Tribal Communities in India: Tribes beyond Texts and Structures

‘Tribe’ is a modern term for communities that are very old, referring to some of the earliest inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent.

In India, these tribes were characterized by not adhering to religions with written texts, not having traditional state structures and not exhibiting class divisions.

 A tribal village fair

How are Tribal Communities in India classified considering Permanent and Acquired Traits?

In terms of positive characteristics, tribes are classified according to their permanent and acquired traits. 

Permanent Traits of Tribal communities in India: 

Let’s study permanent traits which mainly include region, language, physical characteristics and ecological habitat.

Table: Permanent Traits of Tribes

Acquired Traits and Integrating with Hindu Society

Classification based on acquired traits uses two main criteria: their mode of livelihood and their extent of incorporation into Hindu society, or a combination of both.

Table: Acquired Traits of Tribes

Evolution of Tribal Communities in India: Debates in 1960s Hindu Society

• Contours of Controversy: 1960s Debates on Tribal Identity in Hindu Peasant Society: During the 1960s, there were debates over whether tribes should be considered one end of a continuum with caste-based (Hindu) peasant society or if they constituted an entirely distinct type of community.

Agitation by tribal women

• Continuum Advocacy for Tribal Integration in Hindu Peasant Society: Advocates of the continuum saw tribes as not fundamentally different from caste-based peasant society but rather less stratified (fewer hierarchical levels).
  • They are possessing a more community-oriented, as opposed to individual, concept of resource ownership.
• Clash of Cultures: Debating Cultural Distinctions Between Hindu Castes and Animist Tribes in the 1960s: Opponents argued that tribes were wholly dissimilar from castes due to their lack of a concept of purity and pollution, which is central to the caste system.
  • The argument hinged on an assumed cultural distinction between Hindu castes.
    • Hindu castes characterized by their beliefs in purity and pollution and hierarchical integration.
    • Whereas Animist” tribes who exhibited more egalitarian and kinship-based modes of social organization.