Tribe in general may be described as a group of people who share an occupation or interest or a habit. Every tribe imbibe a common culture and a recognized leader. In the state of Gujarat there are as many as 29 notified schedule tribes. Thus Gujarat can be rightly called as a state of tribal fantasy which includes around five million adivasis.
There are a number of tribes in Gujarat who are religious and animistic as well. They worship animals. We still don’t know the exact reason behind this animistic worship trait of the tribes. The animals that they worship include tiger, crocodiles and also snake. Apart from animals they worship plants as well.
One among these tribes is Gamith. Gamit believe that they belong to The Sun dynasty Rajput community. The population of Gamits is found in the districts of Surat, Bharuch, Valsad and Dangs. Gamits speak Gamit language. Their communication is in Gamit dialect only. As per 2001 census, the literacy level among Gamit is 52.91 percent.
Another tribe is Dhodias. The majority of the dhodia tribe are located in the southern part of Gujarat. . Dhodia primarily follow Hinduism. Some however follow Christianity under the influence of missionaries.
Talking about the Vasawas tribe, this tribe is a clan of the Bhil ethnic community found in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. They have scheduled tribe status.
The Gharasias tribe is a scheduled tribe living in the forest areas of the Gujarat and Rajasthan. Present-day Garasias are characterised by several social divisions with well-defined relationships.
The Barda tribe are strictly endogamous, and do not practice clan exogamy like other tribal communities in west India. They perform a number of folk dances and songs. Economically, they are a marginal community, and literacy levels are very low.
There is also one such tribe named Siddi in Gujarat whose ancestors are considered to hail from South Africa to India. The Siddi people reflect the typical traits of the South African people. Be it their body structure, their appearance, their colour or even their physical attributes everything resembles the South African features.
Siddi Folk Dancers, at Devaliya Naka, Sasan Gir, Gujarat
Talking about the occupation of the tribal communities, one can see that they are indulged in various fields. Different tribes are occupied in different occupations. Some of the most common occupations include clearing thick forests and cultivating crops out there. Some resort to hunting of wild beasts. Some other are seen in fishing occupation and also we can see some working as casual labourers. Apart from this cattle breeding is also included in the list of the occupations which tribal communities are indulged in. Even art and crafts are also a forte of the tribal communities. Textiles, wood and ivory carving are also some of their strengths.
One common trait of the tribes in Gujarat is that the women are given equal respect on par with men. The women not only mix freely with the men but are also given an opportunity to indulge in any occupation of their choice. When it comes to marriages, love marriages are quite prevalent and also eloped lovers are accepted in the tribes by both the families after a point of time.
Gone are the days when tribal people were considering to be uneducated and illiterate. Thanks to the social reforms and the Christian missionaries that literacy has now been wide spread in the tribal community as well. There is something called as ‘ashram shalas’ which was a major step towards educating the tribal lot. Education has brought a drastic change and we can now see that the tribal communities have produced masters in various sectors. The tribal communities have the laurels of producing doctors, professors, journalists, government officers, contractors, businessmen, lawyers, magistrates so on and so forth.
To sum up we can say that due to impartation of the right knowledge there seems to be no or little bifurcation between the tribal communities and the city community when it comes to handling the modern day professional life.
Not up to the mark.