*THE TRIBES OF ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS*
N. Francis Xavier
When I received the letter from Prof. Mohan inviting me to speak on thesubject it was indeed a surprise. I am no anthropologist or a biologist.What prompted him to call me I am not aware. But, after living for 30 yearsin the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, I think everyone becomes qualified to saysomething on the tribes of the islands. They have been so much a part ofour lives, but fading away into slow extinction now. We are witnesses tothe twilight years of most of the tribes. We have had our own encounterswith the indigenous tribes over the years. We have read about them, seenthem in person or heard stories (fictionalized to some extent) from others.Therefore, instead of presenting a scholarly paper with plenty of footnotesand endnotes and quoting extensively from past authors I have decided tostring together my experiences and place them before you. I humbly submitthat they are not scientific, nor do they point a finger at any person ororganization. They are merely the spontaneous feelings aroused in a humanwhen he comes face to face with another human who is slightly different inappearance and follows a different life style.When I read the topic for today’s seminar I was a bit puzzled. One doesn’tneed much preparation to talk on the tribes of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. But,the second part – the role of youth in conservation – what could that mean?There seemed a hidden paradox in it. The term ‘conservation’ itselfexcludes all contact with outsiders. Then where does the “role of youth”come in?It is with these thoughts I started preparing this lecture. I will list myexperiences with the tribes of Andaman & Nicobar Islands in the usual orderin which they are described, starting with the Great Andamanese.“The clash between the outsider and the Andamanese always ended in tragedyfor the Andamanese” says JH Williams in his book The Spotted Deer.*The Great Andamanese* were the most numerous of the tribes inhabiting theAndaman group of islands when settlement took place. *They were the firstto come in contact with civilization, and the first to be driven to theverge of extinction. *The less than 40 surviving members of this tribe havebeen relocated on *Strait** Island**. * We know a few names. Lichu is quitewell known, often seen in Port Blair and the most vocal of the tribe. AdiBasera, the modern day Andaman Home has a few members camping there always.One young man could be seen begging in the streets in a highly inebriatedstate. A young woman has been inducted into the police force as a trafficconstable. She is often touted as an example of the progress the tribe hasmade. * *But the real picture is grim. The remnants of this proud tribe whoonce owned this very land on which we have built the city of Port Blair areliving in pitiable conditions, with no hope of survival.The betrayal of the Andamanese started long ago, with a man called DoodnathTewary. The sepoy convict escaped from Ross Island on 23 April 1858 andlived with the Andamanese for a period of one year and twenty-four daysbefore returning to the settlement to report about the impending attack onthe settlement. The Battle of Aberdeen on 17th May 1859 gave a taste of theweapons of the civilized world to the Andamanese. Their bows and arrowswere no match to the guns of the British. But the most painful was thebetrayal by a man whom they treated as one of them, who married one of theirwomen. What is not often told is that Doodnath returned to the islands in1866 on his way to the Sarawak islands to join the service of the White Rajaof Sarawak. The men in the Andamanese home forgot the betrayal and embracedhim, but the women shouted and abused him for deserting his wife Leepa whowas pregnant at the time of the attack on the settlement. We learn that shegave birth to a still-born child later. Mixing up with outsiders hasalready started. Later there are many instances of convicts fatheringchildren on Andamanese women. In no time syphilis surfaced among thetribes. This was a death blow to the tribe.In the ensuing years the Andamanese were subdued and used as trackers tocapture runaway convicts. Jacko, an Andamanese was taken to Calcutta by FJMouat to be presented before the Viceroy, Lord Canning. When Rev. Corbyntook the Andamanese to Calcutta the people spat upon them and insulted them,calling them “Rakshasas.” MV Portman says they (Andamanese) returned to PortBlair very unhappily after this excursion.All this is history, well documented and much written about. But has ourattitude to the Andamanese changed today? Have we not exiled them to StraitIsland? One young woman of the tribe, aged about 28, educated up to8thstandard and highly intelligent finds that she has no suitablematch in hertribe according to their kinships. All the males are either too old or tooyoung. They are either brothers or uncles. She is left with twoalternatives – either marry someone outside her tribe, and thus invite theanger of the officials, or remain a spinster all her life. She chooses theformer. All hell breaks loose when she does this. She is insulted, abusedand threatened. Her dole is stopped. She loses the daily rated job she wasdoing. In spite of all the reservations for the scheduled tribes she failsto find a regular job. Only after a long fight she manages to get a job,thanks to the interference of a kind-hearted Chief Secretary. What wouldhappen to her children? Would they get the tribal status? Would they alsobe exposed to the social stigmas she and her fellow tribals are facingtoday? This is what we have to debate upon. I have known this woman veryclosely and was much disturbed by her suffering. I often wondered if shewere to go to the Supreme Court to fight for her right to the lands of herancestors what judgment the Hon’ble court would give. This is just one ofthe cases. The Great Andamanese are, for all practical purposes, an extincttribe today.*The Onges* of little Andaman also came in contact with the civilizationearly, but their hostility and relative inaccessibility of Little AndamanIsland ensured their better survival. But even they are under threat today.They survived the tsunami, thanks to their tribal wisdom but something fromoutside took away one-tenth of their tribe at one stroke. Just a few monthsago they drank something from a jerry can found on the beach (it isreported) and died. What was in that can, who gave it to them or how theygot it will never be known. But one wonders that a tribe whose verysurvival depends on their ability to identify the edible nature of thethings they gather would drink something so thoughtlessly. I have visitedtheir settlement and their camp on Little Andaman soon after the tsunami. ProfVishwajit Pandya, the renowned anthropologist who studied their language andlived with them was there with us. The Onges described in their ownlanguage to Prof. Pandya how they all rushed to higher ground the momentthey felt the earthquake. Their tribal wisdom saved them.Pandya who studied their myths records one such in his landmark book “Abovethe Forest – A Study of Andamanese Ethno-anemology, Cosmology, and the Powerof Ritual”. The book is a fascinating study of the life style of the Onges.One of the myths tells the story of what happened when the tribe went toAberdeen (Port Blair) and brought back tobacco and tea. According to thestory the Onge men made a big canoe and decided to go to Aberdeen and gettobacco and tea. After enjoying the tea and tobacco the women tell them togo and get some more. The next time they too accompany them breaking thetaboo of leaving their settlement. The result was catastrophic. Nonereturn from the journey. Only children and old people were left in thesettlement. It is the punishment of the spirits for breaking age-oldtaboos. Is it possible that the Onges whose myths are full of stories likethis would drink the contents of a jerry can from an unknown source? Who isresponsible for these deaths? How many years would it take for the tribe toregenerated itself?*Let us now look at the Jarawas*. Jayanta Sarkar in his book The Jarawa, ofthe ASI Andaman & Nicobar Island Tribes Series describes them as the “onetribe that refused to succumb to violent measures or respond to friendlygestures and remained outside the fold of the British Administration.” Butthat was long ago. How many of us have not seen them standing on the ATRand making gestures pointing to their stomach and mouth? How many people inthe long convoys that go to Middle Andaman everyday are really going to seethe mud volcano? Are they not on the Jarawa safari?About 15 years ago every month or two there used to be a killing by theJarawas reported. The very mention of the name struck fear in ourhearts. Todaythey are a spectacle to be watched. They even dance and sing and demandpayment. Any web-search would throw up hundreds of photos, some even forsale.It all started with a Jarawa named Enmei. The day he was found with afractured leg and brought to the GB Pant hospital, a new chapter opened inthe history of the Jarawas. A few months later, Enmei and his wife were inPort Blair to meet the Prime Minster of India. Enmei was a totally changedman, wearing a new Tee-Shirt and shorts. His wife wore a colourfulnightgown. Enmei signed his name in English and drew perfect pictures of afish and a crocodile using a pen. The incident was described as a landmarkin our relations with the Jarawas. Today the most feared tribe is nothingbut a someone to be gawked at from buses and cars.The deeper reason for this change is our infiltration into their triballands and the destruction of the forest. In her book “Development andEthnocide –Colonial Practices in the Andaman Islands” Sita Venkateswar says,“…if we fail to protect the forest in which the Jarawa live, the forest theyhave kept intact for thousands of years, we destroy not only the forest butalso all that which confers beauty on the world in which we live;”The reaction of Lichu, the Great Andamanese who had traditional enmity withthe Jarawas was different. She feels that the “Jarawas should be transportedfrom where they were in Middle and South Andaman and relocated elsewhere, onsome other islands, just like the Andamanese had been earlier.” Surprisinglythere was once a proposal of this nature which was fortunately turned downby the Government of India.It is Jayanta Sarkar’s concluding words that touch our hearts. He says “TheJarawa are also human beings like the rest of us and have the same right tolive undisturbed in their homeland as other citizens have.” Are we ready totreat them like this?*Now let us look at the Sentinelese*, the least known of all the tribes. Veryfew contacts have been made with this tribe. And, on almost all occasionswere violently repulsed. TN Pandit, whom most of us know, says in the ASIpublication that, “The Sentinelese are well aware of outsiders, andappreciate the dangers that may lie ahead of them. Their reaction to visitshas been one of extreme hostility.”Prem Vaidya, who was filming the famous documentary “Man in Search of Man,”showed me the long scar on his thigh where a Sentinelese arrow hit himduring the filming. He also told me about the deadly marksmanship of theSentinelese archers. When they saw that the boat of the outsiders was outof bowshot they lay down in the sand using their feet to hold the bow andstretching the bowstring with their teeth to increase the range of theirtwo-meter long arrows. It was one such that hit Vaidya. We see the wardance of the Sentinelese everyday in the documentary, screened everyday inthe ASI museum.After that there have been records of several ‘contact’ programmes orgift-dropping expeditions. Almost always the ‘gifts of civilization’ havebeen rejected by the Sentinelese in full view of the contact party, ademonstration of their desire to be left alone.I take this opportunity to narrate my personal experience on one of theencounters. I was accompanying a high level delegation dealing with thewelfare of the tribes who wanted to have a first hand experience of thecontact programme. A special boat was arranged and we sailed on a serenesea just a few months before the tsunami disaster towards North Sentinel. Theship anchored a long distance from the shore. A Gemini was lowered and asack of ‘gift articles’ kept in it. It was nothing but coconuts. I jumpedinto the boat first expecting a heavy rush for seats. To my surprise thecoxswain started the boat immediately and headed towards the shore. I wastold nobody was ready to get into the boat. The water was shallow andcrystal clear. As we neared the shore the boat crew pointed. We saw a redcloth waving to us from behind a clump of trees. Then I saw movement. Iused the telephoto lens to have a closer view. There was a group ofSentinelese waving and shouting to us. The boatman slowed down and quicklythrew the sack overboard. I thought he would go close to the shore but healready turned the boat around. Then we saw that the men were carryingtheir long bows hidden behind a log. As we moved away two men launched adugout and poled towards the sack. I could not see what they did with the‘gifts’.*Coming to the last of the primitive tribes -- the Shompens:* I met them forthe first time during a visit to Great Nicobar in 1984. We were cruisingfor a fortnight among the little-known islands of the southern group. I hadin my hand Boden Kloss’ book, trying to look for the familiar landmarksdescribed in it. We met the tribe in the Shompen Hut area where they cometo trade in barter goods, exchanging resin and honey for rice, dal, sugar,tea and match boxes. What struck me most was their sickly appearance. Evenearlier reports describe the incidence of goiter, asthma and filariasisamong the Shompens.We claim that the Shompens are well-looked after. But Dr SNH Rizvi in theASI Series book says that, “An Ashram type school for the Shompens has alsobeen stared by the Andaman Administration in the Shompen Hut Complex. Duringmy second visit in May 1987, I observed that there were no Shompen childrenenrolled in the school nor was a teacher posted there.”When the tsunami struck in December 2004 there were many enquiries about thesafety of the Shompens. It was only later we leant that 6 people died. TheShompens are also struggling to keep their tribe alive. Their problem isthe same as that of the Andamanese young woman. There are no eligiblespouses for the men among the Shompens. What is the future of the Shompens?Perhaps they would slowly assimilate into the Nicobaris who are living onthe same island.I would like to close with Pandit Nehru’s words from the speech delivered atthe opening session of the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled areas Conferenceheld in New Delhi in June 1952, which show his deep concern for theindigenous people of India. He says, “I find that so far we have approachedthe tribal people in one of two ways. One might be called theanthropological approach in which we treat them as museum specimens, to beobserved and written about … The other approach is one of ignoring thefact that they are something different, requiring special treatment, and ofattempting forcibly to absorb them into the normal pattern of social life”.We must find some middle path if we want to do something for the tribes ofthese islands.TN Pandit’s words are again very important. He says “The minorities and theweak have a right to live according to their genius and to change as andwhen they choose to, according to their needs and in the direction they finduseful within the general framework of the national, constitutional andlegal objectives.”Pandit goes on to say that, “…there is a great need for public and masseducation leading to the acceptance of such groups, with their differentlooks and life styles, as equals.”The question is, are we ready to do this? Are we ready to accept thesetribes as equals and allow them the freedom to choose their own way of life?***Bibliography1. Anthropological Survey of India: Andaman and Nicobar Island TribeSeries2. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Andaman and NicobarIslands3. Mouat Frederic J.: The Andaman Islanders4. Pandya Vishvajit: Above the Forest – A Study of Andamanese Ethnology,Cosmology and the Power of Ritual5. Portman M.V.: A Hisotry of Our Relations With the Andamanese6. Vekateswar Sita: Development and Ethnocide – Colonial Practices inthe Andaman Islands7. Williams J.H.: The Spotted Deer[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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