TITLE

SOCIOCULTURAL HARMONY VIA SPIRITUAL BELIEFSAMONGST THE INDIGENOUS GROUPS IN INDIA(REFERENCE – GOND TRIBES OF BASTAR)

Presented By:

Saumya Sharma

(Masters of Anthropology, 1st Year, IGNOU)

(Independent Ethnographic Filmmaker/Researcher)

ABSTRACT

In a multi dimensional society like India,

where each sub-society is a universal whole, a

call for sociocultural harmony or bridging the

ethnic gaps has become quint essential, even

for establishing an economic equilibrium. The

question that arises is, “how the

centralization of humans, in favour of their

own individual societies, leads to a

harmonious setting?” Even with complex

compound in their sociocultural settings

indigenous societies have mastered the art of

harmony. Such a state has only been possible

by their various spiritual beliefs that

surrounds all around the order of nature,

placing humans in the very circle along with

other species, and not in the centre. This

decentralization of species may have a

different model across various societies with

different kinds of spiritual beliefs such as

Animism, Animalism, Totemism and all others

that focus primarily on natural possessions.

To briefly elaborate on this concept this

paper cites to give an example of the Gond

Tribes of Bastar practicing both Animism and

Totemism, derived from theoretical learning

provided by different researchers in this

regard as well as fieldwork done by

participant observation.

MAIN PAPER

“Modern materialists and religious extremists alike lack the spiritual

animistic reverence for non-human beings that every culture once understood as a given.” 

― Zeena Schreck

INTRODUCTION: The two words ‘modern materialists’ and ‘religious extremists

mentioned by Zeena Schreck are the ones

encompassing the current society in both their

individual and combined forms. Modern day

religion is now often being characterized by

the capitalistic gains it would bring upon a

given society. Interestingly this dynamics of

extremism and materialism, has taken up

different structural forms across various

societies, leading to a restrained collective

conscience for a larger hole. As people and

their needs are becoming more centralized,

their understanding of ‘Energy’ running on

mutual set of beliefs & thoughts, usually

positive, has become very profit oriented,

resulting in the weakening of spiritual

equilibrium. As man now refuses to be at the

same level as other beings in the ecological

circle, the ignorance of animistic faith, from

where originates all current faiths, has been

indeed a socio culture catastrophe, extending

itself to the political and economic disasters

also. In a multicultural setting it becomes

even more challenging to establish a

sociocultural harmony due to the constant

quest of religious, social & economic one-

upmanship. To make things further complicated

the multi linguistic setting within such a

society makes it difficult to converse for a

common holistic benefit of the entire country.

Now if all the modern day technology,

scientific revolutions, the recent cultural

outbreaks, the changing linguistic traditions

are kept away, we would be left with what was

once the basis of this human existence in the

pre “Scientific Thoughts” era. A complete

attempt of analyzing things on the grounds of

an amalgamation of all our skills, physical,

intuitive, imaginative, symbolic is what forms

the spiritual structure, giving rise to the

various indigenous beliefs based on a larger

cosmic interaction.

BODY: Sir Edward Tylor in his 1871 book Primitive Culture has defined Animism as "the

general doctrine of souls and other spiritual

beings in general." According to Tylor,

animism often includes "an idea of pervading

life and will in nature, i.e., a belief that

natural objects other than humans have souls.”

Though Tylor’s definition was based on modern

séances, the essence laid the foundation of

all human understanding of the universe,

creating a better psychosocial platform for a

higher sustainability and futuristic existence

of the indigenous society. It becomes

psychosocial because the society & individual

work towards collective improvement, leading

to a more happy & contended environment, based

on the acceptance of wealth primarily being

natural. The social bonding further

accentuates to both individual’s and society’s

psychological state, ending up with

physiologically better condition as compared

to non-indigenous societies. Once the

societies & its individuals have developed a

high plus positive level of psychological &

physiological state, working in harmony for

the larger organic virtue, there is no

alternate thought of its sociocultural

dwindling. It becomes a simple mechanism where

demand & supply are in equilibrium.

Though acculturation or for that matter any

sociocultural change is something that cannot

be ignored and all societies are subjected to

it once or more in their lifetime, what keeps

many indigenous societies grounded and

connected to their roots is the sole belief in

the more tangible forms of worship. For that

matter all scientific theories find their

basis in the naturalistic discoveries by our

early ancestors, who worked mostly on the

principles of observation of nature and

passing on their knowledge to the next

generation via different symbolic references.

The indigenous societies that have undergone

drastic sociocultural change are primarily due

to the domination of another society as well

as adaptation to the settings for a social

recognition, ease of existence and socio

economically communicative competence. As a

result acculturation becomes a self-deception

for many societies forgetting the more

intangible yet tangibly present psychic

connectivity provided by our natural

existence.

Following in the footsteps of Animism is a

more singular spiritual belief of Totemism,

which is developed on the grounds of Kinship

with an animal or plant, or both. Emile

Durkheim examined totemism from a sociological

and theological point of view, hoping to

discover the purity of religion in various

ancient forms, usually discovered the origin

via totemism. Thus totem is the reflective

index of the collective conscience of a group

through which they have a sense of being one

with an animal or a plant, which is the prime

symbolic representation of the group’s

ideologies and their attempt to keep an

environmental balance. As Claude Levi Strauss

further develops this thought of Kinship into

Structuralism, he realizes that Totemism is

perhaps also a way of creating distinction

within a society creating sub societies.

However if one is to observe carefully it is

not a distinction for the purpose of creating

barriers but for the sole purpose of giving

the responsibility to each individual or group

to work towards maintaining the balance.

Further more complexities arising due to

alliances happening on the basis of Totem must

be studied not just at observational level but

also in the more logical sense of its deep

taxonomic ancestry.

Being in this state of spiritual togetherness

through Animism or Totemism is something that

engulfs both psychological & biological

essence of the indigenous groups. The circle,

which our ancestors formed during their days

of hunter gathering or farming in the search

of food and suitable environment, in exchange

of preserving & protecting their ultimate care

taker, the Nature, has now further developed

into harmonious sociocultural phenomenon

through rituals, songs, dance, language,

symbols etc. The quest of an indigenous group

now is not primarily survival of the fittest

but reproducing naturally healthier generation

who are developing societies of social calm,

in sync with each other through natural energy

free flow. This develops a sense of

contentment amongst the tribes that all that

is provided by nature is for the whole society

and for it to meet individual needs, all must

work in congruence with each other, to produce

a holistic vitality. Once the mind is in

synchronization, not control, the body

automatically works towards increasing the

group’s sociocultural goodwill and eradicating

any evil that may arise due to any

discrimination.

The above fundamentals of nature worship with

deep spiritual wisdom and similar cultural

traditions extends to groups outside India as

well but with different perceptions to it,

such as the division of totemic object. For

example The Zoe tribe living in the Amazon in

North of Brazil also express strong spiritual

affinity or worship feminine supreme nature,

but through a different channel, such as men

dressing up as women to celebrate their wives

pregnancy.

Now to develop on this thought of

Sociocultural Harmony via Spiritual beliefs

amongst the Indigenous groups I would like to

share my experience of participant observation

during the course of filming of my

Ethnographic project on the Gonds of Bastar. I

am now presenting a visual tour of the Gond

society with a description of their

sociocultural relevance with respect to

spiritual harmony proposed through it.

1. Konda Munda Sanskar or the Death Procession

As opposed to many other societies women play

a significant role in the death ceremonies of

the Gonds. This is primarily due to their

belief that the supreme nature’s fertility is

present in a tangible form of high

productivity in the female. Therefore it

becomes essential to include the women in

ceremonies for the deceased so as to complete

the circle of existence and thereby ensuring

the whole social surrounding is in harmony.

2. (a) Everyday Task Follow-Up of the Boys by the Kotwar (Head of the Boys)

2. (b) Everyday Task Follow-Up of the Girls bythe Belosa (Head of the Girls)

These pictures are from a Gotul, which is an

indigenous education system amongst the Gonds.

A Gotul, which is comprised of two words ‘Go

meaning Mother’ and ‘Tul meaning Place or

Womb’ is an institution which teaches

different aspects of egalitarian society to

the youth right from the age of 8-9 years old

till they turn 25. Everyday tasks from day to

day life are assigned to the boys & girls and

failing to do the same results in being

penalized with more work. This is only done to

develop an understanding of how important each

one’s job is in maintaining the order in a

house or in a society. And delay or neglect by

one disrupts the whole system. Another

interesting aspect for sociocultural harmony

amongst some Gotuls is their ideology of

premarital sex, resulting from the concept of

fertility. It is probably their notion of

reducing crimes resulting from psychosexual

angst formed by genetic factors, environmental

settings and sociocultural structure. As, when

the mind is free, the body does not dare. But

pre marital sex should be just seen as a part

of their culture not a representation of it.

3. Forest Gatherer Couple

Interesting thing about the Gonds is that no

task is defined by gender or sometimes by age,

leaving no scope of any discrimination as all

are considered at equal level and any paradigm

shift by one affects all. The land amongst

Gonds is mostly divided by word of mouth and

that is enough to avoid any property or land

disputes. Nobody ventures into other’s land

and if one requires anything from someone

else’s side then something in return must be

given and this barter system must be in favour

of maintaining the cosmic coordination. Thus

reducing all possibilities of socioeconomic

differences. To add on, during ceremonies

often certain tasks, including any monetary

expenditure, are taken over by other families

in the village to ease the burden of the host

family. The verbatim existence of money is

very minimal amongst the Gond society.

4. Symbolic Representation of a Tortoise Totem

in the form of a 35000-year-old Rock Painting

by our Ancestors.

The painting above is of a tortoise, one of

the animals that find its taxonomy to the time

of island-gigantism. Infact during the

Pleistocene Epoch or late ice age many species

are believed to have travelled from Madagascar

to South of India via the Indian Ocean.

Amongst which the now extinct ancestral

species of giant Galápagos tortoise was one of

them, possibly on seeing whom other species &

our biological ancestors might have started

their movement. Later on wherever these

ancestors must have settled they would have

made this painting of the tortoise as a

symbolic way to guide future generation and

make them aware of this creature’s importance.

Those successors that would have occupied that

area in years to come would have paid

attention to the painting and made the

tortoise their totem. A legend actually goes

in the Gond mythology that the Homo sapiens

travelled to Gondwanaland via the Indian Ocean

on the backs of these tortoises that could

float for days with their face facing down in

the water with a very high visibility inside

as well. In similar fashion other totemic

objects would have been assigned that now find

importance in the Gond society, customs and

groups as well as their surnames.

CONCLUSION: To sum up I would like to say that the circumferential evidences of the

spiritual beliefs comprises all integrated

aspects of an indigenous society and the

fission of their sociocultural, psychological,

linguistic, biological, genetic traits is to

alternatively maintain the energy centre of

this circumference. The domino effect or the

chain reaction that follows from one

individual to the whole sub-society to the

larger society works only on the basis of

maintaining the societal tranquility by the

reaction of a cumulative effect produced by a

set of similar philosophical events. Therefore

modern, scientific, democratic, multi

dimensional societies must understand the

relevance and consequences their actions,

thoughts, words bring upon as a whole, often

for the sake of individualism and thus

creating a communicable cataclysmic condition

for the entire country.

REFERENCES: 1) Zeena Shreck, Beatdown #11: The Natural Issue.

2) Sir Edward Tylor, Primitive Culture, 1871.

3) David Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, 1912.

4) Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Elementary Structures of Kinship, 1949.

5) Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Savage Mind, 1962.

6) The Maria Gonds of Bastar, W.V, Grigson, 1938

7) The Muria & Their Gotul, Verrier Elwin, 1947.

8) Margaret Mead, Trance & Dance in Bali, 1952.

9) Participant Observation conducted amongst the Gond Tribes of Bastar, for the purpose of Ethnographic Film ‘YaYa’, English translation, ‘Mother’, 2015.

9) All other relevant references available on the Internet.