The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c14.s2.7

c14.s2.7

According to Prof. Haimendorf, the Chenchus are more or less, non-agricultural, food-gathering communities and their sole tools are pointed digging sticks, sometimes reinforced by a trapezoid piece of iron.¹ The Kadar, according to Prof. Ehrenfels, leads more or less a similar life and is in no way better equipped. They erect bamboo dykes in the tanks and the fish are killed with a bamboo or a jungle knife.² The Reddis represent an economy based on primitive agriculture and stock-raising, supplemented by wild plants and tubers. They freely use the iron implements. But in Eastern and Central India, we have more highly advanced tribes with a higher material culture and social institutions and rituals. But they represent a much more interesting case of a real refugee survival and adaptation to a different environment. While the simpler life of the peninsular tribes brings about a more perfect adjustment of their needs and resources, the tribes of Central India have a more advanced, but somewhat semi-parasitical economy. They partly depend on the institution of professional castes (to encourage specialization) and division of labour and on trade with the technically advanced people. Elwin gives a fine reflection on the whole economic life of Middle Indian tribes.