DEFINITION OF TRIBES

DEFINITION OF TRIBES The term tribe by and large is a sign of a group speaking a common language, observing standardized rules of social organization and working together for common purpose. (The new Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.X P-115) The other typical characteristics of tribe include a common name, a contiguous, territory a relatively uniform culture or way of life and a tradition of common descent. According to another contention tribe is generally, used to denote a group of primitive or barbarous clans under recognized chiefs. The term tribe was taken over by the anthropologist from ordinary uses and like all such terms it had a variety of meaning. In general, it was applied to people who were considered primitive, lived in backward areas, and did not know the use of writing. Sometimes, it was considered synonymous with the term race, which in scientific uses has an entirely different meaning. In the beginning, nobody bothered to give a précis meaning to the term tribe. They did not create much confusion so long as the groups, which were dealt with, could be easily located and differentiated fro the groups of other types. By and large, this was the case in Australia, in Malaysia and North America, the regions that were first studied by the anthropologists. In India, and also to a certain extend in Africa, the situation is conspicuously different. In this country, groups that correspond closely to the anthropologist’s conception of tribe have lived in long association with communities of an entirely different type. Except in a few areas, it is very difficult to come across communities that retain all their pristine tribal characters. There are two ways of scenery about in the rummage around for a definition of the term tribe. The first is to check up the existing definitions, which have been worked out on general considerations. The second is to analyze the specific conditions in India and find out the attributes that are distinctive of groups conventionally regarded as tribes. The difficulty here would lie in making the two definitions meet. A tribe is, in an ideal state, a self enclosed unit. This has to be explained a little further. The anthropologist, Nadel, defines a society in this way “societies are made of people, societies have boundaries, people either belonging to them or not, people belonging to a society in creative of rules under which they stand, and which impose on them regular determinate ways of acting towards and in regard to one another. In the imperial Gazeteer of India “A tribe is a collection of families bearing a common name, speaking common dialect, occupying or professing to occupy a common territory and is not usually endogamous, through originally it might have been so”. While defining the term in oxford Dictionary “A tribe is a group of people in a primitive or barbarous stage of development acknowledging the authority of a chief and usually regarding them as having a common ancestor.” According to Lucy Mair “a tribe is an independent political division of a population with a common culture.” According to Dr.Madan a tribe is “a group of simple minds, occupying a concentrated area, having common language, a common government and common action in war-fare.” According to L.P. Vidyarthi, The tribe is a social group of people who have the following nine factors. Via: v A definite territory or who claims to occupy a common territory v A common name v A common dialect v A common culture v Behavior of an endogamous group v Common taboos v Existence of distinctive social & political systems v Full faith in their leaders and v Self-sufficiency in their distinct economy (Vidyarthi: 1977:167) We have defined the tribe as a group of people speaking a common dialect, inhabiting a common territory and displaying certain homogeneity in their culture. The tribe is never exogamous, if truth be told its members marry fellow members more often than they marry outsiders. The tribe is not primarily or usually a kin group, but in certain cases members of a tribe claim decent from a common ancestor. Management affairs of tribal are vested in tribal council, having a tribal head. They have strong opinions in favor of their own way of life “Hill tribes are a set of quite inoffensive people who are nomadic in their habits carrying a migratory cultivation and living mainly upon hunting and forest products. Tribal system in India is fairly similar to that of caste system. Both social groups have their own peculiar customs, beliefs, religious worships, laws, political organizations, leaders etc. With all these similarities there is also some fundamentals dissimilarity. In caste system based on occupation and division of labor hierarchical arrangement is seen “The tribe consists of units fashioned on a single pattern, the sub concept, all sibs being generally similar in function and of equal dignity and within each sib the constituent members are on one level of democratic quality. Primitive tribes are stratified by age distinctions, differences of sex and of matrimonial status and of affiliation with one of the resulting groups that may affect the individuals’ life for more powerfully than his membership. (Menon: 1933:524) Reserved by C.K.Rakhesh. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of C.K.Rakhesh.