Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of the Golden Age

A number of reasons were responsible to arouse the tribal leaders to mobilise the tribals and start agitations:

1. Harsh and unfriendly forest laws and regulations.
2. Change in the functions and powers of the tribal chiefs. They lost the authority they had earlier enjoyed amongst their people.
3. Lack of credit facilities and exploitation by traders and moneylenders.
4. Ineffective government measures to rehabilitate tribal population.

Baigas of central India were reluctant to do work for others. They were the wildest and most isolated tribal people. They thought that it was below their dignity to work as a labourer. They were totally dependent on the jungle and considered themselves as the people of the forest.

Shifting cultivation is the oldest cultivation system. It was practiced in the hilly and forested tracts of north-east and central India.

A tribal chief was the head of the tribe. Before the coming of the British, the tribal chiefs were economically and politically powerful people. Under the British rule, there was a considerable change in the functions and powers of the tribal chiefs. Much of their administrative powers were lost and they had to follow laws made by the British. They were required to pay tribute to the British. They no longer remained their own masters.

The British introduced land settlements in order to have a regular source of revenue for the state. Under these land settlements the land was measured, rights of each individual to that land were defined and the revenue demand for the state was fixed. The peasants were divided in two segments, one was landowners and the others were the tenants. The tenants were required to pay rent to the landowner who in turn paid revenue to the state.

Tribals took loans from the moneylenders to meet their cash requirements. But these moneylenders charged high interest rate on these loans leading to debt and poverty of the tribal. Thus, the tribals considered the moneylenders as the cause of their misery.

Many tribal groups lived by herding and rearing animals. They were pastoralists who moved with their herds of cattle or sheep according to the seasons. Some of the tribal groups who herded animals were the Van Gujjars of the Punjab hills and the Labadis of Andhra Pradesh, the Gaddis of Kulu and the Bakarwals of Kashmir.

From the seeds of sal and mahua.

The main characteristics of Indian tribes are as follows:
1. Absence of sharp social divisions.
2. Ties of kinship an important of social bonding.
3. No hierarchy among men and groups.
4. Little value to the use of capital and trade activities.

The tribals were unhappy with the changes under the British rule. They were displaced from their homes, alienated from their lands and deprived of their resources. Their culture was also in danger. As a result, they were constantly in conflict with the British.

1. Tribes had customs and rituals that were very different from the Brahmans.
2. They did not have any sharp social divisions based on caste systems which were practiced by the Brahmans.

The revolt of Songram Sangma in 1906 in Assam.
b. The forest Satyagraha of the 1930s in the Central Provinces

Indian silk was in great demand in the European markets. The Santhals of Jharkhand reared cocoons and they were paid Rs 3 to Rs 4 for a thousand cocoons by the middlemen who worked between the exporters and the silk growers. They also earned more profit.

Colonial rule brought about drastic changes in the tribal society. Before the arrival of the British, tribal chiefs were important people and enjoyed certain amount of economic power and the right to administer their limited territory. British made the tribal chiefs bereft of their administrative powers. They had to follow the laws made by the British officials. They also had to discipline their people according to the British. Paying tributes was also one of the duties of the tribal chief. Shifting cultivation was done away with since the British preferred settled peasants, as they were easier to control and administer. Many forests were declared state property and given the status of reserved forests. Tribals were not allowed to move freely in these reserved forest areas.

Birsa was deeply influenced by many of the ideas he came in touch with in his growing-up years. His movement was aimed at reforming tribal society. He urged the Mundas to give up drinking liquor, clean their village, and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery. But we must remember that Birsa also turned against missionaries and Hindu landlords. He saw them as outside forces that were ruining the Munda way of life.

During the month of Baisakh the burning of forests took place, where women gathered unburnt wood to burn. Men continued to hunt close to the village.

Birsa's vision of a golden age was the recovery of the past which was a period when the Mundas lived a good life, constructed embankments, tapped natural springs, planted trees and orchards, practised cultivation to earn their living

1. The Khonds lived in the forests of Orissa by hunting animals and gathering forest produce.
2. They used forest shrubs and herbs for medicinal purposes and sold forest products in the local markets.
3. They ate fruits and roots collected from the forest and cooked food with the oil they extracted from the seeds of the sal and mahua

1. During the British rule the functions and powers of the tribal chiefs had changed.
2. They were allowed to keep their land titles over a cluster of villages and rent out land but had to pay tribute to the British and discipline the tribal groups on behalf of the British3. They lost their authority among people and were unable to fulfill their traditional functions.

The British extended their control over all forests and declared that forests as state properties. Some forests were classified as Reserved Forests for they produced timber that the British wanted. Forest laws prevented the people to move freely, practise jhum cultivation, collect fruits or hunt animals.

After Birsa’s death, his movement did not fade out.
1. It forced the Colonial rule to introduce laws to protect the lands of the tribes from being captured by dikus.
2. It showed that tribal people had the capacity to protest against the injustice and express their anger against the colonial rule.
3. The tribes had developed their own ideas and specific rituals.

For the Mundas of Chottanagpur, the land belonged to the clan as a whole. All members of the clan were regarded as descendants of the original settlers, who had first cleared the land. So all of them had rights on the land. Very often some people within the clan acquired more power than others, some became chiefs and others followers. Powerful men often rented out their land instead of cultivating it themselves.

Tribal groups often needed to buy and sell goods that were produced within the locality, and hence were depended on money lenders and traders. Traders came around with things for sale and sold their goods at high prices. Money lenders gave loans with which the tribes met their cash needs, adding to what they earned but as the interest charges were high on the loans, most of the tribal people were indebted and lived in poverty. Therefore, tribal groups came to see the money lenders and traders as evil outsiders and the cause of their misery.

Fallow is a field left uncultivated for a few years so that the soil recovers fertility and the land can be used again

Jhum cultivation was done on small patches of land, mostly in forests. They cut the treetops to allow sunlight to reach the ground, and burnt the vegetation and cleared the land for cultivation. They spread the ash which contained potash to fertilise the soil. They used the axe to cut trees and the hoe to scratch the soil. They broadcast the seeds, or scattered the seeds on the field. After the crop was harvested, they moved to another field. The land was left fallow for several years. Shifting cultivaton was practiced in the hilly and forested tracts of north-east and central India.

1.They went out on collective hunts, then divided the meat amongst themselves. 2. They ate fruits and roots and cooked food with the oil they extracted from the seeds of the sal and mahua.

During the nineteenth century, tribal groups found that traders and moneylenders were coming into the forests more often, wanting to buy forest produce, offering cash loans and asking them to work for wages.

Tribal groups often needed to buy and sell goods that were produced within the locality, hence were dependent on money lenders and traders. Traders came around with things for sale and sold their goods at high prices. Money lenders gave loans with which the tribes met their cash needs, adding to what they earned. But as the interest charged were high on the loans, most of the tribal people were indebted and lived in poverty. Therefore, they came to see the money lenders and traders as evil outsiders and the cause of their misery