I had purchased this book from a twitter recommendation. The cover of the book was beautiful, portraying a tribal old woman in beads and a big bindi, and the books claim of being the 'Stories of India's Isolated Tribes' caught my eye. The more i am reading history and trying to understand the story of the human beings, the more i am fascinated by the various people groups residing in this subcontinent we call home. Especially the groups who have been mostly 'isolated' from the mainstream, as they continue to host some qualities from our ancestors which maybe have been whitewashed in the people living the 'mainstream' life.
In this book the writer tells the stories of 6 tribes, scattered across the subcontinent - from the coasts of Karnataka, to the Chambal valley, the naxal districts of Chattisgarh, and hills of Assam and Nagaland. Instead of documenting the lifestyle and culture of these groups as a whole, like an anthropological journal would do, the author chooses to document the lived experiences of a certain individual from the tribe. This works, as the stories told are more personal and you get to view the world through the eyes of these individuals. But i wonder how much can a writer coming from urban life, bred in a certain way of seeing and understanding put herself in the shoes of a tribal person? How much of it is the actual experience, and how much an interpretation by the author? I was doubtful and I took the stories with a pinch of salt and flourish, but the book was enjoyable read regardless of that.
Some of the stories that didnt work very well for me were the tales of Kanjars from Chambal and the Khasis of Shillong. Though interesting people groups in themselves, the stories about individuals from these groups in the book were more personal and specific to the persons and did not give much insight into the lives and culture of the larger group. There were interesting details about the vagabondish/dacoit lifestyle of the Kanjars and that this lifestyle has been threatened by the republic being formed and rules being written for the republic. With age old sources of income suddenly being suppressed, the tribe is now finding it difficult to make ends meet with no alternate source of income, especially with the notorious tag of being a Kanjar. Inspite of such details, the stories of these two people groups lacked the detail and richness which flowed through the other stories.
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| Marias of Bastar |
The most fascinating story in the book comes from the Marias of Bastar. Of the 6 tribal groups, these are the closest to where i am from, but it is unfortunate i did not know anything about them. Like most tribal groups in the book, they are mostly forest dwellers and hunter gatherers. Their society and its organisations seem like they have carefully evolved over many generations to take the nuanced form they have now - very unlike what is usually portrayed. One such organisation is a ghotul. This a social organisation for all adolescent boys and girls of the community, which they are a part of till they get married. It is a physical space, conveniently located at the edges of villages, where the adolescents form community bonds, are taught life skills like making hand-crafts, mending houses and fences, indulge in song and dance, and also in romantic or sexual relationships (mostly later) with a partner. These relationships are not a precursor to marriage, and often do not end up in one - but they, like other activities of the ghtoul, serve the function of enabling the adolescents to express and explore themselves (within a boundary of rules, not sleeping with a partner for more than 3 times being one of them), and to become well rounded adults. It is incredibly disappointing that we do not have a similar organisations in the 'mainstream' culture which could create such communal sense of bond, teach life skills and art, and help adolescents in their journey to become adults. Schools are supposed to be one such organisation, but in their current form even the best of schools fail miserably to serve the functions that a tribal organisation does very well.
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| Halakki woman |
Then there are the singing women from the Halakki tribe of Ankola (costal Karnataka). They sing there songs during functions, social gatherings, but most importantly while they are at work gathering wood in the forest. These are some of the primal ways in which we human beings can express ourselves, and maybe find some sense of consolation against the relentless grind of work in these songs. In the USA, the songs of the slave workers working the cotton farms gave rise to a new form of music, called the Blues, and these are now carefully documented and archived. In the subcontinent, on the other hand, these songs are cast into obscurity. And how unfortunate that in the corporate workplace we do not have any such consolation against the drudgery of work! How do we express ourselves at our work? What consolation do we have against the relentless emails and meetings?
There are some common themes running through these stories. Most tribes have created customs and organisations and stories to enable every single person of them to meet, not only their economic needs, but also their psychological needs. They must have arrived at these through decades of careful understanding of what it is that a person needs to lead a fulfilling life. The economic models of sustaining oneself was based on mutual dependence and trust. Like the Kurumbas of the Nilgiris, who could not provide much in material terms, but would provide their services for the spiritual protection of other tribes who would, in return, provide them with grains or meat. The community organisations, traditions and practices helped people meet their psychological needs - creating a sense of belonging, providing a sense of worth to their lives and enabling them to express themselves.
But things are changing now. Some tribes like the Khasis or Konyaks face threat from religious conversion to Christianity. With conversion comes discarding of old traditions and customs, which served not just religious functions but very important social and psychological functions as well. Other tribes like the Marias face invasion into their forests and their livelihood from mining companies which are in nexus with the government. The naxal groups are the violent reaction to these invasions, arising from helplessness and distrust in the republic. Tribes like the Kurumbas, forever involved in providing spiritual protection and honey, find their practices either being outlawed or do not find seekers for their services anymore. The old economic model of trust and mutual dependency is breaking down.
Inspite of being considered the original inhabitants of these subcontinent, these tribes are also prejudiced against on account of their practices and customs, which could seem unusual on the surface to the mainstream folks. Unfamiliarity is always treated with scepticism and restraint. This further impacts their changes of earning a decent livelihood and i assume crates a sense insecurity in them. To further their chances of climbing the social ladder from the bottom, where they find themselves, some of the tribes have started changing their name to add words meaning 'white as milk, or rice' as against evil black which is usually associated with forest dwelling tribes.
There are difficult questions here - what does progress mean? how can a republic reconcile different ways of life and definitions of progress within its boundaries? The tribal groups, because of isolation, have preserved some customs and practices which have been lost from the mainstream cultures. These are intricately linked to the overall well being, not just economic, of us human beings. These are enriched cultures and hold a lot for us to learn, if we are willing to see and listen.
