On the Future of Indigenous Traditions - Munin

Preface
This thesis, on the whole by making it a case study brings a focus on the Adivasis as
the indigenous peoples of India. It touches upon a few important historical facts of the
Adivasis groups now located in the central-east part of the country. Additionally it
goes on into the sources that determine their traditional institutions which play an
important role in their social and cultural administration and are the institutions that
manifest their social cultural identity even today. These institutions establish that
these groups of people are the historical communities who need their due recognition
to assert their collective rights within the present nation-state. This focused case
touches upon different perspectives on the collective rights vis-à-vis state’s individual
rights approach.
This thesis makes an attempt to bring forth the conceptual and practical realities of
Adivasis’ institution and its relevance today. This customary social-cultural institution
of the Adivasi peoples, symbiotically linked to the cycles of nature reflected in their
cultural practices, evolves a politics that needs to be studied in the discourse of the
modern nation-state.
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