OPINION: Tribes Conversion to Hindu Caste – in the Himalayas and Rest of India

source: THE HIMALAYAN BEACON

BY DARJ MAN

It should be pertinent, under the present situation of the renewed Gorkhaland agitation under a different banner headed by GJMM having continued the agitation since August 2007 till date deserves an undivided attention to focus on the issue of the statehood demand vis-à-vis converting ‘Gorkha’ communities into tribes. The reason why this is necessitated basically has two primary reasons both interrelated but somehow disbanded in Census 1931. Thereby creating a dismissive which frequency raised to the required decibel, in a manner of politics within the Gorkha space, rightly or wrongly, occupies a place. This has recognized to be so as an important factor in advancing it implicitly to the demand of Darjeeling District and Terai Dooars, jointly demanding a different administrative unit at a time before independence of India which post promulgation of the Constitution in 1950, is read to mean, within its framework, a state.

With the passage of each day it is slowly unfolding and with sourcing information’s at the push of a button from the internet issues are exposed at various levels of study forums. It is however of utmost importance the readings are done on an investigative basis. This is in order not to arrive at any subjective considerations but instead, on the other hand to arrive at an analytical thesis. This is an interesting point of view as much water has run under the Gorkha bridge, in forming a sea in an ocean full of misrepresentation which requires objectivity and mot subjective interpretation. Therefore the emphasis on a proper study of the topic is the need of the hour as further misapplication is seen to be more damaging than bearing fruit.

In an attempt to discover the factor which seem to have deprived the Darjeeling hill tribes endemic to the Himalayan ethnic regional identity, distinct culture, habit, tradition, religion and language constitute an entirely different civilization in contrast to the Indian plains ethnic groups. This is realized while referring to the ethnological history of The People of India by Sir Herbert Risley, 1915.

At the time of writing, obviously the case of Darjeeling hill peoples did not exist as such but the implication and meaning wherein the Governor General in 1870 was allowed to legislate separately for a Backward Tracts. Extending the position of Backward Tracts forward which implies these areas were left out from the purview of being integrated into British India. Hence Central and Provincial administrative rules and regulations were not imposed in the general administration of these areas, which besides Darjeeling District, composed of many tribal inhabited areas in India. The Backward Tracts was identified as Scheduled Districts listed in the First Schedule of the Act in the Govt. of India Scheduled Districts Act of XIV of 1874. Thus being designated as a Scheduled Area for providing special consideration in their administration. In the Constitution of India 1950, the provisions of Scheduled Areas in the Fifth Schedule implies the right to state formation within the interpretation and meaning of “Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas” in the Govt. of India Act 1935 and Order 1936 .

As Darjeeling District and Chittagong Hill Tracts only in erstwhile Province of Bengal was provided implication of the Act 1935 and Order 1936, it is derived within the framework of the constitution Darjeeling District has a right to state formation by virtue of implying the Fifth Schedule , however , without the provisions of Scheduled Area, but only as Scheduled Tribes which thereby marginalizes a complete state formation and instead provided the implication of an interim administrative setup either as a Union Territory (UT) or a Centrally Administered Area (CAA).

This above is explained in detail in order to emphasis the importance of Census 1941 which removed practically the entire constellation of Hinduised Darjeeling hill tribes communities accepting Nepali as the spoken mother tongue. Census 1931 declared the Himalayan tribal population at 68% which figure after many tribes were deregistered for the reason given above, Census 1941 shows a tribal population at 37.54%, and that too enhanced by including the population of Sikkim 29.04%. Whatever the implication of the scheme it becomes very important to deliberate on the topic in the subject to find out the reasons for tribes being converted into caste within the meaning of the Hindu religion.

It is seldom discussed why many tribal communities prefer to remain outside the tribal fold. Although at this point of time, however there is a reverse osmosis of non tribes and castes aspiring to become Scheduled Tribes. Whereas in earlier times the tribals were considered as an Mlechha (barbarian) enigma, looked upon as degraded, degenerated lot of uncivilized, basically, non-Aryan groups. In order to lift themselves from this disgrace within the aspects of the Hindu religious society of communities the non Aryan groups were accepted into the Hindu fold accepted or converted as castes within the Varna as per the code of Manusmriti.

This is in order not to repeat the infamous story of the luxury liner Titanic which in 1912 met its end with loss if 1500 lives, although considered invincible but only to sink to its historical doom in its first ever maiden voyage intended to cross the Atlantic as a ‘titan’ but on the contrary succumbed to the wrath of an unseen iceberg accidentally damaging the frontal fold, sinking it at the very onset.

In a similar fashion Gorkha invincibility has been applied in various times in the history of Darjeeling District in order to elk out a separate state. Many politicians of all hues have attempted some semblance of claim by the same application, however unsuccessfully. The last great struggle of immense magnitude was initiated by the GNLF in 1980 -2007 with loss of recorded 1200 lives but unaccounted figures estimated at over 4000 lives, only to be subjugated, like the Titanic, without sailing to the statehood journey for the Darjeeling hill people however attaining namesake instead a Gorkha ‘hills’ only within Bengal – the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council 1988.This at the cost of Darjeeling District sacrificing the Siliguri Terai the fertile plains by fragmenting Siliguri subdivision for special economic development, under the Siliguri Mahakuma as well as the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Corporation. All this exercise seems premeditated eventually to release Siliguri from Darjeeling District, amalgamating it with Jalpaiguri District.

According to a Study of genetic relationships of Indian Gurkha population on the basis of HLA-A and B Loci Antigens by M. Debnath and Tapas.K.Chaudhuri, NBU, quote extract

1. Among them, Gurkhas form the major population group in Darjeeling District of West Bengal and Sikkim. These groups are endogamous (Chatterjee 1974). Gurkhas are grouped into a large number of tribes, the chief of which are Mangar, Rai, Limbu, Sunwar and Tamang (Coon 1983: Subba 1985). It appears from the evidence that in ancient times people of Tibeto-Burman families spread themselves over the high plateau of the Himalayas and the country round about the mouth of the Ganges (Northey and Morris 1987). Gurkha population is suppos3d to belong to the above mentioned race. The ancestors of Gurkha population are also thought to be migrants from the neighboring Mongolian region.

2. The tribes of Mongolian stock are found along the whole length of Himalayas with languages close akin to those of the Tibetans on the Northern side, while further east similar people have driven the older Austro Asiatic speaking population out of most of Burma and Siam. The Aryan speakers from India entered Nepal probably both from west, along the hills, and from the plains from the south, although certainly much lese in number then the Mongolian element (Northey and Morris1987). It may be noted: that the identity of languages does not necessarily connote identity of the races and in Nepal itself the aborigines of whatever race largely changed the language for that of Mongoloid invaders, while today the same process of the language of the latter is gradually replaced by the Aryan.

3. Gurkhas were compared with other major world population it was found that HLA-A2 and A11 were higher in Greeks (Pachoula-Papasteriadis et al. 1989), Ukranian, Tibetan (Imanshi et al.1992), Chinese, Korean, Mongolian and Japanese (Tanaka et al.1997).

4. Several HLA-A and B haplotypes were significant in Gurkhas. Amongst them only A33-B44 which is characteristic haplotype of Korean and Japanese population occur with a significant positive linkage disequilibrium among Gurkhas. The distribution of these haplotypes supports a strong genetic affinity of Gurkhas with Korans and Japanese populations.

5. It has been reported earlier that Gurkha may have originated on the course of evolution from the Mongolian population directly, or from the stock of Mongoloid origin. It can be assumed from the philo genetic constructed by N.G.method that Gurkha has originated from mongoloid stock directly or Tibetan stock or there maybe one or more intermediate population between Gurkha and Mongolians/ Tibetans from which Gurkhas might have originated

These factors contribute to the theory the ethnological and anthropological background of the Gorkhas presume quite convincingly the Gorkhas racially are Mongoloid in origin related to the hoards of prototypes having descended in ancient times from central, east and south Asia and settled along the length and breadth of Himalayan hills, the tributaries of Indus basin, as well in the Gangetic and Jamuna northern plains. (cf. Probably the Khas-Khasis- the original Gushan -Gurkhan, Gurkha/Gorkha).

However this contemplation is akin to building castles in the air. Darjeeling District falls under provisions of the Govt. of India Absorbed Area (Laws) Act 1954 wherein the District (3149 sq.kms) as a ‘Partially Excluded Area’ is provided in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India and hence the state govt. tampering with any of its provisions is an infringement on the legal aspects of the Constitution.

It is perceived at the moment, the state require to come out clean and transparent on the constitutional provision of Darjeeling District within the interpretation of the Absorbed Areas (Laws) Act and whether it has fulfilled its commitment in protecting the Darjeeling hill people under provisions of the Fifth Schedule, Control and Administration of Scheduled Tribes, by implementing the statutory formation of Tribes Advisory Council (TAC) which is mandated to consist of 20 members of which not less than three fourth of the members being representatives of the state Legislative Assembly and the remaining five members amiable to the tribes. Although the TAC was specific to the provisions for Darjeeling District, being the only Partially Excluded Area in West Bengal it is a matter of great regret the Darjeeling hill people have been de-linked from the very purpose of the Fifth Schedule provision which as a matter of fact specifically provided for them within the framework of the Constitution, however perceived to be denied in implementation. Instead the provisions of TAC are seemingly applied only to the plains tribe more specifically to the tribes of Jalpaiguri District and elsewhere.

However interpreting the provisions of TAC in another aspect, it is probable the provision for the tribes of Darjeeling District maybe the implementation of DGHC in the tripartite accord 1988. If this is so it is the duty of the state to clarify the matter to the stakeholders, the Darjeeling hill peoples and not simply the leader and politicians highlighting any cause related to Gorkhaland or more properly all matters related to Darjeeling District which has a constitutional undertaking as provided in the deliberations of the Union Constituent Assembly, vide Advisory Committee’s Interim Report of 18 Aug 1947 of the Sub Committee on “Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (other than Assam)” chaired by A.V.Thakkar.

Whereas the TAC largesse doled out to the Scheduled Tribes of Jalpaiguri District, if so is the case, is naturally considered out of purview from the statutory provision. This argument is based on the ground Jalpaiguri District was totally removed from the provisions of Backward Tracts transferred as Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas in the Govt. of India Order 1936 and the District effectively having come under the total administration of the State.

Both Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri District basically considered as Backward Tracts since the origination of the phrase in 1870 depicting areas inhabited by the autochthones, indigenous peoples, in India referred to as primitive people, and for which the territories inhabited by such people were never ever brought under the administrative reforms process at all. Since 1935 their interests were protected under the Excluded and Partially Excluded Area provisions, instilled with the idea of preserving these areas with a differential administrative setup unlike the Provinces till the time of the promulgation of the Constitution in 1950.

After which these Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas were forwarded into the provisions of Fifth and Sixth Schedule still instilled with the idea of an interim setup before formal integration within the federation as a Union state. This is to imply Darjeeling District as a Partially Excluded Area is constitutionally provided to integrate into the Union as a state which unfortunately is somehow considered being hindered by the state in violation of Constitutional legality.

The emphasis of GJMM applying for conversion of Gorkhas into tribes requires consideration irrespective of whether the scheme is applicable to the entire genre or not. A process of selection by the proper authority Registrar General of India (RGI) will eventually decide the fate. However with the implication of the B.K.Roy Burman Commission CRESP Report 2008 by the Govt. of Sikkim, recommending various Sikkimese hill communities to tribal status is an indication in view, similar communities when recognized in Sikkim as Scheduled Tribes would automatically apply to West Bengal based on the formation of Darjeeling District in 1866 as areas extracted from the kingdoms of Sikkim and Bhutan..

In the process of rightly demanding ST status for the Darjeeling hill communities some aspects of reference maybe recalled from the history of people in Nepal which is responsible for the origin of many of the Himalayan tribes.

On start it might be advisable to quote Sir Herbert Risley from The People of India, quote page 72, “All over India at the present moment tribes are gradually and insensibly being transferred into castes”. His research assertions mention in complete extract from the book, the underlined.

1. The leading men of an aboriginal tribe, having somehow got on in the world and become independent landed proprietors, managed to enroll themselves in one of the more distinguished castes. In early stages of heir advancement they generally find great difficulty in getting their daughters married, as they will not take husbands from their original tribe and Rajputs of the adopted caste will, of course, not condescend to alliance with them., but after a generation or two their persistency obtains its reward and they inter marry, if not with pure Rajputs, at least with the superior order of manufactured Rajputs…thus a real change of blood may take place …while in any case the tribal name is completely lost and with it all possibility of correctly separating this class of people from the Hindus of purer blood and tracing them to any particular Dravidian or Mongoloid tribe.

2. A number of aborigines, as we may conveniently call them, though the term begs an insoluble question, embrace the tenets of a Hindu religious sect, losing thereby their tribal name and becoming Vaishnavas, Lingayats, Ramayats or other like. Anyway, the identity of the converts as aborigines is usually, though not invariably, lost,…a case of true absorption.

3. A whole tribe of aborigines, or a large section of a tribe enroll themselves in the ranks of Hinduism under the style of a new caste, which claiming an origin of remote antiquity, is readily distinguishable by its name from any of the standard and recognized caste. Thus the great majority of the Kochh inhabitants of Jalpaiguri, Rangpur, and part of Dinajpur now invariably describe themselves as Rajbansis or Bhanga Kshtriyas – a designation which enables them to represent themselves as an outlying branch of the Kshtriyas of Hindu tradition who fled to Northeastern Bengal in order to escape from the wrath of Parasu-Rama. In a country where history masquerades in the garb of legend there is nothing prima facie improbable in the conjecture that the story of the Bhanga-Kshtriyas maybe really a mythological version of the true origin of the reigning family of Cooch Bihar. A chief of the higher race ruling a people of the lower is a phenomenon too common to require explanation.

4. A whole tribe of aborigines, or a section of a tribe, become gradually converted to Hinduism without, like the Rajbansis, abandoning their tribal designation. This is what happened to Bhumj (probably Bhowmik) of western Bengal. Here a pure Dravidian race have lost their original language and now speak only Bengali: they worship Hindu gods…and the more advanced among them employ Brahmins as family priests. The tribe will then have become a caste in the full sense of the word and will go on stripping itself of all customs likely to betray its true descent. The physical characteristics of its members will alone survive.

By such processes as these, and by a variety of complex social influences whose working cannot be precisely traced, a number of types or variety of castes have been formed which admit or being grouped as follows:

(i). The Tribal type, where a tribe like the Bhumj…insensibly converted into caste preserving its original name and many of its characteristic customs, but modify its animistic practices more and more in the direction of orthodox Hinduism, and ordering its manner of life in accordance with the same model. It has even been supposed that the Sudras of Indo Aryan tradition were originally a Dravidian tribe which was thus incorporated into the social system of the conquering race. As illustrations of the transformations that has taken place the Bagdi, Bauri, Chandal (Namasudra), Kaibartta, Pod and Rajbansi-Kochh of Bengal. In Madras the Mal, Nayar, Vellala and Paraiyan or Pariah, of whom the last retain traditions of a time hen they possessed an independent organization of their own and had not relegated to a low place in the Hindu social system.

The table of social precedence attached to the Cochin Census report 1901, Vol I p.181 shows that while a Nayar can pollute man of a higher caste only by touching him, people of the Kammalan group, including masons, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc, pollute at a distance of twenty four feet, toddy drawers (Iluvan or Tiyan) at thirty six feet ; Pulayan or Cheruman cultivators at forty eight feet; while in the cse of Paraiyan (Pariahs) who eat beef the range of population is stated to be no less than sixty four feet..

(ii). The functional or occupational type of a caste is so numerous and so widely diffused and its characteristics are so prominent that community of function is ordinarily regarded as the chief factor in the evolution of caste. Changes of occupation in their turn, more specially among the lower caste, tend to bring about the formation of separate caste.

(iii). The sectarian types comprises a small number of castes which commenced life as religious sects founded by philanthropic enthusiasts who, having evolved some metaphysical formula offering a speedier release from the taedium vitae which oppresses the east, had further persuaded themselves that all men were equal, or at any rate that all believers in their teaching ought to be equal. The Banhra of Nepal- Newars, who were originally Buddhist priests but abandoned celibacy and crystallized into a caste. Race dominates religion: sect is weaker than caste.

(iv). Caste formed by crossing: Modern criticism has been specially active in its attack on that portion of the traditional theory which derives the multitude of mixed or inferior caste from an intricate serious of process between members of the original four.

An older and more instructive illustration , dating probably from before the Christian era, of the formation of the caste by crossing, is furnished by the Khas of Nepal who are the off-spring of mixed marriages between Rajputs or Brahman immigrants an the Mongolian women of the country …but their off-spring must not be stigmatized as a progeny of a Brahman and a Mlechha-must on the contrary, be raised to eminence in the new order of things proposed to be introduced by their fathers. To this progeny also, then, the Brahmans, in still greater defiance of their creed, communicated the rank of the second order of Hinduism: and from these two roots, mainly, sprung the now numerous, predominant, an extensively ramified tribe of the Khas, originally the name of a small clan of creedless barbarians, now the proud title of the Kshatriyas, or military order of the kingdom of Nepal.

The offspring of original Khas females and of Brahmans, with the honours and rank of the second order of Hinduism, got the patronymic titles of the first order, and hence the key to the anomalous nomenclature of so many stirpes of the military tribes of Nepal is to be sought in the nomenclature of the sacred order. It maybe added, as remarkably illustrative of the lofty spirit of the Parbattias, that in spite of the yearly increasing sway of Hinduism in Nepal, and of the various attempts of the Brahmans in high office to procure the abolition of a custom so radically opposed to the creed both parties now profess, the Khas still insist that the fruit of commerce (marriage is out of the question) between their females and males of the sacred order shall be ranked as Kshatriyas, wear the thread, and assume the patronymic title. The Khas now call themselves Chhattris or Kshatriyas- a practice which, according to Colonel Vansittart, dates from Sir Jang Bahadur’s visit to England in 1850. Allied to the Khas are the Ektharia and the Thakurs, both of Rajput parentage on the male side, the Thakur ranking higher because their ancestors are supposed to have been rulers of various petty States in Nepal. The Matwala Khas, again, are the progeny of Khas men and Magar women, and the Uchai Thakurs of the same lineage on the female side.

(v). Castes of the national type: Where there is neither nation nor national sentiment, it may seem paradoxical to talk about a national type of caste. There exists, however, certain groups, usually regarded as castes at the present day, which cherish traditions of bygone sovereignty and seem to preserve traces of an organization considerably more elaborate than that of an ordinary tribe. The Newars, a mix people of Mongoloid origin, who were the predominant race in Nepal proper until the country was conquered and annexed by the Gurkha Prithivi Narayan in 1768, maybe taken as an illustration of such a survival. The group comprises both Hindus and Buddhists. The two communities are quite distinct, and each is divided into an elaborate series of castes. Thus among the Hindu Newars, we find at the top of the social scale the Devabhaja, who are Brahmins and spiritual teachers; the Surjyabansi Mal, members of the old royal family; the Sreshta, consisting of ministers and other officials; and the Japu who are cultivators.

According to Mr. Enthoven, the Bombay Marathas may be classified as a tribe with two divisions, Maratha and Maratha Kunbi, of which the former are hypergamous to the latter, but were not originally distinct.

(vi).Castes formed by migration: If members of a caste leave the original habitat and settles permanently in another part of India, the tendency is for them to be separated from the parent group and to develop into a distinct caste. Mr. Gait has pointed out that “the prolonged residence of persons of Bihar caste in Bengal generally results in their being placed under a ban as regards marriage, …that up-country barbers who settled in Bengal are called khotta and practically form a separate sub caste, as Bengali barbers will not intermarry with them, while they are regarded as impure by the barbers of upper India and Bihar by reason of having taken up residence in Bengal..

(vii) Castes formed by changes of custom: The formation of new castes as a consequence of the neglect of established usage or the adoption of new ceremonial practices or secular occupations has been a familiar incident of the caste system from the earlier times. We are told in Manu how men of the three twice-born caste, who have not received the sacrament of initiation at the proper time, or who follow forbidden occupations, become Vratyas or outcasts, intercourse with them is punished with a double fine, and whose descendents are graded as distinct castes. The Babhans or Bhuinhars of the United Provinces and Bihar, are supposed, according to some legends, to be Brahmins who lost their status by taking to agriculture, and the Mongoloid Kochh of Northern Bengal describe themselves as Rajbansis, or as Vratya or Bhanga (broken) Kshatriyas – a designation which enables them to pose as an outlying branch of that exalted community who fled to these remote districts before the wrath of Parasu Rama, and there allowed their characteristic observation to fall into disuse.