Traditional Power Institutions: Tribes in India

The Focus of the book is on the traditional power institutions prevalent in Tribal India. The book tries to explore the basis of traditional power institution called hombre in Jaunsar Bazar tribal area in Uttaranchal, which are abhor councils(panchayats) summoned in cases involving sex, property and status. These panchayats act primarily in cases involving traditional rules of behaviour. They usually assemble for setting cases of abduction of women or offences against lower castes. The struggle of the lower castes against the exploitative, arbitrary system of dominance has been a long drawn process of the struggle that evolved in the long history of the tribal societies. this mainly provided the dynamics for the nature of change in these societies at different levels. It therefore becomes interesting subject for social anthropologists to see the unfolding of the nature of change at different levels and times in the history of tribal societies.