Adivasi societies – a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups in South Asia

Adivasi (a Hindi word that literally means the original inhabitants) is a term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups believed to be the aboriginal population of India. Adivasi societies are present in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and other South Asian nations.

Adivasi is officially recognized by the Indian government as “Scheduled Tribes” in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which is eligible for certain affirmative action measures.

More on the names given to/adopted by Adivasi communities, their distinctive customs and histories: jharkhandi.com website >>

Source: Adivasis.com | Jharkhandi.com | Tribal India Group | Scheduled Tribes (ST) of India
Address : http://jharkhandi.com/Adivasi.aspx
Date Visited: Wed Mar 21 2012 10:55:12 GMT+0100 (CET)

Adivasi [adibasi] – which is derived from Sanskrit – is applied to the dark-skinned or Austro-Asiatic indigenous groups of India (usually those from Eastern India). It is a commonly-used term in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha. It is also used by the local Mongoloid tribes of North Eastern India for the migrant workers who were brought in as indentured labourers to work in tea plantations during the colonial period. ‘Tribal’ is a very broad term in the English language, as we all know, and includes all the different indigenous groups of India.” – Dr. Ivy Hansdak (email dated 27 March 2020) | “Who are Scheduled Tribes?” (National Commission for Scheduled Tribes) | Demographic Status of Scheduled Tribe Population of India (Census figures 2011) | Classifications in different states >>

A Supreme Court judgment projects the historical thesis that India is largely a country of old immigrants and that pre-Dravidian aborigines, ancestors of the present Adivasis, rather than Dravidians, were the original inhabitants of India. CommentIndia, largely a country of immigrants Photo © The Hindu | Learn more >>

Related posts

Video: Birhor Tribe of Bihar >>
Watch all parts on Archive.org >>
Bihar | Jharkhand >>

Tips for using interactive maps

  1. toggle to normal view (from reader view) should the interactive map not be displayed by your tablet, smartphone or pc browser
  2. for details and hyperlinks click on the rectangular button (left on the map’s header)
  3. scroll and click on one of the markers for information of special interest
  4. explore India’s tribal cultural heritage with the help of another interactive map >>

India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved all-round socio-economic progress since Independence. As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.

Source: States and Union Territories – About India
URL: https://knowindia.india.gov.in/states-uts/
Date visited: 4 September 2021

Learn more about India’s 28 States and 8 Union Territories – From Andhra Pradesh to West Bengal | Nutrition >>

Research the above issues with the help of Shodhganga: A reservoir of theses from universities all over India, made available under Open Access >>

Find up-to-date information provided by, for and about Indian authors, researchers, officials, and educatorsMore search options >>
Search tips: in the search field seen below, combine the name of any particular state, language or region with that of any tribal (Adivasi) community; add keywords of special interest (health, nutrition endangered language, illegal mining, sacred grove); learn about the rights of Scheduled Tribes such as the Forest Rights Act (FRA); and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, women’s rights, and children’s right to education; specify any other issue or news item you want to learn more about (biodiversity, climate change, ecology, economic development, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, global warming, effective measures to prevent rural poverty, bonded labour, and human trafficking).

For a list of websites included in a single search, click here. To search Indian periodicals, magazines, web portals and other sources safely, click here. To find an Indian PhD thesis on a particular tribal community, region and related issues, click here >>

About website administrator

Secretary, Tribal Cultural Heritage in India Foundation (2010-2022)
This entry was posted in Accountability, Adivasi / Adibasi, Colonial policies, Community facilities, Democracy, Economy and development, Education and literacy, Figures, census and other statistics, Government of India, Health and nutrition, History, Modernity, Names and communities, Nature and wildlife, Networking, Organizations, Quotes, Rural poverty, Seasons and festivals, Social conventions, Tribal culture worldwide, Tribal identity, Websites by tribal communities and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.