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You saw in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 how kingdomsrose and fell. Even as this was happening, newarts, crafts and production activities flourished intowns and villages. Over the centuries importantpolitical, social and economic developments hadtaken place. But social change was notthe same everywhere, because differentkinds of societies evolved differently. It isimportant to understand how, and why,this happened.

In large parts of the subcontinent, societywas already divided according to the rulesof varna. These rules, as prescribed by theBrahmanas, were accepted by the rulers oflarge kingdoms. The difference between thehigh and low, and between the rich and poor,increased. Under the Delhi Sultans and theMughals, this hierarchy between socialclasses grew further.

Beyond Big Cities: TribalBeyond Big Cities: TribalBeyond Big Cities: TribalBeyond Big Cities: TribalBeyond Big Cities: TribalSocietiesSocietiesSocietiesSocietiesSocieties

There were, however, other kinds ofsocieties as well. Many societies in thesubcontinent did not follow the social rulesand rituals prescribed by the Brahmanas.Nor were they divided into numerousunequal classes. Such societies are oftencalled tribes.

7 TRIBES, NOMADS ANDTRIBES, NOMADS ANDTRIBES, NOMADS ANDTRIBES, NOMADS ANDTRIBES, NOMADS ANDSETTLED COMMUNITIESSETTLED COMMUNITIESSETTLED COMMUNITIESSETTLED COMMUNITIESSETTLED COMMUNITIES

Fig. 1Tribal dance,Santal painted scroll.

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Members of each tribe were united by kinship bonds.Many tribes obtained their livelihood from agriculture.Others were hunter-gatherers or herders. Most oftenthey combined these activities to make full use of thenatural resources of the area in which they lived. Sometribes were nomadic and moved from one place toanother. A tribal group controlled land and pasturesjointly, and divided these amongst householdsaccording to its own rules.

Many large tribes thrived in different parts of thesubcontinent. They usually lived in forests, hills,deserts and places difficult to reach. Sometimes theyclashed with the more powerful caste-based societies.In various ways, the tribes retained their freedom andpreserved their separate culture.

But the caste-based and tribal societies alsodepended on each other for their diverse needs. Thisrelationship, of conflict and dependence, graduallycaused both societies to change.

Who were Tribal People?Who were Tribal People?Who were Tribal People?Who were Tribal People?Who were Tribal People?

Contemporary historians and travellers give veryscanty information about tribes. A few exceptionsapart, tribal people did not keep written records. Butthey preserved rich customs and oral traditions. Thesewere passed down to each new generation. Present-day historians have started using such oral traditionsto write tribal histories.

Tribal people were found in almost every region ofthe subcontinent. The area and influence of a tribevaried at different points of time. Some powerful tribescontrolled large territories. In Punjab, the Khokhartribe was very influential during the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries. Later, the Gakkhars became moreimportant. Their chief, Kamal Khan Gakkhar, wasmade a noble (mansabdar) by Emperor Akbar. InMultan and Sind, the Langahs and Arghuns dominatedextensive regions before they were subdued by theMughals. The Balochis were another large and powerful

On a physicalmap of thesubcontinent,identify the areasin which tribalpeople may havelived.

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tribe in the north-west. They were divided into manysmaller clans under different chiefs. In the westernHimalaya lived the shepherd tribe of Gaddis. Thedistant north-eastern part of the subcontinent too wasentirely dominated by tribes the Nagas, Ahoms andmany others.

In many areas of present-day Bihar andJharkhand, Chero chiefdoms had emerged by thetwelfth century. Raja Man Singh, Akbars famousgeneral, attacked and defeated the Cheros in 1591.A large amount of booty was taken from them, butthey were not entirely subdued. Under Aurangzeb,Mughal forces captured many Chero fortresses andsubjugated the tribe. The Mundas and Santals wereamong the other important tribes that lived in thisregion and also in Orissa and Bengal.

ClanA clan is a groupof families orhouseholdsclaiming descentfrom a commonancestor. Tribalorganisation isoften based onkinship or clanloyalties.

Map 1Location of someof the major Indiantribes.

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The Maharashtra highlands andKarnataka were home to Kolis,Berads and numerous others. Kolisalso lived in many areas of Gujarat.Further south there were largetribal populations of Koragas,Vetars, Maravars and many others.

The large tribe of Bhils wasspread across western and centralIndia. By the late sixteenth century,many of them had become settledagriculturists and some evenzamindars. Many Bhil clans,nevertheless, remained hunter-gatherers. The Gonds were foundin great numbers across thepresent-day states of Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra andAndhra Pradesh.

How Nomads and MobileHow Nomads and MobileHow Nomads and MobileHow Nomads and MobileHow Nomads and MobilePeople LivedPeople LivedPeople LivedPeople LivedPeople Lived

Nomadic pastoralists moved overlong distances with their animals.They lived on milk and otherpastoral products. They alsoexchanged wool, ghee, etc., withsettled agriculturists for grain,cloth, utensils and other products.

Fig. 2Bhils hunting deer by night.

Fig.3A chain of mobile traders connectedIndia to the outside world. Here yousee nuts being gathered and loaded onthe backs of camels. Central Asiantraders brought such goods to Indiaand the Banjaras and other traderscarried these to local markets.

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They bought and sold these goods as they movedfrom one place to another, transporting them on theiranimals.

The Banjaras were the most important trader-nomads. Their caravan was called tanda. SultanAlauddin Khalji (Chapter 3) used the Banjaras totransport grain to the city markets. Emperor Jahangirwrote in his memoirs that the Banjaras carried grainon their bullocks from different areas and sold it intowns. They transported food grain for the Mughalarmy during military campaigns. With a large armythere could be 100,000 bullocks carrying grain.

The BanjarasThe BanjarasThe BanjarasThe BanjarasThe Banjaras

Peter Mundy, an English trader who came to Indiaduring the early seventeenth century, has describedthe Banjaras:

In the morning we met a tanda of Banjaras with14,000 oxen.They were all laden with grains such as wheat and rice ...These Banjaras carry their household wives and children along with them. One tanda consists of many families. Theirway of life is similar to that of carriers who continuouslytravel from place to place. They own their oxen. They aresometimes hired by merchants, but most commonly they arethemselves merchants. They buy grain where it is cheaplyavailable and carry it to places where it is dearer. From there,they again reload their oxen with anything that can beprofitably sold in other places In a tanda there may be asmany as 6 or 7 hundred persons They do not travel morethan 6 or 7 miles a day that, too, in the cool weather. Afterunloading their oxen, they turn them free to graze as there isenough land here, and no one there to forbid them.

Find out how grain is transported from villages tocities at present. In what ways is this similar to or

different from the ways in which the Banjaras functioned?

?

Nomads anditinerant groupsNomads arewandering people.Many of them arepastoralists whoroam from onepasture to anotherwith their flocksand herds.Similarly, itinerantgroups, such ascraftspersons,pedlars andentertainers travelfrom place to placepractising theirdifferentoccupations.Both nomads anditinerant groupsoften visit thesame places everyyear.

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Many pastoral tribes reared and sold animals, suchas cattle and horses, to the prosperous people.

Different castes of petty pedlarsalso travelled from village to

village. They made andsold wares such as ropes,reeds, straw matting andcoarse sacks. Sometimesmendicants acted as

wandering merchants. There were castes ofentertainers who performed in different towns andvillages for their livelihood.

Changing Society: New Castes andChanging Society: New Castes andChanging Society: New Castes andChanging Society: New Castes andChanging Society: New Castes andHierarchiesHierarchiesHierarchiesHierarchiesHierarchies

As the economy and the needs of society grew, peoplewith new skills were required. Smaller castes, or jatis,emerged within varnas. For example, new castesappeared amongst the Brahmanas. On the otherhand, many tribes and social groups were taken intocaste-based society and given the status of jatis.Specialised artisans smiths, carpenters and masons were also recognised as separate jatis by theBrahmanas. Jatis, rather than varna, became thebasis for organising society.

Deliberations on Deliberations on Deliberations on Deliberations on Deliberations on jatijatijatijatijati

A twelfth-century inscription from Uyyakondan Udaiyar,in Tiruchirapalli taluka (in present-day Tamil Nadu),describes the deliberations in a sabha (Chapter 2) ofBrahmanas.

They deliberated on the status of a group known asrathakaras (literally, chariot makers). They laid downtheir occupations, which were to include architecture,building coaches and chariots, erecting gateways fortemples with images in them, preparing woodenequipment used to perform sacrifices, buildingmandapas, making jewels for the king.

Fig. 4Bronze crocodile,Kutiya Kond tribe,Orissa.

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Among the Kshatriyas, new Rajput clans becamepowerful by the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Theybelonged to different lineages, such as Hunas,Chandelas, Chalukyas and others. Some of these, too,had been tribes earlier. Many of these clans came tobe regarded as Rajputs. They gradually replaced theolder rulers, especially in agricultural areas. Here adeveloped society was emerging, and rulers used theirwealth to create powerful states.

The rise of Rajput clans to the position of rulers setan example for the tribal people to follow. Gradually,with the support of the Brahmanas, many tribesbecame part of the caste system. But only the leadingtribal families could join the ruling class. A largemajority joined the lower jatis of caste society. On theother hand, many dominant tribes of Punjab, Sind andthe North-West Frontier had adopted Islam quite early.They continued to reject the caste system. The unequalsocial order, prescribed by orthodox Hinduism, wasnot widely accepted in these areas.

The emergence of states is closely related to socialchange amongst tribal people. Two examples of thisimportant part of our history are described below.

A Closer LookA Closer LookA Closer LookA Closer LookA Closer Look

The Gonds

The Gonds lived in a vast forested region calledGondwana or country inhabited by Gonds. Theypractised shifting cultivation. The large Gond tribewas further divided into many smaller clans. Each clanhad its own raja or rai. About the time that the powerof the Delhi Sultans was declining, a few large Gondkingdoms were beginning to dominate the smallerGond chiefs. The Akbar Nama, a history of Akbarsreign, mentions the Gond kingdom of Garha Katangathat had 70,000 villages.

The administrative system of these kingdoms wasbecoming centralised. The kingdom was divided into

ShiftingcultivationTrees and bushesin a forest areaare first cut andburnt. The crop issown in theashes. When thisland loses itsfertility, anotherplot of land iscleared andplanted in thesame way.

Fig. 5A Gond woman.

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garhs. Each garh was controlledby a particular Gond clan. Thiswas further divided into units of84 villages called chaurasi. Thechaurasi was subdivided intobarhots which were made up of12 villages each.

The emergence of large stateschanged the nature of Gondsociety. Their basically equalsociety gradually got dividedinto unequal social classes.Brahmanas received land grantsfrom the Gond rajas and becamemore influential. The Gond chiefsnow wished to be recognised asRajputs. So, Aman Das, the Gondraja of Garha Katanga, assumedthe title of Sangram Shah. Hisson, Dalpat, married princess

Durgawati, the daughter ofSalbahan, the ChandelRajput raja of Mahoba.

Dalpat, however, diedearly. Rani Durgawatiwas very capable, andstarted ruling on behalfof her five-year-old son,Bir Narain. Under her, thekingdom became evenmore extensive. In 1565,the Mughal forces underAsaf Khan attackedGarha Katanga. A strongresistance was put up byRani Durgawati. She wasdefeated and preferredto die rather thansurrender. Her son, too,died fighting soon after.

Map 2Gondwana.

Fig. 6A carved door.Gond tribe, Bastararea, Madhya Pradesh.

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Garha Katanga was a rich state. It earned muchwealth by trapping and exporting wild elephants to otherkingdoms. When the Mughals defeated the Gonds, theycaptured a huge booty of precious coins and elephants.They annexed part of the kingdom and granted the restto Chandra Shah, an uncle of Bir Narain. Despite thefall of Garha Katanga, the Gond kingdoms survived forsome time. However, they became much weaker andlater struggled unsuccessfully against the strongerBundelas and Marathas.

The Ahoms

The Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley frompresent-day Myanmar in the thirteenth century. Theycreated a new state by suppressing the older politicalsystem of the bhuiyans (landlords). During thesixteenth century, they annexed the kingdoms of theChhutiyas (1523) and of Koch-Hajo (1581) andsubjugated many other tribes. The Ahoms built a largestate, and for this they used firearms as early as the1530s. By the 1660s they could even make high-quality gunpowder and cannons.

However, the Ahoms faced many invasions from thesouth-west. In 1662, theMughals under Mir Jumlaattacked the Ahom kingdom.Despite their brave defence, theAhoms were defeated. Butdirect Mughal control over theregion could not last long.

The Ahom state dependedupon forced labour. Thoseforced to work for the state werecalled paiks. A census of thepopulation was taken. Eachvillage had to send a numberof paiks by rotation. Peoplefrom heavily populated areaswere shifted to less populated

Map 3Tribes of easternIndia.

Discuss why theMughals wereinterested in theland of the Gonds.

?

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places. Ahom clans were thus broken up. By the firsthalf of the seventeenth century the administrationbecame quite centralised.

Almost all adult males served in the army duringwar. At other times, they were engaged in buildingdams, irrigation systems and other public works. TheAhoms also introduced new methods of rice cultivation.

Ahom society was divided into clans or khels. Therewere very few castes of artisans, so artisans in theAhom areas came from the adjoining kingdoms. A kheloften controlled several villages. The peasant was givenland by his village community. Even the king couldnot take it away without the communitys consent.

Originally, the Ahoms worshipped their own tribalgods. During the first half of the seventeenth century,however, the influence of Brahmanas increased.Temples and Brahmanas were granted land by theking. In the reign of Sib Singh (1714-1744), Hinduismbecame the predominant religion. But the Ahomkings did not completely give up their traditionalbeliefs after adopting Hinduism.

Ahom society was very sophisticated. Poets andscholars were given land grants. Theatre wasencouraged. Important works of Sanskrit weretranslated into the local language. Historical works,known as buranjis, were also written first in the Ahomlanguage and then in Assamese.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

Considerable social change took place in thesubcontinent during the period we have been examining.Varna-based society and tribal people constantlyinteracted with each other. This interaction caused bothkinds of societies to adapt and change. There were manydifferent tribes and they took up diverse livelihoods.Over a period of time, many of them merged with caste-based society. Others, however, rejected both the castesystem and orthodox Hinduism. Some tribes established

Why do you thinkthe Mughals triedto conquer theland of theAhoms?

Fig. 7Ear ornaments, KoboiNaga tribe, Manipur.

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extensive states with well-organised systems ofadministration. They thus became politically powerful.This brought them into conflict with larger and morecomplex kingdoms and empires.

The Mongols

Find Mongolia in your atlas. The best-known pastoral and hunter-gatherer tribe in history were the Mongols. They inhabited thegrasslands (steppes) of Central Asia and the forested areas furthernorth. By 1206 Genghis Khan had united the Mongol and Turkishtribes into a powerful military force. At the time of his death (1227)he was the ruler of extensive territories. His successors created avast empire. At different points of time, it included parts of Russia,Eastern Europe and also China and much of West Asia. The Mongolshad well-organised military and administrative systems. These werebased on the support of different ethnic and religious groups.

Lets recall

1. Match the following:

garh khel

tanda chaurasi

labourer caravan

clan Garha Katanga

Sib Singh Ahom state

Durgawati paik

Imagine

You are a member of a nomadiccommunity that shifts residence everythree months. How would this changeyour life?

TRIBES, NOMADS ANDSETTLED COMMUNITIES

ELSEWHERE

ELSEWHERE

ELSEWHERE

ELSEWHERE

ELSEWHERE

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2. Fill in the blanks:

(a) The new castes emerging within varnas werecalled ____________.

(b) _____________ were historical works written by theAhoms.

(c) The ____________ mentions that Garha Katangahad 70,000 villages.

(d) As tribal states became bigger and stronger, theygave land grants to _________ and ________.

3. State whether true or false:

(a) Tribal societies had rich oral traditions.

(b) There were no tribal communities in the north-western part of the subcontinent.

(c) The chaurasi in Gond states contained severalcities.

(d) The Bhils lived in the north-eastern part of thesubcontinent.

4. What kinds of exchanges took place between nomadicpastoralists and settled agriculturists?

Lets understand

5. How was the administration of the Ahom stateorganised?

6. What changes took place in varna-based society?

KEYWORDS

varna

jati

tanda

garh

chaurasi

barhot

bhuiyans

paik

khel

buranji

census

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7. How did tribal societies change after being organisedinto a state?

Lets discuss

8. Were the Banjaras important for the economy?

9. In what ways was the history of the Gonds differentfrom that of the Ahoms? Were there any similarities?

Lets do

10. Plot the location of the tribes mentioned in this chapteron a map. For any two, discuss whether their modeof livelihood was suited to the geography and theenvironment of the area where they lived.

11. Find out about present-day government policiestowards tribal populations and organise a discussionabout these.

12. Find out more about present-day nomadic pastoralgroups in the subcontinent. What animals do theykeep? Which are the areas frequented by thesegroups?

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