Asian Journal of Development Matters
Year : 2010, Volume : 4, Issue : 2
First page : ( 168) Last page : ( 176)
Print ISSN : 0973-9637.

A study of nomadic tribes with special reference to the snake charmers of Orissa

Tripathy SN

Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, BMCC Road, Pune-411004, India.

Abstract

India the only surviving ancient civilization has large number of nomadic people who are marginalized people. Nomads gained momentum due to ecological diversity, natural disasters, depletion of forests and other natural recourses. Under the deep rooted caste system, devoid of assured livelihood strategies – the nomads sustained sub – human living conditions, in the grip of poverty hunger and starvation deaths – and the recurring phenomenon among the nomads. In fact, drink disease and debt-put them in the misery and starvation. Thus, the compulsions of nature, search for food, quest for knowledge and exploration of the unknown regions have led people to move from on place to another and interact with different groups of people and finally, culminated in to the growth and sustenance of nomadism. In this backdrop, based on observation and secondary sources of data, an attempt has been made in this paper to through light on the kela community who are generally known as the snake charmers of Orissa.

Top