Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c47.s1.1

c47.s1.1

§ 13. **Tribe.** — In the outline given in the Introduction it was shown that throughout the greater part of continental India, the region most influenced by foreign blood, distinctions of race have been practically effaced by centuries of cross-breeding. It is to be noted, however, that wherever a race can still be geographically demarcated from its hybrid neighbours the ethnic constitution tends to be tribal, consisting, that is, of groups with a common name, the tradition of kinship or descent from a common ancestor, human, demi-god or wild animal, as the case may be, and claiming or occupying a definite territory. The system on which the tribe is organised varies considerably according to the race and the conditions under which it lives. That most intimately connected with India proper is found amongst the Kōl-Dravidians of the Central Belt. Here, the tribe is subdivided into numerous exogamous sections, each bearing the name of a plant or animal of the locality, and marrying almost invariably within the tribe itself, or, at most, not beyond an adjacent and probably kindred community of similar organisation and form of religious and domestic ceremonial. The Mongoloid tribes of Assam and the eastern frontier are also divided into sections professing blood-relationship, and therefore not marrying within the section, but trusting to their fellow-tribesmen of other divisions to provide them with brides, either by arrangement or capture. On the opposite frontier, the tribal constitution of the Paṭhān and Balūch races is of a markedly different type. The Balūch tribe is bound together by political rather than ethnic ties, owning allegiance, that is, to a common Chieftain; but amongst the clans which go to form this unit, there is found very often, if not usually, the tradition of blood-kinship, surrounded by a fringe of strangers who have affiliated themselves to the community for the purpose of mutual defence, and who, after a term of probation, are admitted to full tribesmanship. The subdivisions of these clans are exogamous, and there is a tendency, but nothing stronger, towards endogamy within the tribe. Amongst the Paṭhāns the tribe is more closely knit, and the bond is kinship in the male line. As amongst the Balūch, however, strangers are admitted to qualified membership, tending, in time, to be treated, by fiction, as kinship. There is not the element of allegiance to a common Chief, though in many cases such dignitaries do exist and are regarded as warlords and representatives of the tribe in dealing with the outer world. But the internal management of tribal affairs is vested in a tribal Council, composed of the Heads of clans or other subdivisions of the main body. Marriage takes place, as a rule, within the race, and in practice is regulated by Muslim, not tribal, prescriptions regarding affinity. The influence of these races, especially of the Paṭhān, upon the whole population of the western Panjāb, has had the result of substantially modifying the social structure, elevating the tribal, or blood connection, enlarging the marriage field, and generally promoting the adoption of the freer life of the Highlands in preference to the stricter and more elaborate system which prevails throughout Brāhmanic India.