Kings of the Jungle

Outside the eastern India hill resort of Ranchi last week 5,000 people, many in loincloths, some decked out in peacock feathers and silver ankle bangles, listened to a dapper, cigar-smoking orator clad in a natty green bush jacket and gabardine trousers. "Adibasis I" he addressed them. "The most ancient aristocracy of India, the original settlers of this country, the most democratic element in the land are everywhere shouting Jai Jarkhand [Victory to Jungle land]." As the crowd heard their fellow tribesman, Oxford-educated Jaipal Singh, 46, mention Jarkhand, the province they wanted carved out for themselves in east central India, they roared in approval, "Jarkhand sadari [Separate Jarkhand]." A tribeswoman who works as a steel-mill laborer cried: "They are the people of the plains, and we are kings of the jungle."

The occasion was the eleventh annual conference of the All-India Adibasi Mahasabha, made up of delegates representing India's 25 million aborigines who are scattered among 176 tribes from Assam in the northeast to Madras in the deep south. One-fifth of India's first settlers live in the hillside jungles, many still dress in leaves, hunt with bow and arrows. The other four-fifths, touched by government, missionaries and modern industrialism, have found that civilization can be as ruthless as the man-eating tigers around their native villages. Cut off from their primitive tribal customs, most adibasis have sunk to the level of coolies.

Many converted to Hinduism found themselves classified as untouchables. Robbed by unscrupulous moneylenders, some tribes now believe that the sun and moon go into eclipse to escape their creditors. The practices of headhunting, human sacrifice and witchcraft have almost disappeared, but adibasis are not sure civilization is all gain. Said one, pointing to an eleven year-old bride, "We didn't have child marriages before . . ."

At last week's annual get-together Jaipal Singh stayed two days watching his tribesmen dance and cheer for Jarkhand, then flew back to Delhi. As his private plane buzzed over the crowded conference site, the hopeful adibasis greeted it with a shout, "Jaipal Singh, Jai Jarkhand."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.