ABSTRACT:
The Indian society is home to various species. There are about 500 tribal groups and their sub-tribal groups in India, who live in remote areas of the country, forests and mountains. With time, other societies and cultures kept getting incorporated. Despite this, most of the tribal communities were successful in preserving their cultural heritage. However, in some tribal communities, the culture of other Indian societies definitely seems to have disappeared, which is a factor in the change in their traditional culture. The study of tribes in India was started by British administrators, missionaries and travellers individually or collectively to know and understand their culture. Research work on tribes started in India after the establishment of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1974). Sir William Jones (1974) highlighted the importance of tribal chapters in “Nature and Man”. Generally, the general public knows them as Adivasis, Vanvasis, Primitive Tribes, Janjati, Van Jati. In the Indian Constitution, special provisions have been made with the objective of bringing them at par with the main society by naming them as Scheduled Tribes.