Classification of Tribes in India

The Tribes of India can be classified based on :

(i) Territorial Distribution
(ii) Linguistic Distribution
(iii) Occupational Distribution
(iv) Physical Characteristics
(v) Classification according to Culture Contact

(i) Territorial Distribution

According to the first classification, they may be divided into four important groups :
(a) the tribes living in the northern and north-eastern zone;
(b) tribes inhabiting the central zone,
(c) tribes scattered over the extreme corners of south- western India in the hills and the converging lines of the Ghats; and

(d) small groups in several parts of the country or even within the political boundary of the country.

(a)The most important tribes living between Assam and Tibet may be mentioned the Aka, the Dafla, the Miri, Gurung, and the Aptanic on the West of the Subansiri river, and the Gallong, the Minyong the Pasi, the Padam and the Pangi in the Dehong valley. The Mishmi tribes live in the high ranges between the Debong and Lohit rivers, the Chulikata and Belejiyas on the western and the Digaree and the Meju on the eastern parts. Farther east are found the Khamtis and the Singhops and beyond them, converging on the south are the different Naga tribes occupying the mountain valleys on both sides of the Patkois.

The Naga tribes consist of five major groups: the Rangpan and the Konyak in the northern; the Rengma and the Sema, and the Angami in the western; the AoLahota, Phom, Chang, Santam and the Yimstsunger in the central; the Kacha and the Kabui in the southern and the Tangakhul and theKalyo-Kengu in the eastern section. South of the Naga hills running through the States of Manipur, Tipperah, the Chittagong hill tracts live the Kukis, the Lushais, the Lakhers, the Chins, the Khasis and the Garos, many of whom are really overflows of the tribes from across the Frontiers or are closely related. In the Sub-Himalayan region in Sikkim and the northern portions of Darjeeling, there are a number of rather primitive tribes of whom the Lepchas are the best known. In U. P. and UTK also a number of tribes such as the Tharus, Bhoksa, Khasa, Korwa, Bijar, Bhuia, Majhi, Cheri, Raji, and Kharwar are found. 

(b) The central or the middle zone is separated from the north-eastern zone by the gap between the Garo hills and Rajmahal hills and consists of plateaus and mountainous belt between the Indo- Gangetic plain to the north and roughly the Krishna river to the South.

In this zone we have another massing of tribal peoples in M. P. with extensions in U.P.,UTK, MP,Chattisgarh and AP, Southern Rajasthan, Northern Maharashtra, Bihar,Jharkhand, Orissa. Northern Rajasthan, Southern Maharashtra and Bastar form the peripheral areas of this zone. The important tribes inhabiting this zone beginning from the Eastern Ghats and Orissa hills are the Savara, Gadabi, and Borido of the Ganjam district; the Juang Kharia, Khond, Bhumij and the Bhuiya of the Orissa hills. In the plateau of the Chota Nagpur live the Mundas, the Santhals, the Oraons, the Hos and the Birhors. Further west along the Vindhya ranges live the Katkaris, Kols and the Bhils, the latter extending as far as north-west as the Aravalli hills. The Gonds form the largest group and occupy what is known as the 'Gondwanaland' and extend southwards into AP and Chattisgarh.On both sides of the Satpuras and around the Maikal hills are found similar tribes like the Korku, the Agaria, the Pardhan and the Baigas. In the hills of Bastar State live some of the most picturesque of these tribes, the Murias, the Hill Murias of the Adbhujhamar hills and the Bison- horn Marias of the Indravati valley. Majority of these people show similarity of race and culture.

(c) The third zone consists of that part of the Southern India which falls south of the river Krishna (below latitude 16 N) stretching from Wynaad to Cape Comorin.AP,Karnataka,TN,Kerala fall within this zone. From the fact that they occupy these marginal areas and also from the records in the oldest Tamil literature of the Sangam period they appear to be one of the most ancient and primitive inhabitants now living in India having been pushed by the intrusion of more advanced people into their present habitats, where safety and shelter were found against increasing pressure.

Beginning from the north-east the Chenchus occupy the area of the Nallaimallais hills across the Krishna and into the AP State. Along the western Ghats from the Koraga of South Kanara, the Yeruvas and the Todas living in the lower slopes of Coorg hills; the Irulas, Paniyans and Kurumbas of Wynaad, and stretching almost to Kaniya Kumari along the ranges of Cochin and Travancore and sheltered in the isolation of the forest are found the most primitive of Indian aboriginal such as Kadars, Kanikkars, Malvadan, Malakurvan, with many of their original traits still preserved. 

(d) In addition to these three major zones there is a fourth small and isolated zone consisting of Andamans and Nicobar Islands. The main tribes  living in this zone are the Jarawa, Onge, North Sentineless, the Andmanese and the Nicobarese,though separated from the main body of India's aboriginal tribes are ethnically connected with them. 

(ii) Linguistic Affiliation

Linguistically these tribes may be divided into a number of groups based on their affiliation to the various families of languages :

(a) The Austro-Asiatic linguistic branch under which come the Kol or Munda speeches of the Central and Eastern India, Khasi of Assam. Nicobarese in the Nicobar Islands.

Santali found in Bihar,Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam; Mundari; Ho; Kharia ; Bhumij , Garo ; Khasi and few other which  belong to Bihar and Assam. The language of Korku is spoken in M. P. and Berar; while Savana (Saora) and Gadaba are spoken in Orissa. Outside the Kol group, there is the language of Nicobarese in the Nicobar Islands.

(b) The Dravidian Linguistic Group is popular in Central and Southern India. It is spoken by Gonds Gondi in M. P.,Chattisgarh, AP States ; Khondh or Khond in Orissa ; Kui ; the Kurukh or Oraon in Bihar,Jharkhand and Orissa ; Mai to in Rajmahal hills in Bihar. The other tribes under this group are : Maler, Polia, Saora, Koya, Paniyan, Chenchu, Irulas, Kadar, Malser and Malakurwan.

(c) The Tibeto-Chinese (Sino-Tibetan) family includes the tribal languages of various people belonging to the Mongoloid element and found along the southern  slopes of the Himalayas, from northern Punjab to Bhutan and also in northern and eastern Bengal and in Assam, e.g., the Nagas, the Kuki, the Abhors, the Dafla, the Miris, the Khasi and the Mikirs.

(iii) Occupational Classification

The tribes of India not only speak different languages, but also have distinctive economy of their own. They live in different economic stages ranging from food gathering and hunting through shifting cultivation to settled plough cultivation, e.g., the Birhot, Kharia, Korua and Hill Maraia,Malapantaram, Kadar, the Paniyan, etc. The Paliyan depend on food-gathering and hunting for their livelihood. The Baiga, Pauri (hill) Bhuiyan, Jhuang Maria, Khond, Naga and Kutia Kandh are shifting cultivators.

The Munda, Bhils, Baiga, Gond, Majhwar,Kharwar and Ho Santal and Oraon depend primarily on permanent plough cultivation for their living. The Naga tribes have developed a system of terraced cultivation with elaborate means of irrigation by aqueducts.

Dr. Hutton classified these tribes into three groups : (i) Primitive tribes collecting forest produce, (ii) Primitive tribes, pastoral and (iii) tribes practicing settled agriculture(who keep poultry, rattle, know weaving, spinning,pottery and terraced farming) , hunting, fishing and industries.

(iv) Physical Characteristics 

(a)Physically the tribes of the north-east frontier are Mongoloid with light skin colour, straight and -dark hair and flat nose and prominent cheek bones. Majority of them are of medium stature with long heads, scanty hair growth on body and face and almond-shaped eyes. All these tribes, including the women, are muscular with great development of calf-muscles. They are great mountaineers and carry considerable amount of loads to high altitudes. They are healthy, hard-working and of independent spirit and their life is well balanced with democratic councils and considerable stress on personal liberty of thought and action. They have childlike simplicity and are very honest but not trained for sustained labour and concentration of mind. This type is represented by the Nagas, semi-Nagas, Chakmas, Mughs, and Lepchas.

(b) In the central zone the Negrito strain is most marked. The tribes very largely conform to the pattern of what are called the "Austroloid characters." Physically they are from short to medium stature, dark skinned with long head, and generally possessing curly but not frizzly hairs, road and flat nose but depressed at the root, fleshy everted lips. They are strong, muscular and well-built. This type is represented by the tribes like the Chenchus, Kurumbas, the Yeruvas, Malayans, Munda, Kols, Santhals and the Bhils.

(c) In the southern zone there is an undoubted Negrito strain, although at present greatly submerged, but still surviving among some of the more primitive and isolated of these tribes such as the Kadars of Perambiculam, hills of Cochin,and the Irulas and Panyans of the Wynaad. Physically they are of short to medium stature, of deep chocolate brown skin colour, small head, bulbous forehead, smooth brow- ridges and feeble chins.
The face is short and protruding and the nose flat and broad and the lips are thick and everted, the head shape is long, hair fine and of wooly nature and the body well developed.

At the present time they are greatly intermixed and it is only in the extreme interior that more archaic types are to be found.

Note : Tribes in India 

1.According to Risley's Classification - Dravidian and Mongoloid Groups
2.According to Guha Classification - Negrito,Proto-Australoid,Mongoloids(Paleo and Tibeto)

3.According to Sarkar's Classification-Australoid,Mundari speaking,Far-Eastern,Mongoloid

(v) Classification according to culture-contact

There are four main cultural divisions among the aboriginals. The first two classes consist of the comparatively small block of real primitives living in the hills. Their religion is characteristic and alive ; their tribal organisation is unimpaired ; their artistic and choreographic traditions are unbroken; their mythology still vitalizes the healthy organism of tribal life. Geographical conditions have largely protected them from the debasing contacts of the plains".

The wilder aboriginals have to be sub-divided into two sections :

(a) the first class in the most primitive and simple stage of all is comprised of Hill Marias of Chattisgarh State, the Juangs of Keonjhar and Pal-Labara, the Gadabas and Bondos of Orissa, the Baigas, andaria and Kawaedha, many of smaller communities and more isolated villages even of comparatively sophisticated tribes.

This group has the following characteristics :

(i) Its members live a largely communal life like those of the Hill Marias, Hill Baigas and the Juangs
(ii) Economically they share one another ;
(iii) Their life still centres round a peculiar form of agriculture (Jhum) and
(iv) They are shy of strangers but among themselves honest, simple and innocent. Crime is rare and women virtuous.

(b) The second class of aboriginals live in country equally remote and they are equally attached to their solitude and to their ancient traditions but they have begun to change in many ways. The important tribes of their class are Bison-horn Marias or the Bhomia and Binjhwar and Baigas. 

Their chief characteristics are :(i) Their village life has become individualistic, (ii) They no longer share things with one another, (iii) Axe-cultivation is more a habit rather than a part of their life ; (iv) They are more accustomed to outside life and are generally less simple and honest than the above class.

(c) The third class of aboriginals is the most numerous. It consists of all those who under the influence of external contact have begun to lose their stronghold on tribal culture, religion and social organisation.

(d) The fourth class, which consists of the old aristocracy of the country represented today by the great Bhil, Naga chieftains, the Gond Rajas, a few Bin jh war and Bhiuya landlords, Korku noblemen, wealthy Santhal and Utaon leaders and some highly cultured Mundas. These retain the old tribal name and their clan and totem rules and observe elements of tribal religion though they generally adopt the full Hindu faith and live in modern style.

Process of Transformation of Tribal Cultures

The process through which the tribal cultures are usually transformed or modified may be either :

(i) simple adoption, which means the acquisition of technical skill, adoption of tools, implements, ideas, customs and rites by one social group from another, e.g. the Warli of Thana district is yet simple and unostentatious, put on a loin cloth without anything on his head but his colleague in the south being in much contact with the Kolis puts on a shirt, dhoti and turban after the latter's fashion. Similar taking over of the elements of material culture from neighbouring groups is found in all tribes today especially the Bhils, the Gonds and the Santhals, etc.

(ii) Acculturation is the process of change due to contacts with other people. It involves acceptance and adoption. A tribe in contact with civilization may accept some of the traits of their neighbours such as the employment of Hindu priest in indigenous ceremonies and festivals among some of the tribes in Bihar is an example of simple acceptance. Similarly Munda tribes have accepted some of the cultural traits from their neighbours, while Raj ban sis have shown an adaptation to Hindu culture. The Lambadis of the Deccan have taken to agriculture, they have adopted the dress of their neighbours and tribe is divided into sections based on occupations. Similar adaptation is found among certain sections of the Gonds, the Raj Gonds and the Navgharia Gonds and the Bhils.

(iii) Assimilation, by a gradual drift to Hinduism. When certain members of a primitive tribe move down into the plains they tend to become assimilated in contrast to other members who remain behind. The evidence of assimilation in many cases is apparent. Certain Santhals of Bengal give distinctly Hindu names to their children, practise child-marriage before the age of 7, revere the Tulsi plant, abstain from beef, cleanse "their living quarters with cowdung, decline food cooked by Muslims, cremate their dead and place the vermillion mark and the iron bangle upon their wives."

Effects of Culture Contacts

The effects of such contacts have been very far-reaching on the life of the aboriginals. Contacts with civilisation have undermined social solidarity, invaded tribal security, introduced discomforts, diseases and vices. The results may be detailed as below :

(i) The rapid opening up of the means of communications has resulted more in conflict than in useful contact not necessarily a conflict of arms but of culture and material interest. Says Dr. Hutton, "Attempts to develop minerals, forests or land for intensive cultivation can only be made at the expense of the tribes whose isolation is thus invaded : tribal customs which regulate the ownership or transfer of land are normally superseded by a Code in the application of which the tribe is deprived of its property, generally in the name of law, either by alienation to foreigners or by transferring the trusteeship of a tribal chief into absolute ownership of a kind foreign to the customs of a tribe. The complicated system of administration of justice has tended to impair the natural truthfulness and honesty of the people and social solidarity of the tribes has weakened the authority of the social heads and the respect they formerly commanded." In spite of the best intentions a lot of injustice is done to the aboriginals by the Judges and Magistrates and the police officers of all grades owing to their ignorance of customs and mentality of the aboriginal tribes they have to deal with.

(ii) The introduction of the outstill system in tribal area in mines and industrial centres, where they frequent for employment, has led to an increase in drunkenness and immorality. "The temptation of distilary liquor", wrote Shri S. C. Roy, "introduced by the Government in some aboriginal areas is another evil that is working havoc, economically, morally and physically

(iii) One of the most important effects of contacts has been the spread of diseases in tribal areas. Mills has shown, while writing about the effects on some primitive tribes of Assam of contact with civilization, "That improved communications while they have immensely facilitated internal trade, have undoubtedly spread disease; not only have specific diseases such as venereal diseases and T. B. been introduced but epidemics spread more quickly. The opening of the road to Manipur has led to an increase in prostitution.'' Emigration of labour from tribal areas to plantations and factories where conditions are not favourable to settlement has been the main source for the spread of epidemic diseases. The lure of free life unhampered by social control pulls women to plantations and factories where they are tempted to a corrupt life and the large incidence of V. D. like syphilis and diabetes, gonnorohea, etc., among the labourers is directly traceable to such indiscriminate mixing of the sexes. Missionaries and the philanthrophic agencies have caused T. B., and other contact diseases to spread in tribal areas through indiscretion, as for example, doling out second hand clothes and apparels collected from the dead or diseased population, which are a foci of infection.

(iv) Urban contacts have everywhere disorganised primitive social life. The village has ceased to be living community; it is now an aggregate of isolated units. Old myths are being forgotten and the old gods neglected. Many of the traditional dances which used to provide recreation to the youths of both sexes, translate joys and sorrows are being abandoned and village politics, rivalry and social disputes are replacing their old-time recreation. The effects of this transfer of interests have already been evident in the high incidence of imported diseases, poor physique, inferiority complex and a bitter Antagonism against advanced groups in the neighbourhood.

(v) A large number of tribes have been living on hunting and collection of jungle products supplemented by Jhum cultivation. The effects of Jhum cultivation have led to strict rules regarding denudation of forests and today many of the tribes (who lived by shifting cultivation) have come down to the plains though most have not succeeded in adapting themselves to other kinds of agriculture found in the plains. This is mostly
due to tribal inertia, shyness of the aborigines, apathy of administration and as Dr. Hutton says, may be due to ignorance of appropriate magico- religious ceremonial necessary for other types of farming."

(vi) Many tribes have failed to maintain their tribal structures and have either been assimilated with more vital stock or have withdrawn themselves from contacts as a defensive measure. The Andamanese, Korwas, Todas and Chenchus are on evil days and are preparing themselves for exit. Some other tribes have left their tribal moorings and have settled in the neighbourhood of higher cultural groups whom they serve. Today they have developed some sort of interdependence. The Gond tribe of M. P. and Bhils of southern-eastern Rajasthan may be taken as an example.

(vii) The nomadic tribes who secured their livelihood by catering to the periodical requirements of settled communities as the Marwaris or the Lakhota supplying agricultural implements to the latter or repairing their indigenous tools and utensils, the Nats supplying crude nostrums for the restoration of the lost manhood, the Kanjars providing amusements, acrobatics and dances for the village communities, find it difficult to continue their customary life and have enlisted themselves into the ranks of criminal tribes whose attention to the rural communities is a perpetual concern of the administration.

(viii) Lastly, the itinerant seller of goods and trinkets, the moneylender, the licensee of excise shops, collectors of lac, honey and other forest produce are mostly aliens in culture and language. They have settled in tribal areas and have taken advantage of the gradual drift of tribal society from a moneyless economy to one in which exchange depends on the circulation of money. The implications of money economy are better understood by them and thus they have succeeded in solidly entrenching themselves in tribal areas and today they are a source of great discomfort to the tribal people. In many areas the land has passed from the aborigines to the moneylenders and sahukars who make the very people work for them.