SUMMARY
The Tripura Tribal Communities is in all-encompassing label for indigenous groups inhabiting India’s Tripura state, located in the northeastern part of the country. Northeast India, sometimes referred to as the “Seven Sisters” after the seven states that comprise the region, has since independence been a patchwork of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups. These relatively small and sparsely populated (by Indian standards) states, including Tripura, have experienced a turbulent history, stoked by ethnic tensions and insurgencies. One particularly prominent part of the social and political milieu in the region has been the demographic stress and conflict brought by the immigration from the rest of India and Bangladesh. The “indigenous” population of India’s seven northeastern states has commonly been referred to as the “tribal populations”. Many of these tribes, but not all, has received special protected status in the Constitution of India; the protected tribes are referred to as the “Scheduled Tribes”. The immigrant population of Northeast India is commonly called the “non-tribal” population, and is comprised of, for example, Bengalis and other ethnic or religious groups found in India proper. Among the tribal populations, there has often been a perception of discrimination, particularly compared to the “immigrant” non-tribal communities, but also between different tribal groups.
Since the 1940s, Tripura has seen several episodes of Bengali immigration, which has led to tensions between the tribal and non-tribal communities. The immigration has been a highly contentious issue, and some narratives among the tribal population assert that the entire non-tribal population in Tripura are foreign usurpers. However, immigration has been a large part of Tripura’s history and oftentimes encouraged by the historical rulers. There has been no radical change in the relative size (as mentioned, roughly 30 percent of the total population) of the tribal population since the 1950s. However, the tribal population lost its status as majority population sometime between 1941 and 1951, following a large influx of Bengalis caused by the partition of India. The tribal communities have often been treated as second-class citizens compared to the non-tribal Bengali population. The two tribes most commonly associated with conflict with the Bengali population were the Tripuri and Reang/Bru.
Historically, Tripura was a largely rural and sparsely populated tribal kingdom, ruled by a Maharaja, which in very few ways resembled the rest of what would become the modern state of India. The contemporary indigenous tribal communities of the Tripura state, which are all classified as Scheduled Tribes (a term recognized in the Constitution of India used to denote historically disadvantaged groups), consist of 19 different tribes. The Tribal Communities compose approximately 30 percent of Tripura’s total population of 3 200 000; the remaining 70 percent of the are made up by the “non-tribal” Bengali communities. The largest of the tribes is the Tripuri, which compose about half the state’s tribal population. Aside from the Tripuri, other important tribes are the Reang/Bru, Jamatias, Chakmas, Halams, Noatias, and Moghs. Historically the tribes were ascribed different roles in Tripuran society; for example, the ruling elite belonged to the Tripuri, the Reang/Bru served as the palanquin bearers of Tripura Maharaja, and the Jamatias made up the bulk of the army. In contemporary Tripura, the tribes are distributed across the entire state without specific areas occupied by each tribe, even if there are certain areas where each tribe are more prevalent; for example, the Tripuris are more concentrated in West Tripura, an area in turn largely avoided by the Reang/Bru.
The tribes exhibit distinct cultural identities, and speak their own distinct languages. The Tripuri speak their own language, Tripuri, but most of the tribe are considered bilingual, as many of its members are proficient also in Bengali. Bilingualism is in fact common in the entire tribal population. Some parts of the tribal population such as the Natun (“New”) Tripuris, those of the tribe that intermarried with the Bengals, have also taken considerable influence from the Bengali culture. By contrast, the Puran (“age-old”) Tripuris, who constitute the former ruling class in the state, have to a lesser extent adopted parts of Bengali culture. As a whole, the Tripuri are more socio-economically well-endowed than particularly the second largest tribe, the Reang/Bru. A large proportion of the tribal peoples adopted Hinduism, with Muslims and Christians being the largest minority religions; approximately 85 percent of Tripura’s population (both tribal and Non-tribal) practice Hinduism. The tribal communities have also seen an increasing frequency of conversion to Christianity, even if Christians remains a small share (approximately 3 percent) of Tripura’s total population. It is worth noting that Hindu-Muslim relations in Tripura have generally been more peaceful than in many other parts of India.
There has been considerable political mobilization among the tribal populations against the Bengalis, which has resulted in the formation of several armed groups promoting the tribal cause in Tripura. These groups, which have fought armed conflicts over territory against the Government of India, for example include TNV, ATTF, NLFT, and NLFT-B; for more information about the separatist conflict in the state, see India: Tripura. These organized groups have been known to participate in the violence against members of the non-tribal communities, carrying out one-sided violence.
