South Asia: India, Giant of the Subcontinent - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 224

the Brahmaputra River. Incursions by Christian
missionaries and Bengali Muslims add to the fray .
The Nagas, who became Christian in the nine-
teenth century , have been up in arms since 1946.
They were granted statehood in 1963. In 1993, 316
people were killed in ethnic massacres between the
Nagas and the Kuki tribes in the Manipur hills. In
Meghalaya, the Khasis are rebelling against outsiders,
and Asom has witnessed rioting between ethnic As-
samese and Bengali Muslim migrants from India and
Bangladesh. If this seems very confusing, be assured
that this is only part of the story of tribal troubles.
Smuggling is another part of the picture. T Teak,
aromatic agar wood, jade, gems, and heroin are
among the smuggled goods. Eastern India is a key
route for the movement of heroin out of Myanmar.
Drug lords cum politicians rule their territories
with personal armies. Border towns are hotbeds of
crime and prostitution. Burmese girls, retired from
the Thai brothels because they are HIV positive,
now work here. Addicts number anywhere from
15,000 to 40,000 in Manipur alone. The govern-
ment claims that the HIV infection rate is more
than 50 percent.
Why does the Indian government spend so
much money on maintaining control of this region?
After all, it is attached by only a narrow , corridor of
land at Siliguri. New Delhi' s concern lies in the fact
that the region is of strategic and economic impor-
tance. It borders on four nations: China, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, and Myanmar. Further, it is rich in oil,
timber, and tea. It also has great hydroelectric po-
tential. Culturally , it is the meeting point between
Hindu-based culture groups and the animist and
Christian Tibeto-Burman people of the hills. Keep
your eye on this region as one of South Asia' s hot
spots.

Figure 8-8
Bonda woman and child. Numbering about 6,000, the Bonda live
in geographic isolation in the Eastern Ghats. They are hill culti-
vators, growing mangoes and jackfruit, but still hunt with bows
and arrows. Theirs is a female-dominated society . The very
independent Bonda speak Koui, an Austro-Asian language.
Photograph courtesy of B. A. Weightman.

Tribal Troubles

India has 255 scheduled tribes plus numerous un-
official ones. Many of these groups live in the East-
ern Ghats and the hills of Asom (Assam). In 1944, a
little-known but decisive battle was fought in the
hills and jungles around Kohima in Nagaland. Here,
the British broke the Japanese advance from Burma,
ending their plans to capture the Raj. This remote
region has remained fractious, with insurgencies
against the Indian government mixing with inter-
tribal conflict. Seven states cover the upper basin of

Caste as a form of kinship or marriage lineage
circumscribes who can marry whom and delineates mutu-
ally supportive behaviors and responsibilities among
members. In this context, hundreds of thousands of
castes exist. As members and nonmembers are sharply
defined, favoritism and nepotism to one group are
expectedby other groups.
Caste is not static. Castes' positions in relation to
one another are constantly being renegotiated on the
basis of fluctuating power, status, ritual behavior, political