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Gond Adivasi

The Gond is the numerically dominant Adivasi Group in India. Their major population is concentrated in the Madhya Pradesh including the Chhattisgarh State.  In the state of of Jharkhand, they are found in the district of Ranchi, Palmau and Singhbhum. The Gond are a Dravidian tribe linguistically, racially they belong to Proto-australoid stock. There are nearly 50 sub-groups of the Gond tribe which inhabit in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Jharkhand. They have migrated in Central provinces from south through Chanda and Bustar in 14th centry. They had established Gond kingdom. They were warriors. They trace their descent from Kashatriya kins.

Culture

In the state of Jharkhand Gond settlements are located nearby the forest. They are scattered in different villages. They erect their houses, with the half of mud, bamboo, wood, leaves, branches and grasses. Some Gonds have tile roof.

            Inside house, their household possession constitute earthen pots, aluminium pots, iron knife, axe, sickle, baskets, mat, cot, machine, rope carpet, broom, ploughing implements, digging implements, war implements and musical instruments. They purchase material items of household use from the local market.

            The men wear dhoti, and Ganji with a Gamachha on shoulder or head, They wear shirt and slipper when they have to go out of house to meet relatives or to visit the market. The women wear Sari, Saya and blouse. The boys wear paint, ganji and shirt. The girls wear salwar suit and paint and frock. They wear rubber of plastic slippers.

            The Gond women are found of ornaments. They wear ornaments in finger, wrist, arm, neck, ear and feet. The ornaments are made up of steel, brass, glass, shell, thread and wild seeds. They also decorate their body with flowers, kajal and tattooing.

Family

The family is the smallest form of society. It is a centre of social cultural, economic, political, religious and recreational activities. The family is patriarchal on the basis of authority. It is patrilineal on the basis of linearity. On the basis of residence, it is patrilocal. The structure of family reveals that it is nuclear type. In nuclear type family, the father, mother and their unmarried children reside together. The existence of joint family is very few in number. Married sons and daughters establish another family. Married sons live in the same village in which their fathers live, but in a separate house or room. They cook food separately. They reproduce children and struggle hard to maintain the family. The married daughters leave the parental village following the patrilocal rule of residence. They lead a family live with their husband and children. They do not inherit the property of father. Therefore, the aged parents are looked after by the sons only who inherit the property of the father.

            The family is based on faith and cooperation of the family members. The family members have good relation with each other. They behave cooperatively and contribute in the family income. In order to run the family, one finds the division of labour in Gond family. Clearing house, hearth, and courtyard fetching water, cooking food and serving food to family members are done by the wife or mother. Looking after cattle, cattle shed, ploughing, watching, bringing iron implements from the market are generally done by the husband or father. The children co-operate parents in household chores. The division of work in the family does not mean that males do not know cooking and female do not know doing agriculture ploughing, climbing on trees, making roof of the house are taboo for women. But in other kinds of work both husband and wife work together. Both go to work and earn wages after performing household chores. Both get up early in the morning and go to sleep around 9 PM.

            The husband wife relation in the family is generally sweet. Both have full faith in each other and struggle hard to raise the family income for maintaining the family. Although rearing and caring of children is done by the wife, but husband also like interest equally. The husband wife relation turns bitter and conflicting, when anyone is involved in extra marital relation, becomes lazy and does not want to work and behaves cruelly. When the relation becomes conflicting, attempt is made to resolve the conflict in the community Panchayat. But when the relation is not restored, divorce is allowed. The woman has to leave the children to the father. When there is small kid in the lap, the kid is allowed to stay with the wife. The divorced woman is allowed to arrange another marriage.

            The Parent-children relation is also affectionate. The parents love their children very much. Their economy is subsistence-oriented, but they try to fulfil the demands of the children. The beating of children is rare. The concept of reward and punishment is absent. The maximum punishment is severe scolding. Physical torture to the children is never permissible. It is treated as cruel behaviour and the community Panchayat sits to consider such cruel behaviour. The children, too, love their parents very much. They do not force them to buy many things from the market. Lakatho sweet is special demand of children from the parents on the haat day. The parents-children relation becomes tensile when any one involved in the premarital relation with other tribe, same lineage and clan. The community Panchayat sits to hear the cases of inter tribal and intra clan, pre-marital relation. Such persons can not marry with each other. But when the premarital relation is between the same tribe but outside clan, such persons are allowed to establish marriage.

            The relation between siblings is also very cordial. Being the offsprings of the same parents, siblings, i.e. brothers and sister in relation eat together, work together and sleep together. But in late childhood they join youth dormitory called gothul. Now brothers and sisters start maintaining distance. Brothers play with boys and sisters play with girls of their age group. The brothers assist in the work of father and the sisters assist their mother. They fetch water; serve food to their brothers and parents. In the younghood brothers and sisters establish separate families after the marriage. Now brothers and sisters live at two different places. Brothers are included in father’s lineage; both sisters are ousted from the lineage group. Now brothers and sisters maintain relation by reciprocal exchange of invitation, visit, food, service, loan etc. on different occasions of ceremonies, festivals, worship etc.

            The brother and sister relation is maintained without conflict but the brother-brother relation witness conflict at the time of division of property.

            The relation of the Gond family with the families of the same lineage and clan groups is also very sweet. Lineage and clan exist as corporeal kin groups in the Gond village. They share joys and sorrows together and maintain relation by reciprocal exchange of visit, invitation, food, service, feast, etc. On different occasions, the relation between families of the lineage and the clan becomes conflicting due to adultery, rape, premarital, extra marital relation and theft etc.

Marriage

According to the Gond, the marriage is held between two individuals of opposite sex for the reproduction of children. The marriage rituals come in the life of every individual of both sexes but the persons of unknown sex do not get this opportunity. The Gond follows the rule of tribe endogamy and clan exogamy at the time of marriage. A Gond boy is allowed to marry only with a Gond girl but the clan of the boy and the girl should not be same. The boy and girl of the same clan are treated as blood relative and the marriage between the blood relations is a taboo. The Gond follows usually the rule of monogamy. But they also allow bigamy and tri-gamy in case  of widower, widow, barrenness. Divorced women are also allowed to re-marry her with a man of widower. Levirate, sororate and widow remarriage are permissible. Cousin marriages are allowed under preferential rule. The usual way of acquiring marriage mates is bride price. But marriage by service, exchange or Gloat, elopement and adoption are also held. The marriage by bride price is organized by the father of the boy and the girl. The father of the boy approaches the father of the girl with a proposal of marriage.  The girl’s father demands bride price in cash and kind. When the demand of bride price is agreed by the boy’s father, the marriage is declared as settle. But in kind it includes the dresses of the bride and the groom, dresses of bride’s parents, brothers and sisters and also rice, pulse, vegetable or goat for the marriage feast. The bride price is paid before a week of the marriage day. The date of marriage is announced with the help of the village head called Gaita. When the bride price is not received a week before the marriage day, the marriage is declared cancelled by the village head. But such cases take place rarely.

            After the payment of the bride price, the parents of the bride and the groom invite their maternal kins, parental kins, affinal kins and other type of relatives and friends to participate in the marriage and marriage feast. The bride, the groom and their parents have to observe taboos till the performance of the marriage. These taboos are related to food, visit to lovely place, market, river site, and colour of dresses. The bride and the groom have to follow the beautificatory rituals known as Ubtan, Oil, Haldi and Kajal. A day before marriage Marawa is erected in the house of both the groom and the bride. Marawa is erected with the help of bamboo, branches and leaves in which the male kins take part. The female kins take part in digging soil for making new hearths. The beautificatory rituals are performed with the help of female kins. They make the occasion joyous by singing Geet and performing dance.

            On the day of marriage, the bride and the groom are allowed for a purificatory bath after  a week long performance of the beautificatory rituals. They wear new dresses. They have Kajal in eyes and flower beads in neck. They have their feet and hands coloured with dyes, nail polish and mehandi leaves. The groom rides on a Palaki or a rickshaw now days. The female kins perform white magic for peaceful marriage and happy return with the bride. The Palanquin is carried by the male relatives. Amidst the scene of singing and dancing, the female kins make hearty send off to the groom and the male kins forming the Barat party. At the night of the marriage day, the female kins perform Domkach dance and play. The purpose of this dance is not only entertainment, but to guard the village because all male members go out for the marriage.

            When the Barat Party and the groom reach in the village of the bride, the male kins extend hearty welcome to them. They offer flowers, shake hands and embrace each other. The Barat is brought at a suitable place for night halt. They are served Dal-mot, sweet, fried gram and handia as the first hospitality. After this hospitality ritual, the groom is brought in the Marwa for the marriage. The bride is also brought in the Marwa. The Gaita enchants some hymns and the bride and the groom are asked put garland in the neck of each other. The female kins and companions of he bride sing varieties of song. The groom is asked to put vermillion in the forehead. All the members present there clap their hands enjoy. Now the bride and the groom is asked to move seven time around the fire tank. Then, they are brought to seek the blessings of the family deity. They also seek blessings of the elders present there. The members of the community are served Handia and fried gram. They perform dance. At the end, they share the marriage feast. After sharing the marriage feast, they go to take rest.

            In the morning, the Vidai of the bride and the groom is done in new dresses and with food items and money. The members of the Barat Party are served breakfast and Handia. The bride and the groom are carried on Palaki or Rickshaw. When the bride reaches the house of the groom, the female kins extend warm welcome to her. The bride and the groom are brought in the Marwa by putting feet in baskets. They seek the blessings of the family deity and all elder members present there. All members share the community feast. The bride resides for a week. After a week she goes back to her Mayake with brother or the father. She remains there for a year. After a year, the groom goes to bring back the bride. The father and the brother make Vidai of the bride and the groom. Now the bride and the groom leave in a separate room and enter into family life. They reproduce children and start hard labour to run the family.

Kinship

The kinship system of the Gond presents a model of relationship based on blood relation and the marriage relation. The blood relation is present before the marriage relation because an individual takes birth first and then he/she is married after attaining marriageable age. But marriage transfers the blood relation from one generation to the next through reproduction. Due to blood relation, an individual has his/her ascendants and descendants. The blood relatives include the maternal and paternal kins and ascendants and descendants. The descent and clan are patrilateral. Inheritance is also patrilateral. The Gonds have clan organizations based on totenism. The clans are named after plants, trees, birds and animals. The clans are exogamous. Although, wife is brought from other clan, but she is included in blood relative. Through her medium, the blood relation continues generation after generation. In the society of the Gond, cousins are not treated as blood relatives. They are treated a s marriage relatives, under the preferential rule

            The marriage creates a set of new relatives. It binds not only two individuals of opposite sex, as husband and wife but all family members of both individuals come under the bondage of kinship and are called by the special kinship terms. Their maternal kins and maternal kins also become relatives and are called by kinship terms. The society of the Gond is kinship based. Kins plays significant role in the reward, punishment, marriage, birth, death etc. The Gond use classificatory as well as descriptive kinship terminology.

            The Gond follows the rules of kinship behaviour like avoidance, joking and takenonymy. Sas-damad, Sas-Putoh, Sasur-Damad, Sas-Damad, Bhawah-Bhaisur, jayestha Sala-Bahnoi and Jyestha-Sali-Bahnoi behave following the avoidance rule. The relatives like Jija-Sala, jija-Sali, Nandoi-Sarhaj, Devar-Bhabhi, nanad-Bhabhi and Samadhi-Samadhin behave following the rule of joking. The husband wife and the avoidance relatives behave following the rule of takenonymy.

            An individual invites his paternal, maternal, collateral and affinal relatives to participate in marriage, birth and death. Reciprocal exchange of invitation, feast, dress, and money takes place on these occasions.

Birth

Birth is treated very happy occasion in the Gond society. The birth makes the marriage successful. It brings marital happiness and strengthens the marital tie. The birth of children proves that the couple is fertile. The family becomes pleased to see the progeny. The community members express happiness to hear such news. The birth of both sexes is celebrated with equal happiness and enthusiasm because both sexes occupy significant place in their society. It is true that girls a can not inherit the property of the father. In case of only daughters, the property is inherited by the brother’s son or adopted son. But this not rebate the value of girls in the society. Now a day, they are inheriting the property of the father and stays with him during oldhood. They are taking every care of their father like sons.

            The birth takes place in the house. The senior woman member of the community attends the delivery. Navel is cut with iron knife or a bamboo knife.  All delivery wastes are buried in the ground in absence of anyone to avoid the attack of the Bhuta-Preta and witchcraft. Every precaution is taken to save the child and the mother from Bhuta Preta and witchcraft. A branch of thorny plant is placed at the gate of the room. Fire is burnt round the clock. An iron knife is placed nearby the bed of the child and mother. Lamp is kept lighted for the whole night. The child is never left alone. Either the mother or the attendant remains looking after the child. The birth brings pollution period for five days. No one except the attendant is allowed to enter into delivery room. On 6th day, entire house, courtyard, furniture utensils and clothes are washed properly. The child and the mother are allowed for a purificatory bath. The mother wears clean dresses and takes the child in her Anchal. She goes to the family deity to seek blessings. Then she seeks blessings of the elders present there. A community feast is given on this occasion to be declared as clean by the community members.

            The name giving is done after one month. Food serving ritual is held after the eruption of the first tooth. Ear-boring and Mandan rituals are done in second and third years respectively. Marriage rituals are held in between 15 to 22 years of age.

Death

The Gond knows that the death is universal facts. It lays its icy hands on rich, poor, powerful, powerless and people of all age and sex groups. They believe that whosoever is born will die one day. But the Gond differentiates between natural and unnatural deaths and mature and premature death. The death during oldhood is taken good. But death during childhood and younghood is not taken good. The death during oldhood transforms the old body into new one through rebirth. But the souls of persons died in childhood and adulthood remain dissatisfied for the rest life. They can not take rebirth and attain Moksha without completing their full age. The non-satisfied souls become Bhuta-Preta and reside in lonely places like old tree, dense bushes, old wells, streams, hills etc. They attack on pregnant women, nursing mother, children and cattle. They are driven out by the witch doctor called Mati.

Economy

The economy of the Gond is virtually an example of agricultural economy and labour economy. Previously, they were hunters, gatherers and shifting cultivators. But forest Regulations and Acts have snatched away their shifting cultivation and hunting gathering economy. Now   the only means of their stay is agriculture and wage earning. As the Gond villages are situated on hills and in forest, they do the collection of forest produce for consumption and to get money by selling them in the market. But they are exploited and oppressed by the forest officials and contractors in the collection of forest produce.

            Each Gond family possesses some plots of cultivate and homestead land. Each family also have agricultural implements and buffaloes. On homestead land, they have house in one corner. Attached to the house in cattle shed and adhered to the cattle shed is bari land in which maize, vegetables, Marua, Bajra etc. are cultivated. The agricultural land can be divided into two categories (i) Tanr land, (ii) Don land. The Tanr land has no capacity of storing the rain water for many days coarse variety of grains are cultivated with vegetables. But don land has water storing capacity for longer days. Hence Jarahan dhan is cultivated in the Don land. Winter and Garma Crops are not cultivated due to lack of irrigation facilities. The agriculture is done by own labour or by the exchange of labour with community members. Some families do not own sufficient land. So, they do not have plough and he-buffaloes. They exchange their labour with the families who have plough and buffaloes. The agricultural produce is no sufficient to meet both end expenses round the year. Agriculture provides them gainful engagement for six months, i.e., from June to December months in every year. The agricultural produce feed them for six to eight months. In off agricultural season, they work as causal labour and earn wages in forest, road construction, building construction and soil digging and filling.

            The economy of the Gond is subsistence oriented. They do not have concept of saving. They always struggle hard to maintain their existence. The family income is less than the family expenditure. They do not get work round the year. The agriculture does not provide them produce for the year round consumption. As a result they have to incur loan. The Mahajan (local money lenders) is the only source from where the Gond takes loan. The Mahajans have their shops in the weekly Haat. The Gond avail credit facility from the Mahajans shops. The Mahajan know them by name, face and village. So they do not hesitate in providing loan in cash and kind. The Gond repays loan and interest after the harvesting of crops of selling forest produce or getting payment of wages. They incur loan for consumption purpose not for development purpose. The Government agencies do not provide them loan for consumption purpose. The Mahajans are ready to pay them loan in cash and kind anytime. They also repay the loan by working in the house of the Mahajan.

            The Gond men, women and children visit in the local haat with great enthusiasm to enjoy the sharing of sweets, fried grains and Jilebi sweets besides doing marketing of essential commodities. In the Haat, they also meet the relatives and friends. The have exchange of news, views and social relation. Thus, market play significant role in the life and culture of the Gond. The medium of exchange is money. Previously barter exchange was also prevailing. But now days, it has been replaced totally by the money exchange.

Religion

The Gond has beliefs in a number of Gods and Goddesses. Thakur Deo and Thakur Devi are their chief God and Goddess. They are symbols of lord sun and mother earth. They are represented by two small stone pieces under a mud hill. They have concept of Kul dewata (family deity), Gram dewata (village deity) and Dehwar Dewata [boundary deity]. They believe that their ancestral spirits reside in Sarna grove. They also believe in Lord Shiva, and mother Bhagwati, Kali and Manasa. They celebrate festivals like Karma, Jitya, Dashera, Diwali, Holi, Sarhul, Sohrai, Ramnawami. They are more or less a Hinduised tribe. They have also accepted Christianity.

            The Christian Gonds celebrate Christian festivals, visit church on every Sunday and are guided by Church authority. The Hindu Gonds and Christian Gonds do not have matrimonial alliance. The Sarna and Hindu Gonds consider Christians unclean due to baptization.

            The sacred specialist is known as Gaita and his assistant is called as Mati. On the occasion of worship, sacrifice is made in the name of the deities. The sacrifice of goat, sheep, chick, duck, pigeon etc. are made with the help of the Gaita and the mati. Women do not participate in the sacrificial rituals. But they participate in cooking special food and performing dance in the Akhara. Handia, sun-fried rice, vermillion, ghee, dhup, Agarbatti, water, blowers and leaves are offered to the deity besides the sacrifices. The skin, horn, head and feet of the sacrificial animals are given to the village priest.

            The Gond perform a number of white magic for good rain, harvest, good yield and good health white magic and totaka are done to save the pregnant, expectant and nursing woman. The senior woman of the community is expert in the performance of the totaka. They also perform totaka for the cure of diseases.

            The Gond believes in Bhuta-Preta and dain. They believe that Bhuta-Preta and Dain bring miseries in the family. They cause harm to a person in a number of ways. The effect of Bhuta preta and dain is neutralized by the Mati (the witch doctor). The Mati attempts of drive out the evil spirits by his request, puja and offerings. But when these fail, he takes help of physical torture and beating. The fear of beating the forces the evil spirits to free the persons concerned. Now, the behaviour of the person becomes normal.

Political Organisation

The Gond has their own community Panchayat in which all heads of the families are members. The head of the community Panchayat is called Gaita. He is also known as Sayana. The post of Gaita or Sayana is hereditary. The Sayana do not take decision by his own will. He takes decision unanimously with the support of the council of elders. In the community panchayat cases related to adultery, rape, premarital and extra marital relation, elopement, cruel behaviour, divorce, division of property, theft of bundles of crops, theft of grains, chick, duck, goat, and Dain (witch craft) are heard for the decision. The community members are involved in the decision of the case and they are also instrumental in the implementation of the decision.  Of the case and they are also instrumental in the implementation of the decision. That is how the laws are obeyed in the Gond society. Those who do not obey the decision of the Panchayat are declared as culprit. They are ousted from the community. No body has food and water relation with that person or family. In order to get membership again of the community, the guilty person and his family have to accept the fault amidst the members of the Panchayat. He has to seek excuse from the community members. His fault is removed after sharing a community feast.

            Now-days, modern Gram Panchayat, Thana, Police, court have come up among the Gond. These modern institutions are affecting adversely the traditional panchayat organizations.

            The election of MLA, MP and officials of the modern Gram Panchayat has given the occasion of exercising their franchise. But the Gond of the Jharkhand is not so conscious politically. They do not know the real value of casting votes. They do not take active part in the election. They show interest in casting votes only when some candidate meet them and provide money for the community feast. They are neither members nor supporters of the political parties. They know the names of some important political parties. They also know the symbols of the political parties. As they are not numerically dominant in the Jharkhand, they have not been able to elect Mukhia of their community when they do not take interest in casting votes, they do not go to the polling booth. Their votes are casted by some one else.          

Woman

The Gond women are industrious by nature. They are the custodian of culture, norms and values. They are the first teacher of the first primary school, the family. They are also the food providers and folk doctors for the family members. They are expert in food medicine and local herbal medicine. They get up early in the morning. They perform household chores. After completing household chores, they go to work in the forest or field. They also go to earn wages. Thus for raising the family income, they do not lag behind their male counterparts. But being women, they have to observe a number of taboos during menstruation, pregnancy, delivery and nursing period. They have to observe taboo on food for the good health of the child during breast feeding.

            The Gond women are not allowed to participate in community Panchayat. They are also not allowed to participate in sacrificial rituals. Even the wives of the village head and the village priest have no say in the Panchayat and the sacrifice. But Gond women play significant role in the decision making in the family.

            The Gond women are also declared as Dain when their son dies or husband dies. The people believe that she has sacrificed the life of son or husband in order to learn the knowledge of witchcraft. They are exploited, oppressed and abused in the name of Dain. But they meet such treatment in order to snatch away the property of their husbands and sons.

            The Gond women are not very conscious politically. They have not fought any elections. They are not members of any political parties nor are they supporters. They are not economically dependent. They have not been benefited much by the development schemes formulated and implemented for the women. There is a need of organization of Mahila mandal and self help Group among the Gond women so that they can become independent economically and lead prestigious life in the society.

Children

The Gond children are loved very much in their society. They are the future hope of the society. Every member loves the children of the community. The children too, love their elders. They no only love but also respect them. They do not disobey them. The children learn good habit and social virtues through family, neighbour and play group. They play a number of folk-games like Chika, Kabaddi, Dol-Pata, Chor-Sipahi, Bagh-Bakari, Andi, Paisa, Gulel, Bow and arrow.

            The children are enrolled in the school for attaining knowledge and become literate. But due to poverty, they do not attend regularly. They remain engaged in household chores. They are not compelled to attend schools by the parents. They earn little by working as child labour to feed themselves.  They remain illiterate. The literacy rate among the Gond children of the Jharkhand is negligible. There is a need to motivate the parents and the children to attain modern education and to become literate.

            The children in late childhood are admitted in the youth dormitory called Gothul. The boy and girl are admitted in different Gothul. They are taught about the norms, values, social virtues, purpose of marriage, family life, playing Gulel, bow, arrow, hunting implements and musical instruments. They also trained in the art of performing dance and protecting the community during the attack from other community. They learn these things during the night. But during day time, they must be made aware to join the school regularly. Arrangement should be made to provide them food at least during midday without break.

Aged

The Gond Aged is not pessimist about their life in old hood. They know well that oldhood comes with number of diseases. But they are bound to occur and they are ready to face such situation. They know that their economic condition is not very good. So, they depend much upon the folk medicine for the treatment of oldhood diseases. They are served food with the children. The play with the children and do little work like looking after the kids, chicks, goat, and other kind of family possessions when young men and women go out for work. They do not have much economic value, but they have social and ritualistic value. The children want to spend their time with them to learn tales, idioms, riddles, songs etc. They have experience with them. They want to make the life of the young pleasant on the basis of their experience. They bless the family members on the occasion rituals ceremonies and festivals.

Youth

The Gond youth are the working force of the community. The responsibility to meet the basic needs of children, aged and other family members lie on the shoulders of the youth. The youth are hard working by nature. They get up early in the morning and go to sleep by 9 PM. During this period, they perform household chores; work in forest, field and go to earn wages. The youth are generally satisfied with their lot. But their family income is not enough to meet the requirements of family members easily. They have to struggle hard to run the family. They do not get work regularly. They are also not paid the minimum wages. The women labours are paid less them their male counter parts. They have also come in contact with the outside world. They are also in contact of the modern world. The contact of the outside world and low family income has frustrating impact upon the Gond youth. They feel deprived and frustrated. Such feeling is developing abnormal behaviour in youth. Some of them are so frustrated that their personality has been disorganized. They are suffering from social pathological diseases. They have committed suicide and turned criminals. Some have become theft. The existence of such a social traits among the youth is not good for the healthy of the Gond community.