On the Future of Indigenous Traditions - Munin

organizing their social governance system mainly, by not going into the details of the
different aspects of the customary system or law of the Adivasis of Jharkhand.
Anthropological scholars have done most objective studies of the Adivasi
communities in which we find reference to these customs and practices. Among the
most famous are S.C. Roy, W.G. Archer and K.S. Singh.
In the study of the political system of the Adivasis, any reference in the reconstruction
of pre-colonial customary social governance system of the Adivasis must be read
through the distorting prism of colonial records, which scholars have used. In
Jharkhand, villages were organized on the basis of lineages which jointly managed
resources as they collectively own the land and forest. This management system of the
Adivasis varied across regions and between different communities. How did this
management system co-inside with their own social system?
2.3.1. Division of Role and Responsibilities of leaders for Governance among
Adivasis according to their customary laws
For example, among the Mundas the headman is called the ‘munda’ and the priest the
‘pahan’, while among the Oraons, the headman is called the ‘mahto’ but the priest is
still the ‘pahan’. The pahan was usually drawn from the head of the lineage which
founded the ‘khunt-katti’ 39 hatu - village, and it was only later, if at all, that the
office of the headman was separated from that of the pahan. Gradually the secular and
religions function became distinct, and the next most prominent man was the munda
(in the case of Oraons it was the mahto) responsible for the secular affairs of the
village of the community. Here neither the munda nor the pahan has any right
superior to those of other descendents of the original founders of the village, the
39 Khunt-katti hatu: Village which has a status of khunt-katti. Khunt or khut: meaning either of the
two branches of the village family. Khuntkatti : where there is no zamindari – land lordship and no
individual owners of a village and all the land is legally owned by the village community.
(Encyclopaedia Mundarika, page 2382. By Fr J. Hoffmen published in 1960 in 16 volumes)
Normally in Khuntkati villages, villages are divided into Munda Khunt, Manki khunt, Pahan Khunt and
Raiyats.
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