Jarwa tribe

  Introduction

The Jaroa are an isolated tribe of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, India. In the Andamanese language "Jaroa" means "Stranger", and at the same time the Jaroas identify themselves as "Ang". The life-tradition and culture of the Jaroas was almost unknown to us until the early eighteenth century. Later, when the British came to India at that time and started collecting research information about the Jaroah group, the Jaroah group came to be known to us as a distinct people.

 Identity: 

Although there is considerable disagreement about the original habitat of the Jaroads from the traditional point of view, some prominent anthropologists believe that the original home of the Jaroads was Africa. Descendants of the 'Jungil' tribe, the Jaroas migrated to the Andaman Islands about 55,000 years ago across a long sea route and have maintained their pure ethnic identity even today through adaptation.

General introduction to  Jarawas:

Habitat

The Jaroa people live along the western part of the South Andaman and Middle Andaman Islands.

Nature 

The Jarawas are largely untouched by modernity, foragers, hunters, fearless.

Ethic identity

The Jarawas belong to the Negroid ethnic group.

Physical form

All Jaroi are (i) medium height, (ii) round head, (iii) thick lips, (iv) broad nose, (v) dark black complexion, (vi) thick curly (fizzly) hair.

Group

The Jaroa people are divided into OT main groups, viz.- (i) 'Tanmad' They are a special group in the north. (ii) 'Thidong' → They belong to West Central Andaman. (ii) 'Boyars' (Bolab) They are a group of south-west Andamans.

Religion

Although the Jarayas have no religion of their own, they are nature worshipers or animists.

Language 

The Jaroas speak the 'Jaroa' language belonging to the Oshi language group. 

Population

According to the 2011 Indian census, only 380 Jarwa people live in the Andamans.

■ Natural Adaptation of Jarowa Community:

 Living in isolation in the Andaman forest for thousands of years, the Jarawas have mastered several adaptive survival strategies. 

For example –

Food-related adaptation:

Dietary adaptations of the Jarawas are quite consistent with the Andaman coastal insular forests. They are completely dependent on foraging and hunting for food resources.

Food collection: 

Jarawas are omnivorous in terms of food. Therefore, the main source of food for Jarawas is the forest. They collect fruits, deer, honey, larvae, leaves etc. from the forest. Sometimes the Aroa people attach a ring of wild branch to the end of a stick and pluck it from trees like banana, coconut, papaya or jackfruit. Jarwa women collect crabs, snails, oysters, turtle eggs or various marine fishes from the beach.

victim: 

Hunting is the most popular method of food supply among the Jarawas. They mostly use archaic wooden bows or 'Aay' (Aay), different or 'patho', small and sharp spears or 'koach' etc. for hunting. The Jawars use such weapons to hunt fish from water or pigs or dogs from the forest. A few men hunt the animals by shooting arrows from a distance of about 15-20 feet.

Sometimes Jarawas use a special net made of nylon thread for fishing. It is called 'Ghom' (Thom).

Incidentally, the Jarawas boil, boil or scald all their food in a fire pit in an open space called 'Thula'. Both men and women take part in cooking. A favorite dish of the Jarawas is the boiled chameleon.

Clothes-related adaptation:

The geographical isolation and climatic adversity of the Andamans led to the clothing adaptations of the Jarawas.

Generally Jarwa neither men nor women like to wear any kind of clothing. But sometimes they use leaves or bark to cover the lower part of their body. Majority of the Jarwa community love to wear ornaments. They use local flowers, fruits, shells or tree bark to make many permanent and temporary ornaments on the head, waist or neck.

Male Jarawas like to make various designs with sticks on the whole body by applying mud coating. Although the Jarawas, who are almost nomadic in nature, do not have a specific place of residence, their considerable skill in building houses can be seen. Most of their houses look like very small huts or sheds. The Bhawars use local bamboos or reeds, reeds to build such houses, which are almost round in shape.

The diverse settlements of the Jarawas are called 'chadda' (chadda). These are again of various types, such as—

 (a) Tutime chadda:

 These hut-like temporary settlements are 5 feet in height, 5 to 5.5 feet in length and width.

(b) Without Chadda-da-huthu : 

They are basically round or oval semi-permanent houses, where 4–5 or sometimes 20–25 families live together. It is the monsoon home of the Jarawas.

(c) Without Thorkalang (Thorkalang chadda) :

 It is a very small house, where a single or endangered Jaroa lives.

(d) Except Thorkongo (Thorkongo chadda) : 

Such residences are very small and are inhabited by unmarried or widowed women.

Socio-economic adaptation:

Socially, the orientation of the Jarawas can be discussed in a few special categories. such as

(a) Family making: 

A jaroa family consists of husband, wife and their children. Jarwa children spend only six to seven years with their parents. Since then the unmarried boys and girls have taken shelter in Thorkalang and Thorkongo. From a very young age, Jaroa offspring travel in groups and participate in hunting and gathering food. Jaroah children get a chance to form a new family after marriage.

(b) Marriage: 

The boys and girls of Jarwa society enjoy considerable freedom from a very young age. Therefore, most of their marriages are done in the teenage years. Especially Jarwa boys get married at the age of 18-20 and Jarwa girls at 14-15.

According to the prevailing custom here, only after the girls get their period, an elder person in the family starts talking about their marriage. During this time the girl has to live separately outside the group for a few days and the future husband chooses her as his life partner. Childbearing girls are kept apart, but the entire family looks after them. Children are given other foods along with mother's milk till the period of 2-3 years after birth.

(c) Social structure:

 In Jarwa society, most of the work is done by men. Basically all the hunting, house building, food gathering are done by them. Women also participate in some small-scale hunting and food gathering. Children are never neglected in Jarwa society. Jarwa society as a whole is dominated by different clans. Three distinct groups can be found in their society, namely-

(i) Family :

 The Jaroad family is said to be a private group. This type of family consists of husband, wife and children.

(ii) Local groups: 

Such small groups are locally self-completed through constant disintegration. There are occasional additions or deletions to their groups.

(iii) Regional Groups : 

The territorial group of Jarawas is quite large. Each regional group has different foraging and hunting areas, with one group not allowed to enter another group's territory without permission. However, sometimes exchange of food items or gifts is observed between two separate regional groups.

The Jaroa community calls the sun 'Ehey', clouds 'Ethibithi', high tide 'Chakte' and low tide 'Chigia'.

(d) Culture:

 Their gregarious nature has particularly influenced Jarwa culture. The ever-joyful Jarwa community dances and sings in the bright full moon nights. Both men and women adorn themselves during this time. Jaroad dance is known as 'Paloha' and song is known as 'Gegap'.

 (e) Productivity : 

As Jarwa society is based on a primitive economy, all the people here make a living through food gathering and hunting rather than directly involved in production. The tropical forests of the Andamans are considered a great treasure trove by the Jaroa people.

(f) Distribution:

 Whatever the Jarawas collect from nature, it is shared equally among all members of the group. There is no such thing as private ownership in this society. Barter practices are often observed between more than one Jaroah group around collected food items. No one is deprived in Jarwa society. 

(g) Death: 

After the death of a Jaro, the body is hanged from a tree according to the local custom. After a few days, when it decomposes, a bone or mandible of the dead body is tied with a rope and hung around the neck. In this way the Jarawas pay their respects to the deceased.

Problems of Jarwas Community:

The Jharora community has been plagued by problems for a long time. 

For example-

(i) Arrival of foreigners : 

The arrival of non-Jarwas community in the Jarwa society is a big problem. Such outsiders misbehave or abuse Jarawas as a barbaric race.

(ii) Impact of Tourism :

 The Andaman Trunk Road (NH4), which tourists use to travel to Andaman, is built through the Jaroa-dominated region. Even in 2006, a resort of Indian tourism center was developed just 3 km from Jaroa settlement. As a result, sometimes tourists try to capture the Jarawas on camera by tempting them with different foods. Many Jaroas were very embarrassed by this.

(iii) Dominance of Smugglers : 

Recently, due to the attraction of Andaman's huge natural resources, the dominance of various smugglers is gradually increasing in the Jaro land, as a result, they often clash with the Jarayos.

(iv) Sexual abuse: 

Sometimes some drunken miscreants from outside forcefully pick up Jarwa women for money and food and sexually abuse them.

(v) Land possession: 

Due to the construction of new roads, human safaris, illegal hunting, etc., the Jaroas are slowly losing their habitat through the various Jaroa-inhabited forests of Andaman.

(vi) Conflict life: 

Jarawas have been involved in various conflicts since ancient times, viz

• During 1875-1900, the British forcibly uprooted the Jaroas from their old settlements, leading to fierce clashes between the British and the Jaroas.

• To prevent Jarawas from infiltrating English settlements near Port Blair, the British formed a security force called 'Bush police', with whom many Jarawas were killed in clashes.

• The Japanese bombarded the Andaman-Nicobar from 1942-45 when it was under Japanese occupation. Numerous Jaroas destroy settlements.

(vii) Prevalence of disease : 

During the colonial era, the British tried to communicate with the Jarawas when they came to India. As a result, between 1875-1890, measles (Measles) and Syphilis (Syphilis) diseases spread in the form of epidemics in English contact.

* Changes: 

Although the Jaroa community survives the hostile environment and conflict life of Andaman today, their traditional way of life has not changed much. Because—

(i) Jarawas are accustomed to living a spontaneous and self-reliant life in a free environment.

 (ii) Jarawas have detailed knowledge of 350 animal species and more than 150 plant species of Andaman.

(iii) All their means of survival are protected by nature. So Andaman's forests provide much more than they need.

(iv) However, the Government of India has recently taken several steps to sustain the existence of the Jarwa people, 

For example-

(a) Realizing the multiple problems of the Jarawas, the Supreme Court has banned all types of tourism activities throughout the Jarwa inhabited areas.

(b) In order not to embarrass the Jaro people, the area up to 5 km from their settlement area has been designated as 'Buffer Zone'.

(C) The Andaman administration in 2004 called for maximum autonomy and minimum interference in the Jaroah way of life.

(d) Apart from that, the Government of India provides life-saving medicines to the Jaroa people in various ways to save them from various diseases.

Conclusion: 

At present, national and international experts are quite concerned about the future of the Jarwa community. At the rate at which the Jaroa population is declining, they may become extinct at some point in the future. Although the Jaroas are the control of the future, even the outsiders of Andaman have to be sensitive enough about the Jaroas. Because the way modern technology has touched the Andaman Islands, it is truly dangerous for the survival of the Jarawas. In the book 'Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of India' recently published by the Anthropological Survey of India, the biographical research paper of the Jarawas has been beautifully analyzed.