The Fortunes Of Primitive Tribes

THE FORTUNES OF PRIMITIVE TRIBES D. N. MAJUMDAR, M. A., PH. D. CANTAB. Premchand Roychand Scholar, Fellow of the Royal Anthropologi cal Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Fellow of the National Institute of Sciences, India. Published under the Direction of THE SUPERINTENDENT, PROVINGIA L CENSUS OPERATIONS, UNITED PROVINCES, 1941, FOR THE LUCKNOW UNIVERSITY by THE UNIVERSAL PUBLISHERS LTD., THE MALL, LUCKNOW, INDIA. 1944 The Frowns of Tribal Fortune. FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1944. PRINTED IN INDIA AT THE PIONEER PRESS, LUCKNOW, BY B. N. CHOPRA AND PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSAL PUBLISHERS LID. CONTENTS Page. Introduction . . . . . . . . ix The Korwas . . . . . . . . 1 The Tharus . . . . . . 57 The Khasas .. . . . . 110 The Criminal Tribes . . . . . . 185 Tribal Economy And Social Vigilance . . . . 209 References . . . . . . 229 Index .. . . . . .. 231 vi ILLUSTRATIONS 1 . A Group of Bhuiyas from Mirzapur. 2. A Korwa house in Dudhi, Mirzapur. 3. A Majhwar Elder from Dudhi. 4. A Ghamar from Mirzapur. 5. Korwa women dancing a marriage dance. 6. A Bhil woman proud of her motherhood. 7. A Korwa magician. 8. Shouting to friends a Korwa youngman. 9. A Majhwar woman from Dudhi coming to the weekly market. 10. The Karma dance of the Korwas. 11. A Ghero magician. 12. It is feeding time a Korwa woman attending to her child. 13. Merchants in Dudhi icsting their pack animals. 14. A Korwa woman of Sarguja with her child. 15. Korwa archers with theit arrows fixed to the tufts of their hair. 16. Showing skill in archery. 17. An Elderly Korwa. 18. Sorceror and Diviner. 19. A Majhwar woman in the weekly market at Dudhi. 20. A Majhwar house in Dudhi. 21. To the weekly market. 22. Teaching the Aboriginalchildren. 23. Monotony of age and experience. 24. The Tharu women of Bonbasa they say they are immune from malaria. 25. A Tharu wife with her personal possessions. 26. Keen subjects for blood group tests, e l am alright 5 says she. 27. Charms do not help A habitual victim of malaria. 28. Young Tharu wives. 29. I have seen life. 30. A study in profile. 31. We are Rajputs our husbands are not. 5 32. Fishing in shallow depressions and muddy waterholes requires special outfit. INTRODUCTION The three categories into which the people of India are ethno graphlcally classified for census purposes and also in popular parlance, are race, caste and tribe though these are not mutually exclusive. Anthropologists working among tribal and backward peoples in India are greatly handicapped by an absence of an exact termino logy A caste or a tribe is distributed over great areas, from pro vince to province, the same caste in different areas do not intermarry and anthropometry often fails to affiliate them racially. The census classification at one time has brought the Kaikadi, Korwa, Korcha and Yerkala together as one people, at another, the Bhatra, the Parja and the Muria have been divorced from the Gonds probably for reasons of nomenclature. There has been a transition from tribe to caste, and examples of such social mobility are numerous. The same people have once been classed as a tribe, at another time they have formed a caste. Caste claims during the census operations pour in legions and the census authorities find it delicate to diagnose them. Absence of competent first-hand knowledge of the investigators and the strength and influence of caste organisations are often the deter mining factorsin establishing caste claims, and thus new castes and sub-castes have received the sanction of the census which has trans formed many an interbreeding community to inbred ones. j ce is a biological concept. The ideal definition of race be., a biological group or stock possessing in common an undetermined number of associated genetical characteristics by which it can be distinguished from other groups and by which its descendants will be distinguished under conditions of continuous isolation Man 1936 107...