GONDS
GONDS
Janak Hidko – janak_hidko@yahoo.com
The principal tribes of the Dravidian family, the Gonds stand out among the various tribes of
Although spread over Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh. Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, and in small and scattered pockets of parts of Assam, Tamil Nadu and Utter Pradesh, the majority of Gonds today are found in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Madhya Pradesh, they are concentrated in the Satpuara plateau and Mandla. There is no district however, which does not have some Gonds. This is because of their numbers and the fact that the Gonds Dynasties possessed a great part of the territory of the erstwhile
The Gonds are an agro-silvicultural community. While their forest dependence is high the Gonds are mainly engaged in agriculture and a majority of them are farm workers and wage labourers. In the hilly tracts, most of the Gonds are landowners and cultivate their own land. In the plains, it is common to see Gonds working as landless labourers over the centuries; the tribals have been disposed of their lands by moneylenders and liquor sellers in the course of settlement of their debts.
The Gonds are a simple tribe whose basic needs are minimal. Their lifestyle is amply represented in their dwellings, which are simple structures with the interior comprising two rooms separated by a row of tall baskets, in which they store grain. Adjoining the house is the cattle shed; both are enclosed with bamboo fence for protection from wild animals.
Increasingly, a ‘Hindu’ view has begun to prevail among the Gonds. This started with the establishment of the Gond kingdoms and the marriage of the rulling class with the Hindu rulers of the time. Until the Mughal period, the Gonds rarely figured in contemporary chronicals and there fore little accurate information exist on the early Gonds, but the ruins of the forts ascribed to the Gond rajas, who founded large kingdoms in the 13th and 14th centuries, suggest relations with other population whose style of living the rulers imitated.
The state of Chhattisgarh in central
cialis for sale online class=”para”>The scheduled tribes, with a population of over fifty seven lakh, constitute 32.5 per cent of the State’s population as per the 1991 census. Almost 98.1per cent of this population lives in the rural areas and only 1.9 per cent in urban Chhattisgarh. Among the larger States in
The scheduled tribes are concentrated in the southern, northern and the north-eastern districts of the State. The highest concentration is in the erstwhile Bastar district. The new district of Dantewara has 79 per cent tribals followed by Bastar (67 per cent) Jashpur (65 per cent), Surguja (57 per cent) and Kanker (56 per cent).
The main occupation of the Gonds is labor they are mainly occupied as farmers or farm laborers. The literacy rate of this section is very low, just 26.4% ,Gonds call themselves \’Koyathor\’. Non tribals (Adivasis) use the word \’Gond\’. These people are Hindus and their main God is Dev Mahadev. The idols of their Gods are made from Malidha (flour, sugar Ghee). They do not eat cow\’s meat. Their main Gods, Goddesses are Dulhadev, Narayan Dev, Suraj Dev, Matha Bhai, Bair Mata, Thakur Dev and Bageshwar. Thakur Dev is a domestic God. No idols are made of this God. Bageshwar God protects the forests of his worshippers, who practice fasts in the Gods honor Khaimata is their Village Goddess. The Gonds mainly worship the souls of their deceased ones. The main occupations of Gonds are farming, hunting, fish farming and collection of Tendu leaves. The Gond ladies make baskets and ropes.
The Gonds at 55.1 per cent form the largest proportion within the tribal population of Chhattisgarh. They are distributed almost equally in the urban and rural areas. The Oraons, the Kawars, the Halbis, the Bharias or Bhumiars, the Bhattras and the Napesias also form a substantial portion of the tribal population. Thirty other scheduled tribes have small population residing in various pockets across Chhattisgarh. The Gonds are concentrated in the hilly parts of southern Chhattisgarh but are also spread across most districts whereas the Baigas, Bharias, Korwas and Napesias occupy only specific pockets. The Bhattras, Kolams and Rasjas largely live in Bastar and the Kamars in
They follow the system of patriarchy . A patriarch (from Greek: patria means family; archy means rule) is a male head of an extended family exercising autocratic authority, or, by extension, a member of the ruling class or government of a society controlled by senior men. Under patriarchy, if a man whose father (and whose father\’s father, etc.) has died, has two married sons and two married daughters and 15 grandchildren, then any money earned by either of his two sons belongs, not to the individual who earns the money, but to the family, and he, as patriarch of the family, has authority to decide how the money is to be distributed among the family members. He has no similar authority over his married daughters, who are under the authority of the patriarchs of the families into which they have married. The word patriarchy is often used to mean societal controlled by men in general, although this is more properly termed andrarchy. Many construe this to mean a gender hierarchy in which men dominate or exploit women, but that need not be the case.
Marriages are preferred within blood relation. Their men have to pay a bridal price to the father of the bride. In case a man is unable to afford a particular woman, he can negotiate the price. Some prefer to work in the brides home for sometime till the time it is equivalent to the bride price. In case of death of the husband she can marry his younger or elder brother but has to be unmarried. Gond tribals of Baster have their own system Ghotul in which unmarried boys and girls can live together in separately made huts where others are not allowed. During this time can change their partners for their best gratification. They dance, sing, drink and exchange knowledge. If they want they can leave and go for marriage.
i) DISTRIBUTION OF GOND TRIBE IN A CHHATTISGARH Districts Population From the total percentage of tribe in a District From the total percentage Gond tribe in state 1. Bastar 10,50,632 84.1 44.6 2.
CLANS SYSTEM In a Chhattisgarh, Gonds has nearly 45-50 clans (sub-tribe) spread over several districts. The clans are usually named after some animals or plants. Among the common clans in Chhattisgarh are Markam (mango tree), Tekam (teak tree), and Netam (the dog) and so on. From these animals and plants a clan derives its name and totems for the members of its social group. The totemic association generally has a legendary background. Gonds are also different types of division. And medicine without prescription division is of thirteen types i) Raj Gond ii) Koytilya Gond iii) Raghuwal Gond iv) Padal Gond v) Ozyal Gond vi) Dholi Gond vii) Thotyal Gond viii) Maria Gond ix) Koikopal Gond x) Muria Gond xi) Mari Gond xii) Rawanvasi Gond xiii) Kolan Gond
KINSHIP Kinship terms used by different castes and groups are almost the same all over the state except with little difference in their pronunciation. Kutumb (means family) is the smallest unit that shares the common rituals and the mores of the clan. All the members of the family unit are bound by a kinship tie. Patriarchal system prevails in the state. Hence, the elder son inherits the father\’s right and property. The tribals are no exception to this practice. The position of a wife in a Kutumb depends upon her husband; that of the mother is recognized in relation to her children. Sex, age and supporting capacity of an individual are the deciding factors which govern his role in the family. Without a male child a family is considered incomplete. Widows and divorced daughters of a family are accepted as liabilities. Separation from a Kutumb in the same village or town is not encouraged. It is contrarily taken improper if somebody ventures to break the ties with a joint family. Then there are ways in which people are linked through ritual acts. One of such kinships is the kinship of ritual brothers and sisters, known as gurubhai and gurubahen, which is acquired through a common teacher. This type of kinship is regarded more serious in the dharma sambandha- the relation sanctioned by religion. The duties attached to this form of kinship are mostly the same as performed in real kin tie.
MARRIAGE One of the basic functions of a society is to reproduce itself. As human societies differentiate between mating and reproduction through marriage, the institution of marriage has been found to be universal. Marriage is more than simply a legalized sexual union between a man and a woman, it is almost always this, if we mean by ‘legalised’ socially acknowledged and approved. Marriage is “a union between a man and a woman such that the children born to the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both partners”. This point to one important function of marriage in most societies. The fact that it confers acknowledged social status on the offspring. This is evidently a matter of great importance in regard to such matters as inheritance and succession. But there is no general definition of marriage which would include all kinds of institutionalized inter-personal relationship. Here as so often we have to avoid the danger of uncritically assimilating other people’s social and cultural institutions to our own. It is sometimes hard to decide whether a particular kind of union in a particular society can usefully be called marriage. Among the Gonds, the woman is regarded as an economic asset to the family due to her capacity to co-operate in the economic activities of her husband. The agricultural activities are mainly dependent on the co-operation of the wife, who renders better services than hired servants. Gonds believe that a person’s soul neither goes to heaven nor rests in peace if he has not married a virgin. But those who do not find virgins at times marry widows or divorced woman. When a Gond man marries second time, no elaborate ceremonies are observed. An elderly woman of the house performs a ceremony of haldi-dalna and churi- pahanana. A second wife can be brought in the presence of first wife, or after the death of first wife or after divorce. This ceremony is called as Char-bathana. Gonds fallow tribal endogamy and clan exogamy. Gond consider monogamy as the ideal type and prefer to have only one wife at a given moment of time except in certain exceptional circumstances, for example, cases where the wife is barren. A Gond is expected to marry his cross-cousin except in certain circumstances. Strict adherence to this custom results in many unhappy unions, elopements and divorce in the community. Cross cousin marriage is locally termed as doodh-lautana, while literally meaning, ‘to return the milk’ – an act of reciprocity on the part of an individual among the Gonds. The custom has strong socio-religious force behind it. Thus, a Gond male may marry either his mother’s brother’s daughter (Mo Bo Da) or father’s sister’s daughter (Fa Si Da). Marriage with mother’s-brother’s-daughter is called s doodh-duhani vivah and with father’s sister’s daughter as Pal-duhani vivah. While cross cousin marriage is preferred, the incidence of any parallel cousin marriage has not been observed. Patriarchy prevails in this community. The Gond believe in a number of Gods (Dev) like Teen devki, Chardevki, Panchdevki and Satdevki- which are considered as sub-totemic on sub-clan groups. Clans worshipping with sub totem, for example Chardevki constitute one samdhan (a corporate group) and has to seek spouses for their sons and daughters from the clan of another samdhan group. The members of one samdhan group refer each other as brother and sisters. Hence, a marriage between them is a social taboo. If such a union takes place, it is considered a breach of incest taboo by community and the couple is ostracized (hated) by the community. An analysis reveals that out of 474 individuals, 106 i.e., 18% have married their cross cousins (father’s sister’s daughters or sons). Besides their total adherence to this custom, the Gonds also give several other reasons in favour of the practice of cross-cousin marriage. Some of them are:- i) Cross-cousin marriage interlaces two families and at the time of crisis both the families stand as one for defence. ii) Parents need not worry about the marriage of their children as they (children) are to be married with their cross-cousin spouse and as such no middleman is required to settle the marriages. iii) Since both the cross-cousin are familiar with each other from their childhood, they do not find it difficult to make adjustments after marriage. iv) If there is discord and a woman runs away after marriage or a man deserts his wife, both the families put pressure on the man and woman for re-union. v) If any of the parties is not in a position to meet the marriage expenses, one can easily ask the other either for help or for postponement of marriage for some time. Adult marriages are the rule among the Gonds.Among the Hindus they may take place before puberty also. Among most of the wild Gonds certain \’gotras\’ are paternal cousins and the rest are their maternal cousins. A man must marry in the maternal cousin\’s family. Among tribes there is generally a ceremony and in marriages of adults the bride\’s consent is always sought and a price called paring money which is to be paid to her. A poor bridegroom sometimes works in his father-in-law\’s house, generally for five years, to earn his bride, and is then called \’Lamsena\’. This custom prevails in many tribal castes. Several forms of marriages are recognized.’Pendul\’ is the regular ordinary marriage.\’Er-Utto\’ is widow marriage and \’Poysotur\’ is a marriage by capture. When there is no offer for a grown up girl, her parents induced her father\’s sister\’s son or mother\’s brother\’s son, who has a kind of claim to the girl, to capture her and to take her away. The parents then come in and console the girl, explain the situation and make her accept it. A caste dinner has to be given in such a case and the marriage is over. Sometimes there is a real capture to which the parents are not privy. Here the village women beat the captors till they cross the village limits. The Hill Gonds ceremonies are simple. The girl\’s father takes the bride with a party from his village to the boy\’s village. The boy\’s father gives them food and in the evening the people collect at his house for singing and dancing. After this the girl and her parents go back to their camp and are again given food. After dinner they conduct the girl to the boy\’s girl and push her into it asking her father-in-law to take charge of her. After some words of advise to the young couple they depart leaving the bride in her new home. Some tribal groups of Gonds are famous for their \’Ghotuls\’ before marriage, where the prospective couples do the \’dating\’ and have free sex also. In the plains more ceremonial is indulged in and the services of a Pujari (Priest) are enlisted. Sometimes the boy goes in procession to the girl\’s village following the Hindu custom. Oil and turmeric are rubbed on the young couple; they perform the Bhanwar ceremony, walking seven times round a post or branch of the Mahua tree. The girl\’s brother or a priest pours water on them from the top of the Mandapa (marriage booth) .Among the Murias the pair stands over a yoke while this is done. The couple changes their clothes, their garments are knotted together and they put on crowns of flowers and leaves of the date palm and etc.
Marriage Distance:- Gonds prefer village endogamy and marry in the same village and if they are required to go outside, they select spouses from the village at shorter distances that can easily be covered both ways in a day. In the present study it is seen that the maximum distance where the girl is married from the village is between 10-15 km. Such geographical latitude of Gonds provides them full knowledge about their family. Moreover, being poor they cannot afford to spend money on buses or any other mode of transport to meet their daughters. Hence, they walk down to do so. Thus, if the distances are more they will never be able to meet their daughters or the daughter will never be able to come to meet her parents. Types of Marriage: # Marriage by elopement (Bhagele Shadi):- This type of marriage is popular among Gonds. This is takes place by the consent of both Boy and Girl. If girl is in love with boy but the parents of the girl are not agree, in that condition , the girl plan to run away from the house to the house of boy. In a fixed date girl run away from her house to the house of boy. After this some ceremonies is takes place. Then after boy’s parents communicate to the parents of girl and then saptapadi is take place. By this method Bhagele marriage is solemnised. # Gonds have also other types of marriage called as Pathoni Marriage, Chadh Marriage, and Lamsana Marriage. These three types of marriage ceremony are called as Madwatari Marriage.
CUSTOMS AT DEATH The Gonds tribes sometimes cremate and sometimes bury their dead bodies. Generally they bury those who die of small pox or leprosy. The dead person, whether male or female, is buried. He is buried with face upwards, head to the north and feet to the south, in clothes in which he died with, a new cloth spread over the body. The body is not given a bath before burial.
BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES Human existence without beliefs and attitudes is virtually inconceivable for it would be an existence without continuity. Beliefs and attitude can be seen as the building blocks of individual’s world and for all practical purposes, the pattern of his beliefs and attitudes may be taken as equivalent to the pattern of his world view. Krech, Crutchfield and Ballachey (1948) have presented the fact very clearly by maintaining that “the way man treats is determined by his beliefs, his feelings and his dispositions to respond. Those cognitions, feelings and action tendencies are inter-related to form a system. This particular system we call his attitudes.” The impact of beliefs and attitudes, on social actions is due to industrial reliance on them. Such reliance is a part of the fundamental economic or least effort principle .
In a Gond community if a child is born with his feet first, its feet are supposed to have special power, and people suffering from pain in the back come and have their backs touched by the toes of the child’s left foot. This power is believed to be retained in later life of the child too. The diseases of children are attributed to evil sprits. The illness called sukhi in which the body and limbs grow weak and have a dried up appearance, is very common and is probably caused by malnutrition. They attribute it to the machination of an owl which has heard the child’s name or obtained a piece of its soiled clothing. In order to cure this illness they use charms and amulets, and also let the child wallow in a pig-sty so that it may become as fat as pig. If a Gond, when starting on a journey in the morning, meets a tiger, cat or hare or a four horned deer, he returns and postpones his journey, but if he meets one of these animals when he is well on the way it is considered to be lucky. Rainfall at a wedding on some other festival is unlucky, as it is believed to be someone’s cry. When there is drought two boys put a pestle across their shoulders, tie a living frog to it with a rag, and go from house to house accompanied by other boys and girls singing “Mendak Bhai Pani De” (Brother Frog give rain). The frog is considered to be able to produce rain because it lives in water and therefore has control over its elements. Burial of the dead has probably been the general custom of the Gonds in the past, and the introduction of cremation may be ascribed to Hindu influence. The dead are usually buried with the feet pointing to the North in opposition to the Hindu practice, and this fact has been adduced in evidence of the Gond’s beliefs that their ancestors came from the North. The funeral takes place on the same day when the people assembled. Some pieces of cloth, together with him, so that they may accompany his sprit to the other world. Children who die when still at breast feeding stage are buried at the roots of a mahua tree, as it is thought that they will suck liquor from them and be nourished as if by their mother’s milk.
NORMATIVE PRACTICE Universally, social control in society operates through various norms and their practices such as folkways mores, customs, traditions, institutions, and legal rules and regulations which award for the socially and culturally approved behaviour and punish for the one which is in their contravention. Norms existing in any social system evolve out of its religious and socio-cultural environment. People all over the world have certain occasions on which they have joyful celebrations including the organisation of feasts, music, concerts, plays and the like. These folk-lores and festivals help in removing boredom occurring from the repetitiveness of the routine work. Festivals with the development in field of culture have been surrounded by ritual observances.
FESTIVALS The festivals of Gonds are not so much associated with religion as is the case with most Hindu festivals. Their festivals are in response to the harvest season and local customs. Due to their frequent contact with Hindu population, their folk-ways are now becoming apparently tinged with the colour of Hinduism.Gonds observes may Hindu festivals without understanding their religious significance. Most celebrations consist of offerings to Gods, feast drinking and dancing. On the whole, their festivals tend to be recreational rather than spiritual. Their festivals are also connected with agricultural cycle. Their enthusiasm and zeal depends upon the success of harvest. Festivals are the only occasions in which Gonds ever indulge in any extravagance, otherwise they believe only in securing two square meals. Throughout the year a number of fairs, festivals and feasts are organized in the village. However, their distribution over a year is rather irregular. i) Hareli: – Hareli is the festival of rain. It is observed in the early period of rains. The goddess of crop ‘Kutki Dai’ is worshipped on this occasion to ensure better harvest. This is mostly in the month of July-August. ‘Hareli’ word is probably derived from Hindi word, ‘Haryali’ which means greenery as in this seasons vegetations begins to bloom and there is greenery all around. ii) Khyania:-In the month of August seven days before ‘Rakhi; Gonds sow the wheat grains in the Tukania . On the next day of Rakhi i.e after 8 days they cut the wheat crop from the basket. They exchange this with one another. Some of it is also immersed in the water on the same day. Gonds estimate the success or failure of crop of coming season by this festival. iii) Rakhi: – On the day of Rakhi Gond women imitating the Hindu customs tie string around the wrist of their brothers and cousins for their safety, security and protection. iv) Dashera: – It is observed in the month of October and is quite an important festival among Gonds. But unlike a Hindu festival, it is not associated with any Hindus rites or religious beliefs. Its importance is mainly due to the agricultural ceremony attached to it. During this month the spells of rain ends and active agricultural seasons sets in the villages. Parties exchange visits and organize dance performances on reciprocal basis. In the hope of getting good crop, Gonds indulge in heavy drinking, throw Feasts. Saila and Reena dances are the common features of the festivals. v) Mela Madai: – It is held after the completion of the harvesting of the paddy crop, when the people are free from their agricultural work and their stores are full with grain. After Diwali this fair is enjoyed daily for a week. The head of the village inaugurates the Mela. People light oil lamps at their houses. They dance and sing day and night. This celebration is made in the happiness of the success of their harvest. Sweet dishes and special food items are prepared in Gond houses on this occasion. vi) Nawa Feast: – In this festival, harvest thanking is celebrated. New harvested rice is offered to ‘Budha Dev’ under a Saj Tree for the first time new rice is cooked in the house, by the head of the family who has to keep fast on that day. On this occasion women folk do not cook rice. vii) Holi: – It is a spring festival. In the month of March, Holi is celebrated. It is a five day festival. A Gond will never miss the opportunity of drinking alcohol during Holi. On the first day of Holi festivals they play with ‘kecher’ . Holi mela is also held during these days. It is merely a social recreation for Gonds which they have adopted from the local Hindu people. State of Chhattisgarh in central India is surrounded by mountains and flowing rivers. Nearly 21 million people live in the state, the scheduled tribes, with a population of over fifty seven lakh; constitute 32.5 per cent of the State’s population as per the 1991 census. Almost 98.1per cent of this population lives in the rural areas and only 1.9 per cent in urban Chhattisgarh. Among the larger States in India, Chhattisgarh has the highest percentage of population of people from the scheduled tribes. This has one of the largest tribal populations in the world. Chhattisgarh is called as \”Home of the Tribals”. In Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh combined, there are 8.6 million Gonds. As the Gonds are the principal tribes of the Dravidian family, the Gonds stand out among the various tribes of India, by their numbers, the vast expanse of their habitat and their historical importance. They have traditional history of long back as Dravidians; they had to leave main lands when Aryan invaded, to settle down in far interior forests and some settled down accepting inferior services for Aryans. Gonds calls themselves as Dravidians and speaks same still in forests with their strong social bindings. Gonds tribes of Chhattisgarh are about 55.1 per cent form the largest proportion within the tribal population of Chhattisgarh. Gonds were earlier mostly forest-dwellers but are at present settled agriculturists and hence are also referred as Kisan (farmer). Gonds fallow tribal endogamy and clan exogamy. Monogamous marriage is common among the Gonds. Cross cousin marriage is preferred. They fallow the system of patriarchy. Both men and women used to be tattooed earlier but this is constantly on decline among men. The clans are usually named after some animals or plants. The religious observances include prohibitions against members of the to totemic group, killing or eating the totemic species. The worship of ancestors is an integral part of their religion. Budha Deo, the great God, was probably at first the Saj tree, but afterwards, the whole collections of gods were sometimes called Budha Deo. They believe also in numbers of local deities. The Gonds have a highly developed aesthetic sense.
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