Astronomy of three Indian tribes
M N Vahia
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, INDIA
Abstract: Indian subcontinent hosts a large number of tribes that have lived semi isolated existencewith their own intellectual traditions. Here we have report the principle astronomical beliefs of threesuch tribes in Nagpur region. The communities are conspicuous by their lifestyle and their habitation– in reserved forests of India. They do not have long term calendars – typically resetting them everyyear with sky observations (now handed down by tradition) and a count of no more than 3 years. We
discuss their principle astronomical beliefs reflect their relation with the land. Tribes with the longest
farming traditions – the Gonds have the most complex astronomical beliefs while the foragers likeKolams have a better memory but relatively less sophisticated if more imaginative astronomicalideas. Kolams also use sky extensively for predicting monsoon and have memories of eclipses.
Compared to this, the most recently settled Banjara’s have only a passing interest in astronomy anddo not look at the sky for any guidance.
1. INTRODUCTION
India has a large tribal population that has lived an independent existence over the millennia (vonFurer-Haimendorff, 1982). They have their own intellectual traditions that have not been
contaminated by ideas from the main stream India. With the programmes of Government of India tointegrate them into the larger national mainstream through education employment andinfrastructure, their traditional knowledge and belief systems are being lost. In order to preserve
records of their astronomical traditions, we spent about 2 weeks spread over 2 years understanding
their astronomical ideas. These are presented in detail in Vahia and Halkare, (2013) and Vahia et al.
(2014). Here we briefly summarise their astronomical beliefs and discuss its relation to their lifestyle.
2. THE INDIAN TRIBESThe three tribes we studied are the Banjaras, Gonds and. Kolams. Even though they share the samegeographical landscape of central India, and often live in the same village, their endogamous
practices and other tribal dynamics have ensured that they remain independent of each other.
Banjaras are a very large tribal group distributed in most parts of India and claim to have relation
with the Gypsies of Europe with whom they have a lot of cultural affinity and some genetic similarity
also. They speak a language with roots in Austro Asiatic with a heavy and localised admixture of local
languages. Conventionally they have been movers and traders running large networks oftransportation of goods across the subcontinent by moving in large groups with commercially usefulmaterial. They are therefore one of the most forward looking tribe conscious of their traditions.
With the advent of railways about 150 years ago, their major trading activities became redundant
and they were forced to settle down in different parts of India.
Kolams are one of the smallest and poorest of tribes who lived by forest produce until recently.
These foraging groups were also very mobile and only over the last few decades have they settled
into villages. In many villages the elders can recall their foraging lifestyle of younger days. With theirextensive knowledge of the landscape and the skies, they must have been masters of traditions offorest worship. They therefore also served as priests to the Gonds in recent past.

Gonds are the largest of Indian tribes which is largely settled in central India and have had a long
tradition of farming. They are also known for their independent traditions and farming methods. At
the peak of their cultures they had a kingdom extending over large stretches of central India.
All these tribes reside in protected forest of central India and survive on its produce. Education is
now becoming available to them and many youngsters often speak the language of their native state.
In general their religious beliefs rely on worship of Sun, Moon and supernatural beings who helped
their communities in the early times. However, their myths are not very well developed.

3. PRIMARY ASTRONOMICAL BELIEFS
In table 1 below we have list the primary astronomical beliefs of the three tribes.
Table 1: List of astronomical beliefs of the tribes and Hindu astronomy (Vahia et al., 2014). Cells in bold indicated their mostcommonly found beliefs.
BanjaraKolamGonds

Orion – HariniPleiades: Kovela Kor one large and severalsmall birds.

Orion and Tipan and the entire
farming scene around it.

Big Dipper as the cot of death
Jamakhat (Yamakhat)
Porya Tara – a morning star

Big Dipper Saptarshi is Mandater meaning
cot.
Three following stars are 3 people, aKolam, a Gond and Pardhan (chief).

Big Dipper Saptarshi as an old lady's
cotMorning and evening star

Subtara – evening star (star ofgood omen)
Comet star with tail

They know Orion as Tivpate

Comets as god's broom

Morning star is Vegud suka

Milky way

Shooting star as Tara tutgo

Evening star is Jevan suka.

Names of Sun and Moon

Milkyway (Mardaar wat)

Solar Eclipse

Pleiades as stones thrown to birds

Moon is called Chanda

Samdur Pegasus

Shooting stars

Glow around the moon topredict monsoon
Pleiades as a piece of jewelary
Jhumko tara

Five animals around Pegasus

Duration of Month and leap year

Crux as Mahua tree

Purad or Hola (Canis Major)

Pole star identified

Milkyway is Margam a path of the animals

Glow around the moon

Monsoon predictions bydirection of clouds
Crow nest and monsoon

Scorpius as snake

Names of months

Cygnus as Kavadi Kunde

SamudarTaurus when seen in the East
brings rain.
Moon with old lady and tree

Comets Sipursuca stars with tails

Scorpius

Bhori is Taurus. It is a bird (Aldebaran) withtwo eggs.

Topli

At Canis Major they can see theMedi
Solar Eclipses

Scorpius as Tuntor (scorpio)

Bohahari

Canis Major is Met. The ground is known asKalave.

Medi

Fox in the jungle

Shooting star

Glow around the moon and monsoon.

Rainbow
Asterism that appears like a spiralLunar Eclipse
Directions
Big Dipper Saptarshi as a spoon thatbrings rains
Orion as Kavadi KundeLeoMoon glow and rain

As can be seen from the table, the primary astronomical beliefs of the three communities vary verysignificantly. While Orion, Ursa Major and the concept of morning and evening star seem to be themost prominent associations with the sky, the importance of other observations vary betweendifferent communities.
Gonds have astronomical perspective that includes cosmogony and mythology as well as relation totheir daily life. For example, they imagine a magnificent farming scene in the region of Orion –Taurus – Andromeda. They also insist that Big Dipper should not set in the sky – an observation thatwould have been real around 1000 AD. They also see a procession of death in Leo and use it as areminder to what nature can do if they do not respect it.
Compared with this Kolams are more sensitive to local omens. They use the sky to predict monsoon
in an intricate manner. They predict the strength of the monsoon by studying the glow around themoon and the brightness of constellations around Pegasus or Centaurs. They have a strong beliefs
on Solar eclipses with total eclipse being good while eclipse where only upper or lower part iscovered as unholy for humans and animals respectively.
Banjaras are not very enthusiastic sky watchers. They used terrestrial omens to predict monsoons
and see bits jewellery in Pleiades and some commerce on the Moon.
The difference between the three tribes correlates well with their relation to land. Gonds with thelongest farming traditions have the most extensive astronomy while Kolams who have been foragers
have a more direct approach to sky and omens. Banjaras who have been settled only recently do
not have any particular love for the night sky.
References Vahia, M.N., and Halkare, G., 2013. Aspects of Gond astronomy. Journal of Astronomical History
and Heritage, 16, 29-44.
 Vahia M N, Halkare G, Menon Kishore and Calamur Harini, 2014, Journal of Astronomical History
and Heritage, vol 17(1), in press.
 von Fürer-Haimendorf, C., 1982. Tribes of India: The Struggle for Survival. Berkeley. University ofCali-fornia Press. The digital version of the book is available at:
http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8r29p2r8&brand=ucpress.