© Kamla-Raj 2008 Stud Tribes Tribals, 6(2): 123-134 (2008)

Indian Tribes and Issue of Social Inclusion and Exclusion

C. J. Sonowal

Centre for Studies of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policies, Tata Institute of Social SciencesSion-Trombay Road, Deonar, Mumbai 400 088, Maharashtra, India

Telephone: 022-25563290 (O), Mobile: 09869410315, E-mail: chunuda@yahoo.com

KEYWORDS Social Inclusion. Social Exclusion. Detribalization. Identity Crisis

ABSTRACT The dilemma in tribal administration has been centering round the issue of tribal development in aright direction. But what is right or fair is the big question. There is lot of controversy over the present daydevelopment paradigm of tribal development. The tribal people have been facing problems from both inclusion into and exclusion from the dominant development paradigm of the country. The tribal societies have experiencedreligious and other cultural inclusion in to the so called universal or dominant culture and consequently faced theproblem of identity crisis. Exclusion from infrastructure and health and education etc has led them to a situationwhere they find it difficult to cope with the outside world at present day situation. The paper tries to find out whatwere the means and aims of tribal exclusion and inclusion and the consequences of the same with some instances.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Inclusion and Exclusion Defined

The term ‘social exclusion’ and ‘social inclu-sion’ are two terms most widely used in recentyears by politicians, social scientists and thepublic as well. The term social inclusion was orig-inated in French social policy in the 1970s. Itcame into play in the 1980s economic crisis (Benn2000: 310) when state sponsored republican tra-dition of solidarity was in vogue (Bhalla and La-peyre 1997: 414). By the year 1990 the term wastheorized by scholars like Bourdieu and Luh-mann. The latter clarified the concept in the fol-lowing terms:

The concept of inclusion means the encom-passing of the entire population in the perfor-mances of the individual function systems. Onthe one hand, this concerns access to these ben-efits and, on the other, dependence of individu-al modes of living on them. To the extent thatinclusion is achieved, groups disappear thatdo not or only marginally participate in socialliving (Luhman 1990: 34).

With this adoption, social exclusion movedon to the political agenda in Europe in the 1990s.The conceptual development of social exclusiondraws from two leading social policy traditions,that of social democracy, in terms of concernssurrounding inequality and equal opportunities,and that of the social catholic concern for socialties in the community and within the family. Theterm ‘social exclusion’ is ambiguous and con-tested. Definitions range from little more than a

re-naming of poverty (Burchardt et al. 1999: 228)to more broad based concepts based on a lackof, or inability to participate in society. Rodgers(1995: 46-7) visualized exclusions which include,‘exclusion from goods and services’, ‘labourmarket exclusions’, ‘exclusions from land’ and‘exclusion from security’. Discussion of socialinclusion and exclusion also relates to citizen-ship debates, particularly in terms of the dichot-omy between individualism and collectivism.Atkinson and Davoudi (2000: 434), for example,refer to the differentiation between: the Europe-an social model [which] places considerableemphasis on maintaining social solidarity andensuring that all individuals are integrated into,and participate in, a national social and moralorder’ and ‘the concept of poverty which lieswithin the Anglo-Saxon tradition, where…a lib-eral model dominates [and] is based on the ideathat society is fragmented and composed of in-dividuals who are in constant competition withone another.

The definition of ‘Social exclusion’ was of-fered by the European Foundation that suggeststo represent the other end of the spectrum to‘full participation’:

“[Social exclusion is] the process throughwhich individuals or groups are wholly or par-tially excluded from full participation in thesociety in which they live.”

Since the Social Summit in 1994, there hasbeen increasing attention paid to the usefulnessof the concept to concern with poverty, inequal-ity and social justice in the developing countrycontext by, among others, the Institute of Inter-

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national Labour Studies, the Asian DevelopmentBank, the Inter-American Development Bank andthe World Bank (IILS 1994; Figueiredo and deHaan 1998).

Silver (1994) distinguished three paradigmsof social exclusion, depending in particular onthe ways social integration has been conceptu-alized, and associated with ‘theoretical and ideo-logical baggage’ In the ‘solodarity paradigm’dominant in France, exclusion is the rupture ofthe social bond between the individual and soci-ety that is cultural and moral. The poor, unem-ployed and ethnic minorities are defined as out-siders. National solidarity implies political rightand duties. A ‘specialization paradigm’, dominantin the US, and contested in UK is determined byindividual liberalism. According to liberal indi-vidualistic theories, individuals are able to moveacross boundaries of social differentiation andeconomic divisions of labour, and emphasize thecontractual exchange of rights and obligations.In this paradigm, exclusion reflects discrimina-tion, the drawing of group distinctions that de-nies individuals full access to or participation inexchange or interaction. A ‘monopoly paradigm’is influential in Britain and many Northern Euro-pean countries, and views the social order ascoercive, imposed through hierarchical powerrelation. Exclusion is defined as a consequenceof the formation of group monopolies.

The term ‘disadvantage’ has been widelyused for conceptualization of ‘social exclusion.Hence disadvantage refers to circumscribe theopportunities and life chances of individuals andgroups in a given society Now, poverty is rec-ognized to be a multi-dimensional phenomenon,encompassing income, assets, education, health,dignity and voice. But, still poverty continuedto be understood as a single phenomenon thatis the root of social exclusion in economic terms.

Sociologists, on the other hand, have paidgreater attention to identity-based forms of dis-advantage. Such disadvantage reflects the cul-tural devaluation of groups and categories ofpeople in a society. The identity in question mayrelate to a distinct and bounded group of peoplewho are defined by their distinct cultural practic-es and shared way of life. Caste, ethnicity andreligion are examples of such group identities.

In practice, the dominant sections of societyconstruct and re-construct the members of thesegroups or categories as persons of lesser worththrough beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviour

which disparage, stigmatize, stereotype and dis-criminate.

Group based disadvantages give rise to ‘hor-izontal’ model of inequality where the inequali-ties in question cut across economically definedstrata and differentiate the ability of differentgroups and categories within society to accessvalued resources and opportunities.

The two paradigms thus focus on quite dis-tinct understanding of disadvantage: one relat-ing to lack of resources and the other to identity-based discrimination.

Another dimension, the spatial disadvantagemay lie in the remoteness and isolation of a loca-tion which makes it physically difficult for itsinhabitants to participate in broader socio-eco-nomic processes or it may operate through thesegregation or urban environments and the ‘sub-cultures’ of violence, criminality, drug depen-dence which often characterize the territory ex-cluded neighborhoods.

Social exclusion has to be seen as an institu-tionalized form of inequality, the failure of a soci-ety to extend to all sections of its population, theeconomic resources and social recognition whichthey need in order to participate fully in the col-lective life of the community. Social exclusion isa kind of mechanism by which ‘access’ and rec-ognition is granted or denied. Economic theorysuggest the distinction between ‘open’ and‘closed’ groups as one way of understandingaccess and exclusion. Open groups are thosewhich achieve their objectives by expanding theirmembership because the benefits they seek in-crease with the increased membership and out-weigh the recruiting bringing new members.Closed groups like trade unions, on the otherhand, achieve their objectives by restricting theirmembership on the basis of some agreed set ofrules.

Another way to look at the mechanism ofexclusion is the distinction between ‘given’ and‘chosen’. While chosen groups are obviouslyones which individuals join of their own accord,and which they are also able to exit of their ownaccord, they are not all equally ‘open’. ‘Given’groups, on the other hand, are by definition areclosed groups with the additional features thatthey are less easy to join and less easy to aban-don. The socially ascribed character of certaingroup identities and memberships, which giventhem the appearance of being ‘given’ and un-changeable, reminds us that there are group-

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based constraints on individual choice and thatnot all such constraints are economic in nature.People are not always in a position to choosewho they are, where they belong and how theywish to be perceived for persons who have littleto do with what they own or earn.

The United Nations concept on social inclu-sion speaks as follows:

“An inclusive society must be based on re-spect for all human rights and fundamental free-doms, cultural and religious diversity, socialjustice and the special needs of vulnerable anddisadvantaged groups, democratic participa-tion and the rule of law”. It is to note that theconcept of social inclusion is based on subjec-tive understanding of what ‘right’ or ‘fair’ is. Thisnotion or understanding differs across countries,societies and individuals. Thus there is no uni-formity in the use of the term social inclusion.There are also certain issues related to it.

For some, inclusion and exclusion works si-multaneously. An individual or a society may beincluded in one desired area but may be exclud-ed in another important area. This may be as aconsequence of the inclusion or as a norm etc.

There is also note of self-exclusion theorythat says that human beings are socially consti-tuted and as such are product of culture, socialapparatus and their environment and then theycan never take responsibility as individuals fortheir own marginalization. But it can be arguedthat though individuals are products of theirsocial circumstances they do have space in whichthey can make decision about changing thesecircumstances.

Thus, in totality, social exclusion denotes thefollowing characteristics of a society at large orindividuals at least.i) Inability to participate effectively in econom-

ic, social, political and cultural life.ii) Distance and alienation from a so called main-

stream society.iii) Isolation from major societal mechanisms

which produce or distribute social resourc-es.Social exclusion is a broader concept. It is a

related concept with unemployment and pover-ty, but not an identical one with them. Social ex-clusion is a relative term particular to a place orcountry on certain circumstances. It is alwaysrelated to a social agent or agents. Exclusion isalso dynamic term depending upon people’s im-mediate condition.

Social inclusion and social exclusion can alsobe viewed in terms of market economy. In thissphere the phrase social exclusion is used todescribe a situation as also to focus on a pro-cess, which excludes individuals or groups fromlivelihoods and rights, thus depriving them ofsources of sell-being that have been assumed , ifnot taken for granted, in industrial countries.

On the contrary, the literature of developingcountries has sought to study marginalizationor deprivation of majorities through a focus onpoverty and inequality. Market base propositionsays that it may exclude people as consumers orproducers or both. Market excludes people asconsumers or buyers if they do not have anyincome, or sufficient income, which can be trans-lated into purchasing power. Markets excludepeople as producers or sellers if they have nei-ther assets nor capabilities. In addition, marketexcludes both as consumers and producers andas buyers and sellers if they do not accept, orconform to, the value of a market system. Themost obvious example of such exclusion is tribalpopulation or forest communities in a market econ-omy.

1.2 Impact of Inclusion and Exclusion

Though it is generally presumed that exclu-sion is detrimental and inclusion is for good, inpractice this may not be true. Coercive inclusionby market or by dominant social system in anyform may cause harm to the social web of thenew entity. Coercive inclusion may be in the formof child labour, women in wage labour with dif-ferential payments, putting tribal people in un-skilled and unprotected labour force and as im-migrant workers etc. For similar reason, exclu-sion is not always bad. To those who do notaccept the value of the market system and donot resemble or depend on a social system out-side their traditional domain, any voluntary ex-clusion from those entities should be perfectlyaccepted.

Both from social and market perspective dis-course on inclusion and exclusion of tribal peo-ple cater relevance in present situation. Because,it is said that exclusion and poverty are mostlyinterrelated. Conventional poverty indicatorsreveal that there is a strong correlation betweenbeing indigenous or tribal and being poor or ex-tremely poor. Tribal people are more likely to havelower income, poorer physical living conditions,

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less access to health care, education, and a rangeof other services, worse access to labour, landand capital markets and worse returns to work aswell as weaker political representation. The pov-erty and social exclusion experienced by tribalpeople are largely due to discrimination at socialand institutional level during colonial and post-independent era. The present paper tries to high-light the characteristics of inclusion and exclu-sion of tribal societies in Indian situation.

2. THE TRIBAL WORLD

2.1 Definition of Tribal Societies

On the basis of certain specific characteris-tics some human societies are defined as tribalsocieties across the world. These characteris-tics are not uniform for every society. But thereare certain characters universal to all of them; atleast they had derived from such a social arrange-ment at certain point of time. According to theILO Convention No. 169 indigenous and tribalpeoples are those peoples “whose social, cul-tural and economic conditions distinguish themfrom other sections of the national community,and whose status is regulated wholly or partiallyby their own customs or traditions or by speciallaws or regulations”.

2.2 Indian Tribal Groups

In India we come across many social groupsor societies who might have some of these char-acteristics. But all of them are not denoted astribal groups. The term tribe is more functional innature in India. There was a purpose to declareor recognize some societies as tribal societiesthrough constitutional Act of the country. Thuswhen we talk of tribe we talk of the ScheduledTribes, the social groups recognized or listed inthe Schedule of the Constitution of India. There-fore, by definition, the Scheduled tribes are thosesocial groups who are “such tribes or tribal com-munities or parts of or groups within such tribesor tribal communities as are deemed under Ar-ticle 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purpos-es of this constitution”.

This delineation shows that there is no char-acteristic definition regarding tribal groups inIndia in our constitution. The recognition is doneon purpose or functional aspects only. But it isgenerally accepted that in selecting the tribal

people the following characters are taken somesort of priority:

indications of primitive traits,distinctive culture,geographical isolation,shyness of contact with the community at

large,and backwardness.The criteria are not spelt out in the Constitu-

tion but have become well established. It sub-sumes the definitions contained in 1931Census,the reports of first Backward Classes Commis-sion 1955, the Advisory Committee (Kalelkar),on Revision of SC/ST lists (Lokur Committee),1965 and the Joint Committee of Parliament onthe Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or-ders (Amendment) Bill 1967 (Chanda Committee),1969.

2.3 Tribes are at Different Levels of Transition

Culture and society are dynamic. Culture andsociety change over time due to several factors -exposure, invention, experimentation and changein surrounding environment. The tribal societiesare also no exception. When we observe thesocial status and cultural components of tribalsocieties we find that in our country the tribalsocieties are in different stages of transition.They are in different stages of picking up or im-bibing components of modern world like educa-tion, economic activities, dress and recreation,food habit, health seeking behaviour and worldview etc. There is lack of uniformity in these do-mains among the different tribes in different re-gions of the country. This specific character ofthe tribal groups bears the importance in thatwhile making policies for social and economicdevelopment one has to be aware of such levelsof transition. For example, we have come acrosshighly educated tribal groups in north easternstates like Mizoram whereas, areas like Orissaand Bihar the tribal people are very less educat-ed. The situation is same for many other socialindicators of development among tribal groupsacross the country. Thus, tribal policies must begroup specific or region specific. Flatly general-ized uniform policies may not serve the purpose

2.4 Tribal through Ages

Tribal societies are the earliest known soci-eties in human history. Though there is hardly

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any clear mention of tribal societies in ancienttimes we get mentions of some groups of peoplein epics and other ancient literature who haveoften been depicted as Rakshas (devil),Ashuras (demon), Dashyus (robber) and evenBanors (monkeys). Most probably those werethe self-contained exclusive tribal groups whodid hardly mix up with other people – culturallyas well as physically. We have the mention ofthe marital relations between some non-tribal epicheroes or ancient kings and princes with thoseof tribal girls. In most of the cases the girlremains at her native place, gives birth tochildren and start a new dynasty or genealogyaccepting some non-tribal traits for the nextgeneration to come.

The cultural and geographical isolationbetween tribal and non-tribal societies, mostprobably, continued to be there till the medievalperiod. We come across, in India, the instancesof political relation between tribal chiefs and thekings and rulers of a bigger territory throughoutthe medieval history. In most of the cases suchrelations were friendly and symbiotic. The kingsdid not interfere with the traditional boundary ofthose tribal groups and also in their social andpolitical domain. In some cases it has been seenthat the tribal chiefs accepted the superiority ofthe kings and helped him with tribal army wherenecessary and in return the king assigned himthe status of brave warrior, the Kshatriya status.

The political assimilation of tribal world withthe non-tribal domain was very important in termsof transition of tribal world. It was during thisperiod of political assimilation the componentsof Hindu religion penetrated the tribal world. It isinteresting to note that though the legends andliteratures depicts the tribal and non-tribal cul-tural assimilation as an ancient phenomenon, inreality, those legends and literatures actuallyflourished in this time period only. There areample evidences that the religious preachers hadadapted numerous such parochial legendry sto-ries in tribal societies fulfilling the interests ofsocial and political ambitions of rulers as well asthe religious fraternity in different times.

By the later part of the medieval period, fol-lowing the increased accessibility to once inac-cessible terrains, several tribal dominated areaswere annexed to mainland empires disturbing thevery core of tribal societies in the country. Butthe major blow to the tribal societies came after

the advent of the colonial rulers. The colonialrulers did not have direct confrontations withthe tribal people in the beginning. The tribal ter-ritories were supposed to be transferred to colo-nial empire as and when a kingdom encirclingthe tribal territory was annexed into the Britishterritory. It was during the later part of the colo-nial rule, when the issue of exploitation of hugenatural resources reserved in tribal lands cameinto being. The colonial rule is characterized byspecial kind of tribal administration. We comeacross two trends in colonial rule towards thetribal administration — inclusion and exclusion.Both of these policies had some specific impacton tribal societies.

Inclusion of tribal societies into colonial re-gime was characterized by breakdown of tradi-tional political system and the means of socialcontrol among the tribes leading to social disin-tegration and cultural maladjustment. Inclusionalso exposed tribal societies into a network ofeconomic activities alien to the existing tribaleconomy. The tribal people were not compatiblewith the laws introduced by the alien rulers andin the course of time they lost their forest, landand support of life and mainly reduced to a posi-tion where they had to look forward to others fortheir development.

On the other hand, the colonial administra-tion introduced excluded area policy to keep awaycertain tribal territories from rest of the country.Though these were excluded areas, the adminis-tration did not stop penetrating the tribal tradi-tional domain. Many of such traditional socialcontrol organizations were made defunct or un-called for leading to social disintegration. Suchexclusions led to stagnation of most vital aspects– the economic progress and education etc andalso infrastructure development. The story ofexploitation and deprivation did not come to lightat all.

2.5 Exclusion in North-east India

Most of the parts of the north-east India wereadministered with a different administrative frame-work for the benefit of colonial ruler, especiallyaiming at extracting natural resources, mainlyforest resources, without any intervention.These administrative policies deprived the tribalpeople of the rightful access to land and forestto a great extent. Stebbing (1983), reports that inthe early nineteenth century the great forest

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tracts in Assam were unexplored. “Even till the1850’s, no steps had been taken towards the con-servation of forests in Assam…those accessiblebeings still worked in the wasteful fashion whichhad been in force for centuries.” Later on theBritish administration carried out the preliminaryinquires and investigation into the forests of theEastern Himalayas including Sikkim. It is impor-tant to note that the British account of the for-estry situation in the Northeast is confined toforest production plans, and even conservancywas primarily aimed at securing a permanent sup-ply of timber through a state monopoly. This isobvious by the extent of involvement by the Brit-ish sawmill companies and the tea companies. Itis reported that even the forests that were underthe traditional chief and most of the forests onthe southern slope of Jayantia Hills were leasedto the government and the privilege of fellingtimber in Jeerang Forest was sold to the govern-ment for three years.

The First Annual Forest Report mentionedthat the Conservator of Forest in Bengal, whowas also responsible for the Assam Forest, hadproposed a transfer of several thousand of squaremiles in Assam to the forest department (FD)without any previous demarcation or definitionof the boundaries. The government of Bengalthen ordered the early selection and demarca-tion of better forest, and also ordered that theDeputy Commissioner was to manage the remain-ing forest tracts. Even in this period, there wereextensive forest tracts in which numerous hilltribes carried on jhum cultivation (Swidden orslash and burn). As per the Gazetteer of Bengaland North East India, the area of forest in theBrahmaputra Valley and the Assam Range wasvery large. The government forests were divid-ed into two classes: “Reserve” and “Un-classedState Forest.” In the latter, a very large portion isbare of timber.

At the general administration level, two ofthe most significant administrative classifica-tions made by the British were the demarcationof the frontier districts from other districts of theNortheast by what was known as the “inner line”and the declaration of certain areas as “Sched-uled Areas.” The concept of the inner line wasintroduced in the 1870’s when commercial activ-ities by British subjects in conjunction with thefrontier tribes were found to be adversely affect-ing not only the revenue derived by the govern-ment from the forests, but also threatening dis-

turbance with the hill tribes. Thus, to protect theBritish interest in trading in rubber forests in theplains beyond the mehals or settlements, theBengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act wasenacted in 1873. This act made it lawful for thestate government to prescribe the inner line inthe districts of Kamrup, Darrang, Nowgong, Sib-sagar, Lakhimpur (Garo Hills), Khasi and JaintiaHills, Naga Hills, and Cachar. No Indian citizencould venture beyond this prescribed “line” with-out a pass under the hand and seal of the ChiefExecutive Officer of the district. Further, the actalso made it illegal for any persons, not beingnative to the districts, to acquire any interest inthe land beyond the said inner line without thesanction of the state government or such offic-ers as the state government might appoint ontheir behalf. The history of the special system ofadministration for the tribal areas in the North-east can be traced back to 1874 with the Sched-ule Districts Act, which was possibly the firstmeasure adopted to deal with these areas as aclass. The act enabled the executive to extend orexclude “Scheduled District” areas from the nor-mal operation of any ordinary law. In the North-east, the act declared the province of Assam andthe ‘Paragana of Manipur,’ a “Scheduled Tract.”The Montague-Chelmsford Report of 1918 alsoreferred to these areas. This report suggestedthat the political reforms contemplated for therest of India should not apply to these areas asthey were too “primitive,” “backward,” and“there was no material on which to found a polit-ical institution.” The scheduled tracts were thusexcluded from the purview of the reforms andwere administered by the heads of the provinc-es. The Government of India Act of 1935 classi-fied scheduled areas into excluded and partiallyexcluded areas with the excluded areas being di-rectly under the personal rule of the governorand the partially excluded areas being within theministerial responsibility with the governor hav-ing the power to overrule the ministers.

2.6 Tribes as a Unique Self-Excluded Group ofPeople

By traditional definition, tribal societies areself-sufficient (though not strictly in economicfront). Self-sufficiency means they need not tointeract with non-tribal societies for their social,cultural and physical existence. This very natureof tribal people kept themselves away from the

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rest of the other societies. The tribal people hadcrude form of trade relations with non-tribalworld, but that was not sufficient to penetratetheir social core. Thus, it is quite clear that exclu-sion of tribal societies was a self-imposed criteri-on.

Contrary to this fact, the caste societies werethe integral part of Hindu caste system. TheScheduled Castes, generally the lowest in thesocial rank, have socio-cultural and economicdependency on other caste groups. Thus exclu-sion of such societies is due to its social cus-toms, work attachment and legendry mandatesby social authorities present among the greaterHindu society. The perceived and manifestedexclusions are mostly due to the fact that theother part of the society thinks them not suitableto be in the same line of interaction. From thesetwo explanations one can draw the difference ofexclusion:

Tribal groups are excluded groups becausethey are not a part of the greater traditionalHindu society. At best they may be termed as theparallel segments in a different domain. Sched-uled Castes, on the contrary, a part and parcelof the greater Hindu society, are excluded asneglected parts thereof.

Therefore, it is opined that in the process ofnation building process, while the ScheduledCastes needs uplifting in social status, the tribalsocieties need a meaningful integration and pos-itive inclusion.

3. THE PROCESS OF TRIBALABSORPTION (COERCIVE INCLUSION?)

IN INDIA

Inclusion of tribal societies into the greaterIndian society happened to be a gradual pro-cess, especially in social and cultural front, whichwas mostly a predecessor to political aggressionof non-tribals into tribal domain. Numerous in-stances show that a parochialization of univer-sal religious entities and ideologies occurred intribal domains, where at certain point of history,Hindu religious preachers penetrates tribal sa-cred world, give recognition to tribal gods andgoddesses by assigning equal status, names ofHindu gods and goddesses and link them withparochial stories and legends. Thus the tribalpeople felt themselves as an integral part of thegreater Hindu society. In many cases tribal godsand goddesses were given a sub-ordinate sta-

tus in relation to the Hindu gods and goddessesmaking a path for social and economic and polit-ical aggression and expansion. Due to such rea-son we may come across same stories of a samegod happened to be appeared in different partsof the country making a legendary connectionbetween the tribal people and the non-tribal peo-ple of the other parts of the country.

Several examples can be drawn from ethnichistory of people of Assam. For instance, theAhoms (one of the Mongoloid groups of Assambut not recognized as scheduled tribe), who ruledAssam for a long six hundred years had theirown tribal tradition. They used to slaughter ani-mals to appease their won traditional gods andgoddesses. Very often the Ahom kings used tobring literate people from the mainland India andestablished them in their kingdoms granting spe-cial privileges like free hold grants of land, ser-vants and so on. In the same spree the Ahomkings established some Brahmin families too.(Gogoi 1991; Barua 2002) One of such most im-portant events was the establishment of the 12Bhuyans families from the erstwhile Gaur. SriSankardeva, the famous social and religious re-former, was born to one of these families in 1449AD. He imbibed the ideas of Hinduism in a newform and preached nava-vaishnavism or Ma-hapurusia Dharma in the state. He and his fol-lowers translated and adapted several Hindu re-ligious books, legends and epics in parochial formand popularized the mainland Hindu myths andlegends even among the tribal people. He estab-lished religious monastery called Satras at dif-ferent places and village monasteries at villagelevel called Namghar. This tradition embracedmost of the ethnic groups including the tribals inthe later period. Aniruddhadeva, a forbidden dis-ciple of Sankardeva, preached the Mateks andthe Morans of upper Assam and they becamefamous as the Moamorias. The sect includedsome tribal groups as well as other mongoloidgroups who are not recognized as tribal. Theybecame so strong that it revolted against theatrocities done by the Ahom king in the state.

The intrusion of components of Hindu tradi-tion in the Ahom royal familial domain dates backto AD 1397 when Sudangphaa, who was knownas Bamuni konwar, was sworn in as Ahom King.It is said that Ahom king Tyao Khmpti had someconflicts with one of his wives and she was sen-tenced to death. But as she was pregnant at thattime, the queen was deserted in the river Brah-

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maputra on a raft. She was rescued by a Brahminin some place in lower Assam. The queen gavebirth to a baby boy. In due course, the king diedwithout an heir. So the royal court brought theboy back and made him king. As he was broughtup in a Brahmin’s family he was known as Bamu-ni konwar. Obviously, the prince imbibed lots ofBrahminical ideologies and he brought in his fos-ter father’s family into the royal domain. It is saidthat several Brahminical rituals and rights pene-trated the Royal domain with this event.

Historians say that the influence of Brahmin-ical ideologies increased day by day. But it tooknearly 100 years for the Hinduism to enter intothe royal administration. Ahom king Suhungmu-ng (1497-1539 AD) was the first king to acceptHinduism as royal religion and accepted the title“Swarganarayan” as to denote the king. KingSusenphaa (1603-41) or Pratap Singha acceptedthe Hindu name and title “Singha” as well to de-note the kshatriya status of the Ahoms. TheAhom royal family started tracing their lineagefrom the Lord Indra as the legend says that theancestors of the Ahoms, Khunlug and Khunlaiwere the descendent of Lord Indra and a lowercaste woman called Sama who landed from heav-en in a place called Mungri-Mungra. The AhomGod Lengdon was equated with lord Indra at theinfluence of Hinduism (Barua 2002)

By this period the Nava-vaishnavism flour-ished in the region to a great extent. It receivedoverwhelming support from the common peo-ple. At one point it became successful to enterthe Ahom royal domain and King Jayadhwaj Sing-ha or Sutamala (1648-1663) accepted this religion.The king was not an efficient ruler and it is saidthat he preferred following religious norms tostate administration. He was defeated by theMughals (Mirjumla) and became famous asBhogonia Raja (Bhogoniya = refugee). KingGadadhar Singha (1681-1696) negated the expan-sion of the vaishnavism; he accepted Saktaismas an ideal form of religion for royal group andcame heavily on the Vaishnava religious gurusand Satras. The royal atrocity on a group of Vaish-navite people called moamoria became extremeduring the reign of King Rajeswar Singha andhis queen Phuleswari Kunwari which led to theeruption of Moamoria revolt that paved the wayfor decay of Ahom rule in the state (Gogoi P 1968;Gogoi L 1991; Gogoi P2006; Guha 1983, 1991).

Another royal family that traces its origin toHindu deities is the Koch kings. The Koches

ruled lower Assam and a part of Bengal parallelto the Ahoms rule in Assam. The Koch commu-nity is of mongoloid origin and has most of thesocio-economic features that exhibits by theplains tribes of Assam. The legend says that atribal person called Hariya Mech, who was aMech Kachari (a tribal community of Assam)once, was tilling his land. While his wife went toprovide him breakfast in the field she saw herhusband resting under a tree. She fed him break-fast. After having breakfast Hariya insisted onhaving sex with her. She complied and came backhome. But to her horror it was not her husband.The real husband came back home with angerfor not having food and drink. While he came toknow the incident he left home. At night LordSiva came in Hariya’s dream and told him that itwas he who had done that to her wife and ad-vised him not to get angry at his wife. He alsoforetold that the son to be born would be theking of a new country. Thus the son born to herbecame King Biswashingha in due course of timeand established Koch kingdom (Sarkar 1991). Hisson Naranarayn was the most powerful king andhe patronized Nava-vaishnavism propagated bySri Sankardeva. Numerous tribal people convert-ed into new religious ideology leaving their tra-ditional tribal practices and become Koch com-munity. Brewing and drinking of liquor, eating ofpork and sacrificing animals and fowls to appeasegods etc were the traditional practices they leftbehind and tried to become caste society, a partand parcel of Hindu religion.

There are many other legends that get paro-chial, links local tribal communities to the greaterHindu culture. One of such legends links all Ka-chari tribes to the legendry hero of Mahabhara-ta, Bhima. It is believed by the Kacharis that thePandavas, while in exile, came to Hidimbapur(presently known as Dimapur) and Bhima killedHidimba, the king of Hidimbapur. But Hidimba’ssister Hidimbi fell in love with Bhima and at theinsistence of mother Kunti they got married.Bhima stayed back there for a year, they got ason called Ghototkoch. Ghotaotkoch laid his lifein the battle of Kurukhsetra for the Pandavas.The descendents of Ghotatkoch became theKacharis. And the Kacharis feel proud to be calledthemselves kshatriyas (Endles 1911; Pulloppilliland Jacob 1997; Pegu 2004; Roy Babul 2002).

But the popularly known Hidimba temple isin Himachal Pradesh. Hadimba Temple in Manaliis one of the most important temples in the re-

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gion. This temple was erected in 1553 and is ded-icated to Goddess Hadimba. The legend of Had-imba says that

Hadimba, a ‘Rakshashi’ in the Mahabharat hasbeen deified and is worshipped in this area. Ac-cording to Mahabharat ‘Hadimb Rakshash’ ruledsome of the sub-mountainous tracts of the Hima-layas. His sister was Hadimba or Hidimbi. In theirwanderings the Pandavas, along with their moth-er, after escaping from the wax house unhurt cameto the territory of Hadimb Rakshash. Bhima fell inlove with Hadimba, the sister of the ruler. Bhimacould marry her only after killing the brother. Thepair-lived in the valley for about a year after whichBhima joined his brothers and mother. Hadimbagave birth to a son who was named ‘Ghototkachh’.Till Ghototkachh was a minor, Hadimba lookedafter her country. She retired to the inner hills, formeditation, when her son Ghototkachh, a greatwarrior took over the country. Ghototkachh was agood administrator. Dhungri was the place nearManali where Hadimba had resorted for medita-tion. A temple of Hadimba in ‘pagoda’ style wasraised and she became Devi Hadimba. Hadimbahad supernatural powers owing to ‘tapashya’ andwas kind to her people. Hadimba became the pa-tron-deity of the Rajas of Kullu. The Tilak cere-mony of every Raja of Kulu has to be done withthe permission of the goddess and after worship-ping her, a buffalo is sacrificed

Two more contemporary legends links theremote north eastern part of the country to themainland culture of the country. One of theselegends says that Banasura was the King ofSunitpur who had a beautiful daughter namedUsha. While she came of her age the king kepther in an isolated and highly guarded fort calledAgnigarh. One night she dreamt of a nice princeand urged her friend Chitralekha to get the prince.Chitralekha had magical power and she came toknow that it was the grand son of Lord Krishnaand she flew to Dwaraka and eloped Aniruddhato Agnigarh and marriage was performed secret-ly. Banasura came to know it and imprisonedAniruddha. At this news lord Krishna got angryand came to Sunitpur with his force and had awar with Banasur. Banasura was defeated andAnirudha was released from prison. There areremains of ruins of an ancient structure whichpeople believed to be the Agnigarh (Gait 1906).But similar kind of stories are also heard in otherparts of the country. It is known that Bana is agotra (clan) of Jats found in Rajasthan and UttarPradesh in India. Banas are believed to be the

descendants of King Banasura. Their capital wasat Bayana in Bharatpur. Usha temple, at Bayana,was built during the reign of Raja Laxman Sen,by his wife in memory of Usha. There is mentionof Bana Chieftains along with Pallavas and asfeudatories of Cholas in Tamil Nadu. Thus theauthenticity of such stories are always in doubtand there is every possibility that such storieswere the medium of hinuaisation of local peoplein remote areas.

Another legend talks about the marriage oflord Krishna with princess Rukmini. It is said thatRukmini was the daughter of king Bhishmak whoruled a kingdom Kundil in Sadiya of upper As-sam (Gait 1906). Rukmini loved lord Krishna buther brother wanted to give her to another king ofhis choice. When Rukmini sent her intent to LordKrishna he came all along from Dwaraka and hada fight with Rukmini’s brother and the king whowas supposed to marry Rukmini. They were de-feated by Krishna and he married Rukmini. Theruins of Kundil township is still lying in Sadiya.The Chutiya communities and the Deori tribes ofAssam claim themselves to the descendents ofking Bhismaka. But it is widely believed at na-tional level that king Bhismaka’s kingdom was inVidarbha, the north-east part of Maharashtra.Considering the difficult location of Sadiya inAssam no rational people will believe that therecould be any marriage relation between the plac-es like Sadiya and Dwaraka in those days.

Another major agent of tribal absorption wasthe Christian religion. Christianity and Tribalpeople are closely related in certain tribal pock-ets in India. Christianity entered India as a char-ity, working in disadvantaged localities, mostlyfollowing the colonial rule. Unlike Hindu methodof tribal absorption, Christianity took a differentroute. Generally, it associated religion with hu-manity and sufferings, education and liberalviews. Definitely, the incentives or the drivingforce was not religion and the legendry links to agreater world outside tribal domain. It was thebasic requirements for survival – health, educa-tion and economic betterment etc.

4. CONSEQUENCES OF TRIBALABSORPTION

4.1 In Socio-Cultural Domain

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In both the cases a lot of tribal traditional

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entities and identities were either merged or lostto universal religious domain. Along with reli-gion, social and economic front has witnessed adrastic change afterwards. Thus we come acrossa term called detribalization, giving rise to theproblems of identity crisis. Identity crisis ariseswhen a group of people does not left with any-thing unique of their own from others, except theundesirable differential treatment they receivefrom the others. Needless to say that there is adifference between the Hinduised tribal the Chris-tian tribal groups’ assertion In case of the later,though most of traditional religious norms arelost, it hardly altered the traditional identities andcultural components of the converted tribalgroups. Christianity could not evolve as a uni-versal dominant culture among the tribal peopleand the ethnic and regional variations remainedin the core. Thus being itself in a minority statusin the country it could not absorb the tribal intothe greater Christian society in real sense. More-over, Christianity itself offers as a shield towardsloss of identity being a separate entity from Hin-duism and so called greater Indian culture. Forthe Christian tribes, the ethnic assertion, there-fore, seems to be political in nature.

4.2 In Economic Domain

Inclusion of tribal world into the non-tribaldomain was mainly aimed at or focused on eco-nomic exploitation of tribal people and their re-sources. Intentional or not, the tribal people losttheir traditional authority over their economicresources — land, forest and other resources.Several land reform policies, land acquisition actand land distribution policies deprived tribal peo-ple of their livelihood. The colonial laws did notrecognize the community or clan ownership overforest and land resources. In the absence of clearownership title land and forest went to the State.

Inclusion also had great impact on tribal so-cial and economic front. This was because theopen up of tribal belts became the heavens offortune runners who were basically non-tribal.During colonial administration numerous non-tribal people entered tribal areas as traders, ser-vice providers, contractors and money lendersetc. They exploited tribal people in various ways.The tribal people, ignorant of monetary econo-my could not cope with the changing situationand reduced to land less wage labourers in mostof the cases. Large scale migration and malad-

justment occurred in tribal zones. The post inde-pendent inclusion of tribal territories into devel-opment map of the state has displaced lakhs oftribal people of their home, making them depen-dent on others mercy.

The excluded area concept was mostly usedfor political gain in terms of security and smoothadministration in and around tribal areas in con-trast to the general view that it was meant for thebetterment of the tribal people. Since the exploi-tation of resources and the breakdown of tribaltradition were in vogue in those areas, the polit-ical exclusion had some definite impact on tribalsocieties. The economic development, educationand infrastructure etc were suffered in those ex-cluded areas, barring the areas where Christianmissionaries were in operation.

5. TRIBAL SOCIETIES WITHINCASTE DOMAIN

It has been stated that tribal people, at pre-sent, have experienced detribalization and iden-tity crisis. In spite of being a self-sufficient groupsof people in past, what have made them boundto come forward to get assimilated with non-trib-al domain? To answer this question we have tolook into several circumstances the tribal peopleonce went through in their ethnic history.

It has already been stated that except a fewtribal groups in the north east region, most ofthe tribal domains were either surrounded by thenon-tribal domain or they were aggressively nearto non-tribal entities. The political intrusion ofnon-tribal into the tribal authorities made the trib-al people vulnerable to socio-economic exploita-tion. Thus, the tribal people were bound to comeout of their traditional domain in search of betterquality of life by accepting jobs, education andnon-traditional life-ways. The already penetrat-ed parochial religious identities and resemblanc-es made the tour easier in the initial stage. Butthere were certain constraints. These constraintswere in terms of social recognition. In a castebased ranked society, as it was prevalent duringcolonial and at the dawn of independence, thetribal people were unable to identify themselvesand place themselves in social strata. They hadto identify, at best, as either a caste people or anuncivilized lot directly coming from jungle hav-ing raw flesh in lunch — the adivashis or thebarbarous, unacceptable for the greater worldfor meaningful social interaction.

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Thus, the only way left open for the tribal peo-ple was to imbibe several caste components leav-ing behind their own traditional rites and rituals,customs and food habits and ways of life. Thereare numerous instances that show that by aban-doning the tribal gods and goddesses, by leavingtribal customs, the tribal people could attain thestatus of lower caste groups in greater Indian so-ciety. In this rush for identity formation the tribalpeople lost a lot – language, customs and eventheir traditional names and surnames etc. The leg-endry stories flourished everywhere linking tribalpeople with the caste groups and caste literature(mythological) and greater Hindu traditions. Wehave come across several caste and tribal groupshaving similar customs and traditions in the lowerstrata of society. Definitely, such similarities aredue to the process described above. Social scien-tists have forwarded a term very similar to thissituation as Tribe-caste continuum.

A very general observation also can make itclear that the parochial legends found at regionallevel do not find their place in the domain of uni-versal or all Indian level. There are different plac-es known to people for those legends. In case ofthe Hinduisation of the Ahoms, it is quite clearthat the legend of Lord Indra was just an improb-able route. The Hindu religion never penetratedin the land from where the forefather of the Ahomcame to Assam. It might have been due to neces-sity of the Ahom kings to accept a broader reli-gious ideology to administer the conquered coun-try in later period. The story of the Koch Rajbon-shis certainly was coined by the royal priests whowere the Hindu Sages. It is to be noted that a lotof legends and stories were adapted and translat-ed to local language using local elements and ex-amples so that the people at local level can acceptthem as their own. The Koch themselves now-a-days do not accept their kshatriya status and denythe link with lord Siva or so on. The story ofGotatkoch is also not above controversy. For log-ical reason it is very hard to believe that the Pan-davas would come to Dimapur from Hastinapurcrossing Ganga and the Brahmaputra. The famousHidimba temple in Himachal Pradesh reveals theimprobability of north-east links.

The instances from Assam clearly show thata lot of ethnic groups imbibed Hindu ideology atdifferent degrees. Some of them accepted it intotality and abandoned their traditional rites andrituals and observances. Some followed a dualform of religious belief blending both traditional

as well as Hinduism. Following the advent of thecolonial rule the social and political scenariochanged a lot in the state. This was a time offormation of greater Assamese society. ModernAssamese language was flourishing under theprint media provided by the Christian Mission-aries. To be able to speak and write Assameselanguage was a matter of pride and was attachedto status in society for the non-mainstream As-samese (tribal) groups in the state. In this waymany ethnic and tribal groups left their tradition-al dialects and accepted Assamese as their moth-er tongue. Acceptance of Vaishnavism was alsoa means to raise one’s status in the newlyemerged society. The advent of the British rule,open up of market and monetary economy, largeinflux of outsiders and break down of traditionalsystem and domain among the tribal group madeit appealing to catch a new identity and status inthe emerging society. By imbibing Vaishnavismthe tribal people were able to forward their iden-tity to the non-traditional world. Many ethnicand tribal groups even discarded their tradition-al names and surnames so that they could not berecognized as tribal people or so. Thus a trend ofmassive detribalization occurred during this pe-riod. These were some of the instruments throughwhich tribal people wanted to raise their statusor in some of the cases the priest and preachertried to find their followers so as to build up reli-gious society where they can be benefited fi-nancially, physically and others.

The contemporary ethnic history of tribalIndia clearly reveals that this process of identityformation and detribalization was not at all a pru-dent move from the part of the tribal people. Thenewly created identity did not serve the purposeto the tribal people. Except a few, most of thetribal groups could not assimilate completely withcaste traditions. The converted tribal were, too,placed in the lowest strata of the society andultimately experienced more severe exploitationand negligence from the greater Hindu societyand elite groups. The same way they also losttheir age old dignity as a self-sufficient society.The tribal people who had their own gods andgoddesses, had own priest and norms of reli-gion, society and life-ways, who were indepen-dent lot, now had to obey alien dictatorship ofhigher castes and elites.

Frustrated at the deteriorated condition thetribal groups in many regions of the country have

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started rejuvenate their age-old tradition to re-group and re-assert their unique or separate trib-al identity. A process of retribalization and reviv-alism has sprung-up in the country at differenttimes. Thus, an excluded identity began to ap-pear in tribal world again. Tribal societies are nowseemed to be smarter then before. The exclusion,now, is selective in nature. They are very muchconcerned about preservation of their remainingtraditional culture and entity, while in economicfront and skill formation they are inclusive innature quite voluntarily. Thus, exclusion is now,again, self-imposed and it is basically meant forgroup identity preservation aiming at political,social and economic assertion.

Thus, we see a different kind of inclusion-exclusion dynamic in case of tribal groups in In-dia. One has to be careful while talking aboutcontemporary trends or dogmas of inclusion-ex-clusion because the tribal have a complex web ofsocio-political history to accept or deny them.

6. CONCLUSION

6.1 Inclusion, Exclusion and Tribal CulturalDomain

Culture is a dynamic entity. There is constantchange and also relative stability to maintainequilibrium. It accepts new components-invent-ed, derived or borrowed, adapt to its own nicheand merges it to enrich its totality. Thus, exposureto non-tribal domain at different period of ethnichistory has earmarked numerous changes in trib-al cultural component. The extent and intensity ofsuch changes primarily depends on a society’sneed based integrity to its cultural componentsand life ways. A two way change- say for example,the exposure to new culture and change in sur-rounding environment, physical, social and eco-nomic, speeds up the change process in culturaldomain of a tribal group. In a negative inclusionprocess these two forces are rampant and, there-fore, cultural disintegration is rapid. This is a neg-ative trend among the tribal groups, who in turnare in the verge of losing its unique identity andproblems of identity crisis occur.

One has to be clear about the fact that noone can deny changes in society. But penetra-tion by an alien culture that does not have basiclinkage to the core of people’s life ways in not awelcome change at all. Social scientists havementioned that social and cultural disintegration

through such forces has made tribal people morevulnerable to severe exploitation throughout thecountry.

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C. J. SONOWAL