How did the nomadic pastoralists earn their living? [V. Imp.]
Nomadic pastoralists kept on moving from place to place with their animals. They lived on milk and other pastoral products. They also exchanged items like wool, ghee, etc. with settled agriculturists for grain, cloth, utensils and other products. They bought and sold these goods as they moved from one place to another, transporting them on their animals. The Banjaras were trader-nomads who bought grain where it was cheaply available and carried it to places where it was dearer. From there, they again reloaded their oxen with anything that could be profitably sold in other places. Thus, they played an important role in connecting India to the outside world. Many pastoral tribes reared and sold animals, such as cattle and horses, to the wealthy people. Different castes of petty pedlars travelled from village to village. They made and sold wares like ropes, reeds, etc. Sometimes mendicants acted as wandering merchants. There were also castes of entertainers who earned their living by performing in different towns and villages.
Fill in the blanks:
(a) The new castes emerging within vamas were called……………………
(b) ……… were historical works written by the Ahoms.
(c) The…….. mentions that Garha Katanga had 70,000 villages.
(d) As tribal stales became bigger and stronger they gave land grants to………….. ..
What kinds of exchanges took place between nomadic pastoralists and settled agriculturists?
Which tribe was very influential in Punjab during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?
Find out about present-day government policies towards tribal populations and organise a discussion about these.
Match the following:
garh – khel
tanda – chaurasi
labourer – caravan
clan – Garha Katanga
Sib Singh – Ahom State
Durgawati – paik
State whether true or false:
(a) Tribal societies had rich oral traditions.
(b) There were no tribal communities in the north-western part of the subcontinent.
(c) The Chaurasi in Gond states contained several cities.
(d) The Bhils lived in the north-eastern part of the sub-continent.
Give a brief account of the tribal people found in different parts of the subcontinent [V. Imp.]
In what ways was the history of the Gonds different from that of the Ahoms? Were there any similarities?
Plot the location of the tribes mentioned in this chapter on a map. For any two, discuss whether their mode of livelihood was suited to the geography and the environment of the area where they lived.