The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c14.s2.25

c14.s2.25

Finally, to use a popular expression, when did these tribes 'miss their bus' in their march to progress? To explain their origins and movements is beyond my competence. But if their economic life is an index, one can easily see that they stopped short of large scale agriculture (except in a few tribes in south India) and the consequent economic and social developments. As a matter of fact, the very significant cultural stratification among the tribes, so well pointed out by Prof. Haimendorf, may itself throw light on the stage at which the particular tribes were displaced into the hill country. Many tribes in Central India have retained these traditions of movements and displacement. Similarly, the history and tradition of Gonds speaks eloquently of this process of expansion of the higher cultures at the expense of the lower. The most significant factor contributing to the distinctive Indian pattern as contrasted with that of Africa or Australia, is the even distribution of nuclear zones with fertile soil and favourable climate all over the sub-continent. This has enabled a much larger community of people to tread the path of progress leaving their more obstinate brethren in the hills and forest belts.