Knowledge Systems of Some Scheduled Tribe Communities of South India

Many communities belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST) in South India have been forest dwelling from time immemorial. Development of “civilization” elsewhere in the region resulted in permanent destruction of the forest, replacement of forest-based eco-system with an agro-based one, and elimination of many and domestication of some species of animals and birds. But ST people established equilibrium with nature such that forest, humans, and animals co-existed for millennia in stable and sustainable harmony. It was only after introduction of “modern” systems of administration and aggrandizement of forest that these equilibriums broke down. This paper seeks to outline elements of the knowledge systems that ST people developed. These systems integrate satisfaction of basic human needs with preservation of sustainable forest eco-systems, and associated regimes of moisture and soil conservation for the benefit of all. This paper limits itself to a survey of conditions among selected ST communities of South India.

All humans, millennia ago, were forest-dwellers. They had to contend with predators and survive on prey. But being Homo sapiens (thinking animals), they developed societal and technological systems that enabled them to ultimately establish mastery over both physical and biotic components of their environs. Development of agriculture, control of fire, formation of societies, refinement of linguistic abilities, cognitive skills, and transmission of knowledge systems were the common human achievements. But once humankind developed these basic capabilities, communities differentiated based on the technologies they chose.

“Technology” is learned behaviour that individuals acquire through observation leading to “discovery”, experimentation leading to “invention” and ratiocination leading to “development”. In basic human communities at the beginning of the evolutionary process, it encompassed observation of successful elders at work, and imbibing a folk lore of accumulated wisdom. The community integrates it into its collective consciousness thereby enriching itself. Generally, Technology represents the process by which a community equates the totality of the circumstances in which it lives with the production of those items that it considers necessary or worthwhile to have and/or to exchange. For the non-tribal world “at large”, the range of operation of Technology encompasses the totality of the global endowment of resources, whereas for isolated tribal populations, the choice is restricted, often confined to the immediate environment of its habitat. In an abstract sense, the extent of the limitation on access to resources is the key to the “tribality” of any given community in comparison to the ‘general population’ of either the Nation-State in which they live, or the “world at large”.