Introduction:
As the rise and fall of various kingdoms was happening, new arts, crafts and production activities flourished in towns and villages.
There were changes in the economic, political and social scenario over the centuries.
But the changes in the social aspects were not the same everywhere.
This is because different societies evolved differently.
Disparity:
Already the society was divided according to the rules of varna in large parts of the subcontinent.
These rules were prescribed by the Brahamanas and accepted by the rulers of large kingdoms.
The gap between the high and low, and rich and poor, widened.
This hierarchy between social classes grew further under the Delhi Sultans and the Mughals.
Tribes:
Tribal Societies:
The social rules and rituals prescribed by the Brahamanas were not followed by many societies.
Nor were these societies divided into numerous unequal classes.
We call such societies tribes.
Members of each tribe had kinship bonds amongst them.
Occupation of Tribes:
Some of the tribes were engaged in agriculture for their livelihood.
Others were hunter-gatherers or herders.
Since agriculture was seasonal in nature, they made maximum use of the natural resources by often combining both these.
Some tribes were nomadic i.e. they were not settled at a place.
A tribal group controlled land and pastures jointly which were divided among households according to its own rules.
Many large tribes which thrived in different parts of the subcontinent usually lived in forests, hills, deserts and places which were inaccessible.
Sometimes the tribes clashed with the more powerful caste-based societies.
They retained their freedom in many ways and preserved their separate culture.
Interdependence between societies:
Though sometimes there were conflicts between the caste-based societies and tribal societies, they were dependent on each other for diverse needs.
This dependence played a vital role in changing both the societies.
Tribes: Who were they?
Very scanty information can be obtained about the tribes from contemporary historians and travellers.
This is because tribal people did not keep written records, barring few exceptions.
They preserved their customs and oral traditions well which were passed on from generation to generation.
Tribal histories written by present day historians are based on oral traditions.
Spread of Tribes:
Almost in every region of the subcontinent, we can find tribal people.
At different times, the area and influence of a tribe varied. Some powerful tribes had control over large territories.
|
Region
|
Tribes
|
|
Punjab
|
During the 13th and the 14th centuries, the Khokhar tribe was very influential. Later the Gakkars gained more importance than them. Their chief, Kamal Khan Gakkhar was made a noble (mansabdar) by Akbar.
|
|
Multan and Sind
|
The Langahs and Arghuns dominated extensive regions before they were subdued by the Mughals.
|
|
The north-west region
|
The Balochis. They were divided into several smaller groups called clans. Each clan was under a different chief.
|
|
Western Himalayas
|
The shepherd tribe of Gaddis
|
|
North-eastern India
|
The Nagas, Ahoms and many others.
|
|
Present-day Bihar and Jharkhand
|
Cheros
|
|
Present-day Bihar and Jharkhand, and Orissa and Bengal
|
Mundas and Santhals
|
|
Maharashtra highlands and Karnataka
|
Koli, Berads and many others
|
|
Gujarat
|
Kolis
|
|
Further south of Gujarat
|
Koragas, Vetars, Maravars and many others
|
|
Western and central India
|
Bhils
|
|
Present day Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh
|
Gonds
|
Cheros:
Chero chiefdoms had emerged in the present-day Bihar and Jharkhand by the 12th century.
They were attacked and defeated by Raja Man Singh, Akbar’s famous general in 1591.
Though large amount of booty was taken from them, they were not fully subdued by him.
But the Mughal forces under Aurangzeb captured many Chero fortresses and they were ultimately subjugated.
Evolution of Tribes:
By the late 16th century, many tribes had become settled agriculturists and some even zamindars.
Nevertheless, many Bhil clans remained hunter-gatherers.
Nomads and mobile people:
Nomadic pastoralists moved over great distances with their animals.
They survived on milk and other pastoral products.
They exchanged wool, ghee, etc., with settled agriculturists in return for grain, cloth, utensils and other products.
They bought and sold these goods as they wandered from one place to another, transporting them on their animals.
Banjaras:
The most important trader-nomads were the Banjaras.
Their caravan was known as tanda.
Sultan Alauddin Khalji used the Banjaras for transporting grain to the city markets.
The memoirs of Jahangir reveal that the Banjaras carried grain on their bullocks from different areas and sold it in towns.
During Mughal campaigns, they transported food grain.
When the campaign had large armies, the number of bullocks carrying grain could be as high as ten thousand!
Many pastoral tribes reared and sold animals like horses and cattle, to the prosperous people.
Different castes of petty pedlars who travelled from village to village; made and sold wares such as ropes, reeds, straw matting and coarse sacks.
At times, mendicants acted as wandering merchants.
There were castes of entertainers who performed in various towns and villages for earning their bread and butter.
New castes and hierarchies:
The demand for people with new skills arose with the growth in the economy and with increased needs of the society.
Varnas were further divided into smaller castes or jatis.
For example, amongst the Brahamanas new castes appeared.
On the other hand, many tribes and social groups were taken into caste-based societies and were given the status of jatis.
Brahamanas recognized specialized artisans which consisted of smiths, carpenters and masons as separate jatis.
Jatis rather than varna became the basis of organizing society.
Rajputs:
By the 11th and 12th centuries new Rajput clans among the Kshatriyas became powerful.
They belonged to different lineages like Hunas, Chandelas, Chalukyas and others.
Some of these lineages too were tribes before.
Many of these clans came to be considered as Rajputs.
Especially in agricultural areas, they replaced the older rulers over a period of time.
This was the beginning of the emergence of developed society and rulers created powerful states by using their wealth.
Tribal People:
The rise of Rajput clans to the position of rulers set an example for the tribal people to follow.
Many tribes became part of the caste system with the support of the Brahmanas.
But the ruling class comprised of only the leading tribal families.
Others (who were a large majority) joined the lower jatis of caste society.
Many dominant tribes of the regions of Punjab, Sind and the North-West Frontier had adopted Islam quite early.
They did not accept the caste system and the unequal social order prescribed by the orthodox Hinduism.
Emergence of States: Impact:
The emergence of state had a deep and direct relation with the social changes amongst the tribal people. This is explained below.
The Gonds:
The Gonds lived in Gondwana which was a large forested region.
The name Gondwana means ‘country inhabited by Gonds’.
The kind of agriculture practiced by them was called shifting cultivation.
The Gond tribe was further divided into many smaller clans.
Each clan had its own raja or rai.
During the period when the Delhi Sultans were facing a decline in power, a few large Gond kingdoms were beginning to dominate the smaller Gond chiefs.
The history of Akbar’s reign, called Akbar Nama, mentions the Gond kingdom of Garha Katanga that had 70,000 villages.
Administration:
The administration system of these kingdoms was becoming centralized in nature.
The kingdom was divided into garhs.
A particular Gond clan controlled each garh.
This was further divided into units of 84 villages known as chaurasi.
The chaurasi was subdivided into barhots. Barhots were made up of 12 villages each.
The emergence of large states led to changes in the nature of Gond society.
The society which earlier had equality in it gradually got divided into unequal social classes.
The Gond rajas gave land grants to the Brahamanas.
The Brahamanas hence became more influential.
Now the Gond chiefs wished to be recognized as Rajputs.
Hence Aman Das, the Gond raja of Garha Katanga, assumed the title of Sangram Shah.
Dalpat, his son married princess Durgawati, the daughter of Salbahan, the Chandel Rajput raja of Mahoba. Dalpat died early.
Rani Durgawati:
She was very capable and started ruling on behalf of her son, Bir Narain who was five years of age.
The kingdom became even more extensive under her.
The Mughal forces under Asaf Khan, in 1565 attacked Garha Katanga.
She resisted strongly but was defeated.
She preferred death instead of surrender. Even her son died fighting, soon after.
Garha Katanga was a rich state; it earned much wealth by trapping and exporting wild elephants to other kingdoms.
A huge booty of precious coins and elephants was captured by the Mughals when they defeated the Gonds.
They annexed part of the kingdom and gave the rest to Chandra Shah who was Bir Narain’s uncle.
The Gond kingdoms survived for some time in spite of the fall of Garha Katanga.
They however became weaker and later failed in their struggle against the stronger Bundelas and Marathas.
AHOMS OF ASSAM
Ahoms:
They migrated from the present-day Myanmar to the Brahmaputra valley in the 13th century.
They suppressed the older political system of the bhuiyans (landlords) and created a new state.
They annexed the following kingdoms and subjugated many other tribes during the sixteenth century: Chhutiyas in 1523,Koch-Hajo in 1581
They built large states using firearms as early as the 1530s.
They could even make high-quality gunpowder and cannons by the 1660s.
Attack on Ahoms:
In the south-west they faced many invasions.
In 1552 under Mir Jumla, the Mughals attacked the kingdom.
The Ahoms were defeated despite their strong defence.
However the Mughals could not have direct control over them for a long time.
Labour:
The Ahom state depended on forced labour.
The people who were forced to work were called paiks.
Each village had to send a certain number of paiks by rotation, based on the census taken.
People were shifted from highly populated areas to less populated areas, thus breaking the clan.
The administration became quite centralized by the first half of the 17th century.
During war almost all adult males served in the army.
They were engaged in the following activities at other times:
Building dams and irrigation systems
Other public works
They also introduced new methods of rice cultivation.
Society:
The Ahom society was divided into clans or khels.
The artisan community had very few castes hence artisans in the Ahom areas came from adjoining kingdoms.
A khel often controlled many villages.
The peasant was given land by his village community which could not be taken away even by the king without the community’s consent.
The Ahom society was quite sophisticated.
Theatre was encouraged. Poets and scholars were given land grants. I
mportant works in Sanskrit were translated into the local language; even historical works were written.
These were written first in the Ahom language and then in Assamese. These were known as buranjis.
Religion:
The Ahoms originally worshipped their own tribal gods.
There was an increase in the influence of Brahamanas in the first half of the 17th century.
The king granted land to the temples and Brahamanas. In the reign of Sib Singh (1714-1744) the predominant religion was Hinduism. But even after adopting the religion, the Ahom kings did not totally give up their traditional beliefs.
Changes in Society:
During the period that we have been examining, there were a lot of social changes.
Varna-based society and tribal people interacted constantly with each other.
This caused both the societies to adapt and change.
There were variety of tribes and they were engaged in diverse occupations.
Many of them, over a period of time, merged with caste-based society.
There were, however some tribes who rejected both the caste system and orthodox Hinduism.
Some tribes also organized extensive states and introduced well-organised systems of administration in them, hence gaining political power.
This led to conflicts; between them and the larger and complex kingdoms and empires.
Nicobarese:
The Nicobar Islands is a chain of 19 islands in the south-eastern Bay of Bengal.
Only 12 of the 19 islands are inhabited.
The term Nicobarese refers to the dominant tribes of the Nicobar Islands.
On each island, the people have specific names, but together they are the Nicobarese.
They call themselves Holchu, which means “friend”.
The Nicobarese are headed by a chief called “Rani” or “queen”.
The first Rani of the Nicobarese was Islon who married Mewalal, tahsildar of Nancowry in 1941–42, and became the most influential person in the Nicobar Islands.
On the Nicobar Islands, men and women have almost equal status.
The villages on the islands consist of sporadically placed huts strewn about in designated areas. The huts are normally round with dome-shaped roofs.
They are typically raised above the ground and have ladders that the residents pull up after they climb into the huts at night.
The Mongols:
They were the best known pastoral and hunter-gatherer tribe in history.
They inhabited the grasslands (steppes) of Central Asia and the forested areas further north.The Mongol and Turkish tribes were united into a powerful military force by Genghis Khan by 1206.
He was the ruler of vast territories at the time of his death in 1227.
His successors created a vast empire comprising of different regions.
At different time periods, it included Russia, Eastern Europe, China and much of West Asia.
The military and administrative systems of the Mongols which were based on the support of different ethnic and religious groups were very well-organised.
