Historicity

The study of Tribe is new theme of study where the historians are taking interest in the contemporary period. I have made an attempt to develop an understanding about tribes in medieval India particularly during Mughal period. My study is related to the tribal chiefs who were powerful in their respective locality and sharing the economic resources of the state and also maintained army. The Medieval rulers faced a lot of difficulties to subjugate them, because they were having a large area under their influence and large followers of their clans or kins. Although we come to know that tribes could unite and form stabilized political institutions, the chiefdoms and kingdoms. But it is fact that some of them could develop into higher political orders, while several others failed to move beyond village or lineage headman ship.

• historians
• economic resources
• stabilized political
• Medieval Period

1. 1.Shihabuddin Talish, Fat-e Ibriya or Tarikh-i-Assam, (Persian version), p. 56. This is the Persian chronicle which gives the details account of Assam during the second half of the seventeen century. Mir Jumla invaded Assam in 1663 and conquered it. Talesh accompanied the Mughals forces; therefore he has recorded the contemporary struggle between the Mughals and the Ahom forces. He also describes about the geography, climate, society, tribes, fauna and flora, diseases and the various other aspects of Assam.
2. 2.Ibid. pp. 62-63.
3. 3.Ibid. p.59.
4. 4.Ibid. pp. 76-77
5. 5.Ibid. p. 77
6. 6. “The Sarki is a Hindi word, which means sky (heaven). There is corrupt and mystified belief in this regard that one of the forefathers of this Raja was the sovereign ruler of the angels. He descended from the sky by a golden ladder and got engaged in organizing important affairs of this country. As he found this land so beautiful and prosperous that he declined to return to his regional abode. In short, this idiotic and hopeless Raja surpassed his forefathers in pride, hypocrisy and influence. For a small mistake committed by the people, he renders the community helpless. And a petty fault he begins a series of cruelty on them. As a result his wife did not give birth to a male baby. He considered himself very unfortunate for not having any successor in the form of a son like his forefathers. He became distinctively notorious being unable to produce a son. Perhaps he has forgotten the proverb, “this kingdom after my death belongs to anyone who will capture it by sword”. Though he a follower of Hinduism yet he does not bow down before any idol. He considered himself as the greatest manifestation of the Divine Creator”. (Fat-e Ibriya, p. 66.).
7. 7.Ibid. pp. 63-64
8. 8.S.C. Roy, “The Effects on the Aborigines of Chotanagpur of the Contact with Western Civilization”, Man in India, 1982, 62(1): 65-80.
9. 9.Sinha, Surajit. 1962. “State Formation and Rajput Myth in Tribal Central India”, Man in India. 42: 35-80.
10. 10.O’ Malley, L.S.S., India’s Social Heritage. New Delhi, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. 1976. p. 80.