WHEN we talk of tribal movements , sometimes it becomes imperative to distinguish between a tribal movement and a non-tribal peasant movement. This becomes necessary because despite the fact that though the bulk of tribal’ population has transformed itself into peasantry as a result of the ‘peasantization process’, it still retains some of its characteristic features. Because of their concentration in certain regions and a strong element of ethnicity involved, the core issues, leadership pattern and nature of political mobilisation differ from those of non-tribal peasant groups. Further, while the peasant movements tend to remain purely agrarian as peasants lived off land, the ‘tribal movements have been both agrarian and forest-based, because traditionally, the tribal’s dependence on forests has been as crucial as their dependence on land. Another important pointis that the tribal’revolts were directed against feudal lords , money lendersand petty government officials not because they exploited them but also because they were aliens.
The larger issues involved in various socio-political movements (including the ultimate revolt/rebellion) in various dimensions. K. S. Singh’s (ed.) Tribal Movements in India (1982-83, 2 Volumes) is a very important work in this field. He has divided this work into two parts dealing with he North-Eastern region tribes and the Central Indian and South tribal Indian belt tribes have been rich the in tribal movements, the tribes down south are too small in numbers, and too isolated in their habitats to organise movements in spite of their exploitation and the resultant discontent. L.K. Mahapatra (1968) also agrees with the assertion and shares the view that we do not find any significant social movement—religious, status mobility or political among the numerically small, migratory tribes, like Birhors, Korwa, the Hill Kharia or the shifting cultivators like the Hill Maria, Saora or the more primitive Kond.
RECENTLY Ghanshyam Shah (1990) has published a very important and well documented review of literature on social movements of India in which, beside other dimensions, different typologies of tribal movements have also been described. L.K. Mahapatra (1972) applies the typologies widely used for social movements to tribal movements. He describes these as (1)reactionary (2) conservative,and (3) revisionary or revolutionary. The reactionary movement tries tolaunch a movement to bringback ‘the good old days’; whereas the conservative movement tries to maintain the status quo. The revisionary or revolutionary movements those which are organised for ‘improvement’ or ‘purification’ of the cultural or social order by eliminating ‘evil’ or *low’ customs, beliefs or institutions. Surajit Sinha (1968) classifies the movements into (1) ethnic rebellion (2) reform movements (3) political autonomy movements within the Indian Union (4) Secessionist movements, and (5) agrarian unrest. K.S. Singh (1983a) makes more or less the same classification except that he uses the terms Sanskritization instead of reform movement and cultural movements instead of ethnic movements.
For brevity Ghanshyam Shah (ibid) has reformulated the typologies as follows: (1) ethnic movements (2) agrarian movements and (3) political movements. Not only is there a great deal of overlapping among all three types, but they are also interconnected and one leads to the other.
AS FAR as the issues are concerned the tribal movements may again be viewed from several angles. K.S. Singh (1985) divided the tribal movements into three phases viz. (i) between 1795 and 1860 which coincides with the rise, expansion and establishment of the British Empire (ii) between 1860 and 1920 which coincides with the intensive phase of colonialism during which merchant capital penetrated into tribal economy affecting their relationship with the land and forest, and (iii) the third phase between 1920 and 1947 i.e. till the achievement of independence.
During this phase the tribals not only began to launch the so called movements but at the same time participated in nationalist and agrarian movements. In someareas like Gujarat and Maharashtra, social reform movements led tribals to participate in the nationalist movements against British rule.
EXPLOITATION of all sorts land alienation,usury,forced labour,harassment in forests-continued to be the main issues of tribal movements on the eve of independence and thereafter. The tribals of Andhra Pradesh actively participated in the Telengana movement and fought against the landlords. In the late sixties the main constituents of the Naxalbari movement were the tribals who fought against exploitation.
DEMAND for a separate political entity as a state or a district, within or outside Indian Union has been made by various tribes of eastern and north-east frontier tribes. The movement of Naga, Mizo, Boro-Kachari, etc. may be included in this category.Sometimes the seemingly political demands camouflage the demands of ethnic and economic nature. N.K. Bose (1967) characterises these movements as the growth of ‘subnationalism*. As Shah (ibid) rightly points out the nature of tribal movements in terms of their solidarity and the issues that they raise depends upon a variety of factors.The tribals of eastern and central India have close interaction with the Hindu peasantry and most of them do not occupy peripheral international borders. Therefore they do not demand political status outside the Indian Union despite extreme forms of persistent exploitation. The tribals of north-eastern region have been isolated from the ‘mainstream’ society and moreover they are located on the international border. They are more prone to seccessionism. Thus, was see that the nature and the degree of involvement of tribal groups in solidarity movements depends upon a number of factors, such as the locale of the tribal groups vis-a-vis the core peasant matrix, the numerical strength of tribals, the degree of their exposure to and inter-relations with the non-tribals.
ALTHOUGH a number of tribal groups have been airing their grievances through uprisings and revolts, only a few of them could organise movements and sustain them over a substantial period of time. The Santhals, Munda, Ho and Bhumij of the Chhotanagpur-Santhal Pargana region, the Kondh, Koya and Savara of Orissa-Andhra, the Bhattra, Parja and Muria of Bastar, the Bhil, Koli, Juang, Bhuiya, Konda Dora etc. of the adjoining regions are the glaring examples. Among the north-eastern tribals the Mizo-Naga and Bodo are the main tribal groups. Amonga multiplicity ofmovements,onlyafewofthem cut across local and community bazars and devloped into regional and national recognization.
TRIBAL MOVEMENTS IN CENTRAL INDIAN TRIBAL BELT
IN TERMS of their concentration, of central Indian tribal belt occupies the most important place in tribal India and in this belt Madhya Pradesh and Bihar occupy a place of crucial importance.
MADHYA PRADESH
THOUGH Madhya Pradesh may not boast of the top position in terms of tribal movements (here the credit goes to the tribal group of Bihar) but the issues involved have been the same. Interference and exploitation by the outsiders have their bearings on tribal movements in Madhya Pradesh.
THE Bastar Movement is the most talked about one in this category. The Gonds are the main tribal community in Madhya Pradesh. The areas they occupy have popularly been known as gondwana pradesh whose nerve centre as always been Bastar. Outright economic exploitation by the Non-tribal landlords, sahukars, moneylenders has been their main problem; yet like the tribal groups of Bihar their discontent and frustration could never take the form of rebellious movements. Perhaps their deeply rooted belief in a messiah or prophet always curbed them to take any radical measures. Several sub-groups of the Gonds still believe that such a prophet shall appear one day, rid them of their miseries and revive their traditional culture. Interestingly the tribal groups of Madhya Pradesh have always been less hostile to the outsiders mainly Hindu peasantry.
THE substantially ‘Hinduised* Raj Gonds have been the chief proponents of several reformatory and other movements which largely began around 1920. Verrier Elwin pinpoints a regional organisation called Suryavanshi MahaSabha as the chief reformatory body. This body maintained a critical attitude towards the ancient and traditional Gond values and customs. It further propagated Shiva worship and donning of sacred thread. Mandla became the focal point of this movement. But after some time many Gonds realised that this new life style and philosophy of life was not in consonance with the ground realities confronting them. For example, because of the imposed curbs on the mobility and rights of their women folk, their participation in the economic realm decreased substantially putting lot of strain on their socio-economic life. Change in the food habits also did not suit their traditional life style. The new ‘morality* became a joke for them. Moreover, they realised that it contributed minimally towards their efforts of status elevation. With many of the so called ‘reformatory’ steps proving counter productive a new movement surfaced led by an uneducated Gond woman Rajmohini Devi in Sarguja, north Gondwana. It called for the giving up of curbs against women and adoption of alien practices. But this movement too was of local nature and hence could generate only short lived influence. A significant point to be noted here is that all these movements, directly and indirectly, also resulted in the adoption of many Hindu cultural elements by the tribals.
THE Raja of Bastar always maintained lot of influence on the Gonds. These Rajas were regardedasthe Rajasofthe Gondstoo. But there were always disputes regarding dynastic successions and palace intrigues were theorder of the day.The tribals had to endure lot of hardships.The last Raja of Bastar Praveen Chand Bhujangdeo took the reigns in 1947 but had to merge his ‘Kingdom’ with the Indian Union. He indulged in all sorts of propaganda about his super human status. His supporters spread the myth that he was an apostle of Rama and Krishna. The curtailment of his rights and privileges angered him and his staunch supporters. Because of corruption and misutilization of public exchequer his estate and property were confiscated by ‘court of wards’. This was the breaking point as for as the ‘Maharaja* was concerned. He started organisinga tribal movement against the government and tried to make a common cause with the other erstwhile princes; Abhujmarh was decided as the headquarter of this ‘princely’ struggle. The Gond tribals were exploited to the hilt to promote his whims. This movement culminated in the firing on a mob of around ten thousand tribals gathered in Lohariguda. More than a dozen tribals were killed and hundreds injured. In order to keep his support base intact he further propagated the myth that the tribals not owing alligiance to him would invite the wrath of Danteshwari Devi , alocal deity. The headquarter at Jagdalpur became a scene of dhama by thousands of tribals. On March 10, 1966 a bloody clash followed between police and Maharaja Praveen Chand and his supporters in which some tribals and the Maharaja himself were killed. By and large this movement revolved round the personality and personal interests of the Maharaja; hence this should not be equated with the movement of Bihar and West Bengal led by Birsa of Siddhu Santhal.
BIHAR
AMONG the tribal movements organised in Bihar and the adjoining area Birsa movement is the most widespread and best known. After Birsa movements, Tana Bhagat Movement occupies the most important place because of it’s multidimensional significance of far reaching sociopolitical implications.
THE neighbouring tribe of Oraon was the focal point of Tana Bhagat Movement. This was a social implications of far reaching importance. The Oraon have a distinctive religion, complete with their own pantheon, priesthood, festivals, elaborate rituals etc. Dharmesh is their presiding deity. Interestingly,in parts of Bihar the term Bhagatis often employed for sorcerers and magicians but among the Oraon the name is applied to those who subscribe to the cult of bhakti and observe certain rules of ceremonial purity.
SACHCHIDANAND (1972) and a number of other anthropologists are of the view that the entire Bhagat movement may be conceived as an attempt to raise the status of it’s members in the eyes of Hindu neighbours by Sanskritization which also included the inculpation of Hindu beliefs and practices. As the story goes it was started in April 1914 by a youngman of twenty five named Jatra Bhagat,it is believed that one Hanuman Oraon too was the co-founder of this movement. Jatra Bhagat was undergoing training to become amati (witch doctor) when he started the movement. Like Birsa, he also had the vision of a luminous figure from whom he had a revelation. This vision of Dharmesh,the supreme god of the Oraon, occurred at night while he was returning home after his lessons. It asked him to give up his training in ghost finding and exorcism, to echew his faith in such deities and spirits that called for animal sacrifices,and to give up flesh eating and liquor.His attack on the belief in spirits, insistence on ‘ritual purity’ in food and drink, the agrarian and anti-government stance reminds one of Birsa Movement.
THE first manifestation of defiance began when he exhorted his followers not to work as coolies in the local construction activities. This followed his arrest and imprisonment and the message of the new faith spread like wild fire. Among the Tanabhagats (that included non-Oraon tribals too) the belief in the coming of the Messiah had been quite strong.
The Tana Bhagat Movement may be said to have developed in two phases. The first phase was that of the eradication of existing beliefs and practices in ghosts and spirits. The second phase had a constructive programme, because it consisted of the promulgation, formulation and codification of it’s doctrines, beliefs and rules and regulations for the conduct of followers of the new religion.
INITIALLY the followers of the new faith were neither antigovernment nor anti-outsiders/non-tribals and they were merely trying to reform their society but they had to retaliate in the face of anticipatory hostility on the part of petty government officials and outsiders. Then came 1921-22 and Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and the whole Bhagat movement was transformed. Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings had a profound impact on the followers of the Tana Bhagat Movement they participated in it in great numbers. Jatra Oraon was jailed in 1921 and the discontent exploded in violence. The uprisings had to be crushed through military power but it again surfaced in full fury during the second world war. The Bhagats cooperated with the nationalists and revolutionaries.
PRESENTLY there are Bhagats of various shades. The Bacchidan Bhagat largely come from the well to do Oraons who are relatively more Hiduised. They employ Gosain or low grade Brahmins as their guru. They are known as Bacchidan Bhagat because they gift a calf to their i guru for cleansing them of their sins and ritual impurities. The Bacchidan Bhagats who take Vaishnava as their guru are called as Vishnu Bhagats. The Neihha Bhagats exhibited a fusion of tribal and Hindu beliefs and practises and they observe all the rules very strictly. Then there are Kabir panthi Bhagats with a system of having spiritual preceptors who may or may not be Oraon.They neither worship idols nor use any visible symbol of divinity. Sachchidanand (ibid) in a very candid description says that analysing the nature of the Tana Bhagat movement in the perspective of dissent,protest and reform,it is apparent that the movement was a spirited protest against the prevailing social order.
It had borrowed heavily from the Hindu and Christian ideas of simplicity and piety. This simplicity became a value all the more because of the impact of the social movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. Conceptually the movement may be viewed within the framework of nativistic or revitalization movements taking place in tribal India. The Tana Bhagat movement may be viewed as a resistance, and also as an emulative movement. Conditions for resistance already existed in the excessive exploitation and social degradation of the Oraon.