On the Future of Indigenous Traditions - Munin

The positive side of it is that people like him who have taken initiative for reviving it
have changed the opinions of many in the district. Earlier Adivasi people had
difficulty going to the “open market” (local term used for the District and Civil court
of the state) for land dispute cases which is not the case with the customary system.
He claims that there are “good people coming as initiatives are taken to find capable
people in the running of the customary system.”
While further explaining the nomination and appointment he also gives a background
of the basis in which a Manki is selected. He stressed, that their responsibility is to
represent and uphold the Adivasis collective interest and its values, and be fair in
decision making. With regard to the nomination and appointment of the Mankis he
says, “… in our great grand parents time to save our land and our regions… for
example, Icha Raja came and attacked several times to capture these regions… and
the one who led the defense line became their representative… people also gave him
their consent… the one who has the strength and the courage leads…” Thus people
nominate him as their Manki for his guidance and in return he has people’s support
and consent his social administrative functioning. Manki was nominated because
people needed him not because British officials appointed him during the colonial
rule, Parya argues. He further says, “The Manki system was here and where the
Manki system was not there it was felt that such a system should exist for better
functioning and co-ordination. And therefore through the British authority with their
hokum~nama they were appointed.” Here we also find that there are different pirs,
each one has its own area and villages. In one pir there can be one Manki or more
than one. For example, Parya is responsible for 28 villages, likewise there is a Manki
who is responsible for 60 villages, but there is also one Manki responsible for just one
village.
What kind of functioning did the Manki system have during the colonial period and
how is it now? He answered to this question by saying, “A civil crime which needs
investigation such as murder, looting (taking away some ones belonging at gunpoint)
with a death threat and rape etc. is handed over to the state police whereas the other
disputes are handled by Manki because these [former] were a new kind of crime.”
Initially, Parya observes, that among the Adivasis such crime, i.e. murder, looting and
rape etc. were not known until recently.
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