Bhils are considered as the third largest and most widely distributed tribal groups in India. The name "Bhil" was probably derived from the word villu or billu, which in most Dravidian languages is the word for "bow." The bow has long been a characteristic weapon of the Bhil because the tribesmen always carry their bows and arrows with them. The Bhil tribes inhabit some of the most remote and inaccessible areas of India. There are two divisions of Bhils: the Central or "pure" Bhils, and the Eastern or Rajput Bhils. The Central Bhils live in the mountain regions in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. They are known as the connecting link between the Gujaratis and the Rajasthanis and are one of the largest tribal communities of India. They speak Bhili, which is an Indo-Aryan language. The Bhils are known to have fought against the Mughals, Marathas and the British.

Dhurwa: These tribes are forest dwellers found mainly in the Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh and Koraput district of Orissa. They are considered as a sub-group of the Gond, the largest tribal group in India. They speak Parji in three dialects.

Dubla: The Dubla live primarily in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. They speak Dubla, a Bhil language that belongs to the Indo-Aryan linguistic family. The Dubla tribe contains twenty sub-groups, of which the Talavias have the highest social rank.

Gonds: The Gonds comprise the largest tribal group in India. Historically, the Gonds were the most important group of the original Indian tribes. In the 1500's, several Gond dynasties were established and their rajas or kings ruled like Hindu princes. The Gonds were conquered by the Muslim armies in 1592 but their tribes were not disturbed by the changes in administration.

Gujjars: Known by names like Gujuri, Gujer, Gojri, Kashmir Gujari and Rajasthani Gujuri, these are semi-nomadic tribal people found in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, besides parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Their language is known as Gujuri (also called Parimu and Hindki). Some historians believe that the Gujjars were the inhabitants of Georgia (Gurjia) a territory situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the former Soviet Union. They left that area and migrated through central Asia, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, crossed the Khyber Pass and entered the Indian Sub-continent. Several settlements are named after them, e.g. Gujar (Central Asia), Juzrs (Gurjara), Gujrabad, Gujru, Gujristan, Gujrabas, Gujdar-Kotta, Gujar-Garh, Gujarkhan and Gujranwala in Iran and Afghanistan.

Ho: The word "ho" means man. These tribes, which are also known as Lanka Kol and Bihar Ho, are found mainly in the Singbhum district of Bihar and theMayurbhanj district of Orissa, besides parts of West Bengal, Bangladesh and Nepal. Their language is also called Ho. These are classified as Caucasian

Mundas: These tribes are also known by different names like Mundari, Mandari, Munari, Horo, Mondari and Colh. These are known as Adivasis in Orissa. They are found mainly in southern and western parts of the Ranchi district of Bihar and also in the states of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tripura and West Bengal and in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, besides Nepal and Bangladesh. Their language is called Mundari. Mundas are the most ancient among the tribes of Bihar.

THE ORIGIN OF RACES IN INDIA

The species known as Ramapithecus was found in the Siwalik foothills of the northwestern Himalayas. This species believed to be the first in the line of hominids lived some 14 million years ago. Researches have found that a species resembling the Australopithecus lived in India some 2 million years ago. Scientists have so far not been able to account for an evolutionary gap of as much as 12 million years since the appearance of Ramapithecus.
The people of India belong to different anthropological stocks. According to Dr. B. S. Guha, the population of India is derived from six main ethnic groups:
(1) Negritos: The Negritos or the brachycephalic (broad headed) from Africa were the earliest people to inhabit India. They are survived in their original habitat in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Jarewas, Onges, Sentelenese and Great Andamanis tribes are the examples. Studies have indicated that the Onges tribes have been living in the Andamans for the last 60,000 years. Some hill tribes like Irulas, Kodars, Paniyans and Kurumbas are found only in patches among the hills of south India on the mainland.
(2) Pro-Australoids or Austrics: This group was the next to come to India after the Negritos. They represent a race of people, with wavy hair plentifully distributed over their brown bodies, long heads with low foreheads and prominent eye ridges, noses with low and broad roots, thick jaws, large palates and teeth and small chins. Austrics tribes, which are spread over the whole of India, Myanmar and the islands of South East Asia, are said to "form the bedrock of the people". The Austrics were the main builders of the Indus Valley Civilisation. They cultivated rice and vegetables and made sugar from sugarcane. Their language has survived in the Kol or Munda (Mundari) in Eastern and Central India.
(3) Mongoloids: These people have features that are common to those of the people of Mongolia, China and Tibet. These tribal groups are located in the Northeastern part of India in states like Assam, Nagaland and Meghalya and also in Ladakh and Sikkim. Generally, they are people of yellow complexion, oblique eyes, high cheekbones, sparse hair and medium height.
(4) Mediterranean or Dravidian: This group came to India from the Southwest Asia and appear to be people of the same stock as the peoples of Asia Minor and Crete and the pre-Hellenic Aegeans of Greece. They are reputed to have built up the city civilization of the Indus Valley, whose remains have been found at Mohenjodaro and Harappa and other Indus cities. The Dravidians must have spread to the whole of India, supplanting Austrics and Negritos alike. Dravidians comprise all the three sub-types, Paleo-Mediterranean, the true Mediterranean and Oriental Mediterranean. This group constitutes the bulk of the scheduled castes in the North India. This group has a sub-type called Oriental group.
(5) Western Brachycephals: These include the Alpinoids, Dinaries and Armenois. The Coorgis and Parsis fall into this category.
(6) Nordics: Nordics or Indo-Aryans are the last immigrants into India. Nordic Aryans were a branch of Indo-Iranians, who had originally left their homes in Central Asia, some 5000 years ago, and had settled in Mesopotamia for some centuries. The Aryans must have come into India between 2000 and 1500 B.C. Their first home in India was western and northern Punjab, from where they spread to the Valley of the Ganga and beyond. These tribes are now mainly found in the Northwest and the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). Many of these tribes belong to the "upper castes".

(Source: http://www.culturopedia.com)

Join hands for a better tomorrow

Hi folks!
Time is changing very fast. Every community is trying to get maximum share of power in social, economic and political spheres. If we lag behind, there will be nothing left for the tribes of India. We can claim our rightful place in the society and the country by means of politicisation -that is by creating an awareness among our people about our constitutional rights and safeguards.

I therefor call upon all my young friends to join hands for a better tomorrow by taking up leadership positions and responsibility for empowering our communities irrespective of the sectarian divides.

We may begin with an introspection of our current scenario and try to study the factors that inhibit our holistic growth, development and mainstreaming.

I am looking forward to receiving your opinion/observations/reflections. Feel free to discuss any issue which has any improtance for the tribal communities of the country.

Send in your contributions to: tribalinstincts@gmail.com

Bye for now,

Yours truly,

Kavita Khalkho