HISTORY (VIII) LESSON- 4 TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE (LESSON NOTES)

        

HISTORY (VIII) LESSON- 4

TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE

(LESSON NOTES)

__________________________________________________________

 

v INTRODUCTION

Ø Before the colonial rule the life of tribal people were full of joy. They live freely and that period they called as their golden age. But their life disrupted in many ways by the colonial rule. They experienced significant change in their life when they came into contact with the colonial rule and the outsiders. They described them as  ‘Dikus’. This lesson focus on the earlier life and changed occurred due to British rules.

v TRIBALS

Ø The people or societies whose customs and rituals were very different from those laid down by Brahmans are referred as tribals. These societies also did not have the sharp social divisions that were characteristic of caste societies.

 

v LIVELIHOOD OF TRIBALS

Ø JHUM CULTIVATION

§  Some tribal people engaged in jhum or shifting cultivation.

§   In this type of cultivation, small patches of land were made cleared off trees.

§  The cultivators burnt the vegetation and spread the ash from the firing, which contained potash to fertilize the soil.

§  They scatter the seeds on the field. After two or three years as the fertility of soil decline, they moved to another field. This is also called as slash and burn agriculture.

§  Shifting cultivators were found in the hilly and forested tracts of north-east and central India.

Ø HUNTING AND GATHERING: 

§  Some tribals managed their livelihood by hunting wild animals and by gathering forest products such as fruits, roots and medicinal shrubs.

§  They also sold the forest products in the local markets and supplied sal and mahua flowers.

§  They exchanged their goods—getting what they needed in return for their forest products.

§  However it increase the dependency on the traders and moneylenders so they started  new jobs like-carrying loads or building roads or labourers. But some tribes like Baigas reluctant to do work for others.

Ø HERDING

§  There were some groups who were herders and lived the life of pastoral nomads.

§  They migrated from one place to another with the change in season along with their livestock in search of fodder.

§  The Van Gujjars of the Punjab hills and the Labadis of Andhra Pradesh were cattle herders, the Gaddis of Kulu were shepherds and the Bakarwals of Kashmir reared goats.

Ø SETTLED CULTIVATION

§  In late 19^th century many tribals preferred to settle down instead of moving from one place to another.

§  They began to use plough, and gradually got rights over the land they lived on.

 

§  During this time some person among them become powerful and become chiefs. They rented their land instead of cultivating it themselves.

§  The British officials found the settled tribal groups like the Gonds and Santhals more civilised than hunter-gatherers or shifting cultivators.

v How Did Colonial Rule Affect Tribal Lives?

v EFFECTS ON  TRIBAL CHIEFS:

Ø Before arrival of Britishers the tribal chiefs were powerful people as

§  They have controlled their territories.

§  They had their own police.

§  They make rules on land and forest.

Ø But their life changes after Brithishers as

§  They were forced to pay tributes.

§  They lost the administrative powers.

§  They also had to pay tribute to the British, and discipline the tribal groups on behalf of the British

v AFFECT ON SHIFTING CULTIVATORS:

Ø The Britishers opposed the sifting cultivation and wanted the tribal groups to settle down because-

§  The British wanted a regular revenue income for the state.

§  Settled peasants were easier to control and administer.

§  To bring them under the ambit of revenue assessment.

§  So they introduced land settlements and measured the land, defined the rights and fixed the revenue demand for the state.

Ø Though British effort to settle Jhum cultivators was not very successful because-

§  Settled plough cultivation is not easy in areas where water is scarce and the soil is dry.

§  The production of crops in the settled cultivation is very less.

§  So they protest and the British had to ultimately allow them the right to carry on shifting cultivation in some parts of the forest.

v FOREST LAWS AND THEIR IMPACT

Ø The British introduced many changes in the forest laws which affect the life of people as

§  The British declared forests as state property.

§  Forests were classified as Reserved Forests and Protected to use the forest for sleeper or timber.

§  In these forests people were not allowed to move freely and practise jhum cultivation.

Ø These forest laws affected the life of people as well as britishers as

§  Many forest people lost their livelihood.

§  They lost their traditional rights on the land and to collect the forest products.

§  Many people move from their houses and started to work in plantation, coal mines, industries etc.

§  The restriction to enter in forest also affects the British as they face the shortage of labour. So they allowed some people to enter in forest on the condition to provide cheap labour. Forest department also established.

Nishi tribes of Arunachal Pradesh	Bhil  in Rajasthan and Gujarat
Dongria Kandha, Khonds tribe in Orissa	Hajang of Assam
Santhals and Oraons.	Godara women
Baigas of central India	Santhal, Munda-Jahrkhand
Labadis of Andhra Pradesh were cattle herders,  Bakarwals of Kashmir	Van Gujjars of the Punjab hills have Goats Gaddis of Kulu were shepherds

 

v THE PROBLEM WITH TRADE:

Ø Before 19^th century the tribes independently collect the forest products and exchange these with grains.

Ø But after that moneylenders and traders frequently visited the tribal areas.

Ø Their motive was to make profit by exploiting the tribals as per their wish.

Ø  For example Santhals were paid 3 or 4 rupees for 1000 cacoons by these traders. But they sell in main market by 5 times.

Ø Soon the tribals understood their interest and started maintaining distance from them.

v TRIBALS REBELLIAN

Ø Many tribal groups reacted against the colonial forest laws.

Ø The Kols rebelled in 1831-32, Chotta nagpur

Ø Santhals rose in revolt in 1855, presently Jharkhand

Ø The Bastar Rebellion in Chhattisgarh broke out in 1910

Ø  Warli Revolt in Maharashtra in 1940.

 

v MUNDA REBELLIAN

Ø ABOUT BIRSA MUNDA

§  Birsa Munda was born in mid-1870s in a poor family.

§  His family was moving in the search of work.

§  Birsa also went to missionary school and spent some time with vaishanav preachers.

§  Birsa had heard about their golden age when they live freely and independently from their forefathers.

§  He also heard that the elder members of the tribes urging the younger members to rebel against the exploitation and oppression of dikus.

§  He also led a movement to reform their society. He also urged the Mundas to give up drinking liquor, clean their village, and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery.

v REBELLIAN OF MUNDAS

§  The movement that Birsa Munda led is worth-mentioning here.

§  Birsa Munda himself declared that God had appointed him to save his people from trouble, free them from the slavery of dikus (outsiders).

§  Soon, thousands became the followers of Birsa from different tribal groups. They all were unhappy with the changes they were experiencing and the problems they were facing under British rule. They wanted to recover their golden past.

§  The political aim of the Birsa Movement was to drive out missionaries, moneylenders, Hindu landlords and the government and to set up a Munda Raj with Birsa at its head.

§  As the movement spread, the British officials arrested Birsa in 1895.

§  In 1897, he was released. Afterwards, he toured the villages to gather support.

§  He urged people to destroy ‘Ravana’ (dikus and the Europeans) and establish a kingdom under his leadership. Birsa died in 1900 by cholera and the movement initiated by him faded out, but its significance cannot be undermined.

Ø OUTCOME

§  It forced the colonial government to introduce laws so that the land of the tribals could not be easily taken over by dikus.

§  It showed once again that the tribal people had the capacity to protest against injustice and express their anger against colonial rule

 

v Terms-

Ø Dikus: Outsiders or foreigners

Ø Fallow: A field left uncultivated for a while so that the soil recovers fertility.

Ø Mahua: A flower that is eaten or used to make alcohol.

Ø Bewar: It is a term used in Madhya Pradesh for shifting cultivation.

Ø Sleeper: The horizontal planks of wood on which railway lines are laid.

Ø Akhara: Wrestling ground

Ø Sirdars: Leaders

Ø Vaishnav: Worshippers of Vishnu

Ø Satyug: The age of truth