ADIVASIS OF ASSAM:  HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY

Introduction

The term Adivasi means oldest inhabitant.¹This is not used for single name of the tribe but for the people who are characterized as oldest inhabitant. This is name given to the group of people who are the oldest inhabitant of the land. There are several groups of people in India due to certain characteristic are being classified as oldest inhabitant and they come under the umbrella of the term ‘Adivasi’. Similarly in Assam there are several tribes who meet the criteria come under the umbrella of Adivasi and they are called ‘Adivasis’.

These tribes have different historical background, Culture, Language and Tradition of their own. They have different setup of knowledge. Through their narratives this type of knowledge are traceable. Each of them can be studied in a particular little narrative. In broader concept of meta-narrative these little narratives has been super excluded by the mainstream knowledge, whereas in order to understand the whole as meta-narrative one cannot exclude the part. This tribe’s knowledge is a part of the whole and it is important to re-evaluate the knowledge of these tribes who seems to be more close to nature.

These tribes in Assam mostly reside in the forest areas. This is one of the oldest characteristics of these people except for the tea garden employee who are being bound by the government to let the generations work in tea garden. Even then they continue their living in their customs, culture and tradition. This has safe-guard their identity. This identity draws attention of the scholars to analyze their living condition, their belief, knowledge etc.

Adivasi find their meaningful living only with the nature. They have a vast knowledge of natural herbs than the modern technology. They have master the nature so much that they can predict most of the probable events of nature. They pull the string of ancestor’s knowledge in oral form from one generation to next which keeps their identity alive. They are highly found to be respectful to their ancestors and this attitude gives way to their spirituality and prepares their life to connect them to ultimate reality.

History of Adivasi

According to Parimal Chandra Mitra, India was a no man’s land before the Pre-Historic Stone Age. Since then, people migrated to India from different groups and in different period. The different groups of people who migrated to India are as follows:²

The first group of people who entered India in the Pre-Historic Stone Age from Africa via Arabia are known as Negrait or Negribotu. The second group which entered India are spread in middle India and beyond India like Melanesia, Polynesia etc., from West-Asia and known as Proto Austroloid people i.e. Kol people like Munda, Santal, Gond etc in India. The third group of people known as Mediterranean race from Greece, Aegean Island, Miser, Palestain, Syria, Asia Minor etc. The fourth group of people is known as Western-Brachyeepals entered India in batches from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. The next group known as Nordic people entered India via Iran and Afghanistan form the Mediterranean area. The last Group of people known as the Mongoloid, entered India from the East and North of India, Crossing the Himalaya range.

Among these six groups the second group of people entered India are Proto Austroloid people i.e. Kol people like Santal, Munda, Gond etc. They spread in the states like: Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Odissha, Assam, Tripura, etc. These tribes are not the last to enter India, but according to the historical findings of the scholar Parimal Chandra Mitra they are one the oldest inhabitant of India. These tribes Identity springs from above historical background.

According to some scholars in the history of northeast India the first settler of Assam were the Khasis and Synteng.³ In the article “The Races of North east India”⁴ Stephen Fuchs says that linguistically these tribes belong to the Austo-Asiatic or Mon-Khamer. Through their language they formed a link between the Munda tribe of further west in central India as well many other tribes in Burma and Indo-China border. They resemble them culturally also; they erect Stone monuments in the name of their dead ancestors like the Mundas and Hos of Chotanagpur. Historians say that once upon a time Kol-mundas and Khasis were living together in the north east, and Khasis adopted the language of kol-mundas.⁵

The earliest ruler according to legend was Mahiranga Munda. The legend also tells us about Marang Buru⁶  Kamrupa temple and Kamrupa devi has relationship with the magic prayer of Santhal were the recitation of Kamrup Guru was chanted again and again.

During the colonial period Adivasis were brought as slaves to the tea plantation of Assam. First batch of Adivasis came to Assam in 1941. But they all died due to famine and diseases. In 1858-59 about 400 labours were brought to Assam. This increased to 84,915 on May 1863. Thus lakhs of people were brought to Assam. This number increased as the areas of tea plantation increased. During this time Large number of Adivasis died due to diseases.⁷ Adivasis were brought from Chotanagpur and other places through the legal provisions for Workman’s Breach of Contract Act XII of 1859 and its amended act of 1865, where workers could be punished for striking work and where the minimum wage was also stipulated for the workers. There was two system of recruitment- the first was called Arkatti system, the other Sardari system .⁸ In Sardari system, the labourers who already requited go to different area and brought labourers. In the year 1842 Assam Tea Company opened a steam boat Service between Guwahati to Calcutta .The labours were brought by steamer. In 1889 railway was introduced and labourers were brought by train.  

India got freedom on 15^th of August 1947 but the Adivasi community was not free from the slavery of colonial planters. Still the gardens were under colonial planter. The Indian Government never paid attention and similarly the Assam Government. Adivasis organized themselves under the leadership of their own community and continued the struggle for their right as Indian citizen.⁹

The above historical findings show that they are one of the oldest inhabitants of India. The connection and Relation of Adivasis of Assam and northeast can be traced out from the immemorial dates such as Stone Age.¹⁰ Mr.Wilfred Topno put a note that these Adivasis migrated to Assam not for their personal gain or to exploit resources of Assam for their gain (like other emigrants) but they were forced to come for building the tea industry and other infrastructure which gave Assam a strong economical base.¹¹

Common Characteristics

These tribes share common characteristics in their living. They are usually found in bulk near the forest area. They are content with the nature. Their food habits are highly dependable in forest. They have similar kind of administrative setups; they follow nature base religious practices. Their knowledge is highly based on probability. One most important common characteristic is, they believe in the spirit. They acknowledge that the spirit is present in nature and the universe is controlled by spirit.

Adivasi Religion

Adivasi religion should not be mistaken as one religious belief. Since there are several tribes, each tribe are grounded in its own religious belief. They have similar religious concept but not altogether same. Hence this difference helps them retaining their identity. This can be discussed below:

Santal Religious Concept- Spirit is the base of their religion. It is a metaphysical entity and it is called Bonga. Santals believe that they are surrounded by the invisible supernatural power. The ancient Santals gave name to these invisible mysterious powers as- Bonga.  They believe in Absolute Being  called Thakur Jiu and Thakur Jiu along with his subordinate beings created human being and the world. These three kinds of being can be called as the supernatural eternal Being.  The Fourth kinds are the spirit of dead person in the village: Moreko Turuiko Bonga, Pargana Bonga, Manjhi haram Bonga and Abeg Bonga. They are the mortal being turn into the spiritual being when they are dead. Santals belief in these supernatural beings and their entering into relation with them constitute their religion.

In their leading of life they acknowledge their ancestors for they have passed them knowledge of meaningful living with the nature. The spirit of the ancestors is believed to be surrounding their lives. This concept of ancestor’s presence in their living trims their life in a disciplined manner.

Oraon Religious concepts- This tribe believe in the souls or spirit in and around various natural objects, in dead ancestors and animals, and in and around and associated with the daily used articles in the households essentially in the life process.¹² Oraon believe in supreme beings like: Biri Belas/Bir Nad – spirit of Sun, Cando Nad– spirit of moon, Dharti Burhi– spirit of fertility and production, Tusa– spirit of spring. Barand Nad– spirit of hill. Chigri Nad – spirit of bamboo, Chandi Nad – spirit of wealth. Gaesali Nad– spirit of cowshed and above all the Dherme is the spirit of all spirits

Munda Religious Concepts- Mundas believe in the Supreme Being known as the Singbonga, which means the Sun God. According to the Mundas, he saves them from the external enemies and troubles of life. They say Singbonga punishes them if they break the law of marrying in their ones tribe. Mundas are of the belief that Singbonga is not the jealous God and gives his people the right to worship any celestial being. In Sarna the Mundas worship the nature. The Sarna people do not have any written code of moral laws. The ideas of what is right and wrong are the adopted from their traditions and cultures. The Munda believe in numerous Gods and Deities. Their supreme benevolent God is called Singbonga. Next in importance are the presiding Deities of the village namely Hatu Bongako such as Desauli, Jaher Buri, Chandi Bonga etc. These Deities are of significance during agricultural and hunting operations. The Pahan, the village priest at Sarna, the sacred grove of the village, worships them. Then come the ancestral spirits, the Ora Bongako. Their blessings are invoked on every social and religious ceremony like the Hatu Bongako, which calamities are sure to overpower them. Apart from these, they appease and propitiate a large number of malevolent spirits and ghosts on different occasions. They came up with the concepts of two types of spirit- benevolent and malevolent. ¹³ The Mundas call the benevolent Bongas as ‘Maneta Bonga’ and malevolent Bongas as Banita Bongas.¹⁴

The above mentions are the three major tribal religions under the Adivasi Umbrella- the groups of tribe in Assam. It can be assumed from here, their similarities of beliefs. Their religious concept has no much difference in kinds but in degrees. It may vary in number of supernatural deities they acknowledge in their religion and the way of acknowledge the spirits in hierarchy. But over all these tribes are nature worshipers. Hence, they are eco-friendly people. The ultimate reality according to them is Spirit which they observe through nature.

Spirit and Nature

From these two major concepts of tribal life two worlds can be assumed- Spirit in metaphysical world which is beyond physics and physical world. Now the question arise how did they came to know the spirit if the spirits are metaphysical entities? They assume the metaphysical entity through physics i.e. nature. Nature is a composition of matter and can be viewed as object or body. One cannot directly view the spirit but through the body (any kind of body made up of matter).

These tribes were the wanderers in the ancient days; they wander from one place to another in search of food. They came across several surprising activities of nature. This was fearful for them. It was beyond their thinking. They could not observe the cause of the activities but only could observe the effect of it; for example: rubbing of two stones produces fire, only the effect ‘fire’ could be seen and not the cause. A stone in itself cannot be the cause but the energy accumulated in the stone cause a fire and this energy is invisible to human senses. This example can be analysed as- when one switches on the fan in the room one can feel and see the effect of the electrical energy but the energy is invisible. And this invisible power of nature is worshipped by these tribes. They are not blind to worship the nature. The nature has amazed them in different form and it was uncontrolled by human senses and they thought it was worthy of worship. Hence, their religion does not sounds meaningless but one of the basic way of understanding the ultimate reality. Reality for these tribes is unseen hence they don’t reduce it into any man made images. They acknowledge and worship the reality in natural body.  Thus they are non-idol worshipers. They have no temple, no images to stoop to.¹⁵

 Difference between world religions and tribal religion

 Tribal religion is the most down to earth religion. Tribal people do not build temples. They worship their deities in open air. But the major world religion mostly prefers temple as worship place. There is no official founder of tribal religion. But almost all the world religion sprouts out from official founder. Their religious knowledge has been orally transmitted from generation to generation. On the other hand, in case of world religion, knowledge is passed through the holy book or scripture. Tribal’s belief in ancestors, of surrounding their life, reminds them to retain their religion in strong hold as the ancestor’s keeps eye on them. In other word their religion helps them to lead meaningful life.

One important aspect of tribal religion is they acknowledge the interdependency of nature i.e. of the plant and animal (including higher animal as: man). And they use the nature for their basic needs and not for the destruction of nature. Plant and animals must coexist to survive. They depend upon each other because each provides something the other needs. Trees provide shade, a place to live, food for nourishment. Animals spread the seeds of plants and help with pollination. First, plants are food for herbivores, which are food for the carnivores. Without plants, the carnivores have no food source. Animals breathe in oxygen, and breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants on the other hand, breathe in carbon dioxide, and breathe out oxygen. Without plants, we have no oxygen, and suffocate, and without animals, plants have no CO2, and die. Hence, the tribal religion is helping them to respect the interdependency of nature and realise the ultimate reality through the nature.

Right from the birth of the tribal child all the rituals is to let the child grow in respect of the ancestors and the nature. In all their festivals they worship their deities for the natural balance for their vegetation and their good relation with the deities. In other word tribal religion is all round development of individual’s knowledge of the human being, nature and the animals. This keeps the universe in equilibrium state.

But some of the major world religions are more concerned about the human life then the nature. It is highly influenced by modern science and not by nature which perhaps aims to calm only the human system of life but as discussed above human life alone cannot reach the goal of happiness (Ultimate reality or bliss) unless it acknowledges the interdependency concept. This interdependency concept lies at the base of tribal religion. Thus they follow eco-friendly religion.

 Conclusion

India is a country with many Adivaisis. Adivasi does not mean one tribe but comprises of several tribes. These tribes have certain similarities but at the same time not altogether same. They differ in their languages they speak, culture, tradition etc. From the above historical discussion, as per Parimal Chandra Mitra, Adivasis were among the first settlers and since then resided in India and according to Mr Wilfred Topno he logically explains that the Adivasis were in Assam before the British brought them from other parts of India to Assam. British brought not one group of people but many groups who were found strong enough to work. They were being used by the British and now by the Assam government and companies for tea industries. But change in the name of the Adivasi tribe into Tea & Ex-Tea Garden tribe does not logically flow from the mass groups to particular, where each and every tribes under the umbrella of Adivasi has unique characteristics  of its own.

Eradicating the identity of these tribes by whitewashing the name does not succeed in erasing the unique philosophical background of religion and culture of each tribe under the umbrella of ‘Adivasi’ living in Assam. Each and every tribe under Adivasi contribute to eco-friendly philosophical knowledge. It is important to acknowledge the nature based religion, culture and tradition of these tribes for the betterment of the living of human being in this world then to ignore their existence for other selfish motive. And re-evaluation of their religious knowledge in the light of Meta-Narratives each and every group under the umbrella of Adivasi are the part of knowledge. It is highly important to dig out this kind of nature based philosophical knowledge of the little narratives of each tribe as a part in order to contribute knowledge in today’s highly alarming natural imbalanced destruction of the world with modern science.