Page 71 - SST Class 07
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History

                                                                    The Gonds preferred to live in hilly, forest and
                                                                    rural areas. They practised jhoom       or shifting
                                                                    cultivation. In this, they cultivated a piece of land
                                                                    for three-four years, and then cleared more forests
                                                                    for cultivation.
                      Khasis                   Khokhars
                                                                    During the medieval period, the Gonds became
                                                                    influential in Central India and formed a number
            Activity
                                                                    of kingdoms. They were divided into several
            Collect the pictures of tribal dresses, jewellery,      clans, each under a rai or chief. When the Delhi
            dance and lifestyle and paste them in          your     Sultanate was beginning to decline towards the
            scrapbook.                                              close of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries,
                                                                    some Gond kingdoms rose to prominence and
            It depends on the number and importance of the
            settlers how they influence a place. For example,       formed powerful kingdoms.
            the Gonds settled over a large area and could play      The  Akbarnama,       the  biography    of   Akbar,
            no major role in political arena other than forming     mentions Garh Katanga     , a Gond kingdom in
            some small kingdoms at some times; but the              Central India that was composed of about 70,000
            Ahoms concentrated themselves at one place and          villages. Garh Katanga was composed of garhs or
            were reckoned as a political force and formed a         towns. Each garh  was divided into many chaurasis
            state.                                                  or groups of 84 villages, which were further
                                                                    divided into barhots  or a group of 12 villages. This
                    Just Think!                                     kingdom was prosperous as it traded in forest
                                                                    products and elephants. This was due to these
            What are the differences between the        settled     resources that Akbar invaded this kingdom.
            communities and tribal societies?
                                                                    With the passage of time, the Gonds identified
                                                                    themselves with the Rajputs. The most influential
                                  GONDS                             personality of Garh Katanga was Rani Durgavati     .

            The Gonds are tribal people who live in hilly or        She was a Rajput princess who became the wife of
            forest areas in the upper Narmada valley in             a Gond king, Dalpat     . The king died leaving
            Central India over the states of Madhya Pradesh,        behind a five-year-old son, so Rani Durgavati
            Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and           became his regent. The Mughals offered her to
            Odisha. This region is                                  accept   their   suzerainty
            called Gondwana     or ‘the                             and live in peace, but she
            land of the Gonds’. Some                                refused. So, the Mughals
            of the famous tribes of                                 attacked Garh Katanga in
            Gonds were Bhils       and                              1565 under the command
            Santhals . Like other tribal                            of   Asaf    Khan  .   Rani
            groups,   they    were    a                             Durgavati fought valiantly
            homogeneous group, that                                 and died fighting. Her son
            is, all their members had             Gonds             too died fighting.                Rani Durgavati
            equal powers and rights.                                A part of Garh Katanga was annexed to the

            However, when Gonds concentrated at some                Mughal empire, and some territories continued to
            places, the process of state formation began, and       exist as a Gond kingdom. They were finally
            some people became stronger and more powerful           defeated and driven to hills and forests in the
            than the others.                                        eighteenth century by the Marathas.

                                                                                  Mobile and Settled Communities
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