Garo Tribes of Meghalaya

Meghalaya, one of the seven sister states of North East India, is inhabited largely by tribes. After Khasi, Garo comprise the largest population of tribes in Meghalaya. Most of these tribes habitat in Garo hills of Meghalaya, as the name depicts itself. Other than Meghalaya a sizeable population of these tribes can also be found in other states like Assam, Tripura, West Bengal and Bangladesh.

It is believed that Garos migrated to Meghalaya about 400 years ago from Tibet. Garo people are also known by the name of 'Achik-mande' or hill people. As almost all the states in North East India were explored by Christian Missionaries, most of the Garos adopted Christianity. These tribes speak Garo language, which is also further divided into different sub-languages or dialects.

In Garo tribes, women are the owners of property thus making it a matrilineal society. There is a custom where the youngest daughter inherits the property from her mother and man shifts to his wife's place after getting married.

These tribes are also lovers of music and dance. They use various traditional musical instruments like stringed instruments, wind instruments and self sounding instruments. Men flaunt turban with clothes in villages. Whereas, blouse and a cloth tied around their waist is worn by Garo women. They also love to wear traditional jewellery made of beads and other material.

Garos also celebrate different festivals. Wangala is one of the significant festivals of these tribes which is generally celebrated in the month of October. This festival is celebrated after the harvest of crops as thanks giving ceremony to their deity Salijong. Rice is the staple food of Garos and most of them are non-vegetarians. They also make liquor at home from food grains. Their main cultivation crops include rice, ginger, millet, bananas, vegetables, pepper, chilli and cotton.

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Gujjar Tribes in India

Gujjars are one of the communities of tribes inhabiting in India. Gujjars mainly inhabit in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. These tribes can be found mainly following Hindu and Muslim religions.

It is believed that Gujjars were the original inhabitants of Gurjia or Georgia. They came across Iraq, Iran, Central Asia, Afganistan and Pakistan to Gujarat, way back in 5th and 6th centuries. Some also believe that Gujjars were earlier Rajputs and they changed their religion to Islam after losing to Aurangzeb in battle.

Gujjars come in the category of semi-nomadic tribes and their main occupation is herding of goats, sheep and buffaloes. Semi-nomadic people of Gujjar community are in the habit of migrating to upper parts of Himalayas along with their cattle during the summer season and back to the plains with the onset of chilly winters.

As Gujjars keep on moving from one place to another, they move with their families and thus have very rare permanent settlements. Wherever they go, they reside in shacks or huts made of grass, wood or bamboos as per the availability of raw materials. They sell milk, ghee and their cattle to make their living.

Gujjars, who are now-a-days mainly found in the Northern parts of India, speak Hindi, Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri and Pahari. They are the tribes who strictly follow old traditions and customs. They still follow custom of early marriages, where girls are married at an age of 14 – 15 years and boys at 17-18 years. Mostly they depend on milk products as their staple food besides cereals, wheat and maize. They may be vegetarians and non-vegetarians as well.

Gujjars wear their traditional dresses. Men adorn turbans on their heads in Mughal style along with long and loose 'Kurtas' or shirts with 'Salwars'. Over the shirt they wear vest-coat called 'Basket'. They also wrap 'Chaddar' or shawl around their shoulders to save them from cold. Whereas, women wear loose 'Kurta' (shirt) having collars and cuffs along with 'Suthan' or 'Salwars' in Churidar style. They flaunt vest-coat over 'Kurta' like men . Women also wrap a 'Chaddar' around their heads which is also called as 'Neelak'. Both men and women wear 'Desi Juttis' or shoes. Gujjar women are also fond of jewelery like necklace, nose rings and ear rings mainly made of silver.

Now-a-days, there has been a change in the lifestyle of Gujjars also like other tribes, with the change of time. In the olden days where they used to be illiterate because of their nomadic life, now some of them have started dwelling in permanent settlements and impart education to their children.

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Gaddi Tribes of Himachal Pradesh

Gaddi Tribes constitute a sizeable population of tribes habitating in Himachal Pradesh. These tribes mainly dwell around Dhauladhar mountain range, Chamba, Bharmaur and the areas near to Dharamshala. It is believed that these people migrated to the foothills of Himalayas from Central Asia, Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is also believed that some castes of Gaddi tribes ran away and took shelter in hills because of the threat of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb in 17th century.

The pace of evolving changes with time, in contemporary society, has also affected the living style of Gaddi tribes, which poses a great threat to their culture, costume, jewellery, folklore and lifestyle. Characteristics of Gaddis are diminishing fast because of the cultural invasion by other communities.

The main occupation of Gaddi tribes is shepherding and they make their livelihood by rearing and selling sheeps, goats, mules and horses. Though these tribes were more nomadic in older days but now they have made their settlements in the villages and make seasonal movements with their livestock to pastures in upper hills during summer season and to the foothills in chilly winters. Now people from Gaddi community have also started adopting several other occupations for earning their livelihood.

Related with the occupation of sheep grazing, Gaddis flaunt woolen attire made of sheep wool, like woolen pyjamas (trousers), long coats, dhoru (woolen sari), caps and shoes made up of wool and goat hair. Even sheep wool is also used for making shawls, blankets and carpets which are spun in traditional style at homes as they are expert in weaving. Gaddi women are also fond of jewellery made of semi precious stones, gold and silver.

Though most of the Gaddi community is Hindu, but one can also find Muslim Gaddis in the upper areas of Chamba and Lahaul Spiti districts. Where these tribes speak in local dialects, they can also understand and converse in Hindi as well. Gaddis are also known for their simple living style and are religious. Most of them still practice their old traditions and customs. They are also fond of music and dance and their important fairs are Minjar, Bharmaur Jatra and Sui Mela. They are worshipers of Lord Shiva and also celebrate Shivratri festival with pomp and show.

Most of the people in Gaddi tribe are non-vegetarians and they also consume goat milk. Though in the earlier days child marriages and polygamy were in practice but with the change in lifestyle the community has also grown up educationally.

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Sign and Symbols in Tribal Culture

Tribal culture speculate the complex religion and strange beliefs. All the various tribal communities, narrows down to one common facts- a real world outlined with countless myths. Since time immemorial, the concept of understanding nature and the style of living life has underwent several changes. But yet, many tribal folks are not behind to pass on their ancestral belief to the their next generation. A very interesting way to unfold their culture, is to brief out the sign and symbols, which represents the status and style within the society.

Tattoos: The use of tattoos in tribal community speaks a lot in terms of of the origin and the social hierarchy of a person, who wears it. It is said, a person bearing big and complex tattoo is superior as compared to one with simple one. As per the tribal rituals, tattoo describes the age and sex of an individual. Also, in some tribes, males ink their body-parts with the totem animals and believe that they inherit the power of the tattooed animal. The Toda women tattooed in patterns of dots and circle, expresses their adulthood, whereas, scar in the male's wrist or elbows, certifies him for milking buffaloes.

Wooden articles: Males in Naga tribal community display their status symbol by wearing wooden carved head gears in any of their festivals or dance acts. According to them, it symbolizes their bravery and status. Horned head dresses, intricate with animal teeth and beaks are believed to enhance the power and prestige of the wearer. Many carry the proud occupation of carving drinking mugs, smoking pipes and morung pillars, flourished with the sign of powerful wild animals like tigers, buffaloes etc or symbol of warriors and weapons.

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Tribal Myths in North-Eastern India

North Eastern India, features the diverse ethnic culture and linguistic states from other states of the country. Among the various existing tribal colony in its states and territories, the Naga Tribe of Nagaland is famous for their mythic belief, ruling their caste and religion. Lets get a snippet of what surprising facts, underline their fairs and festivals.

The Naga Tribes believe to worship the God of Earthquake, who according to them is the supreme creator of earth out of water and the Son of this God guides the mankind. They strongly believe that God lives in the midst of mountains, dense forest, underneath the rivers and lakes. And as such, a series of rituals take place among the social groups. They erect a typical stone monuments nearby their houses, with the sole belief of family protection against any evil spirit.

Tribal carry the myths of witchcraft and unconscious dreams, that they can give their utmost input to fulfill them. A strange practice of slaughtering lies in their community. Some groups sacrifice their dogs or pigs before the onset of their wood carving or farming. The age-old head-hunting was prime concern for growing fertile crops and as such they were largely depended on sprinkling animal blood over the fields. But the cruel practice ceased in the early 20th century, thereby, indicating the extinction of social stigma.

Naga people belief the philosophy of rebirth and as such the dead are buried in the direction from which their ancestors have come. Many built a separate grave-yard before their death, while in some case, the burial takes place in the house premises, only.

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