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Onges: People of Little Andaman
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14392 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
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6 / 1988 |
5,491 Words |
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S.B. Mani
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Washed by incessant monsoon rains for almost five months in a year, then bathed by warm tropical sunlight, the Andaman and Nicobar archipelagoes lie about seven hundred miles east of mainland India in the Bay of Bengal. Although there are more than three hundred islands in these groups, some of them mere protuberances, less than forty islands have permanent human habitation. The Andamans are the abode of the Jarawas of Middle Andaman, the Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island, the Great Andamanese of Straight Island and the Onges of Little Andaman Island. These tribal populations belong to a rapidly disappearing racial group, the Negritos, which is not found anywhere on the Indian mainland. The islands' insular nature and nearly equatorial location (with its accompanying turbulent weather conditions) not only allowed them to retain their pristine beauty but also protected the aboriginals and their primeval culture from contact with the outside world for thousands of years.
Shaped like a flying fish or a butterfly, the island of Little Andaman rises abruptly from the sea. The blue waters of the Andaman Sea on the east and the Bay of Bengal on the west gently lap its white, sandy beaches. Covering the small stretch of beach that surrounds the island, morning-glory vines stand out like beautiful green lace against a white background. The beach is littered with branches of white coral, chambered spirulas, and bivalves--along with glass bottles, plastic materials, and pieces of nylon string that have washed ashore. Stretching over an area of about 280 square miles, this island shelters one of the important endangered anthropological treasures of India--the Onges.
The Onges are perhaps the most numerous and certainly the friendliest of the Negrito aborigines in the Andamans. While many ethnographic studies have been done about them, little attention has been paid to their adaptation to changing ecological conditions. New forces have resulted in some fundamental changes in the Onges' natural environment and resource bases during the past few decades.
After India's independence in 1947, the uprooted East Bengal refugees were resettled in the Andamans, with forest lands parceled out to the new settlers for agricultural development. Exploitation of the forest for timber is also rapidly reducing the available forest area for the hunting and foraging activities of the Onges. Further, the Onges have been sedentarized by the Indian government's creation of two permanent settlement areas. Under tribal welfare programs, some modern facilities have been introduced, including medical care and free distribution of essential food items. The short- and long-term impact of these forces and activities needs careful and objective evaluation.
The cannibal islanders
Ungracious behavior toward pirates, Chinese and Malay slave traders, shipwrecked sailors, explorers looking for precious minerals, and British administrators looking for a place to establish a penal colony earned the Onges and other Negritos a fearful reputation as "cannibal islanders." Old documentations of contact are replete with terror-inspiring tales of cunning, brutality, and cannibalism. Descriptions of the aborigines in these early writings appear colored by excited fear and fancy. For example, in Pinkerton's Collection Voyages, these natives were described as
people [who]
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