Concept of Tribe in India*

UNIT 1 CONCEPT OF TRIBE IN INDIA*

Structure

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Meaning and Characteristics of Tribe
1.2 Anthropological Definitions
1.3 Sociological Definitions of Tribe
1.4 De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic
1.5 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
1.6 Summary
1.7 References
1.8 Answers to Check Your Progress
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
 get the basic understanding of “Tribe”; and
 know about the different types of tribal groups, their meaning, geography, and
occupations.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The report of the high level committee on socio-economic, health and educational
status of tribal communities of India describes the tribal population in India represents
an enormous diversity of ethnic groups. They vary among themselves in respect of
physical features, language and linguistic traits, cultural variations, ecological settings
in which they live, size of the population, the extent of acculturation, dominant modes
of making a livelihood, level of development and social stratification. They are also
spread over the length and breadth of the country though their geographical
distribution is far from uniform. A majority of the Scheduled Tribe population is
concentrated in the eastern, central and western belt covering the nine States of
Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. About 12 per cent inhabit the Northeastern region,
about five per cent in the Southern region and about three per cent in the Northern
States. In this context, this unit provides a broad understanding of the concept of
tribe in India.

1.1 MEANING AND CHARACTERISTICS OF TRIBE

The community with distinct culture, which is continuing since the evolutionary phases,
are assumed to be “Adivasi” or tribe in India. These communities vary across the
cultural platform with diverse features and also these diversities say a lot on their pattern

*Contributor: Dr. Meera Swain, Faculty in Anthropology, Central University of Orissa,

Landiguda, Koraput, Odisha 11
Anthropology of Indian of adaptation to the varieties of climatic conditions and geography. The characteristic
Tribes
features of a tribe are:
a) Particular geography
b) Specific cultural practices
c) Language/dialect
d) Egalitarian in nature
e) No hierarchy
f) Endogamous group
g) Lack of occupational specialisation
h) Traditional technology in economic pursuits
i) Social networking based on kinship
These are some of the accepted features of a tribe in general in India. But if we analyse
the individual tribe, we may not find all these, for example, the Saoras of south Odisha
have the hierarchy like Gomango, Mandal, Bhunya, and Raita. Again these are based
on the occupation of the group, which is a caste like structure. Among the Paraja of
Koraput and Nabarangpur district, the divisions found like Bada Paraja and Sana
Paraja. The social hierarchy exists to the extent of social status including purity and
pollution which is also a caste like structure, but found among Saora.
We can better understand the tribe from the following as it is discussed by different
scholars. S.C. Dube (1990) has listed the following characteristics of the tribal groups
in India:
a) Tribals are not the original inhabitants but the oldest inhabitants of the land. Being
the earlier settlers of the soil, tribals are considered as the indigenous population.
b) In India, tribal populations are continuing since centuries along with the non-tribals.
c) Most probably these populations were forced to live in remote areas or in isolation
though originally it is not always that they were the forest dwellers.
d) Mythology says about their history which is not beyond three/four generations.
Oral history is the significant source to reconstruct the history of the preliterate
communities.
e) The traditional techno-economic features are of subsistence level.
f) Except some tribes having leaders as rulers or land owners (Gonds, Ahoms,
Cheros), most of the communities are non-hierarchic and undifferentiated.
g) The cultural attributes are distinct to the community, such as language, beliefs,
worldviews, customs, and the like.
T.B. Naik has discussed some of the features to declare the community as a ‘Tribe’
such as common dialect, customary laws, geographical isolation, community panchayats,
and traditional technology for economic pursuits.
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Coming to the specific features of the tribe, we can get the matrilineal and patrilineal Concept of Tribe in India*

communities where inheritance and other descent rules are traced through mother’s
line or father’s line respectively. Considering linguistic families, more than one tribe can
be considered under the respective classifications. On the basis of social organisations,
physical characteristics, occupations/economy, again tribes can be defined within Indian
context.
The concept of tribe is in use for the official clarifications and the necessary strategies
for the welfare/administration of the concerned communities. But the community doesn’t
say anything about the term “Tribe”. Only the members can specify the mythology,
customary laws, and dialect they speak, among other distinctions they have from other
tribal and non-tribal communities.
In India the academics related to tribal studies has been nourished by Anthropology,
through continuous addition by empirical studies. Both foreign and Indian scholars
contributed to tribal studies and tried to clarify the concept of “Tribe”.
The distribution of tribal population is more in eastern, central, and western parts of the
country. The following is the available data for the state and the union territories of
India. Starting with Madhya Pradesh with 14.69% of tribal population, the highest of
all, followed by Maharashtra with 10.08%, Odisha with 9.02%, Rajasthan with 8.86%,
Gujarat with 8.55%, Jharkhand with 8.29%, Chhattisgarh with 7.5%, Andhra Pradesh
with 5.7% and the like. Mizoram is the state with highest tribal population of 94.5%
and Lakshadweep is the union territory with the highest tribal population of 94.8%.
The north-eastern states constitute about 12% of the tribal population followed by the
southern region with 5% and Northern region with 3% of their population. Odisha is
having sixty two tribes (Census 2011).
Check Your Progress
1) What is the meaning of the term “Tribe”?
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Tribe and Indigenous People in India

Very often confusions arise between the term “tribe” and indigenous people and are
taken as synonymous towards their existence, importance and characteristic features.
In Anthropology various processes of socio-cultural evolution and changes are discussed
including the factors and sequences of them. One of the important schools of socio-
cultural theories “Diffusion” also talks about culture centres/districts/areas from where
culture travels to other places of human communities through migrants. Thus being
assumed as the original inhabitants, we cannot rule out the tribe as the owner of the
early human culture, from the rudimentary stage till date.
In India, history has many phases of changes, which had their impact on the land and
its people, particularly the pre-colonial and post-colonial phases. Thus the indigenosity
of the communities was always subject to impact, and changes happened.
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Anthropology of Indian The communities of Santhal, Mundas, Saoras, Gaddi, Jaunsar Bawar and many of
Tribes
these, have migrated to other places for various reasons. The Saoras tribes are the
workers of tea garden in North- East states and some of them, as the family history
says even married in those areas and are continuing there. Religious conversion is
also a factor for changes in cultural practices. The specific articles for scheduled
tribes in our Indian Constitution provided them the distinctions by listing them in a
category.

However the age old socio-cultural platform has given the instances of caste-tribe
continuum on the Indian soil. “Ädivasis” the residents from earlier time, is the usual
connotation for the colonial term of “Tribe”. However, the anthropological and
sociological researches have contributed towards the clarification of the term “tribe”,
which served both the administrative and academic purposes.

1.2 ANTHROPOLOGICAL DEFINITIONS

In the beginning we have discussed the meaning of tribe and how it is contextualised
and considered for various purposes. The Latin word tribus is the word from which it
is derived. Common ancestors, descent, common dialect, are some of the important
attributes to understand the group/community as a “Tribe”. Anthropology is the discipline
which focused its coverage on these communities but the term tribe is not in use in
academics for other countries and continents. In Australia and Africa, these communities
are mentioned as aborigines, and in America, they are referred to as Indians. But in
India, “tribe” is in use since the colonial rule. Some of the popular definitions of tribe in
Anthropology are:

 W.H.R. Rivers defined “tribe as a social group of simple kind, the members of
which speak a common dialect, have a single government and act together for
such common purposes as warfare” (Chaudhury, 1977).

 D.N. Majumdar defined “tribe as, a social group with territorial affiliation,
endogamous, with no specialisation of functions, ruled by tribal officers, hereditary
or otherwise, united in language or dialect, recognising social distance with other
tribe or castes, without any social obloquy attaching to them, as it does in the caste
structure, following tribal traditions, beliefs and customs, illiberal of naturalisation
of ideas from alien sources, above all conscious of a homogeneity of ethnic and
territorial integration”(The Eastern Anthropologists, September-November, 1958).

 B.K. Roy Burmen (1994): “a tribe should be understood in terms of a stage in the
techno-economic cultural evolution and relationship of man and nature” ……

 Lucy Mair: “A Tribe is an independent political division of a population with a

common culture”.

 Ralph Linton: “In its simplest form the tribe is a group of bands occupying a
contiguous territory or territories and having a feeling of unity deriving from numerous
similarities in culture, frequent contacts, and a certain community of interest.”

 Mitchell (1979: 232): “Tribe is generally used for socially cohesive unit, associated
with the members of which regard themselves as politically autonomous.”
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Thus “Tribe” is defined by anthropologists across the countries. Though attempts were Concept of Tribe in India*

made to clarify but confusions are still prevailing over the appropriateness of the meaning
of the term. The ethnographic data through anthropological research are the best source
to update and give a polished definition of “Tribe”. It depends on the researcher to
look into the meaning contextualising the community under study. In India, the tribe-
caste continuum is the significant aspect to be considered while defining tribe as both
the tribal and non-tribal communities are living together with cultural exchange, inclusive
dealings, and socio-cultural networking.

1.3 SOCIOLOGICAL DEFINITIONS OF TRIBE

The sociological definition of tribe says about the contemporary issues of the tribe
along with other aspects, though anthropology does it as well. The definitions in sociology
are not community specific but with regard to the larger platforms of human communities
and the corresponding issues and concerns.

 Oxford Dictionary of Sociology defined tribe as “a social group bound together

by kin and duty associated with a particular territory. Members of the tribe share
the social cohesion and are associated with the family together with the sense of
political autonomy of the nation”.

 According to Imperial Gazetteer of India “ATribe is a collection of families bearing

a common name, speaking a common dialect, occupying or professing to occupy
a common territory and is not usually endogamous though originally it might have
been so”.

 According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “Tribe is a group of people

of the same race, and with the same custom, language, religion, etc. living in a
particular area and often led by a chief”.

On the basis of the findings of the people of India project, K.S. Singh (1997) writes
about the incidences of migration among tribal population and the oral traditions are
the record of these accounts. This resulted in intercommunity interactions. Both S.C.
Dube and Andre Betelle wrote on the historical evidences of cultural enrichment through
constant and continuous exchange of cultural practices. The confusions regarding
indigenous, Adivasi, and the like are also taken for academic research for confirmation
and clarity. The outlines of Sociology by Ludwig and Irving Louis also tried to clarify
the racial elements to appropriate the group as tribe or aborigines.

Check Your Progress

2) Mention the characteristics of a tribe.

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Anthropology of Indian
Tribes 1.4 DE-NOTIFIED, NOMADIC AND SEMI-NOMADIC
TRIBES
Some of the tribal communities in India were listed as ex-criminal tribes under British
government’s Criminal Tribes Act (1871). Earlier these were known as criminal tribes
but de-notified later. The tribes like Lodhas, Koravas, Yerkula, Yandi, Sugali, Mina,
Bhedkut, Lambadi are some of them. But identifying these groups or a small group
within the entire group is still a task for researchers and administrators.

The National Commission for the De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes
(2008), also known as Balakrishna Renke Commission has estimated about100
communities, constituting around 10 per cent of our country’s population belonging to
de-notified, nomadic, and semi-nomadic population. With a beginning of 1871 Act
revised again in 1911, the entire effort was on the basis of a theory that certain
populations are criminal by birth, occupation, or caste, which started revolting against
the colonial rulers in India. The district collectors are given the power to notify these
communities from time to time. Finally on the recommendations of Aiyanger Committee
these communities were declared as De-notified tribes (Siva Prasad R, 2015). However,
these communities are with varieties of cultural practise and occupational incentives
around their ecosystems. According to P.K. Bhowmik, de-notified tribes can be
classified into:

a) Nomadic groups who have taken to criminal life;

b) Fighting men and soldiers who have lost their jobs and have turned into criminals;

c) Communities who used to work as village watchman and police, but have taken to
criminal life;

d) Wild tribe in distress who took to criminal living as a way out of the plight they had
fallen in.

These communities practice variety of occupations and are remarkably diverse within
the group. The significant occupations are hunting-gathering, pastoralism, metal workers,
basket makers, wrestlers, snake charmers, monkey trainers, astrologers, bards, artisans
and herbalists (Millind Bokil, 2002). According to Renke Commission, there are 1500
nomadic and semi-nomadic communities in India along with 150-198 de-notified
communities.

The kind of stigma the members of this group were suffering could be lessened due to
the suggestions by the Backward Classes’ Commission appointed by Government of
India. The significant suggestions were:

a) Criminal tribes to be called as De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis).

b) On the basis of distinct social features, these tribes should be included in Scheduled
Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Backward classes.

c) Resettlement in batches and gradual integration in the larger society.

d) Educational status to be proper to help their integration in the Indian Nation.

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e) Reform activities to help the community. Concept of Tribe in India*

f) Collective criminal activities and individual criminal activities should be distinguished

to deal with.

g) Proper education and employment of the children to be ensured.

h) Economic rehabilitation should be taken care of.

Thus the Acts and the subsequent commission recommendations helped the De-notified
communities to elevate their status in the social sphere. It also helped them to get
necessary reforms and rehabilitations to enable them for national integration and socio-
economic incentives through educational facilities and employment avenues. Several
examples are there about the successful mainstreaming of these groups.

Nomadic groups are the communities who have no permanent habitation. They move
from place to place for their livelihood as herders, hunters, pastorals, and other
specialised occupations as smiths or snake charmers. There are no clear distinctions
between the de-notified and nomadic tribes’ culture and occupation. Very often these
are not different but similar groups.

The Raika-Rabari is closer to the pastoral caste known as Bharwad in Gujarat. Similarly,
some other nomadic communities like Gadia Lohar, Banjara have a mix of the local
characteristics as well as the unique features of their own community which are common
across their hamlets in other parts of the country (Religion of the Raika- Vinay Kumar
Srivastava). We can refer to the discussion as part of the report of national commission
to know more about their culture. According to National Commission for De-notified,
Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes:

“The nomads ore known for their cultural richness, special cultural identity and
diversity but Globalisation and modernisation hove greatly influenced them
socially, culturally as well as economically. In spite of this, these communities ore
trying to preserve their cultural integrity by organising festivals in order to
remember and keep alive their history and traditions. The social and cultural
characteristics of nomadic communities are closely related with their economic
activities. Most of the communities follow o traditional system of moving in groups
of five to twenty with a senior member who is responsible for settling disputes,
leading each group. Each of these sub groups travelled independently on different
routes in order to earn their livelihood. ln some communities there is a system of
meeting on annual customary camping, where reunions, marriages and even
cattle trading take place. The nomadic way of life revolves around socio-economic
necessity, ranging from making tools and utensils, supplying basic goods (salt,
wool), providing medicines, and herbs, to entertaining people. The available
accounts indicate that these nomadic communities were an integral part of the
society and its economic processes around the middle of the l9th century. With
their skills and ability to travel for long distances with their kin, they provided
essential goods and services to sedentary agrarian communities. The sedentary
and nomadic way of life coexisted together in the society since ancient times.
The nomadic way of life was not unacceptable in society and even the sedentary
port of society practiced nomadism on certain occasions. One point of view is
also that nomadism emerged in response to change in climatic factors such as 17
Anthropology of Indian drought and flood. During the colonial period, the sedentary lifestyle become
Tribes
more acceptable and the nomadic communities started facing dishonour and the
stigma, continues till dote” (December, 2017, pp. 25-26).

1.5 PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE TRIBAL

GROUPS (PVTGS)
These tribal communities are facing certain problems and are in trouble. The entire
population is suffering and are at the verge of extinction. Earlier known as the primitive
tribal groups, these groups are characterised as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups
(PVTGs). On the basis of vulnerability, the criteria of identifying these groups stated by
Ministry of Home Affairs in 1979, the important features are:

a) Pre-agricultural level of technology and economy

b) Declining population

c) Low rate of literacy

d) Subsistence level of economy

Among more than 705 tribal groups, there are 75 of 18 states and union territory of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands. According to a stastical profile of Scheduled Tribes in
India, published by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the PVTG population was 27.68
lakhs of seventy one (71) communities. About nineteen communities have less than
1,000 populations, of which Sentinelese (15) and Great Andamanese (44) are having
the least number. Most of the PVTGs live in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha,
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. However the Maria Gond of Maharashtra and Saora
of Odisha are having comparatively larger population among all PVTGs. Taking into
account of their livelihood and ecological systems, these groups are comparatively
isolated with their distinct culture. Hunting, food gathering, fishing, pastoralism, shifting
cultivation are in practice for the subsistence.

Some communities which are grouped under Scheduled Tribe in one state in India but
are not so in other States. Because of the constitutional attributes, the same tribe are
grouped under backward classes. “In view of the vulnerability and special needs of
PVTGs, separate schemes for economic uplift and imparting education have been
envisaged for them (Venkata Rao, 2015). Also the committee report submitted by
Virginius Xaxa and referred to by V.K. Srivastava, states that one of the important
issue is concerned with identifying the criteria that could be used for defining tribal
communities (Srivastava, 2015).

The PVTGs are 13 in Odisha, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, 9 in Bihar and Jharkhand, 7 in

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, 6 in Tamil Nadu, 5 in Kerala, 5 in Gujarat, 3 in
West Bengal, 3 in Maharashtra, 2 in Karnataka, 2 in Uttarakhand. Rajasthan, Manipur
and Tripura have one PVTG each. The following table will give an idea of the state
wise and union territory wise tribal communities declared as PVTGs.

Source: https://tribal.nic.in/downloads/PVTG/State-wise%20List%20of%
20PVTGs.pdf
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 Concept of Tribe in India*

A total number of 75 communities having a population of 27.68 lakhs have been

declared as the particularly vulnerable tribal groups. Various schemes for restoring the
population and their culture are continuously in process by the Indian Government.
Academicians are also preparing documents in the form of reports, ethnographic records,
and journal papers, to assess their situations from time to time.

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Anthropology of Indian
Tribes 1.6 SUMMARY
Tribe as a word or term is conceptualised by different scholars world over. In India,
these groups are better understood as Adivasi (original settlers) and scheduled tribe
(anusuchit janajati). In academics it is popular as “Tribe”. The total population of tribe
in India is about 8.6% (10,42,81,034) of the total population.
The tribes with comparatively largeer population are Bhils, Gonds, Santhals, and
Meenas. The geographical distribution is not uniform and very often spreads to more
than three states.
The De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic groups are classified through Reke
Commission and National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic
Tribes. Since ages, tribals are in continuous contact with non-tribals. In India, as we
have discussed earlier in this unit, tribe-caste continuum is one of the significant feature
of its culture. Therefore academicians are still working to bring clarity to the term
“Tribe” which has developmental and socio-cultural perspectives. The members of
these groups are the carrier of indigenous knowledge which is also the storehouse of
the stages of evolutions and experiences towards growth of human culture.

1.7 REFERENCES
Bailey, F.G. (1957). Caste and Economic Frontier. Bombay: OUP.
Beteille, A. (1986). The concept of tribe with special reference to India. European
Journal of Sociology, Volume 27, 297-318.
Beteille, A. (2008). The concept of tribe with special reference to India. S.K.,
Chaudhury & S.M., Patnaik (Eds.). Indian Tribes and Mainstream (pp. 21-40).
Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
Chaudhury, S.K. & Pattanaik, S.M. (2008). Indian Tribes and Mainstream (pp
1-6). Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
Dash, K.N. (2004). Invitation to Social and Cultural Anthropology (pp. 242-
264). New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers.
Mair, L. (1972). An Introduction to Social Anthropology (pp.1-368). New Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Majumdar, D.N. (1937). A Tribe in Transition: A Study in Cultural Pattern. London:
Longmans Green and Co.
Report of National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes.
(2017).
Sills, D.L. (1976). International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences (pp. 147-150).
Vol.16. New York: MacMillan and Free Press.
Singh, K.S. (1994). The Scheduled Tribes. Volume 2. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press.
Siva Prasad, R. (2015). India’s nomadic and de- notified communities. P.C., Joshi
(Ed.). Symposium on People of India. Department of Anthropology, University of
20 Delhi, New Delhi.
Srivastava,V.K. (2005). The Raikas of Rajasthan. H.S.,Verma & N., Hasnain (Eds.) Concept of Tribe in India*
Stagnation, retrograde change or positive progress? Vignettes from the journey
of the OBC communities in the process of change in India (pp.170-205). New
Delhi: Serials.
Swain, M. (2010). Saora Kinship. Bhubaneswar: Amedus Press.
Swain M. (2012). Kuli: A Tribe Of Odisha (revised ed.). Bhubaneswar: Freelancer.
Venkata Rao, P. (2015). People of India-The particularly vulnerable tribal groups.
P.C., Joshi (Ed.). Symposium on People of India. Department of Anthropology,
University of Delhi.

1.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1) Refer to Section 1.1
2) Refer to Sections 1.1 and 1.2

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