Exploring the Depths of Anthropology: From Human Origins to Tribal Societies
Anthropology, the study of human beings across time and space, offers a fascinating lens to understand our evolution, cultures, social structures, and traditions. Drawing from fieldwork, tribal studies, social theories, and archaeological records, anthropology paints a rich tapestry of how humans have lived, loved, fought, and worshipped across millennia.
Let’s explore some key dimensions, case studies, and tribal traditions that showcase the extraordinary diversity of human life.
The Foundations of Physical Anthropology: Time, Space, and Evolution
1. The Timeline of Human Evolution
Human history is segmented into epochs that shaped our evolution:
- Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age: Each period saw unique tool developments, subsistence strategies, and social complexities.
- Earth’s shifting climate—from Savannah to Tropical Forests—influenced the habitats and adaptations of early hominins.
2. Primates and Early Humans
Understanding human evolution requires exploring primates like Prosimians, Old World Monkeys, and Anthropoids.
Key species:
- Homo habilis – the first tool users
- Homo erectus – master of fire
- Neanderthals and Denisovans – early humans who interbred with Homo sapiens, leaving genetic footprints that survive today.
3. Biocultural Evolution
Anthropologists study how biological changes and cultural adaptations evolved together. Tools, paintings, and symbolic expressions are not just artifacts—they are reflections of evolving cognitive capabilities and social lives.
Fieldwork in Action: The Semai of Malaysia
In his study of the Semai tribe in Malaya, Robert Dentan faced:
- Environmental hurdles: Tropical diseases, insect swarms, and the harsh rainforest climate.
- Social challenges: Navigating cultural shock, gaining trust, balancing privacy, and managing personal relationships.
- Dentan’s detailed participant observation offers valuable insights into peaceful, egalitarian societies.
Power, Exchange, and Social Structures
Big Men and the Moka Exchange
Anthropology’s concept of the Big Man (prominent in Melanesian societies) reveals how leadership is earned—not inherited—through generosity and political acumen.
The Moka exchange system in Papua New Guinea is a spectacular example: a ceremonial gift-giving practice where pigs, shells, and wealth objects circulate to build alliances and prestige.
Actor-Network Theory & The Poison of Gifts
Objects, people, and ideas are deeply interconnected in social networks. Anthropologists warn that charity can sometimes perpetuate dependency, a concept known as the “poison of gifts.”
Socialization, Money, and Symbolic Capital
The Social Things of Life
Socialization is the process that turns biological humans into social beings. Through rites, symbols, and cultural practices, we learn to navigate our social worlds.
Money: The Ultimate Commodity Fetish
Money, originally a medium of exchange, became a fetishized commodity, absorbing social power and symbolic meaning far beyond its functional value.
Tribal India: Marriage, Religion, and Custom
Tribe-Caste Continuum & Dominant Caste
In India, tribes and castes often merge along a continuum. M.N. Srinivas’ concept of the Dominant Caste explains how power is distributed through numerical strength, land ownership, and social visibility.
Bride Price and Marriage Customs
- Hmar Tribe (NE): Bride price includes an extra payment (Nuzum) for the youngest daughter.
- Gonds: Prefer cross-cousin marriages to avoid high dowries.
- Thadou Tribes: Allow diverse marriage forms, including elopement.
- Khasa of UP: Girls marry young; significant freedom in parental homes but subordination post-marriage.
Totemistic Taboos
- Munda and Muria Tribes: Reverence for totems like pigs or birds shapes diet and social behavior.
Religion and Sacred Complexes
Sacred Complex and Hinduization
Hinduization of tribes like the Gonds (Verrier Elwin) and Todas (W.H. Rivers) demonstrates how local traditions absorb pan-Indian religious elements without entirely abandoning their animistic roots.
Great and Little Traditions
Robert Redfield’s distinction helps us understand how local traditions (Little) interact with pan-Indian practices (Great).
Tribal Religion
- Dimasa Kacharis: Practice ancestral worship tied to agriculture.
- Heraka (Zeme Nagas): Blend indigenous faiths with Christianity.
- Misings: Exhibit a shift towards Christianity, especially among youth.
Youth Dormitories: Spaces for Learning and Socialization
Tribes like the Murias, Gonds, Zeme Nagas, and Dimasa Kacharis developed youth dormitories:
- Places for education, social bonding, craft training, and even sexual experimentation.
- Structures like Ghotul (Gonds) and Hangseuki/Leuseuki (Zeme Nagas) fostered peer learning and village solidarity.
Economy and Environment: Indigenous Innovations
- Nyishi Tribes: Created bamboo-based fish traps and water filters.
- Adi Community (AP): Developed soil classification systems for sustainable agriculture.
- Kamars of Chhattisgarh: Expertise in forest-based medicine and animal hunting.
- Malasar Tribe (Kerala): Sustainable wild tuber harvesting cycles.
Tribal Law and Governance
- Ashanti Kingdom (Africa): Developed complex matrilineal governance systems, a judiciary, and duo-local residence patterns.
- Azande of Africa: Known for their poison oracle, shifting cultivation, and polygamous family structures with unique trials for marriage suitability.
Rituals, Shamanism, and Belief Systems
- Yaqui Shamans (Mexico): Blurred the lines between emic (insider) and etic (outsider) perspectives through experiential shamanic narratives.
- Trobriand Islanders: Used myths to establish clan legitimacy and social order.
- Arunta of Australia: Distinguished the sacred (Churinga) from the profane in their totemic worship.
Anthropology of Human Evolution
- Denisovans: Discovered in Siberia’s Denisova Cave; a now-extinct human cousin that interbred with Neanderthals.
- Sivapithecus Fossils: 11-million-year-old ape fossils from Gujarat illuminate primate evolution in South Asia.
- NASA Twins Study: Offers modern insights into how space travel affects human physiology and genetics.
Conclusion: The Living Threads of Humanity
From prehistoric epochs to modern tribal societies, anthropology invites us to see how humans have adapted, organized, and reimagined their worlds. Whether it’s through marriage customs, religious syncretism, social exchange, or governance, the stories of these societies offer not just academic insights but profound lessons on resilience, creativity, and coexistence.
If you’ve ever wondered how many ways there are to live a human life, anthropology has the answer: countless.
1. The Formulatory Phase (Before 1835): Anthropology Before Anthropology
This period is best seen as anthropology’s prehistory—a time when sophisticated ideas about human societies existed, but without the formal structure, systematic research methodologies, or theoretical frameworks of a dedicated science. The driving impulse was largely descriptive and philosophical.
Ancient Thinkers: Seeds of Social Thought
- Herodotus (5th century BCE): Often cited as the first ethnographer. He moved beyond mere travelogue by documenting Egyptian burial rites, Scythian customs, and Persian legal systems with a notable degree of cultural neutrality for his era. He introduced early comparisons between “barbarian” and Greek customs.
- Aristotle: Coined the term “zoon politikon” (the political animal), asserting that humans are naturally inclined to live in a polis (city-state). This view is foundational to social anthropology’s study of social organization and political systems.
- Plato & Socrates: Their debates on ideal moral codes and societal organization inadvertently anticipated later anthropological debates on universalism vs. cultural relativism.
Middle Ages & Renaissance Influences
- St. Augustine: His City of God interpreted society and history through a strictly religious, teleological worldview (society’s purpose is determined by divine will), which remained the dominant social paradigm in the West for centuries.
- Early Ethnographic Accounts: Figures like Marco Polo (in the East), Ibn Battuta (across Africa, Asia, and Europe), and Chinese envoys produced invaluable geographical and descriptive accounts. While rich in detail, these were primarily descriptive chronicles, not analytical treatises aimed at explaining social structures.
The Age of Exploration (15th–17th Centuries)
The radical confrontation with “The Other” catalyzed social inquiry. Travelers, missionaries, traders, and colonizers documented societies fundamentally different from Europe.
- Spanish Chroniclers (e.g., Bernardino de Sahagún) detailing the complexity of the Aztec political and religious systems—including human sacrifice—challenged the notion of European societal supremacy.
- Jesuit Missionaries (e.g., Joseph-François Lafitau) produced early, detailed documents on Iroquois kinship systems and political councils, which would later become core subjects of anthropological study.
- These encounters introduced Europeans to the sheer plasticity of human custom and the idea that human societies differ widely, laying the essential groundwork for cultural anthropology.
Enlightenment Thinkers (17th–18th Centuries)
Their focus on rationalism, scientific curiosity, and natural law propelled anthropology toward a scientific footing.
- John Locke: The concept of “tabula rasa” (blank slate) argued that the human mind is shaped entirely by sensory experience, becoming an early, powerful argument for cultural determinism over innate biology.
- Montesquieu: His The Spirit of the Laws (1748) systematically connected environment (climate and geography) to social institutions, anticipating later concepts in cultural ecology and environmental determinism.
- Immanuel Kant: Unfortunately, his work also contributed to a problematic strain. He classified human diversity into races based on geography and climate, solidifying the trend toward early, hierarchical racial typologies that later anthropologists would spend decades dismantling.
The Authentic Heart of This Phase
Anthropology wasn’t a science yet—it was a domain of emergent questions: Why do societies differ so radically? What is the fundamental, universal human nature beneath the custom? How do customs evolve? These thinkers provided the intellectual tools: rationality, systematic comparison, and environmental sensitivity.
2. The Convergent Phase (1835–1859): The Scientific Alignment
This short but crucial phase marks when the ideas about humanity began to align with the dominant scientific and evolutionary thinking sweeping Europe, making anthropology’s eventual formalization inevitable.
Two Driving Forces
- Advances in Biological Sciences:
- Geologists like Charles Lyell introduced “deep time”—the concept of an Earth millions of years old—making the idea of gradual human evolution (biological and social) plausible.
- Comparative Anatomists systematically compared human and primate morphology, placing humanity firmly within the natural world.
- Social Revolutions:
- The Industrial Revolution radically changed Western class structures, social relations, and labor, prompting new questions about the nature of society itself.
- Intensified colonial encounters required (or, rather, demanded) a systematic, practical understanding of unknown cultures for effective administration and resource extraction.
Key Thinkers and Concepts
- Karl Marx (and Engels): Introduced economic determinism and historical materialism. By asserting that a society’s means of production determines its superstructure (politics, religion, culture), he laid the groundwork for future political and economic anthropology.
- Charles Darwin (1859): The publication of On the Origin of Species was the single greatest catalyst. It provided a powerful, coherent, and scientific framework—evolution by natural selection—that anthropology immediately adopted.
The Authentic Shift
The scientific method—comparison, classification, and evolutionary sequencing—became the new standard. This period set the stage for anthropology to transition from philosophy to a structured, data-driven discipline. The question shifted from What is the nature of humanity? to What is the evolutionary trajectory of human society and culture?
3. The Constructive Phase (1859–1900): Formalizing the Discipline
In the wake of Darwin, scholars confidently attempted to place human societies on universal, unilinear evolutionary timelines. This era established the formal institutions of anthropology.
Key Institutional Developments
- Academic Formalization: Anthropology departments opened at major institutions: Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia, and German universities.
- Museums and Artifacts: National museums (e.g., the Smithsonian, the British Museum) became central to the discipline, actively collecting and classifying artifacts as “evidence” of cultural stages.
- Professional Journals: The establishment of early organs like the Journal of the Anthropological Institute and American Anthropologist marked the beginning of a professional scholarly conversation.
Theoretical Breakthroughs (The Era of “Armchair Anthropology”)
This era is defined by the unilinear evolution model, often conducted from the “armchair,” using notes from missionaries, colonial officers, or travelers rather than direct fieldwork.
- E.B. Tylor (British):
- Provided the first enduring, holistic scientific definition of culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
- Proposed the unilinear evolution of religion: animism → polytheism → monotheism.
- Lewis Henry Morgan (American):
- Remarkably, conducted direct fieldwork studying Iroquois kinship.
- His greatest contribution was his scientific classification system for kinship (descriptive vs. classificatory), still used today.
- Proposed a universal unilinear sequence: Savagery → Barbarism → Civilization.
- James Frazer (Scottish):
- His monumental work, The Golden Bough, exhaustively compared myths and rituals across the world.
- Proposed the unilinear evolution of thought: Magic → Religion → Science.
German Evolutionists (e.g., Bachofen, Maine)
Added complexity by focusing on social structure. Bachofen argued early societies were matriarchal (based on evidence of goddesses and myths)—a controversial but highly influential idea that highlighted the importance of social organization in evolutionary schemes.
Limitations and Legacy
These foundational theories were often speculative and ethnocentric, built on the assumption that Western society represented the highest evolutionary stage. However, they provided the first systematic intellectual scaffolding upon which modern anthropology would be built.
4. The Critical Phase (1901–1935): Fieldwork Revolution & Modern Anthropology
This phase represents a seismic shift, moving anthropology out of the armchair and into the field. It is the birth of the rigorous, professional methodology that defines the discipline today.
The Fieldwork Revolution
- Bronisław Malinowski (Functionalism):
- His extended, immersive stay among the Trobriand Islanders during WWI pioneered the method of participant observation, the sine qua non (essential condition) of modern ethnography.
- He saw culture as fulfilling a set of basic and derived human needs (e.g., metabolism, kinship, safety), founding the school of Functionalism.
- A.R. Radcliffe-Brown (Structural-Functionalism):
- Focused on how social institutions (e.g., law, religion, kinship) function to maintain the overall social structure and order, not on individual needs. His work emphasized synchronic (single-point-in-time) analysis.
The American Boasian Tradition (Historical Particularism)
- Franz Boas (The “Father of American Anthropology”):
- Championed the four-field approach (combining physical, archaeological, linguistic, and cultural anthropology).
- Waged a fierce intellectual war against scientific racism, demonstrating that biological race and cultural capacity were independent variables.
- Promoted cultural relativism, arguing that every culture must be understood in its own unique context, leading to historical particularism—the idea that each culture has its own long, unique history, rather than following a universal track.
- Trained the “giants” of 20th-century American anthropology: Mead, Benedict, Kroeber, Lowie, Herskovits.
- Margaret Mead & Ruth Benedict (Culture and Personality):
- Showed how child-rearing practices, emotions, and values are not biological universals but vary widely across cultures. Benedict’s configurationalism argued that culture selects only a few personality types to emphasize (e.g., Apollonian or Dionysian).
Global Expansion: India Enters the Scene (1920–1935)
The formalization spread globally, decentralizing the field from Western Europe:
- Calcutta University established the first anthropology department in Asia (1920).
- S.C. Roy founded the journal Man in India (1921), focusing on indigenous populations and tribal studies (e.g., Verrier Elwin), establishing a non-Western tradition of scholarship.
🧐 Modern Concepts: Deepened & Authentic Interpretations
The critical phase and its immediate aftermath solidified core concepts:
Understanding Culture: Refining the Definitions
| Anthropologist | Core Concept of Culture | Nuance Added |
| E.B. Tylor | Holistic, inclusive “complex whole” | First scientific, universal definition. |
| Franz Boas | Historical Particularism | Every culture has its own unique, internal logic and history, rejecting unilinear schemes. |
| Malinowski | A biological and psychological response system | Culture exists to satisfy universal human needs. |
| Radcliffe-Brown | A network of social relations | Culture is a structure (or “social structure”) that maintains societal equilibrium. |
| Kroeber | Superorganic Culture | Culture is a pattern sui generis (of its own kind), existing on a plane beyond individual minds, requiring its own laws of study. |
Essential Conceptual Tools
- Emic vs. Etic (Pike, Harris):
- Emic: The insider’s perspective (how the people themselves explain their culture).
- Etic: The analytical outsider’s explanation (the anthropologist’s objective, scientific framework). A rigorous ethnography requires both.
- Cultural Pluralism: The recognition that multiple distinct cultural traditions can coexist peacefully and maintain their identities within a single political state (e.g., India’s multiethnic coexistence).
- Enculturation & Socialization: The mechanisms by which culture is transmitted and internalized across generations.
Evolutionary Schools, Enriched & Accurate
The unilinear model was replaced by more nuanced, geographically sensitive frameworks:
1. Classical Evolutionists (Unilinear)
- Tylor, Morgan, Frazer: Societies move from a single path of simple -> complex.
- Critique: Too rigid, ethnocentric, and contradicted by ethnographic evidence.
2. Diffusionists (1900–1930) (Added for Authenticity)
This school argued that culture traits did not evolve independently but spread from one central source:
- British Diffusionists (Smith, Perry): Proposed an extreme “Egyptian origin” theory, claiming nearly all major cultural innovations spread from ancient Egypt.
- German Diffusionists (Graebner): Introduced Kulturkreis (culture circles), tracing the spatial spread of specific trait complexes.
3. Neo-Evolutionists (1940s–1970s) (Accurate, Updated, and Enriched)
These thinkers reintroduced an evolutionary framework, but on a more scientific, material basis:
- Leslie White:
- Proposed a law that culture evolves as its ability to capture energy increases. His formula: E * T = C$ (Energy *Technology = Culture).
- Julian Steward (Founder of Cultural Ecology):
- Pioneered multilinear evolution: societies evolve differently based on their specific environmental and technological challenges.
- Studied specific adaptations of groups like the Shoshone and Andean civilizations.
- Gordon Childe (Archaeologist):
- Coined the transformative concepts of the Neolithic Revolution (the rise of agriculture) and the Urban Revolution (the rise of cities and states), providing archaeological evidence connecting material culture with social evolution.
- Marshall Sahlins & Elman Service:
- Created the influential framework for political/economic anthropology: Band -> Tribe -> Chiefdom ->State.
23rd Nov 2025
Over the last decade, my travels through Chhattisgarh, Bastar, Nilgiris, Andhra Pradesh, Northeast India and the Andaman Islands have introduced me to some of the most remarkable indigenous communities. Each tribe carries its own worldview, ecological knowledge, kinship patterns, rituals, and forms of social organisation that rarely make it into mainstream conversations.
Below is a consolidated field ethnography and reflection from different tribal communities I’ve lived with, visited, or studied—capturing their culture, economy, rituals, language, and the pressures of modernity.
1. The Gonds of Chhattisgarh (Khodpani Village)
The Gonds—one of India’s largest tribes—have undergone visible shifts due to Hindu influence but retain deep connections to nature.
1. Hindu Influence & Ritual Change
- Deepawali becomes Diwari, celebrated with the Mandri dance.
- Many Gonds now worship Ling Dev/Shiva, yet do not believe in temple worship.
- Traditionally animistic, their cosmology revolved around forests, spirits, and ancestors.
- Social life is divided into Sam & Visam gotras, functioning like exogamous clans.
- Mahalyas act like ritual specialists—similar to Hindu pandits—contracted during marriages.
2. Endangered Gondi Language
Gondi is one of India’s most endangered Dravidian languages.
- Influences: Telugu, Tamil, Maithili.
- The language preserves vast ecological, herbal, and cosmological knowledge.
- A digital dictionary and structured documentation are urgently needed.
3. Gotul: The Gond Knowledge System
A Gotul is not just a youth home—it is:
- a peer-learning dormitory,
- a cultural academy,
- and a problem-solving sabha.
The structure resembles a living Kaushal Vikas Kendra that teaches ethics, dance, rituals, and social values.
4. Doodh-Lautawa Ceremony & Marriage Customs
Cross-cousin marriages remain common to:
- avoid heavy dowries,
- strengthen clan solidarity,
- keep resources within extended family networks.
5. Verrier Elwin’s Influence
Elwin’s pioneering work among the Gonds remains foundational to understanding their worldview, religion, and social structure.
2. Muria Tribe of Bastar
The Murias represent the more culturally conserved branch of the Gonds.
1. Ghotul: Mixed-Sex Youth Dormitory
A unique institution where young boys and girls live, learn, and engage in sexual experimentation.
Functions:
- regulated premarital relations (with rules against emotional attachment),
- training in art, craft, dance,
- leadership roles: Patel (head boy) & Belosa (head girl).
With rising HIV/AIDS, the practice has declined.
2. Phratries & Clan System
Five powerful phratries:
- Nagvans (Snake), Bakravans (Goat), Baghvans (Tiger), Kacchimvans (Tortoise), Bodminkvans (Fish)
Totem animals must not be harmed or eaten.
3. Marriage
- Inter-clan marriages prohibited
- Cross-cousin marriages preferred
3. Toda Tribe of Nilgiris: A Full Ethnography (Classic Study)
The Todas remain one of India’s most anthropologically rich tribes.
1. Key Anthropologists
- W.H. Rivers (1906): first full monograph
- John Sullivan (1822): early colonial accounts
2. Location & Settlement
Nilgiri plateau; hamlets called Mandh, with distinctive oval, thatched huts.
3. Religion & Cosmology
- Animism + Naturalism + selective Hindu elements (Krishna).
- Temples have no idols; surrounded by stones; ghee-lit lamps.
- Buffaloes are sacred; rituals involve bow & arrow ceremony.
4. Marriage
- Premarital relations accepted.
- Legal paternity given via Pishit (bow & arrow) ceremony.
- Polyandry historically present, linked to their legendary descent from the Pandavas.
5. Economy
- Traditionally pastoral (buffalo-based).
- Toda embroidery (Duppati shawls) is a high-value livelihood product.
6. Script & Physical Features
- No script, but use a pictographic system resembling Harappan symbols.
- Physical features differ from typical Dravidian populations, making their origins debated (Scythian? Greek? Israeli?).
7. Social Organisation
- Highly patriarchal; men alone handle sacred buffaloes and ghee rituals.
- Community livestock ownership is now shifting to private ownership.
4. Betta Kurumba (Tamil Nadu–Karnataka–Kerala)
A PVTG living in the Nilgiri Biosphere.
Key Traits
- Originally hunter-gatherers & artisans
- Written extensively by Aiyappan
- Influence of Malayali culture (celebrate Malayali New Year)
- Worship Shivaratri, maintain animistic elements
- Chaupal at village centre for decisions
- Earlier nomadic, now settled due to forest policies and plantations
5. Nyishi & Tagin Tribes (Arunachal Pradesh)
Arunachal has 10 lakh tribals out of 14 lakh population.
1. Marriage
- Historically polygamous for status
- Love marriages now common
2. Festival
Nyokum – festival of life, harmony, agriculture.
3. Tribal Technology
Ingenious bamboo engineering:
- fish traps
- water purifiers
- household structures
6. Konda Reddis / Kodu Tribes (Andhra Pradesh)
A PVTG practising primitive agriculture.
Issues
- High disease prevalence (malaria)
- Exploited by middlemen (Bichauliye, Sahukars)
- Shift from jhum to coffee plantations
- Under ITDP/ITDA development schemes
7. Munda & Ho Tribes (Chotanagpur Plateau)
Key Cultural Traits
1. Animatism/Bongaism
Belief in impersonal supernatural power in objects.
2. Clan & Totem System
Exogamous clans called Killis.
Taboos:
- Example: Mahali-Munda avoid pork, unless the head alone is discarded to satisfy taboo.
3. Livelihood
Agriculture is main occupation.
4. Religion
Ho tribe believes they can induce rain through ritual thunder-sound creation.
8. Dimasa Kacharis (Assam)
Key Ethnographic Features
- One of the earliest inhabitants of Brahmaputra valley
- Endangered language: Dimasa
- Mongoloid features (Bodo-Kachari stock)
- Supreme deity: Madai
- Clan-based religious system: Daikho
- Annual Madai Khelimba – totemistic ancestral worship
- Animistic funerary rites (fowl sacrificed to guide soul)
- Houses built on hill slopes facing each other
- Hangsao – youth dormitory for cooperative labor
- Dance forms depend strictly on instrumental rhythm without singing
9. Zeme Nagas
Social Organisation
- 7 clans (Mpame most influential)
- Exogamous clans
- Bride price in mithuns
Religion
- Split between Heraka (reformed indigenous faith) and Christianity
- Belief in supreme God + 8 deities
Youth Dormitories
- Hangseuki (boys) & Leuseuki (girls)
- Training: weaving, hunting, singing
- Work as community guest houses
10. Hmar Tribe (Northeast India)
Key Features
- Mongoloid stock
- Exogamous clans (not strictly enforced)
- Monogamy preferred
- Unique Preferential Bride Price System: youngest daughter gets extra price (Nuzum)
- Earlier animist (Pathien); now largely Christian
11. Jarawas of Andaman Islands
A PVTG facing tremendous pressure.
Issues
- Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) increased unsafe contact
- Rules: no photos, no feeding, no stopping
- SC banned traffic, but enforcement weak
- Tourism push (NH-223 project) threatens autonomy
- Risk of disease & exploitation
12. Thadou People
Religion
Christianity (majority), Judaism (minority)
History
Led Kuki Rebellion during WWI against forced recruitment.
Marriage
Four forms:
- Chongmou
- Sahapsat
- Jol-lhah (pregnancy-based marriage)
- Kijam-Mang (elopement)
Bride price negotiation is central.
Headhunting in the past—heads placed on ancestor graves as servants.
13. Mishing Tribe (Assam)
Marriage Types
- Negotiated
- Elopement
- Simple ceremony
- Marriage by force (rare, discouraged)
Religion
Blend of:
- Animism
- Hinduism
- Rapidly expanding Christianity, especially among youth.
14. Kamar Tribe (Chhattisgarh)
A PVTG representing a modern form of forest-dependence.
Key Characteristics
- Hunter-gatherers; monogamous
- Rich ethnomedicine based on wild plants:
- Saanp ka Anda → vomiting/dysentery
- Goonj → typhoid
- Palash → fever
- Brahmi → pain
- Festivals, birth customs, nutrition all tied to forest produce
- Excellent honey collectors
15. Khasa of Uttarakhand/Uttar Pradesh
Gender Sanctions
Girls married early;
Before marriage → “Dhanti” (free bird)
After marriage → “Rhanti” (chained one)
Reflects sharp contrast in gender mobility.
16. Gonds & the Forest Rights Act (FRA)
Ground Realities
- FRA gives potential rights to 7.4M forest dwellers
- But ~50% claims rejected arbitrarily
- Example: Patkalbeda village
- Tribals collect salphi, berries, firewood
- Land acquired for Dalli–Rowghat–Jagdalpur railway
- Only 5% of STs in Chhattisgarh have received titles
- 3-layer approval system:
Gram Sabha → SDLC → DLC
Final authority lies with DLC, not Gram Sabha
17. Dongaria Kondhs (Odisha)
The tribe that stopped Vedanta.
Key Events
- Vedanta sought bauxite from Niyamgiri (88M tons)
- Violated environment laws; no tribal consent
- 2013 Supreme Court ordered India’s first environmental referendum
- All 12 gram sabhas rejected mining
- Since then:
- harassment by security forces
- tribal leaders branded as Maoists
- rise in land-right rejections
18. Yanadi Tribe (Andhra Pradesh)
Climate & Housing Adaptations
- Mud/cow-dung houses built by women
- Plastic-covered bathrooms
- Trees & flowering plants in every courtyard
- Displays high hygiene awareness despite poverty
19. Tribes of Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Communities
Negrito:
- Great Andamanese
- Onge
- Jarawa
- Sentinelese
Mongoloid:
- Shompen
- Nicobarese
Except Nicobarese, all populations declining sharply.
Protection
- ANPATR 1956
- 2012 amendment: buffer zones, regulated tourism
- Risks: disease, exploitation, beggarisation
20. Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Adi Tribe (Arunachal Pradesh)
- Identify nine soil types by texture, colour
- Use soil knowledge to control erosion, maintain fertility
Malasar Tribe (Kerala)
- Sustainable wild tuber harvesting:
→ harvest each hill only once a year to avoid depletion.
Closing Reflections
India’s indigenous communities preserve cosmologies, languages, ecological knowledge and social institutions that represent thousands of years of continuity. Yet they stand at a fragile intersection—caught between development projects, resource extraction, religious conversions, disease exposure, and bureaucratic land regimes.
Documenting, respecting, and learning from them is not just anthropological work—it’s a moral responsibility.
Note: During the COVID-19 period, I appeared for the UPSC Civil Services Examination with Anthropology as my optional subject. As an Anthropology fellow at the L2A Institute, I secured one of the highest scores in India in the subject. Alongside this, I volunteered with the Yuva Mitra Foundation, supporting migrant workers and gaining first-hand insights into social anthropology at the grassroots level.