185
10.4.1 Ecology
Nowadays the most of the Kharia Sabars lost their traditional habitat which was
located midst of the deep forest infested with numerous types of wild animals. The
Kharia Sabars are the born hunters. The age-old practice of hunting and gathering,
an exclusive means of subsistence of this community rescinded to a greater extent
due to large-scale depletion of forest and with this, scarcity of wild animals, their.
Kharia Sabars are “now compelled to seek anchorage in the agricultural economy of
the region. In the present day they are frequently found as an appendage of the village society frantically searching for an existence in a receding forest and as agricultural labourer” (Sinha 2010, p.14). The Kharia Sabar habitat can be further
understood by the statement made by Dhargupta and his associates (2009) where
they wrote – “Sabars also preferred to stay as joint family because in Purulia district
the area of Sabar tribe were far from general locality and that is why the tribe Sabar
made a separate locality or para for their own and that was known as Sabar para”.
10.4.2 Social Structure
S. C. Roy & R. C. Roy (1937), in his book The Kharias, made an exclusive ethnographic study of the Kharia Sabar tribal community and subdivided them into three
main sub- groups on the basis of geographical location, economy, identity and culture – Dudh Kharia, Dhelki Kharia and Hill Kharia. The first two belong to AustroAsiatic, but the hill Kharia belongs to an Indo-Aryan language called Kharia Thar.
Kharia Thar has been classified as Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern
zone and Bengali-Assamese. In Purulia district mainly Hill Kharia, also known as
Pahari (meaning Hill) Kharia, commonly denotes all those three sub-groups of
Kharia. These Hill Kharias of Purulia call themselves as Sabars. “This is because
they consider themselves to be the descendants of ‘Sabars’, the tough and mighty
forest people in the Vindhya region of Central India, as mentioned in the Puranas, the
Ramayana as well as the Vedic literature” (Mukhopadhyay 1998, p.13). Socially,
Kharia Sabars is again subdivided into several gotras (clans) such as Golgo, Sandi,
Gidi, Dehuri, Pinchria, Nago, Tolong, Suya, Dhar, Tesa, Kotal, Kharmoi, Digar,
Laha, Saddar, Sikari, Rai, Khan, Dolai, Sal, Alkosi and Khildi. Here, the Golgo
seems to be more dominant among them. Kharia Sabars have their own communal
system. They have their own priest called laya. This post is hereditary in nature. In
their own Panchayat system, village head man and dihuri are directed the Panchayat.
10.4.3 Culture
Birth
Kharia Sabar believes in good and evil spirits. Successful child birth is purely
dependent on the blessings of good spirits like Painsa-burhi (Goddess) and
10 Socio-ecological Niche of Tribes of Purulia District, West Bengal, India
10.4.1 Ecology
Nowadays the most of the Kharia Sabars lost their traditional habitat which was
located midst of the deep forest infested with numerous types of wild animals. The
Kharia Sabars are the born hunters. The age-old practice of hunting and gathering,
an exclusive means of subsistence of this community rescinded to a greater extent
due to large-scale depletion of forest and with this, scarcity of wild animals, their.
Kharia Sabars are “now compelled to seek anchorage in the agricultural economy of
the region. In the present day they are frequently found as an appendage of the village society frantically searching for an existence in a receding forest and as agricultural labourer” (Sinha 2010, p.14). The Kharia Sabar habitat can be further
understood by the statement made by Dhargupta and his associates (2009) where
they wrote – “Sabars also preferred to stay as joint family because in Purulia district
the area of Sabar tribe were far from general locality and that is why the tribe Sabar
made a separate locality or para for their own and that was known as Sabar para”.
10.4.2 Social Structure
S. C. Roy & R. C. Roy (1937), in his book The Kharias, made an exclusive ethnographic study of the Kharia Sabar tribal community and subdivided them into three
main sub- groups on the basis of geographical location, economy, identity and culture – Dudh Kharia, Dhelki Kharia and Hill Kharia. The first two belong to AustroAsiatic, but the hill Kharia belongs to an Indo-Aryan language called Kharia Thar.
Kharia Thar has been classified as Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern
zone and Bengali-Assamese. In Purulia district mainly Hill Kharia, also known as
Pahari (meaning Hill) Kharia, commonly denotes all those three sub-groups of
Kharia. These Hill Kharias of Purulia call themselves as Sabars. “This is because
they consider themselves to be the descendants of ‘Sabars’, the tough and mighty
forest people in the Vindhya region of Central India, as mentioned in the Puranas, the
Ramayana as well as the Vedic literature” (Mukhopadhyay 1998, p.13). Socially,
Kharia Sabars is again subdivided into several gotras (clans) such as Golgo, Sandi,
Gidi, Dehuri, Pinchria, Nago, Tolong, Suya, Dhar, Tesa, Kotal, Kharmoi, Digar,
Laha, Saddar, Sikari, Rai, Khan, Dolai, Sal, Alkosi and Khildi. Here, the Golgo
seems to be more dominant among them. Kharia Sabars have their own communal
system. They have their own priest called laya. This post is hereditary in nature. In
their own Panchayat system, village head man and dihuri are directed the Panchayat.
10.4.3 Culture
Birth
Kharia Sabar believes in good and evil spirits. Successful child birth is purely
dependent on the blessings of good spirits like Painsa-burhi (Goddess) and
10 Socio-ecological Niche of Tribes of Purulia District, West Bengal, India