Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Tribe in Making: A Study on Oraon Tribe in Barak Valley Region of Assam

Nabarun Purkayastha

Oraon in large number live in Chhotonagpur plateau in Indian since centuries. They used to maintain ecofriendly life depending entirely on forest and hill. Their life started to become miserable when they came in contact with outsider as well migrated to different regions owing to overt and covert reasons. Particularly in British colonial period their life became so miserable that many of them found no place in their ancestral homeland to maintain a normal life. They probably found an alternative to income when tea planters of Assam gave a lot of promise for better future in tea plantation work. Accordingly, believing on planters and their brokers they migrated to Assam without knowing that in immediate future they would lose their all bonds of homeland, kith and kin and even their own tribal identity. This study examines intricate relationship between Oraon identity and society in its historical context.