Scribd
Upload
55 views3 pages

Who Are Adivasis?: Hierarchy

Adivasis, also known as tribal or indigenous communities, make up around 8% of India's population and originate from over 500 different groups. They have traditionally lived in close connection with forests and practiced unique religions centered around nature worship and ancestor worship. In recent centuries, Adivasis have faced loss of land and displacement due to development projects like dams, mining, and industrialization. This has disrupted their traditional way of life and livelihoods, and led to high rates of poverty, malnutrition, and loss of culture among Adivasi communities.

Uploaded by

harshalshah3110
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
55 views3 pages

Who Are Adivasis?: Hierarchy

Adivasis, also known as tribal or indigenous communities, make up around 8% of India's population and originate from over 500 different groups. They have traditionally lived in close connection with forests and practiced unique religions centered around nature worship and ancestor worship. In recent centuries, Adivasis have faced loss of land and displacement due to development projects like dams, mining, and industrialization. This has disrupted their traditional way of life and livelihoods, and led to high rates of poverty, malnutrition, and loss of culture among Adivasi communities.

Uploaded by

harshalshah3110
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Who are Adivasis?

Adivasis – the term literally means ‘original inhabitants’


– are communities who lived, and often continue to live,
in close association with forests. Around 8 per cent of
India’s population is Adivasi and many of India’s most
important mining and industrial centres are located in
Adivasi areas – Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Bokaro and Bhilai
among others. Adivasis are not a homogeneous
population: there are over 500 different Adivasi groups in
India. Adivasis are particularly numerous in states like
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and in
the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. A state
like Odisha is home to more than 60 different tribal groups.
Adivasi societies are also most distinctive because there is
often very little hierarchy among them. This makes them
radically different from communities organised around
principles of jati-varna (caste) or those that were ruled by kings.

Religion
Adivasis practise a range of tribal religions that are different
from Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. These often involve
the worship of ancestors, village and nature spirits, the last
associated with and residing in various sites in the landscape
– ‘mountain-spirits’, ‘river-spirits’, ‘animal-spirits’, etc. The
village spirits are often worshipped at specific sacred groves
within the village boundary while the ancestral ones are
usually worshipped at home. Additionally, Adivasis have
always been influenced by different surrounding religions
like Shakta, Buddhist, Vaishnav, Bhakti and Christianity.
Simultaneously, Adivasi religions themselves have
influenced dominant religions of the empires around them,
for example, the Jagannath cult of Odisha and Shakti and
Tantric traditions in Bengal and Assam. During the nineteenth
century, substantial numbers of Adivasis converted to
Christianity, which has emerged as a very important religion in
modern Adivasi history.
Adivasis have their own languages (most of them radically
different from and possibly as old as Sanskrit), which have
often deeply influenced the formation of ‘mainstream’ Indian
languages, like Bengali. Santhali has the largest number of
speakers and has a significant body of publications including
magazines on the internet or in e-zines.

Adivasis and Stereotyping


In India, we usually ‘showcase’ Adivasi communities in
particular ways. Thus, during school functions or other
official events or in books and movies, Adivasis are
invariably portrayed in very stereotypical ways – in
colourful costumes, headgear and through their dancing.
Besides this, we seem to know very little about the realities
of their lives. This often wrongly leads to people believing
that they are exotic, primitive and backward. Often
Adivasis are blamed for their lack of advancement as they
are believed to be resistant to change or new ideas. You
will remember that you read in Class VI book how
stereotyping particular communities can lead to people
discriminating against such groups.

Adivasis and Development


As you have already read in your history textbook, forests
were absolutely crucial to the development of all empires
and settled civilisations in India. Metal ores like iron and
copper, and gold and silver, coal and diamonds, invaluable
timber, most medicinal herbs and animal products (wax,
lac, honey) and animals themselves (elephants, the mainstay
of imperial armies), all came from the forests. In addition,
the continuation of life depended heavily on forests, that
help recharge many of India’s rivers and, as is becoming
clearer now, crucial to the availability and quality of our
air and water. Forests covered the major part of our country
till the nineteenth century and the Adivasis had a deep
knowledge of, access to, as well as control over most of these
vast tracts at least till the middle of the nineteenth century.
This meant that they were not ruled by large states and
empires. Instead, often empires heavily depended on
Adivasis for the crucial access to forest resources.
This is radically contrary to our image of Adivasis today as
somewhat marginal and powerless communities. In the precolonial
world, they were traditionally ranged hunter gatherers
and nomads and lived by shifting agriculture and also cultivating in one place.
Current scenario
Although these remain, for the past 200 years Adivasis have been increasingly forced –
through economic changes, forest policies and political force applied by the State and
private industry – to migrate to lives as workers in plantations, at construction sites, in
industries and as domestic workers. For the first time in history, they do not control or
have much direct access to the forest territories. Forest lands have been cleared for timber
and to get land for agriculture and industry. Adivasis have also lived in areas that
are rich in minerals and other natural resources. These are taken over for mining and
other large industrial projects. Powerful forces have often colluded to take over tribal
land. Much of the time, the land is taken away forcefully and procedures are not
followed. According to official figures, more than 50 per cent of persons displaced due to
mines and mining projects are tribals. Another recent survey report by organisations
working among Adivasis shows that 79 per cent of the persons displaced from the states
of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand are tribals. Huge tracts of their
lands have also gone under the waters of hundreds of dams that have been built in
independent India. In the North east, their lands remain highly militarised.
India has 104 national parks covering 40,501 sq km and 543 wildlife sanctuaries covering
1,18,918 sq km. These are areas where tribals originally lived but were evicted from.
When they continue to stay in these forests, they are termed encroachers. Losing their
lands and access to the forest means that tribals lose their main sources of livelihood and
food. Having gradually lost access to their traditional homelands, many Adivasis have
migrated to cities in search of work where they are employed for very low wages in local
industries or at building or construction sites. They, thus, get caught in a cycle of poverty
and deprivation. 45 per cent of tribal groups in rural areas and 35 per cent in urban areas
live below the poverty line. This leads to deprivation in other areas. Many tribal children
are malnourished. Literacy rates among tribals are also very low.
When Adivasis are displaced from their lands, they lose much more than a source of
income. They lose their traditions and customs – a way of living and being. “They
took our farming land. They left some houses. They took the cremation ground, temple,
well and pond. How will we survive?” says Gobindha Maran, who was displaced due
to a refinery project in Odisha.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy