THE LOST TRIBE

India has a vast number of tribal communities living in the dark forests and islands but not many are left to tell their stories to the generations to come

- YVONNE JACOB

IF YOU’VE TRAVELLED TO GUJARAT, Odisha or even to the North-Eastern parts of India like Arunachal Pradesh, you’ve surely come across some of the tribal communities there. What’s most fascinating about these communities is that they all have different traditions and languages that they converse in. They also believe in different deities. However, irrespective of all this, not many are still around to tell their tale.

India has over 500 different tribes, all spread across different parts of the country. What keeps these tribes ethnic is the fact that they are completely cut off from people like us and they don’t speak our tongue either. Their communities also function much more differently than how our society usually works.

GOND TRIBE

They are one of the largest existing tribes in India inhabiting the central and southcentral parts of India like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. They mainly rely on farming and fishing to sustain themselves. Interestingly enough, they can speak Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Parsi, and other Dravidian languages as well. Another fascinating fact about them is that they have their own superstitions as well. There is no widow in the Gond tribe. They remarry the women so that she doesn’t face any ‘evils’ or bad circumstances in their community.

SENTINELESE