POLITICAL organization is generally taken as that aspect of total organization which is concerned with the control and regulation of the use of physical force and regulation of relations between groups or members of different groups within the society at large. The tribes of India exhibit a variety of forms of political organization due to their varied technological and ecological conditions. On the one hand we find the nomadic gathering-hunting tribes of South India like the Kadar, Irula, Chenchu, etc., who are still living on a very low technological level, while on the other there are tribes like Khasi and Garo Hills of Meghalaya and the Apatanis of Arunachal Pradesh who are leading in quite a comfortable life with the help of their highly developed mode of agriculture and horticulture.
We may also distinguish the tribes on the basis of their intimate contacts with Hindus and Chritians. On the one hand there are one highly Hinduised tribes of Chhotanagpur region and Madhya Pradesh while on the other hand there are tribes of Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, and Mizoram who are highly advanced Chritians. These examples are meant to emphasise the point that the tribes of India are no more a solid, monolithic mass but a collecion of socially, economically and culturally diverse groups living under different socio-cultural and ecological conditions. As a result of this bewildering diversity, these tribes have developed a wide ranges of political organizations.
Thus we find a highly decentralized political organisation existing side by side with an automatic and centralized authority. Now let us examine the political organization of the tribes of India divided into three geographical zones.
-Political Organization among the North-Eastern Tribes
THIS geographical zone consists of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura. The Khasi, Garo, Lushai, Jaintia, Mizo, Apatani and a variety of Naga tribes are the prominent tribal groups inhabiting this highly picturesque region of India.
THE tribes of Assam maintain a democratic political organization. Most of these tribes recognize collective ownership of land giving scant respect to individual rights over land. People of one village are free to do cultivation anywhere they like. Though economic status of different families in a village varies, yet this variation could not develop social stratification on any sharp lines.
WHILE most of the tribes are divided into exogamous clans, others live in village communities without a clan system, each under its ruler, – independent of the rest of villages. Among the Khasis, the dignity of a chief is inherited by the eldest son of the eldest sister, after his death by his eldest brother or by the maternal grand nephew. If male heirs are absent, the eldest sister (or eldest sister’s daughter) has the right to succession. Politically, the Khasi area was, in the past, divided into twenty five Khasi states which were independent. Though headed by a chief known as siem , administration was on democratic lines. A Khasi chief had no power over land or forests. He could not impose taxes or promulgate new laws or any policy independently. Decisions were taken on the basis of general consensus in a congregation which was an open door assembly in which all the male adults of the state took part. Attendance was Compulsory in such congregations.
SIMILARLY, though the chieftain of Lushai tribe commands more dominance than the Khasi siem, yet it is similarly difficult for him to ignore the opinion or advice of the seniors of the village. Though these offices are hereditary, the administration is run on thoroughly democratic lines
AMONG the tribes of North Cachar district, the principle of heredity and election go side by side. Tribal issues are resolved in the presence of all males of the village in an open court. Any decision taken with regard to an offender is deemed to be a collective decision of all the villagers. The elders of the village form an informal council and discuss the problems facing the village or the cluster of villages.
THE political organization of the Garo tribe is also run on democratic lines. In fact, the Garos have no chiefs. A headman is only a nominal head while the important affairs are decided by village councils consisting of elders or heads of families. Stephen Fuchs (1973) describes the political organization of the Mikirs as having a three-fold village administration, the lowest office of which is filled by the Achom Asar, usually an old, influential man well versed in Mikir customs. He is appointed by a Habe, the next higher authority, the headman of a village whose jurisdiction does not go beyond the limits of the village. The Habe is, in turn, appointed by a Pinpo, in the past appointed by/the Jaintia rular as his representative for the administration of the Mikir hills. There are now nine houses of Pinpo, and their office is hereditary. Each Pinpo is selected from the clan to which his predecessor belonged.
THE political organization of the Naga tribes is marked by great diversity. Some of the Naga tribes subject to chiefs who rule almost autocratically while other tribes form democratic village communities in which headman has only nominal authority . Most communities of the Naga tribes have been labelled as blood thirsty, savage and war loving but no sweeping generalization is fair to describe the situation. Though it is correct that most of the Naga tribes have always been at war with each other and vendetta is the rule but this should be viewed in the socio-historical perspective. Many of the people wonder how stable administration can exist under such conditions of anarchy and lawlessness where every individual is law in himself. But even within these limitations and under such conditions political organization of flexible type has always existed. The Konyak Naga are subject to a chief who is sacrosanct and tabooed and rules often several villages with much authority. “He is regarded as the repository of tribal fortune, virtue, or its life principle” (Fuchs). In some villages, he was so heavily tabooed that he was not permitted to touch the ground and on a journey had to be carried.
AMONG the Angami Nagas, the basic unit of the tribe is not the village but an exogamous sub-division of the population thus concentrated called Factional Khel or Tepfu and said to be derived from a common ancestor. Factional fights and bloodshed between these bodies are frequent.
THE political organization of the Naga tribes has always been in need of security protection against supernatural and natural hazards. Haimendorf (1976) opines that the institution of the sacred chiefs who were believed to have leased in support of the supernatural through their birth in the right families and who could mobilize the coercive and productive powers of the society, was an insurance against the hazards.
Central Indian Tribes
THE tribes of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa consitute the largest tribal belt, of India. These tribes share certain traits of political organization based on clan solidarity. The village headman assisted by a council of elders oversees the administration of the village.’ The decision of this council is reached either through consensus or majority verdict and the headman has no power to overrule the majority verdict.
THE Oraons, Gonds and Bhils are three numerically most important tribes of this zone. The Oraons have developed Parha organization which is a confederacy of a number of neighbouring villages with a central organization known as the Parha Panch. Each Oraon Parha consists of a number of villages-one of the villages is called the Raha (king) village, another the Dewan (prime minister) village, a third the Panrey (clerk of the crown) village, a fourth the Kotwal (bailiff) village, and so on. Such of the villages as have got no such denominations known as Praja (subject) villages. Raja village is the head village of the Parha. Although every functionary of the Parha no longer possesses a distinctive badge of office, every village of the Parha has its distinctive flag and other badges which may not be used by any other village. Maintenance of law and order and the settlement of disputes between villages is also the function of the Parha council. T.B. Naik (1964) tells us that the different villages of the Parha hunt together, fight together and on stated occasions meet together in dancing trysts, social feasts, and deliberative and judicial committees.
THE lowest political authority among the Santhals and the Malers is the village headman called Manjhi. He and the village elders meet and talk over the village affairs. The headman is entitled to certain gifts at weddings and other feasts and he holds rent free land. The Manjhi is both a civil and moral authority. In his civic functions he is assisted by a sub-headman, the Paranik.
AMONG the Mundas the village headman is known by the same, i.e., Munda while his religious counterpart is called Pahan. About twelve villages constitute a Patti or Parha and the man who heads it is known as Manki who is usually the most influential of the village headmen forming a group. The Munda and the Pahan are hereditary offices.
THE basis political unit of the Gonds is the village community/The village headman is called Patel, Mandal or Bhoi. He is assisted by some elders of the village in settling the village affairs. Though the king of Bastar, Hindu, does not command any political authority over the Gonds, yet he has been the centre of spiritual veneration of all the groups of the Gonds. An interesting aspect of political organization among the Bison Horn Maria is that the priest responsible for religious rituals and ceremonies and the medicine-man are more influential than the village headman.
South Indian Tribes
THIS tribal zone is very important in view of the fact that this is the abode of some of the economically and technologically most backward tribes of the world. Most of the tribes of this zone live in small groups dispersed in forests or on the outskirts of villages of the cultivators. Usually they live a life of their own and try to avoid contacts with and interference from outsiders. They want to be left alone.
THE tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are still living in gathering-huntingstage of economic develoment. Though most of them are nomadic groups yet they roam about within a definite geographical zone. Every local group consists of 5-10 families and every group has its own headmen. These local groups live and act independantly. However, during special hunting sprees or certain festivals they may unite temporarily. The headmen of the local groups take care of the affairs of their respecive local groups.
AMONG some other nomadic tribes there is no such institution as a headman of a settlement. The heads of the single families simply come together and settle the affairs of the group whenever problems arise and decisions have to be taken. Thus the Allars and Aranadars have no headman. Affairs of the community are discussed at a gathering of elders whose decision is binding. Those who disagree simply leave the group and join another one. Among the Kadars,another food gathering tribe, the hereditary institution of the headman has ceased to exist.
AMONG the Adiyars of Kerela, the office of the headman is hereditary. If a son is unsuitable for the office a nephew may inherit it.The headman has a special title but he is not an autocratic ruler; he only presides over the meetings of the elders at which affairs of the community are discussed. His sanction is required, however, for any important undertaking, a marriage or divorce, and he presides at funeral ceremonies.