CLASS VIII HISTORY

CHAPTER 4
TRIBALS,DIKUS
AND THE
VISION OF A
GOLDEN
MODULE 1 AGE
/2
 WHO ARE TRIBALS/WHO ARE TRIBES?
•The Tribal societies in India have different customs
and rituals they differ from those laid down by the
Brahmans.
•The tribal societies did not have sharp social
divisions of "upper" and "lower" castes, Unlike the
caste-driven societies of the people in towns and
villages.
•Those belonging to the same tribes share common
ties of kinship, but this did not mean that there
were no social and economic difference within those
tribes.
 LIVELIHOOD OF THE TRIBALS
Tribal people in different parts of India by the 19th
century were involved in a variety of activities.

•Jhum Cultivation or Shifting Cultivation

•Hunting animals and gathering forest produce
•Herding and rearing Animals
•Settled Cultivation
 JHUM CULTIVATORS

•Some of the tribes engaged in Jhum (shifting)

cultivation.
•In Jhum cultivation, small patch of land were
cleared off trees. The cultivators then burnt the
vegetation and spread ash from the firing (which
contained potash) to fertilise the soil.
•Equipments like axe and hoe were used to prepare
the soil for cultivation, but they did not plough the
land to sow the seeds. Instead, they scattered the
seeds on the field.
•After completion of harvesting, they moved to
another field.
•Jhum Cultivators were found in the hilly and
forested tracts of north-east and central India
 BHIL WOMEN CULTIVATING IN A FOREST IN GUJARAT SHIFTING
CULTIVATION CONTINUES IN MANY FOREST AREAS OF GUJARAT.
YOU CAN SEE THAT TREES HAVE BEEN CUT AND LAND
CLEARED TO CREATE PATCHES FOR CULTIVATION
 HUNTER-GATHERERS

•Some tribal groups earned their livelihood by

hunting animals and gathering forest produce. They
saw the forests as essential for their survival.
•The Khonds were such a community living in the
forests of Orissa. They ate fruits and roots collected
from the forest, used many forest shrubs and herbs
for medicinal purposes, and sold forest produce such
as wood and honey in the local markets.
•The Khonds also supplied Kusum and Palash flowers
to weavers and leather workers to colour clothes
and leather.
• At times they exchanged goods –getting what they
needed in return for their valuable forest
produce.
• Some tribal groups did odd jobs in the villages.
• Some of them wander around in search of work.
• But Baigas of central India reluctant to do work
for others.
• Tribal groups need to depend on traders and
money lenders.
• Traders sold their goods at high prices to the
tribal people.
• Money lenders gave loans but collected high
interest because of this the Tribals were pushed
in to debt and poverty.
• They therefore came to see money lenders and
traders as their enemies.
 WOMEN OF THE DONGRIA
KANDHA TRIBE IN ORISSA WADE
THROUGH THE RIVER ON THE
WAY TO THE MARKET
DONGRIA KANDHA WOMEN IN ORISSA TAKE HOME PANDANUS
LEAVES FROM THE FOREST TO MAKE PLATES
 PASTORALISTS/ANIMAL HERDERS
•Many tribal groups such as the pastoralists lived by
herding and rearing animals, moving around
seasonally with their herds of cattle or sheep.

The Van Gujjars of Punjab hills

The Lambadis of Andhra Pradesh
The Gaddis of Kulu
The Bakarwals of Kashmir
 SETTLED CULTIVATION
•Many tribal groups preferred to settle down instead of
moving from one place to another. They began to use
the plough to farm the lands, and gradually got rights
over the land they lived on.
•In many cases ,like the Mundas of Chottanagpur,the
land belonged to the clans.
•British officials found settled tribal groups like the
Gonds and Santhals to be more civilised than hunter
gatherers or shifting cultivators, and those who lived
in the forests were often considered to be wild and
savage.
A SANTHAL GIRL CARRYING
FIREWOOD, BIHAR, 1946
CHILDREN GO WITH THEIR
MOTHERS TO THE
FOREST TO GATHER FOREST
PRODUCE.
 HOW DID THE COLONIAL RULE AFFECT
LIVES OF THE TRIBALS
The British Rule affected two groups of people in the
tribal society.

1.TRIBAL CHIEF

2.THE SHIFTING CULTIVATORS

 THE TRIBAL CHIEFS LOST AUTHORITY
AMONG THEIR OWN PEOPLE
•The tribal groups were considered important people,
because it is they who controlled their territories.
Under the British rule they lose their administrative
power and were forced to follow law made by British
officials in India.
•Tribal chiefs were important people; they had some
money and the right to manage their lands and
people, but under the British rule, they lost much of
their powers and were asked to discipline their tribe
on behalf of the British government.
•This subjugation meant that the tribal chiefs lost the
authority among their people, and gradually also the
will to fulfil their traditional functions.
 THE PLIGHT OF THE SHIFTING
CULTIVATORS
•The British wanted tribal groups to settle down and
become peasant cultivators, because as settled
peasants they were easier to control and administer.
•The British also wanted a regular revenue source for
the state. So they introduced land settlements, that
is, they measured the land, defined the rights of each
individual to that land, and fixed the revenue the
farmer had to pay to the state.
 THE PLIGHT OF THE SHIFTING
CULTIVATORS
•The British effort to settle Jhum cultivators was not
very successful.
•The Jhum cultivators who took to plough cultivation
often suffered, because their fields did not produce
good yields.
•At last the British had to allow them the right to
carry on shifting cultivation.
 LET US RECALL

•TRIBAL SOCIETY
•LIVELIHOOD OF THE PEOPLE
•JHUM CULTIVATION
•HUNTER-GATHERES
•PASTORALISTS
•SETTLED CULTIVATORS
•IMPACT OF COLONIAL RULE
 LET US DISCUSS

•WHAT IS THE OTHER NAME OF

SHIFTING CULTIVATION?
•WHAT WAS THE MAIN ACTIVITY OF
KHONDS OF ORISSA?
•WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY FALLOW
LAND?