Khonds

Kondh

A Kondh woman in Odisha.
Total population
ca. 430,000
Regions with significant populations
India
Languages
Kui, Kuvi
Related ethnic groups
Gondi

Meriah sacrifice post.

Khonds (also spelled Khonds, Khonda, Kandha, Khondo etc.) are an aboriginal, indigenous ethnic tribal people of India.

They are a designated Scheduled Tribe in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal.

Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they are artificially divided into the hill-dwelling "Dongria" Khonds and a several plain-dwelling Khonds like Kutia Khonds, Sitha Khonds and Raja Khonds based on Geographic dispersion for census purposes; the Khonds prefer to identify by their clan rather than the labels used by Census authorities. Most of the Khond households usually hold large tracts of fertile land, in addition to communal land of the commons belonging to the clan, but still practise hunting, gathering and slash and burn agriculture in the forests as a symbol of their connection to, and ownership of the forest.

The Khonds speak the Kui language.

History

The Khonds are an aboriginal, ethnic community of India. They trace back their ancestry to the beginning of creation, and consider themselves to be the "Children of the Hills and Earth". Ethno-sociological studies attest to the antiquity of the Khonds as a distinct socio ethnic indigenous community. The Khonds are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe and guaranteed certain privileges under the Constitution of India. A preeminent part of the history and consequent self image of the Khonds is their rebellion against the British.

Meriah sacrifice:

The Khonds came to the limelight during the British Raj for their Rebellion against the British intrusion into their territories for timber in 1836. The British sought to project their invasion of tribal territories as a civilizing mission to prevent for the practice of human sacrifice by the Khonds.

These sacrifices were known as Meriah and were considered to be essential for maintaining the fertility of the earth. It was incumbent on the Khonds to purchase their victims. Unless bought with a price, they were not deemed acceptable. They seldom sacrificed Khonds, though sometimes Khonds, out of piety, or promise to an ancestor spirit, did sell their children, often for a token amount, and they could then be purchased as Meriahs. Persons of any race, age or sex were acceptable if purchased. Many were bought and kept and well treated as full members of the community. The intended Meriah victims were encouraged to marry and start families. Meriah women were encouraged to become mothers. On the day of the sacrifice, the Meriah was bathed, anointed with oil and turmeric, dressed in new clothes, garlanded and led in a procession to the sacrificial altar, which usually was a carved timber planted in the ground. The victim usually was en cultured to view his sacrifice as honourable, though during the actual ceremony the Meriah was heavily narcotised. The intoxicated victim was tied to the cross piece of the sacrificial altar and an tame elephant spun the cross piece around during which the entire community, men, women and children sing and dance till they entered a trance. The victim was dispatched usually by the Khond Pradhan- the chief of all clans, or by the local Jani- the priest by strangulation, after which flesh from the thighs was carved out, chopped into pieces and distributed among the members of the community. This piece of flesh was buried by each cultivator into the land he cultivated was supposed to ensure a good crop.

The Khond Rebellion of 1836:

The first instance of contact of the Khonds with the British was when the colonizers sent Maj. George Edward Russel as the "Meriah Agent" to Ghumsar Native Princely State in 1836 to stop the brutal and inhuman practice of Human Sacrifice by the Khonds living in the forested tracts of Ghumsar, when apocryphally, some Christian Missionaries sent to the Khonds for converting them to Christianity, were captured by Ghumsars and sold to the Khonds, who then offered the missionaries as Meriah Sacrifice.

The standoff between the Khonds and the British quickly escalated to a conflict. The growing discontent among the Khonds of Ghumsur Native Princely State from the beginning of British rule under the Madras Presidency, was due to the fact that the British did not pay proper attention to the prevailing status of Khonds as tribal allies rather than subjects of the rulers of Ghumsur. While the Ruler of Ghumsar accepted the paramountcy of the British Crown and became a vassal, the Khonds living in Ghumsar never accepted the British as rulers since they had never even acknowledged the Raja of Ghumsar as their ruler. In due course of time, the Khonds of Ghumsur led by the Khond Pradhan Kamal Lochan Dora Pradhan popularly called Dora Bisoi started rebellion against the British authority.

A Khond in War Dress.

Factors responsible for the Khond Rebellion:

There were many factors which led the Khonds to revolt against the British.

Firstly, the suppression of Meriah in the Khond dominated area of Ghumsur was a direct attack by the British on the traditional religious faith of the Khonds. Moreover the proselytizing activities of the Christian missionaries, infuriated the Khonds and made them rebellious.

Secondly, for the first time land revenue was collected by the British from the Khonds living in Ghumsar through forceful means which wounded the sentiments of independence of the tribals, since earlier the Khonds were exempt from paying any taxes to the Rajas of Ghumsar as they were regarded as allies not subjects. So, the tribals in Ghumsar became rebellious and wanted to throw out the British from their territor.

Thirdly, the Bhanja Rulers of Ghumsur had unfriendly relation with the British. Being apprehensive of capture by the British authority, Dhananjay Bhanja the Raja of Ghumsur fled to the jungles and sought the assistance of the Khonds. The Khond Pradhan was bound to help him as he was a traditional ally.

Lastly, the dissolution of the Bhanja ruling family after the death of Dhananjay Bhanja in 1835 became the immediate cause of the rebellion. After the death of the ruler, Brundaban Bhanja and Jagannath Bhanja, two members of the Bhanja Royal family became rebellious and got the support of Dora, the Khond Pradhan of the Khonds of Ghumsur.

Revolt of the Khonds:

The Khond tribe rose in rebellion against the British in 1836 under the leadership of Kamal Lochan Dora Pradhan. He was "Khond Pradhan" of the Maliah Clan born in the village Binjigiri, located near Kullada of the lower Ghumsur area. He was appointed the 'Maliah Bisoi' or 'Tribal Ally' of the Raja of Ghumsar in his personal capacity as the paramount chief of the clans of the Khonds of Odisha. He was a good sword-fighter and a renowned wrestler. He was also the hereditary leader of the Ghumsar based Maliah clan of the Khonds and thereby a 'Tribal Ally' to the king of Ghumsur. He was appointed as the Commander-in-chief of the Ghumsur and Khond army. He had managed the military affairs of Ghumsur in an exemplary manner.

In fighting the vastly better equipped British Army, during the Khond Rebellion, he had given a tough fight to the British forces and proved his mettle as a guerilla warrior.

The immediate cause for the rebellion:

Raja Dhananjay Bhanja, the ruler of Ghumsar Princely State died on 31 December, 1835 leaving his family to the care of the Khonds of Ghumsur in whose territory he had taken shelter against the threat of British enforcement of taxation on his tributary vassal state. However, instead of paying revenue to the British Government, the Raja had taken the Royal treasury of Ghumsar with himself, to initiate and support a rebellion of the Khonds against the British. At this critical hour, princes, military commanders and allies of Khonds, like Baliar Singh, Sangram Singh,  Brundaban Bhanja, Jagannath Bhanja and Madhu Bhanja of the Royal family of Ghumsar, Chakra Bisoi, Sundaray Bisoi, and Nanda Bisoi came forward to strengthen the hands of the Khond Pradhan in the rebellion against the British authority. As these leaders were quite well acquainted with the jungle area, they took the advantage of it and resorted to Guerrilla warfare against the British in this rebellion. Dora as the Commander of the rebellion fought against the British by concealing the rebels in the jungles and ghats causing severe attrition to the the vastly more numerous, better equipped and well trained troops of the British army.

British Military operation to stop the Khond rebellion:

In order suppress the rebellion of Dora, the British authorities took several measures. When the rebellion of Dora became prominent, the British authorities of the Madras Presidency authorized Maj. George Edward Russel to suppress the rebellion of the Khonds under Dora. When Maj. Russel reached Ghumsur on 11 January 1836 to suppress the rebellion, he had a large and well equipped army with him to fight with the rebellious Khonds. In addition to that the British Government of India had ordered the Superintendent of the Tributary Princely States to render all necessary military and logistical assistance to Maj. Russel to suppress the rebellion. Moreover, Shyam Bisoi,belonging to the Dongria Clan of Khonds from Kalahandi, and an ambitious Military Officer of the Royal Family of Bhawanipatna supported the British and assisted them against the rebellious Khonds.

In order to capture the family members of Dhananjay Bhanja, Captain Butler on 14 th February, 1836, led the British troop to the Ghats.

He had two clear military objectives:

(1) to capture the members of the recalcitrant Royal Houses of Ghumsar and Ghumsar and

(2) to rescue to treasury which had been taken by Raja Dhananjay Bhanja.

Dora had instigated the local Khonds to resort to aggression against the British troops. When the British troop reached the Ghats to make a head way to Ghumsar Udaygiri, they faced staunch resistance from the Khonds. With their logistical lines disrupted, the British troops were forced to forage and allegedly some British soldiers forcibly took away the livestock and grains of the local Khond villagers. By these acts they invited the open hostility of the Khonds.

The rebellious Khonds attacked a British detachment between Ghumsar Udaygiri and Durgaprasad village. In that encounter, thirteen soldiers (sepoys) and two European officers Lieutenant Bromly and Ensign Gibbon were killed. Prior to that, the British forces had captured some Khonds and subsequently also took others as prisoners after this incident, subjecting them to torture and public humiliation. This instigated the Khonds under Dora to give a tough resistance to the British forces.

Khond Warriors

The British Suppression of the Khond Revolt:

In order to suppress the revolt and arrest Dora, the British entered into Ambhajhara and Jiripada forests of present day Kandhamal, but they could not succeed. At time Dora was the key leader of the movement. The British scoured many places to arrest him. He moved from place to place and at last sought refuge at the British tributary vassal state of Angul. Having failured to capture Dora by military operation, the British, declared a prize of Rupees 5,000 for his capture dead or alive.

Following this, the Tributary Raja of Angul, at the instigation of Shyam Bisoi, betrayed Dora. Persuaded by Henry Ricketts, the Commissioner of Odisha, Raja Somnath Singh of Angul handed over Dora Bisoi to the British forces in 1837 when Dora had visited him to seek military assistance. After the capture of their leader Dora, many other Khond rebel leaders were captured subsequently. They were tried and awarded severe punishments. Dora received life imprisonment and died incarcerated at the Ootacamund prison in 1846. 40 other rebels were awarded death sentences, 29 received imprisonment for life and 2 others were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 8 years. Similarly, the non tribal leaders who were involved in the rebellion also were tried and punished.

After the arrest of Dora and other rebel leaders, the British Government realized the need for a different approach to the issue of dealing with the Khonds. It made new agreement with the Khonds. The British appointed Shyam Bisoi who had played a great role to capture of Kamal Lochan Dora as the Pradhan of the Khonds. After this, the rebellion organized by Dora ended. The Khond rebellion did not stop after Dora‟s imprisonment and death.

His nephew, Chakra , took Dora‟s place and resolved to take revenge for his uncle‟s imprisonment and death. He continued his attacks on the British authority.

The Khonds under Chakra continued rebellion against the British Raj.

The following factors were responsible for this rebellion.

(1) the death of Dora , the Pradhan of the Khonds who was highly respected by the Khonds and his replacement by Shyam Bisoi, who was seen as a puppet of the British. Most of the Khonds owed allegiance to Chakra Bisoi who they saw as the legitimate successor of Dora and looked to him for leadership.

(2) the actions of Captain S.C. Macpherson, the Meriah Agent agitated the Khonds a lot as he was perceived to have interfered in the religious practises of the Khonds. He rescued Meriahs and threatened the Khonds of dire consequences who violated the law regarding Meriah. Further, he punished the Khonds who broke the Meriah Law mercilessly.

(3) In 1846, Captain Macpherson was defeated by the Khonds at his fortified camp at Bisipara . He was forced by the Khond rebels to surrender the Meriahs whom he had rescued from the Khond areas. This achievement of the Khonds under the leadership of Chakra made them motivated. Finally, the Khonds installed Rajkumar Pitambar Singh, the minor son of Dhananjay Bhanja as the king of Ghumsur. This emboldened them and being surcharged with enthusiasm, they looted the British camp.

Capt. Macpherson did not follow the policy of appeasement with the Khonds. The British Government realized that his presence as the Meriah Agent was detrimental to the smooth functioning of British administration at Ghumsur. In order to bring the situation under control, the Madras Presidency appointed Lt. Col. Campbell as the Meriah Agent who succeeded Macpherson. Lt. Col. Campbell was an able administrator and a man with a penchant for solving complex problems. He followed a policy of engaged compromise and tried to win over the Khonds of Ghumsur. His efforts were successful in protecting the Christian and Medical Missionaries who within a short while converted a large number of tribals to Christianity in the aftermath of a devastating epidemic of cholera among the Khonds in 1846. Soon the Khonds began to abstain from Meriah sacrifice. By his strategy of compromising engagement and assistance Campbell convinced most of the newly Christianized Khonds not to rebel. However, Chakra did not come under the influence of the British authority. He organized rebellions of the Khonds against the British forces.

In pursuit of the new policy towards the rebellion, British Government pardoned both Chakra Bisoi and his lieutenant Nabghan Konhoro in order to suppress the rebellion. The policy bore fruit and Nabghan Konhoro surrendered. However, Chakra did not surrender to the British authority. Then the British made many attempts to capture Chakra. The capture of Rendo Majhi, one of the prominent leaders of the rebellion in present day Koraput and the subsequent attack on the camp of Major A.C. Mac Neill who succeed Lt. Col. Campbell as Meriah Agent led British to change their policy. G.F. Cockburn who succeeded Samuells as the Superintendent of the Tributary Princely States and he decided to proceed against the aristocracy who were supporting the Khond Rebellion. Raja Somnath Singh of Angul in 1846 had given shelter to Chakra and forcibly token possession of a village of Hindol. For that offence he was fined Rs. 3,000/-. The King tried to resist but Lt. Col. Campbell was authorized to march towards Angul to suppress Raja Somnath Singh. In 1848, Angul was annexed, and Somnath Singh was sentenced to be jailed at the Hazaribagh Jail. Similarly, the Zamindar of Madanpur was accused of giving shelter to Chakra. So, he was removed from his zamindary. R.M. MacDonald arrested Dharam Singh Mandhata of Athagaon for having given shelter to Chakra.

Though isolated by the political and military strategy of the British, Chakra never stopped in his mission. Upon coming to know that the Sabara, another tribe living in the adjoining Parlakhemundi area of Odisha, were rising against the British under the leadership of Dandasena Sabar of Gaibay, Chakra united the Sabaras and the remaining Khonds and mobilised them to set fire to and plunder those villages which did not support Dandasena.

The British Authorities ordered Captain Wilson to suppress this rebellion who succeeded in capturing Dandasena Sabar who was later hanged. This forced Chakra to flee Parlakhemundi to the area of Tel valley from where he appealed to the Raja of Patna for assistance. Inthe face of the threat of the British, the Raja of Patna could not help Chakra. So, in order to save himself, Chakra entered into the forests of present day Khondmals. From that time nothing was known about Chakra. He was never captured. He supposedly died in 1856. However, in 1857 G.F. Cockburn, the Commissioner of Odisha wrote to the Government regarding Chakra that perhaps he had abandoned the rebellion. For a decade from 1846 to 1856, the activities of Chakra were a threat to the British authority.

The Government of Bengal Presidency ordered the annexation of Khondmals into the British territory in 1855, which succeeded only on paper because of practical difficulties of establishing British authority over a rebellious tribe in a densely forested region. The fierce Khonds remained independent and asserted their sovereignty acknowledging neither the suzerainty of the Raja of Baudh nor the British until the First World War.

Significance

The Khond rebellion under Dora and Chakra is significant in the anti colonial history of Odisha in particular and India in general. The role played by Dora, Chakra and the common Khonds in this Tribal uprising is a oft overlooked aspect of Indian colonial history. However, it is beyond doubt that this tribal rebellion of the Khonds had given a challenge to the British authority in the early part of the British administration in Odisha. Although, the rebellion could not bring much result, but it had the shaken the British authority in Odisha and would find resonance in the Great Mutiny of 1857.

Society

A photograph of Khonds in the early Nineteenth Century.

The Khonds are from the Proto-Australoid ethnic group. They are short, dark, muscular and well built. The Khond men have strong jaws and keep long hair. The women adorn themselves with simple silver ornaments like anklets, multiple earrings and have tattoos. The men carry an axe, which they use as a multipurpose tool. The Khonds are hard working and exceptionally fond of liquor made from Date Palms or Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) flowers, stored in flasks made of dried bottle gourds. Both men and women partake of liquor from an early age. They are fond of singing, music and dance which they engage in at the slightest opportunity.

The Khonds are adept land dwellers exhibiting greater adaptability to the forest and hill environment. The traditional Khond Society is based on geographically demarcated clans comprising of a large group of related families identified by a Totem, usually of a male wild animal. Each clan usually has a common surname and is led by the Eldest male member of the most powerful family of the clan. All the clans of the Khonds owe allegiance to the "Khond Pradhan", who is usually the leader of the most powerful clan of the Khonds. The Khond family is often nuclear, although extended joint families are also found. Female family members are on an equal social footing with the male members in Khond society, and they can inherit, own, hold and dispose of the property without reference to their parents, husband or sons. Women have the right to choose their husbands and seek a divorce.However, the family is patrilineal and patrilocal. Remarriage is common for divorced or widowed women and men. Children are never considered illegitimate in Khond society and inherit the clan name of their biological or adoptive fathers with all the rights as accruing to natural born children.The Khond commonly practice Clan Exogamy. By custom, marriage must cross clan boundaries (a form of incest taboo). The clan is strictly exogamous, which means marriages are made outside the clan (yet still within the greater Khond population). The form of acquiring mate is often by negotiation. However, marriage by capture or elopement is also rarely practised. For marriage, bride price is paid to the parents of the bride by the groom, which is a striking feature of the Khonds. The Bride Price was traditionally paid in tiger pelts though now land or gold sovereigns are the usual mode of payment of bride price.

The Khonds have a dormitory for adolescent girls and boys which forms a part of their enculturation and education process. The girls and boys sleep at night in their respective dormitories and learn social taboos, myths, legends, stories, riddles, proverbs amidst singing and dancing the whole night, thus learning the way of the tribe. The girls are usually instructed in good housekeeping and in ways to bring up good children while the boys learn the art of hunting and the legends of their brave and martial ancestors. Bravery and skill in hunting determine the respect that a Man gets in the Khond tribe. A large number of Khonds were recruited by the British during the First and second World Wars and were prized as natural Jungle warfare and Guerrilla warriors. Even today a large proportion of the Khond men join the State Police or Armed Forces of India to seek an opportunity to prove their bravery.

The men usually forage or hunt in the forests. They go out for collective hunts eating the fruits and roots they collect. They usually cook food with oil extracted from sal and mahua seeds. They also use medicinal plants, both cultivated as well as collected from the wild. These practices make them mainly dependent on forest resources for survival. The Khonds smoke fish and meat for preservation.They also practise a slash and burn (Podu) shifting cultivation on the hill slopes where they grow different varieties of rice, millets, lentils and vegetables. Women usually do all the household work from fetching water from the distant streams, cooking, serving food to each member of the household to assisting the men in cultivation, harvesting and sale of produce in the market. The Dongria clan of Khonds inhabit the steep slopes of the Niyamgiri Range of Koraput district and over the border into Kalahandi. They work entirely on the steep slopes for their livelihood. The Niyamgiri range provides a wealth of perennial springs and streams which greatly enrich cultivation.

However, due to modern developmental interventions in education, medical facilities, irrigation, plantation and so on, most of the Khonds have adapted the modern way of life in many ways. Their traditional lifestyle, customary traits of economy political organization, norms, values and worldview have been drastically changed in recent times. The elite among the Khonds have been able to achieve dramatic progress and dominate, as representatives of their ethnic group because of strong tribal cohesion, their access to education and constitutional reservation. The Khonds are immensely proud of their martial heritage and from childhood have a cultivated sense of intrinsic superiority and ethnic invincibility. They are conditioned to believe from a young age that the Khonds are the only people who remained unvanquished even by the mighty British Empire and that all other people look to the Khonds for protection. This ethnic pride is seldom overt, rather understated and expressed in chivalrous confidence and an inherent sense of superiority. The Khonds believe that they are the chosen people, the children of the Hills and the Earth.

The Khonds are a socio-economically and politically significant community and have reserved seats in the legislature of the State of Odisha. The Khonds as an ethnic group have a disproportionately high representation in the Armed and Civil Services amongst the tribal communities in Odisha and are generally prosperous with every family owning large tracts of fertile lands protected by Law from encroachment or purchase by non-tribals.

Language

The Khonds speak the Kui language as their mother tongue, a Central Austroasiatic language heavily influenced by Dravidian languages, written with the Oriya script. It is most closely related to Gondi, Konda and Kuvi and more distantly to Telugu. majority of the Khonds also speak the Odia Language along with Hindi and have at least a comprehension of English due to the high level of literacy in the tribe.

Culture and economy

The Khonds, are one of the largest tribal group in Odisha. They are known for their cultural heritage and values which center on respecting nature. The Kandhamal district in Odisha (erstwhile a part of Phulbani district), has a fifty-five percent Khond population, and was named after the tribe.Traditionally the Khond religious beliefs were syncretic combining totemism, animism, Ancestor worship, shamanism and nature worship.The Khonds gave highest importance to the the Earth goddess, who is held to be the creator and sustainer of the world. Earlier Human Sacrifices called "Meriah" were offered by the Khond to propitiate the Earth Goddess. In the Khond society, a breach of accepted religious conduct by any member of their society invited the wrath of spirits in the form of lack of rain fall, soaking of streams, destruction of forest produce, and other natural calamities. Hence, the customary laws, norms, taboos, and values were greatly adhered to and enforced with high to heavy punishments, depending upon the seriousness of the crimes committed.

The practise of traditional religion has almost become extinct today. Due to increased Hindu Religious influence (Sanskritisation) the Khond pantheon now has the common Hindu gods and their own Gods have been reduced to the status of minor dieties in the Hindu Pantheon, often as a child, sibling, consort or avatar of a Hindu diety. The Hindu influence is clearly seen in the decline in consumption of beef (earlier a common food) among the Khonds. The Khonds consider themselves as superior to all other communities, and in religious matters no way inferior to the Priestly Brahmin caste of Hinduism. This perception has been reinforced since the Jani -priests of the Khonds are not only allowed to conduct religious rituals alongside the caste Brahmins at the Sabara Srikshetra Temple at Koraput, but their presence is seen as obligatory. Many influential Khonds converted to Protestant Christianity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century due to the efforts of the missionaries of the Serampore (Baptist) Mission. However the influence of pre-Christian Khond religious traditional beliefs on Christianity can be seen in some rituals such as those associated with Easter and Resurrection when ancestors are also venerated and given offerings, although the church officially rejects the traditional beliefs as pagan.

A growing number of Khonds now ascribe to Maoist Communism and its materialist atheism.Many Khonds have also converted to Islam and a great diversity of religious practices can be seen among the members of the Tribe. Ethnic tribal identity among the Khonds supersedes religious identity and inter religious marriages are accepted as normal.

As with any developed culture, the ethical practices of the Khonds reinforce the social and economic practices that define the people. Thus, the sacredness of the earth perpetuates tribal socio-economics,wherein harmony with nature and respect for anscestors is deeply embedded, whereas non tribal cultures that neglect the sacredness of the land find no problem in committing deforestation, strip-mining etc, and this has led to a conflictual situation in many instances. In recent times the Khonds have been assertive of their Right to the forests and have at times violently resisted the attempts to establish Mining Companies or Government felling of trees in their traditional areas. A nascent Khond Nationalism fuelling aspirations of secession from the Republic of India as a result of the local Maoist Insurgency is emerging.

External links

• Pictures
• Sinlung Sinlung - Indian tribes
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)