The term “tribe” originated around the time of the Greek city-states and the early formation of the Roman Empire. Though the word ‘tribe’ was derived from the Latin term “tribus,” it has since been transformed to mean “a group of persons forming a community and claiming descent from a common ancestor” (Oxford English Dictionary, IX, 1933, p. 339, as cited in Fried, 1975, p. 7). The word “tribe” is generally used for a “socially cohesive unit, associated with a territory, the members of which regard themselves as politically autonomous” (Mitchell, 1979, p. 232). With the upsurge of nationalism in Europe, the term ‘tribe’ was used to denote a particular stage in the socio-political fruition of a community of people speaking a certain language within a specified territory. Clan, tribe and nation came to denote in European phraseology successive stages in the liberal march towards nationhood (Ray, Nihar Ranjan, 1972).
The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1911, defines a tribe as a “collection of families bearing a common name, speaking a common dialect, occupying or professing to occupy a common territory and is not usually endogamous though originally it might have been so.” For Romans, the tribe was a political division. The Dictionary of Anthropology mentions tribe as a social group, usually with a definite area, dialect, cultural homogeneity and unifying social organization. The tribes in India differ from one another depending on the region, language, customs, culture, religion, racial traits, and so on. Often, a tribe possesses a distinct dialect and distinct cultural traits. In the West, as also in India, the word tribe initially had a totally different connotation than what is prevalent now (Verma, R.C, 1990).
Definition of Tribe
The official definition of Scheduled Tribe keeps in view the country’s historical experience and tribe-caste relations. Article 366 (25) of the constitution of India has defined Scheduled Tribes as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of this constitution”. By the Scheduled Tribes order, 1950, issued by the President in the exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Article 232 of the Constitution of India, 312 tribes have been declared to be Scheduled Tribes. Later, by an Act of Parliament, some other groups were also included in the schedule. (Jain, 2001).
1. According to the Imperial Gazetteer, “A tribe is a collection of families bearing a common name speaking a common dialect, occupying or professing to occupy a common territory and is not usually endogamous though originally it might have been so.”
2. According to Gillin and Gillin, “A tribe is a group of local communities, which lives in a common area, speaks a common dialect and follows a common culture.”
3. As Ralph Linton says, “In its simplest form the tribe is a group of bands occupying a continuous territory and having a feeling of unity deriving from numerous similarities in culture and certain community of interests.”
4. According to Rivers, “A tribe is a social group of simple kind, the members of which speaks a common dialect and act together in such common purpose as warfare.”
5. According to D.N. Majumdar, “A tribe is a collection of families, bearing a common name, members to which occupy the same territory, speak the same language and observe certain taboos regarding marriage profession or occupation and have developed a well assessed system of reciprocity and mutuality of obligation.”
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