Gondi people
Encyclopedia
The Gondi, Goindi or Gond people are people in central India
, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh
, eastern Maharashtra
(Vidarbha
), Chhattisgarh
, northern Andhra Pradesh
, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe
in Central India.
The Gondi language
is related to Telugu
and other Dravidian languages
. About half of Gonds speak Gondi languages, while the rest speak Indo-Aryan languages
including Hindi
.
, the official chronicle of Mughal emperor Akbar's reign, mentions the Gond kingdom. It refers to the Gond Kingdom as Garha Katanga and having 70,000 villages in India.
(UP). Unlike in other parts of India, the UP Gond have Scheduled caste as opposed to Scheduled tribe status. They no longer speak Gondi, but now speak Hindi
. The UP Gond are divided into seven sub-groups, the Dev Gond, Dholi, Kolan, Kailabhut, Mudipal, Padal and Raj Gond. Traditionally, the Raj Gond have had a higher status, and were rulers of a number of states in the region. Each of these clans is exogamous. The Gonda of UP are a landowning community, and most of them practise settled cultivation. Historically, the community practiced slash and burn agriculture, but these practices have long been discontinued.
instruction in Gondi areas. Primary schooling among the Gonds of Andhra Pradesh, for example, began in the 1940s and 1950s. The Andhra Pradesh government selected a group of Gonds who were semiliterate in Telugu
and taught them the basics of written script. These individuals became teachers who taught in Gondi, and their efforts enjoyed a measure of success until the 1970s, when state policy demanded instruction in Telugu. The switch in the language of instruction both made the Gond teachers superfluous because they could not teach in Telugu and also presented the government with the problem of finding reasonably qualified teachers willing to teach in outlying tribal schools.
Gonds frequently are reluctant to send their children to school, needing them to work in the fields instead.
occurs at high frequency [18/31 (56.25%)] among the Madhya Pradesh Gondi population.
This article includes material from the 1995 public domain
Library of Congress Country Study
on India
.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, eastern Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
(Vidarbha
Vidarbha
Vidarbha is the eastern region of Maharashtra state made up of Nagpur Division and Amravati Division. Its former name is Berar . It occupies 31.6% of total area and holds 21.3% of total population of Maharashtra...
), Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....
, northern Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe
Adivasi
Adivasi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India. They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India...
in Central India.
The Gondi language
Gondi language
Gondi is spoken by the Gondi people. It is a Central-Dravidian language, spoken by about two million people chiefly in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattishgarh and in various adjoining areas of neighbouring states...
is related to Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
and other Dravidian languages
Dravidian languages
The Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and...
. About half of Gonds speak Gondi languages, while the rest speak Indo-Aryan languages
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
including Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
.
History
AkbarnamaAkbarnama
The ' , which literally means Book of Akbar, is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor , commissioned by Akbar himself and written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abul Fazl who was one of the nine jewels in Akbar's court...
, the official chronicle of Mughal emperor Akbar's reign, mentions the Gond kingdom. It refers to the Gond Kingdom as Garha Katanga and having 70,000 villages in India.
Status
The Gonds have scheduled tribe status in most of the Indian states.Gonds of Uttar Pradesh
The Gond are also found in Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
(UP). Unlike in other parts of India, the UP Gond have Scheduled caste as opposed to Scheduled tribe status. They no longer speak Gondi, but now speak Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
. The UP Gond are divided into seven sub-groups, the Dev Gond, Dholi, Kolan, Kailabhut, Mudipal, Padal and Raj Gond. Traditionally, the Raj Gond have had a higher status, and were rulers of a number of states in the region. Each of these clans is exogamous. The Gonda of UP are a landowning community, and most of them practise settled cultivation. Historically, the community practiced slash and burn agriculture, but these practices have long been discontinued.
Education
Multiple education commissions on the "language question" have called for instruction, at least at the primary level, in the students' native tongue. However, state governments have often introduced regional languageRegional language
A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a nation state, whether it be a small area, a federal state or province, or some wider area....
instruction in Gondi areas. Primary schooling among the Gonds of Andhra Pradesh, for example, began in the 1940s and 1950s. The Andhra Pradesh government selected a group of Gonds who were semiliterate in Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
and taught them the basics of written script. These individuals became teachers who taught in Gondi, and their efforts enjoyed a measure of success until the 1970s, when state policy demanded instruction in Telugu. The switch in the language of instruction both made the Gond teachers superfluous because they could not teach in Telugu and also presented the government with the problem of finding reasonably qualified teachers willing to teach in outlying tribal schools.
Gonds frequently are reluctant to send their children to school, needing them to work in the fields instead.
Genealogy
Haplogroup H1Haplogroup H (Y-DNA)
In human genetics, Haplogroup H is a Y-chromosome haplogroup.This haplogroup is found at a high frequency in South Asia. It is generally rare outside of the South Asia but is common among the Romani people, particularly the H-M82 subgroup.-Origins:...
occurs at high frequency [18/31 (56.25%)] among the Madhya Pradesh Gondi population.
See also
- GodhaGodhaThe Godha are Hindu caste found in the state of Gujarat in India. They are also known as Gondha and Gonda. The Godha use Dengar as a community surname.-History and origin:...
- Gondwana (India)Gondwana (India)Gondwana is a region of India. Named after the Gondi people who live there , the name of the ancient continent of Gondwanaland was derived from Gondwana, because some of the earliest rock formations of this continent were first investigated in part of the region, in modern Orissa.As Gonds are...
- GondwanaGondwanaIn paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
, originally Gondwanaland, in paleogeography - Christoph von Fürer-HaimendorfChristoph von Fürer-HaimendorfChristoph von Fürer-Haimendorf or Christopher von Fürer-Haimendorf was an Austrian ethnologist. He spent about forty years of his life doing fieldwork in Northeast India and in the central region of what is now the state of Andhra Pradesh and in Nepal.-Biography:Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf was...
Further reading
- Beine, David K. 1994. A sociolinguistic survey of the Gondi-speaking communities of central India. M.A. thesis. San Diego State University. 516 p.
- Banerjee, B. G., and Kiran Bhatia. Tribal Demography of Gonds. Delhi: Gian Pub. House, 1988. ISBN 81-212-0237-X
- Elwin, Verrier. Phulmat of the Hills; A Tale of the Gonds. London: J. Murray, 1937.
- Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von, and Elizabeth von Fürer-Haimendorf. The Gonds of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition and Change in an Indian Tribe. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1979. ISBN 0-04-301090-3
- Kaufmann, Walter. Songs and Drummings of the Hill Maria, Jhoria Muria and Bastar Muria Gonds. And, the Musical Instruments of the Marias and Murias. 1950.
- Mehta, B. H. Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands: A Study of the Dynamics of Gond Society. New Delhi: Concept, 1984.
- Museum of Mankind, Shelagh Weir, and Hira Lal. The Gonds of Central India; The Material Culture of the Gonds of Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh. London: British Museum, 1973. ISBN 0-7141-1537-1
- Pagdi, Setumadhava Rao. Among the Gonds of Adilabad. Bombay: Popular Book Depot, 1952.
- Perry, William James, The Children of the Sun: a study in the early history of civilization, London: Methuen, 1927.
- Pingle, Urmila, and Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. Gonds and Their Neighbours: A Study in Genetic Diversity. Lucknow, India: Ethnographic & Folk Culture Society, 1987.
- Russell, R. V., The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, London, 1916.
- Sharma, Anima. Tribe in Transition: A Study of Thakur Gonds. India: Mittal Publications, 2005. ISBN 81-7099-989-8
- Singh, Indrajit. The Gondwana and the Gonds. Lucknow, India: The Universal publishers, 1944.
External links
...This article includes material from the 1995 public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
Library of Congress Country Study
Library of Congress Country Studies
The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress , freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them; therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain and can be copied freely. Note that not all the pictures used...
on India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.