The Barela (An Old and Rare Book)

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About the Book The Bhils and a number of their sub- groups of central and western part of the country have long been inhabiting in various degrees of association with their neighbours. Anthropological information on many of these groups are either not available or are very scanty. The book attempts to fill in the gap in this area. It provides a fairly comprehensive and integrated ethnorgaphic account of a group known as the Barela. It also examines the process of their upward social mobility on the background of purity and pollution concept that they adopted form their neighbouring non-tribal communities. The authors have identified various ways that the Barelas and such other groups of western Madhya Pradesh have adopted in this effort to achieve an elevated place in the local social hierarchy. To a serious student of anthropology and human culture this book will provide a significant observation relating to a process that leads to formation of a number of small groups out of a large Bhil tribe.

About the Author Jayanta Sarkar, a Ph.D. from Ranchi University, Bihar has gathered wide knowledge on the tribal situation of the country through his intensive field investigations in the areas like Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh. Dr. Sarkar's main area of research interest are the studies on social change and social mobility, both in the tribal and non-tribal populations of the country. His major publications include four books (1) Caste, Occupation and Change (2) Society, Culture and Ecological Adaptation among three tribes of Arunachal Pradesh (3) Social Mobility in Tribal Madhya Pradesh (4) The Jarawa. He has also edited four books jointly. Besides the books his publications include 42 research papers in various leading anthropological journals of the country.

Dalapati Murmu acquired his Master Degree in Anthropology from Ranchi University. During his long association with the Anthropological Survey of India since 1975, he was involved in a number of national and regional research projects initiated by the Anthropological Survey of India. His major areas of field work are tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. He has a number of research papers in his credit, published in journals and edited books, both in english and in his mother tongue Santali.

Foreword The tribal populations in the Malwa Culture Area of Central India share many elements with their neighbours. There are a number of tribes such as the Bhil or Bhil sub-groups such as the Bhilala, Barela, Patelia and Rathia. Owing to their long exposure to non-tribal communities, the Bhils have been involved in the process of upward social mobility to achieve a position in varna hierarchy or regional power structure.

Preface The present study is based on an intensive field investigation conducted in two phases during the years 1978 and 1979 in western Madhya Pradesh. The work is a part of a larger research scheme, 'Malwa Area Study' that was initiated by the Central Regional Centre of the Anthropological Survey of India, Nagpur. Though the data were collected about 15 years back, their importance still have not reduced as the study highlights a process that is continuous in nature in the area of field investigation. Selection of the Barela tribe for this intensive study was however, purposive. We thought that the study of a tribe, like the Barela, would first provide an ethnographic account on an anthropologically least researched tribe and secondly we will be in a position to examine the nature and extent of involvement, of the group in sharing cultural traits with their neighbours, living in the geographical area of Malwa plateau.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages