UPSC History The Mughal Empire NCERT Extracts - Tribes, Nomads and Settled Communities

 Who were Tribal People?

• Many societies in the subcontinent did not follow the social rules and rituals prescribed by the Brahmanas. Nor were they divided into numerous unequal classes. Such societies are often called tribes.
• A tribal group controlled land and pastures jointly, and divided these amongst households according to its own rules.
• In various ways, the tribes retained their freedom and preserved their separate culture
• Contemporary historians and travellers give very scanty information about tribes.
• A few exceptions apart, tribal people did not keep written records. But they preserved rich customs and oral traditions.
• Tribal people were found in almost every region of the subcontinent.
• In Punjab, the Khokhar tribe was very influential during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Later, the Gakkhars became more important. Their chief, Kamal Khan Gakkhar. was made a noble (mansabdar) by Emperor Akbar.
• In Multan and Sind, the Langahs and Arghuns dominated extensive regions before they were subdued by the Mughals.
• The Balochis were another large and powerful tribe in the north-west. They were divided into many smaller clans under different chiefs.
• In the western Himalaya lived the shepherd tribe of Gaddis.
• The distant north-eastern part of the subcontinent too was entirely dominated by tribes - the Nagas, Ahoms and many others.
• In many areas of present-day Bihar and Jharkhand, Chero chiefdoms had emerged by the twelfth century. Raja Man Singh, Akbar's famous general, attacked and defeated the Cheros in 1591. A large amount of booty was taken from them, but they were not entirely subdued. Under Aurangzeb, Mughal forces captured many Chero fortresses and subjugated the tribe.
• The Mundas and Santals were among the other important tribes that lived in this region and also in Orissa and Bengal.
• The Maharashtra highlands and Kamataka were home to Kolis, Berads and numerous others. Kolis also lived in many areas of Gujarat. Further south there were large tribal populations of Koragas, Vetars, Maravars and many others.
• The large tribe of Bhils was spread across western and central India. By the late sixteenth century, many of them had become settled agriculturists and some even zamindars
• Many Bhil clans, nevertheless, remained huntergatherers.
• The Gonds were found in great numbers across the present-day states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
• Nomadic pastoralists moved over long distances with their animals. They also exchanged wool, ghee, etc., with settled agriculturists for grain, cloth, utensils and other products.They bought and sold these goods as they moved from one place to another, transporting them on their animals.
• The Banjaras were the most important trademomads. Their caravan was called tanda. Sultan Alauddin Khaiji used the Banjaras to transport grain to the city markets.
• They transported food grain for the Mughal army during military campaigns. With a large army there could be 1,00,000 bullocks carrying grain.
• Many pastoral tribes reared and sold animals.
• Sometimes mendicants acted as wandering merchants. There were castes of entertainers who performed in different towns and villages for their livelihood.

Changing Society: New Castes and Hierarchies

• As the economy and the needs of society grew, people with new skills were required. Smaller castes, or jatis, emerged within varnas.
• Jatis, rather than varna, became the basis for organising society.
• Among the Kshatriyas, new Rajput clans became powerful by the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
• The rise of Rajput clans to the position of rulers set an example for the tribal people to follow. Gradually, with the support of the Brahmanas, many tribes became part of the caste system. But only the leading tribal families could join the ruling class.

The Gonds

• The Gonds lived in a vast forested region called Gondwana - or "country inhabited by Gonds". They practised shifting cultivation. The large Gond tribe was farther divided into many smaller clans. Each clan had its own raja or rai.
• About the time that the power of the Delhi Sultans was declining, a few large Gond kingdoms were beginning to dominate the smaller Gond chiefs. The Akbar Nama, a history of Akbar's reign, mentions the Gond kingdom of Garha Katanga that had 70,000 villages.
• The administrative system of these kingdoms was becoming centralised. The kingdom was divided into garhs. Each garh was controlled by a particular Gond clan. This was further divided into units of 84 villages called chaurasi.
• The chaurasi was subdivided into barhots which were made up of 12 villages each.
• The emergence of large states changed the nature of Gond society. Their basically equal society gradually got divided into unequal social classes. Brahmanas received land grants from the Gond rajas and became more influential.
• The Gond chiefs now wished to be recognised as Rajputs. So, Aman Das, the Gond raja of Garha Katanga, assumed the title of Sangram Shah. His son, Dalpat, married princess Durgawati, the daughter of Salbahan, the Chandel Rajput raja of Mahoba.
• Dalpat, however, died early. Rani Durgawati was very capable, and started ruling on behalf of her five-year-old son, Bir Narain.

• Under her, the kingdom became even more extensive. In 1565, the Mughal forces under Asaf Khan attacked Garha Katanga. A strong resistance was put up by Rani Durgawati. She was defeated and preferred to die rather than surrender.
• Garha Katanga was a rich state. It earned much wealth by trapping and exporting wild elephants to other kingdoms.
• When the Mughals defeated the Gonds, they captured a huge booty of precious coins and elephants. They annexed part of the kingdom and granted the rest to Chandra Shah, an uncle of Bir Narain. Despite the fall of Garha Katanga, the Gond kingdoms survived for some time. However, they became much weaker and later struggled unsuccessfully `against the stronger Bundelas and Marathas.

The Ahoms

• The Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley from present-day Myanmar in the thirteenth century. They created a new state by suppressing the older political system of the bhuiyans (landlords).
• During the sixteenth century, they annexed the kingdoms of the Chhutiyas (1523) and of Koch-Hajo (1581) and subjugated many other tribes.
• The Ahoms built a large state, and for this they used firearms as early as the 1530s. By the 1660s they could even make highquality gunpowder and cannons.
• However, the Ahoms faced many invasions from the south-west. In 1662, the Mughals under Mir Jumla attacked the Ahom kingdom. Despite their brave defence, the Ahoms were defeated. But direct Mughal control over the region could not last long.
• The Ahom state depended upon forced labour. Those forced to work for the state were called paiks.
• A census of the population was taken. Each village had to send a number of paiks by rotation. People from heavily populated areas were shifted to less populated places. Ahom clans were thus broken up.
• By the first half of the seventeenth century the administration became quite centralised.
• Almost all adult males served in the army during wan
• The Ahoms also introduced new methods of rice cultivation.
• Ahom society was divided into clans or
• A khel often controlled several villages. The peasant was given land by his village community. Even the king could not take it away without the community's consent.
• Originally, the Ahoms worshipped their own tribal gods. During the first half of the seventeenth century, however, the influence of Brahmanas increased.
• In the reign of Sib Singh (1714-1744), Hinduism became the predominant religion. But the Ahom kings did not completely give up their traditional beliefs after adopting Hinduism.
• Ahom society was very sophisticated. Poets and scholars were given land grants. Theatre was encouraged. Important works of Sanskrit were translated into the local language.
• Historical works, known as buranjis, were also written - first in the Ahom language and then in Assamese.

The Banjaras

• Peter Mundy, an English trader who came to India during the early seventeenth century, has described the Banjaras:
• In the morning we met a tanda of Banjaras with 14,000 oxen. They were all laden with grains such as wheat and rice ... These Banjaras cany their household - wives and children - along with them.