Tag: community decision making in a tribe

The Ahoms are a tribe in the North Eastern part of India. They migrated from Myanmar to the Brahmaputra valley in the 13th century. The Bhuiyans were landlords.
The forced labour were called as Paiks. Ahom society which was divided into clans or Khels.

Considerable social change took place in the subcontinent from the 11th-12th century onwards. Varna-based society and tribal people constantly interacted with each other. This interaction caused both kinds of societies to adapt and change.

The Ahoms are  tribe in the North Eastern part of India. They migrated from Myanmar to the Brahmaputra valley. The Ahoms faced many invasions from the south-west. In 1662, the Mughals under Mir Jumla attacked the Ahom kingdom. Despite their brave defence, the Ahoms were defeated. But direct Mughal control over the region could not last long.

The Ahoms are a tribe in the North eastern part of India. They migrated from Myanmar in the 13th century. The Ahom state depended upon forced labour. Those forced to work for the state were called paiks. A census of the population was taken. Each village had to send a number of paiks by rotation.

The Ahoms are a tribe in the North Eastern part of India. Originally, the Ahoms worshipped their own tribal gods. During the first half of the seventeenth century, however, the influence of Brahmanas increased. Temples and Brahmanas were granted land by the king. In the reign of Sib Singh (1714-1744), Hinduism became the predominant religion. But the Ahom kings did not completely give up their traditional beliefs after adopting Hinduism.

The Ahoms are a tribe in the North Eastern part of India. They migrated to the Brahmaputra valley from Myanmar in the 13th century. Originally, the Ahoms worshipped their own tribal gods. During the first half of the seventeenth century, however, the influence of Brahmanas increased and Hinduism became a prominent religion.

Every village has a headman or patla who is generally hereditary. The nar patal still acts as the symbolic focus of the village in his hereditary role. an arrangement in which the son/ daughter gets the father/ mother’s title or property automatically after their death is called ‘heriditary’.  He is responsible to the Panch but in many cases he can be an effective leader.  While the panch only meet once in a while the headman functions on a daily basis.Whenever a headman becomes arrogant and goes against the wishes of the people, the Panch may remove him and replace him with another person.  Or the other families may just leave the village and settle in a new place.

In traditional Gond society, the village council or 'Panch' acts as the representative body for the community, reflecting the collective will of the society.

The headman typically handles the day-to-day administration and decision-making for the village, while the Panch serves as a deliberative body for significant issues.

In many traditional democratic tribal structures, the community council (Panch) holds the authority to hold the leader accountable, including the power to remove them if they act against the community's interests.