The Tribals and Outcastes Hit Back

This chapter focuses on the survival strategies adopted by tribal folk, as well as the shifts in their identity in course of the nineteenth century. Tribals and outcastes coped with the severe pressures unleashed upon them by the colonial agrarian interventions by retreating further into the hills. Fluidities in caste identities resulted in affluent sections amongst the tribal folk getting incorporated into the caste system as Khandayats/Kshatriyas. At the same time, this process saw the poorer sections among the tribals becoming further impoverished and increasingly classified as ‘criminal tribes’ or castes. Other forms of resistance included critiquing and questioning inequalities through movements such as the Mahima movement. This period was also marked by several tribal uprisings among various tribal groups in the hilly western interiors, including during the 1857 rebellion.