The Kamar By S.C. Dube, Oxford, Rs 545
The Kamar, a classic anthropological monograph by S.C. Dube, originally published in 1951, has been revisited with this new edition. Apart from the introduction by Nandini Sundar and one new appendix on the Kamar census, the text remains as it did fifty years ago. Due to theoretical and methodological sophistication, anthropology has transcended the tag of being a mere “handmaiden” of imperialism. Colonial ethnographies, gazettes and anthropological monographs have been criticized for being ahistorical and ignoring wider economic and political contexts. However, Sundar argues that this mode of knowledge consolidates our historical understanding of marginalized people.
This monograph was written when colonialism was making way for Indian independence. During this time, histories examining the space between the demands of colonial and post-colonial academic disciplines were absent. Dube’s monograph was the first reliable account of its kind. The Kamar is a holistic traditional monograph which highlights the main aspects of the Kamar life — from social organization, economy, law and religion to cultural contacts and tribal rehabilitation.
The Kamars are concentrated chiefly in Chhattisgarh, formerly the Central Provinces. They are also found in some parts of Orissa, Manipur and Madras.They live in scattered and small but separate settlements. These comprise one room, which forms the dominant part of the house, the others being cattle shed, pig-sty and so on. In his economic pursuit, the Kamar are not known to think about the future, and their household possesions are limited to the barest necessities — a few utensils, hunting tools and equipment for basket-work and fishing. Their main sources of livelihood are agriculture, hunting, fishing, food collection, basket-making, trade and barter and occasional labour for wages. Agriculture is practised at a subsistence level where dahi and beora are the two chief forms of shifting cultivation.
The Kamars are individualistic by nature and have no centralized tribal organization though they recognize their own tribe as different from neighbouring castes and tribes. The family is patrilineal and mainly nuclear. The position of a woman is markedly inferior to that of a man. Tribal jurisprudence in Kamar society is based on primitive ethics which have not been carried forward to our times. Several acts of deviance by modern standards are accepted in Kamar society — homicide is sometimes justified and the murderer can expiate his offence with an ordinary penal feast. The Kamars have managed to withstand changes in their socio-political and economic environment and retain their distinct identity.
Unlike Forties assimilationists like G.S. Ghurye and A.V. Thakkar, who advocated tribal merger with the mainstream, and isolationists like Verrier Elwin, who spoke of preserving tribal culture, Dube suggested that the tribes, rather than being forced to conform to a uniform pattern, should be allowed to retain their distinctive features. Dube also noted the importance of the panchayat system and cooperatives in facilitating the natural integration of tribes into main stream society.
Given its importance, The Kamar should be compulsory reading for students of sociology and social anthropology.
