On the Future of Indigenous Traditions - Munin

colonized. It falls under the Wilkinson Rule established in 1837 in Jharkhand while
the other parts of the region managed under the CNTA and SPTA.
According to findings of Sunder, the Kolhan estate office (West Singhbhum district)
maintains a list of 26 “pirs” and has given the mankis and mundas “hukuknamas” (a
formal record of rights). Up to 1992 they were paid a symbolic stipend (Rs 75-100) in
addition to a revenue commission. The rights and duties of the mundas and mankis
include: the right to settle waste (which meant no-one went landless for long); the
right to collect revenue; to arrange for and maintain natural irrigation sources and
fallows; to act as police head for his village/pir and maintain law and order; to engage
in social forestry; to protect protected forests and reserved forests. 135 Wilkinson’s
Rules (1837), still in force for the Kolhan, provided for disputes to be settled by local
panchayats, and prohibited lawyers. In the rest of Chhotanagpur too, the rights and
obligations of village headmen are part of the record of rights of each village under
chapter XV, Sec 127 of CNTA. Their duties are similar to that of Ho mundas.
However, unlike the recognition given to Ho mankis and Santhal parganaits
there is no formal recognition of the parha system of the Mundas and Oraons. 136 In
my field work, I talked to one of the Mankis from this region. His statements and two
of the cases from his court I have presented as an illustration here.
4.4. The case illustration of Shivcharan Parya, the Manki of
Charai Pir:
Shive Charan Parya, is a Manki (chief according to the customary system) of Charai
Pir in Chaibasa who belongs to the Ho Adivasis group in south of Jharkhand. He
explains how the customary system works and how he has used his position to settle
social and legal disputes within his Pir which includes 28 revenue villages in the
Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. He says, if he is called outside his work area he
goes there as one of the “teen Manki”. This is a special court based on the customary
system including three different Mankis from different Pirs. If the member of the
community does not accept the judgment of the Manki he/she makes an appeal to the
135 ‘Kolhan Ksetra mein Manki/Munda ka Dayitva’, Notice issued by Kolhan Estate Superintendent,
Cited by Nandini Sunder in Economic and Political Weekly, op. cit.
136 Sundar, Nandini. “Custom' and 'democracy' in Jharkhand (Land and identity in Jharkhand)”.
Economic and Political Weekly 40/41 (October 8, 2005): 4430-4434.
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