Ethnographic Profile of Savara
The Savara are one of the most primitive tribes of Andhrapradesh. They are mainly found in the picturesque Palakonda hill ranges (part of Eastern Ghats) of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. They are also found scattered in the district of Vishakhapatnam of Andhrapradesh. About 9o% of Savara in Andhrapradesh are concentrated in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. They belong to Proto-Australoid racial stock.
On the basis of physical features the Savara habitat can be divided into two distinct zones: (1) the hill settlements and (2) the foothill settlements. The hill settlements, as the name suggests, are mainly in mountainous country, of late large number of these settlements are accessible by road. Only during the last ten years have the Savara of these settlements come in contact with the outside world, mainly due to the penetration of the Christian missionaries, who are organizing the promotion of the Gospel of Christ. For all practical purposes the normal administrative machinery of government was absent in the past, except for the activities of forest guards. Contact with the outside world is only peripheral, and the Savara of these settlements have remained food gatherers and shifting-cultivators.
The second zone, the smaller of the two in terms of population and number of settlements, consists of the foothill settlements of Savara along the Eastern Ghats. These settlements came in touch with outsiders much earlier than the hill settlements, and these contacts have increased in the last two decades due to the migration of non-tribal into tribal areas. The Savara of these settlements cultivate terraced land with ploughs, like the Jatapu of the foothill settlements.
Etymologically, in Sanskrit, Savara or Sabara means a mountaineer. It is believed that savaras were one of the indigenous tribes of pre-historic India adept in manufacturing painted pottery and even copper tools and weapons. H.D.Sankalia was of the opinion that “the bearers of the Nevasa – Nevadatoli culture as well as of the copper hoard belong to indigenous tribes, such as Nishads, Pulindas, Savars, some of whom though now quite primitive might have made 3000-4000 years ago beautiful painted pottery and even copper tools and weapons”. The savaras were the first tribal groups mentioned in the Hindu epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Sri Rama, during his wanderings in search of sita, is said to have met an aryanised savara women by name Sabari.
They were considered to be the descendants of sage Viswamitra, who lived round about 800BC. During Mahabharata, sahithya darpana mentioned that the Sabari and Ahiri dialects were spoken by the leaf-gathering and wood-cutting people, the sabaras.
In olden days, the savara country was very extensive, spreading on either side of the vindhyas – up to the Ganges in the north and the Godavari in the south. They were further found to have inhabited the country as far south as the pennar river and also along the valleys of the Krishna river. In course of time, unable to withstand the onslaught of the Aryans, they fled to the hills and forests away from the abode of the Aryans.
Savara occupy more remote and mountainous areas and are characterized by small close-knit communities. In the foothill areas their area of habitation i.e., village is clearly demarcated from other Jatapu villages.
Till 80’s there was no transportation facility or roads and only in the recent decades, due to development of road transport, implementation of tribal development schemes and schools were established. Several plains people migrated to agency tracts for business, employment and other means. Then, local tribal came into contact with non-tribal people bringing some socio-cultural change among Savara. Non-tribal contact can be considered as one of the important determinant of change in the cultural, social and economic life of Savara. Here, the term social is referred to mean network of social relations, roles and interaction of people in a society. While culture applies to the artifacts, mentifacts, institutions, values, ideas, technology and other symbolic systems that direct the human behavior in the patterned society of Savara.
Culture change is the process by which the existing order of the society is transformed from one type into another. The change occurs due to endogamous independent inventions, conflicts and reconciliations between incompatible points within the system. Firth (1951) states that interaction with other cultures introduces exogamous change. Outsiders, accidentally or spontaneously communicate new ideas resulting in the diffusion of selected ideas. Structural change occurs if new procedures alter or influence the basic relationship between the members of the society. Usually, change is brought first in technology, economy and slowly in non-material objects. The primitive tribal societies like Savara are relatively stable and integrated. However, they may disintegrate followed by reintegration in the process of social evolution by the disappearance of simple system in favour of complex system.
Malinowski (1954) in his book ‘The Dynamics of Culture Change’ clearly explained the impact of contact on culture. Srinivas (1972) discussed the process of cultural change in India and introduced the concept of Sankritization referring to the process of adoption of customs, rituals and ideology of higher castes by the lower ones. Redfield used the concept of ‘Great and Little Traditions’ in the study of great traditional elements (Parochialization) and upward movement of little traditional elements (Universalization) occur due to interaction of cultures.
In the present ethnographic study of Savara change in cultural practices and organizational setup is definitely observed in Savara society and the impact is more on people living in PubbadaGuda, KilladaGuda and SeedhiGuda villages than PongalamGuda, JalubuGuda, JaggadiGuda, AppannaGuda, ChadhunuGuda and Pandra villages of Seethampeta mandal due to more exposure and contact with alien culture in the former villages.
AREA AND CLIMATE
The habitat is hilly terrain. The average altitude of hilly terrain is around 1000 ft to 5000 ft above mean sea level. Climate is temperate to warm ranging from 43oC to 13oC, low humidity, thin to medium forest cover and medium to above mean rainfall. The heavy and incessant rains of the south-west monsoon and the north-east monsoon lash the eastern ghats of the region feeding waters to innumerable fast flowing hill-streams, rivers and rivulets. About 2/3rd of the rainfall is received from the south-west monsoon (June to September). The climate where Savara are living has its influence on the food habits, dressing, housing and cropping pattern. Climate plays a very significant role in the lives of Savara. Whenever there are changes in climate i.e., scanty rainfall or heavy rainfall it would directly affect the economy of the Savara due to low agricultural yield.
SUB-DIVISIONS
The Savara social structure does not present a uniform pattern throughout the various parts of the habitations in the country. The Savara living in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and other parts of the country have varied cultural, social, political and linguistic patterns. This complex cultural frame work is amply illustrated by the fact that the Savara society in general consists as many as twenty six (26) endogamous divisions with or without the presence of clear cut exogamous sub-divisions. The following are the names of the endogamous groups present among the Savara of the country. Arsid Savara, Bhima Savara, Besend Savara, Bobbili Savara, Dondiya Savara, Goutara Savara, Jadu Savara, Jara Savara, Jati Savara, Jurai Savara, Kampu Savara, Kindal Savara, Kimsed Savara, Kudumba Savara, Kumba Savara, Lambolanjia Savara, Luang Savara, Malia Savara, Mara Savara, Moni Savara, Milu Savara, Mutta Savara, Sarada Savara, Sudda Savara, Tekkali Savara and Kapu Savara.
According to Sir Edgar Thurston, Savara are divided into two broad groups viz., Hill Savara and Plain Savara.
LANGUAGE
Savara speak Savara language which belongs to the Kol-Munda group of Austro-Asiatic family of languages. They are generally bilingual. Those in the plains lost touch with the original language and speak Telugu only. . The Savara language has a complicated grammar, in particular its verb system. A Savara verb can effectively compact an entire sentence into just a single word. In some areas, the younger generations no longer speak Savara. With no official support, the long-term prospects for the survival of the Savara language are not good.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
People of Savara resemble the predravidian tribes with long heads and flat noses. The brow ridges are prominent. There is a depression at the root of the nose. The hair is generally curly and the skin color is brown to dark brown. The Savara are not strongly built, but they are physically well built in comparison to the tribes of north coast Andhra. The Savara men are dexterous marathon walkers. They are also expert climbers and hunters. The most remarkable point of men from the Savara tribe is his dexterity in climbing hills and efficiency in maneuvering the intractable forest land.
VILLAGE AND HOUSE
The housing pattern of the Savara is of linear type. The villages where Savara live are usually at the hilltops of Eastern Ghats (Palakonda Hill ranges) between Vamshadhara and Nagavali rivers Vizianagaram and Srikakulam Districts respectively. The villages are relatively small with ten to twenty families. The Savara always live in exclusive settlement of their own. They never build their houses in the company of either the other tribal or non-tribal groups. Villages are homogenous, exclusively inhabited by Savara People.
A typical house is square or rectangular single room with mud plastered walls supported with bamboos. The roof is thatched and covered by locally available Dhabba grass. All other supporting structure is made of bamboo, collected from adjacent forest. The roof slopes down to front and back side of the house. Usually the roof is further extended on one side of house to form a small verandah. The room has no windows except one entrance door. It appears that the low roofs without any ventilation are for protecting themselves from cold winds during winter season and to avoid damage to mud walls due to rains. They cook food outside the house i.e., in verandah. They divide the verandah into two portions and use corner place for cooking and other portion to accommodate/entertain guests. They decorate walls by applying red coloured mud and they also apply cow dung on floors and on mud walls to keep house clean. They believe that this type of arrangement keeps the insects, terminates, flies etc., away from the house.
Another significant feature of the Savara settlements is the presence of half a dozen or more Jeelugu (salpam) trees. An area with abundant Jeeluqu trees is readily preferred in case of establishment of a new settlement. In rare cases, Jeelugu trees are grown after the establishment of the village. If there are more number of Jeelugu trees, the villagers can honour their guests well. In marriage negotiations too, people proudly point out the number of
Jeelugu trees in their village.
The cattle sheds in the settlements are built a few feet away from the house. Since all the households do not require cattle sheds, their number is few. The houses are surrounded by these cattle sheds. Any space left between the cattle sheds is used to store the fire wood or grass used for thatching the houses. In some villages, on the backyard of the dwelling place, kitchen gardens are also grown. At the outskirts, under the trees, one finds menhirs erected in the name of dead persons of the village.
Of late, the state government is constructing double room concrete houses with windows for ventilation and lot of open space, as colonies under the flagship programme of INDIRAMMA (Integrated Development in Rural and Model Municipal Areas). Majority of villages have no safe drinking water facilities i.e., bore wells, community water tanks etc., They lack toilet facilities. Even though some Savara houses have toilets they prefer open defecation.
The Savara villages are situated in the most in-accessible areas and in many cases lie hidden in forest clad hills making it difficult to reach them except through zig-zag steep hill paths. They build their houses on the slope or foot of the hills.
DRESS PATTERN
There is hardly anything distinctive about the dress of a Savara man which consists of loin cloth about 6 ft long and 10 inches breadth. This may be plain or may be decorated with red tarsels at the ends. Occasionally they wear a single necklace of beads; a traditional dress of a Savara woman is a waist cloth with grey border which hardly reaches the knee. The skirt is about three ft in length and about two ft in breadth and for the upper part they wear another piece of cloth.
The Savara women use simple ornaments to adorn themselves. A few necklaces of beads, round wooden plugs, spiral rings made of grass, bell metal or aluminum in the fingers and toes, little rings in the nose, and metal anklets are worn by them. Their traditional dress pattern has been changed drastically, leaving behind only few people in the interior villages retaining their traditional cultural life style.
FOOD HABITS
They are non-vegetarians and eat fowl, pork, goat, fish (dry fish), forest animals (wild boar, wild sheep, rabbit etc.,), birds and beef meat. They also consume tubers of potato like savadi dhumpa, donda dhumpa, adavi dhumpa etc.,
The staple food is rice, jowar and millets. A change in their food habits is observed. They used to consume millets in the past, but now they take rice due to subsidized supply of rice through public distribution system. They also consume varieties of pulses, green leaves, edible wild fruits, roots/tubers etc., In the last fifteen years major shifts in dietary habits have taken place, and now Savara rarely dig for wild tubers.
Consumption of dairy products is marginal. They drink country liquor and bottled alcohol. They are fond of fermented juice (Kallu) extracted from Jeeluga Chettu.
FAMILY
Family is a primary social group, universally recognized to be basis of all human endeavour and activities. The concept of family has been found to exist since time immemorial and at all the levels of culture. In Savara society father is the head of the family. Descent is patrilineal or agnatic descent. Inheritance of property is also through father line.
The rule of residence is patrilocal. However, when a man acquires his mate through marriage by service (Kinarsung or Illarikam), the son-in-law agrees to stay either forever or for a fixed period in his father-in-law’s house after marriage looking after his assets. Usually, this practice is confined to families having no male children.
Traditionally, extended families were common, but nowadays the nuclear families are predominant among the Savara. Neolocal residence is common after marriage. All sons share the father’s property equally i.e., male equigeniture.
Monogamy is a rule but polygyny is also observed occasionally. So one can notice polygynous family along with monogamous families in the Savara societies. Among Savara family plays a key role unlike the other tribal groups of the region in view of the absence of the usual exogamous clans. This single unit of their social structure thus constitutes the nucleus and hub of their social life. Family is patrilineal, patrilocal and patriarchal.
The father or eldest male member enjoys the authority. Full authority vests in the hands of male. Women have no decision-making power, but she is consulted by men while taking certain important decisions. Every decision regarding household either it is economical, social, religious or ceremonial, the decision making power is vested with man. Even though women contribute to family income they have little or no control over family expenditure. Thus decisions regarding family affairs are taken by father or eldest male member of the family in consultation with family members.
Though the family, as an institution is permanent and universal in all human societies, it has undergone certain changes within itself as an association. Thus, compositional and structural changes sometimes take place within a family organization. The modern type of family found among Savara, is a typical example of this kind of change. The traditional extended family has changed over to the small extended family or nuclear family in the recent decades of this century, but this change has been basically structural. The functions of the family, however, have not been much disturbed in spite of the structural changes in the family. Under the impact of acculturation and increase in contact with caste population and other processes of change, the concept of family has undergone drastic transformations not only in Savara but all over the tribes of India. But in spite of the changes in the form and structure of the family, family as an institution continues in one way or the other.
The Savara families with surnames are classified into prescribed and proscribed families for entering into marital alliances. The social organization of the Savara is based on exogamous surnames (intiperlu). Each Savara family has a surname and follows strict exogamy at surname level. Some of the surnames of Savara are Areka, Konda Gorre, Biddiki, Mandinga, Puvvula, Kadraka, Emeriki, Cheemala etc., The surnames are associated to patri-clan.
KINSHIP
The Savara kinship terminology is mostly classificatory, through a few of their kinship terms are descriptive. The terms of kinship applicable to relatives, consanguineous and affinal, are strikingly the same. All the male grand parents of the speaker both from the maternal and paternal side are classified by the only term ‘Jojong’. All the female relatives of the third generation above the speaker are indicated by the term ‘Yoyong’. The collateral and the lineal relatives are not kept distinct, but they are merged together and a single kinship term expresses the relationship.
Inspite of the fact that most of the Savara kinship terms are classificatory, a few descriptive terms are also noticed. The following are a few such terms:
English Term Savara Term
Father - Vang
Mother - Yeng
Wife - Dukkiri
Husband - Ammonla
Father’s elder brother - Thatha
Wife’s sister’s husband - Saddu
Elder brother’s wife - Bonni
Younger brother’s wife - Koina
Wife’s elder sister - Kinar
Wife’s younger sister - Erriboi
The classificatory nature of the Savara kinship terminology has been shown by analyzing the Savara kinship terms and listings the number of relationships to which a kinship term applies. It has be found that relationship is traced not between individuals but between groups of individuals.
In this perspective, Savara society can be viewed as an ensemble of elementary family units. The Savara family is a social unit comprising of the immediate kinsfolk like mother, father and children. Demographic and ecological factors have their role in shaping of the Savara society as every member in the Savara society is directly or indirectly linked to each other in the social network. Institutionalized relations within the social web are reflected in their kinship terminology.
Some of the usages, which have social sanction and convention are considered necessary for keeping order and decorum in society. Those usages which are related to behaviours between kin relations are called as kinship behavior. In the society, there are different types of families and various degrees of kin groups that exhibit different types of behavior by cutting joke with each other or perform avoidance relationship, and such usages, verbal or non-verbal, constitute kinship behaviour, some of kinship behaviour which is universal in many societies such as avoidance and joking relationship is also found in Savara.
Savara observe avoidance relation towards daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, younger brother’s wife etc., and clear cut distance is maintained between younger sister-in-law and elder brother-in-law (husband’s elder brother) and elder brother-in-law and younger sister-in-law (wife’s younger sister). Similarly, avoidance is observed between son-in-law and his mother-in-law.
An extreme degree of familiarity expressed through joking relationship between certain kin relations by way of cracking a satire, taunt, exchange of abuse, obscene and vulgar references to sex, etc. Savara observe joking relationship between consanguineal groups such as grand children and grand parents, younger brother-in-law and elder sister-in-law (elder brother’s wife) and, wife and husband. A joking relationship, when not reciprocal, exercises a social control as it exercises correction through ridicule. Radcliffe brown regards the joking relationship as having a symbolic meaning. Joking relations may be only a kind of friendliness expressed by a show of hostility.
In Savara kinship can be based on unilateral descent i.e., to patrilineal. The Savara may have found that in the male, work solidarity is more important for them. This is, clearly seen in their control of allocation of goods and their role in offence and defense, which are most critical to the maintenance and protection of their ways of life. This seems to be directly reflected in the high incidence of the virilocal residence rule which ultimately produces the patrilocal family among Savara.
Savara have extensive kinship networks. They have kins in more than five villages. The kinship relations between villages are established through affinal relations i.e., marriage links. Marriage plays a very important role in kinship networks of Savara. Some Savara families in several villages such as PubbadaGuda, KilladaGuda, ChadhunuGuda etc., have kins in more than ten villages.
MARRIAGE
Marriage, a publicly recognized and culturally sanctioned union between a male and female, which is intended to be enduring, to give primary (but not necessarily exclusive) sexual rights in each other to the couple, and to fulfill further social functions.
The Savara follow strict endogamy at community level. One does not marry outside the community. The community endogamy is commonly approved and sanctioned by the Savara society, the breach of which is considered the breach of law. The sanctions may range from excommunication from tribe or from village, if the village is homogenous Savara village. The tribal council or tribal head impose sanctions and order tribesmen not to talk, exchange things, maintain relations etc., with the excommunicators, breach of which face several sanctions.
In marriage, endogamy is allowed at village and community level but not at lineage/gotra/surname level. Exogamy is allowed at village level, gotra level, clan level and surname level but exogamy is strictly restricted at community level. Any breach of the above marriage rules may lead to sanctions by society head.
Serial monogamy is practiced by Savara and limits themselves to one wife at a place. In case of divorce or death of wife, a Savara marries again and again, and remains to be monogamous. Polygyny exists in two specialized variations, sororal polygyny and non-sororal polygyny. In sororal polygyny the multiple wives of Savara are sisters. In non-sororal polygyny the multiple wives of a Savara are not sisters.
In the sororal polygyny form of marriage the wife of Savara encourages him to marry her sister(s) in order to avoid the division of parental property. This arrangement is to avoid unnecessary clashes between sisters regarding the property. But this happens only when all the siblings are females without a single male to inherit the property. But this is not the universal case in Savara society. Consanguineous marriages between parallel cousins i.e., among brothers children or among sisters children are prohibited. Cross cousin marriages (FSD and MBD) are more common and occasionally maternal uncle-niece marriages are also observed.
The preferential method of acquiring a mate among the Savara is by Marriage by Negotiation and mutual agreement (Penkui) which involves long procedure depending upon the talks of either party. The other methods of acquiring mate among the Savara are by Marriage by elopement (Dingdengboi or Dandaboi), Marriage by service (Kinarsung or Illarikam) and Marriage by exchange (Ulaiboi). Except for marriage by negotiation, for other methods there seems no ceremonial attachment. It is very interesting to note that among these primitive people, marriage by capture involving the elements of surprise and brute – force is absent.
Economic considerations are mainly responsible for the less number of marriages through negotiations and the large number of marriages by elopement as the former is very costly involving considerable expenditure on gifts, liquor etc., to would be father-in-law and the ensuing series of feasts during the marriage ritual while in the later case besides bride-price, liquor is served only on one occasion, thus involving less expenditure.
LIFE CYCLE CEREMONIES
At every stage of life from birth and infancy, through adolescence, youth and married stage, to death an individual is considered to pass through a critical interaction period in his group life requiring some super human powers to cope up with the life in the new social environment. Like his advanced neighbor the tribal also tries to tie over these crisis periods and plans to gain the necessary strength to face the new situation by enlisting the help of supernatural powers through performance of ritual ceremonies, magical rites and by observing certain taboos in a manner benefitting the situation. Further, these crisis periods are believed to be plastic times during which a man is more susceptible to evil influences of malignant with confidence and toward off the evil spirits, the various religious and magical practices have been evolved.
The Savara perform many a ceremony and magical rite to protect the man at every from birth to death and even after death to facilitate the fixing up of the departed soul in the neither world of spirits and tutelary’s. Even though Savara understand the relationship between conception and sexual inter – course, still they believe that human effort should also be sufficiently strengthened by the blessings of gods for the proper procreation of the race.
The Savara generally do not indulge in sexual inter – course during night time as they believe that female organs sleep during night times. The forest is preferred to the house for sexual inter – course during day time. When a couple is engaged in sexual activity in the forest two wooden poles or three branches are placed “x” shape indicating to others nobody should disturb them by going that way. But now – a- days the practice is on the wane and many of them are preferring night times for sexual intercourse in their own houses.
A woman is considered to have conceived when she misses her menstrual cycles (aganathi). Sexual intercourse is continued till the third or fourth month of pregnancy. Thereafter, it is prohibited as it is considered to be injurious to the health of the pregnant woman and the fetus. Neither food taboos nor work taboos are imposed on the pregnant woman but for restraining her from doing heavy manual labour. But a pregnant woman invariably avoids burial grounds and other places of spirit haunting to escape the haunting of evil spirits and the consequent abortion or still –birth. For suspected abortion magico – medicinal treatment is given by the “kudan or kudanboi”.
Delivery is always conducted outside the main house, either in the verandah or in the cattle shed. An enclosure is constructed by closing all the sides of the verandha or the cattle shed to provide privacy for conducting delivery. As soon as the expectant mother feels labour pains, she comes out of the house sits on a stone in the delivery enclosure, holding a strong rope or a rope sling that is hanging from the roof of the verandah with her legs stretched wide apart . The ‘kudanboi’, or, or any other elderly woman of the village conducts the delivery. Generally on such occasion, all the men folk of the village are asked to leave the village except on or two men who stand at distance in order to ready to help in case of an emergency . In case of difficult labour, one of the male members is sent to the ‘ kudan’ or ‘ Buyya’ to fetch some medicine. If a woman is suffering from difficult labors either the ‘kudanboi’ or any elderly woman inserts a kind of leaf in the hair of the suffering woman. It is claimed that as soon as the leaf is kept in the hair of the woman, delivery occurs without any further difficulty. It is very interesting to note that the Savara expertise in psychotherapy as exemplified in performance of the act of coconut –breaking intended to ensure easy delivery. In the psychological approach, the medicine-man stands out –side the delivery. In the psychological approach, the medicine – man stands out –side the delivery enclosure and holds a coconut in his hand and chants some hymns. He orders loudly (so that the woman in difficult labour may hear him) that the woman should deliver the child as soon as he breaks the coconut. He purposefully delays the breaking of the coconut on the pretext of counting numbers 1,2,3 and then breaks the coconut. As soon as the coconut is broken the woman usually delivers the baby.
If the ejection of the after – birth is delayed, the ‘Buyya’ or the ‘kudan’ is again approached. The ‘kudan’ gives the root of ‘Vuttaren’ ( acharanthes aspera ) plant and it is kept in the mouth of the woman thrice with the belief that the after – birth may come out without any delay. The ‘kudanboi’ cuts the umbilical cord with the help of a knife or an arrow – head (arm) and the placenta is buried at the outskirts of the village in dung pit.
Their hand to mouth living makes it imperative for every family member to work in the field or forest whatever may be their physical condition. Sometimes a pregnant women working in a field may deliver the child in the “podu” field or in the forest. At such times, if there is no other woman to help her, she herself cuts the umbilical cord with a broken piece of pot and brings the baby home. Immediately after delivery both mother and child are given hot water bath. On the day of delivery the mother is taken hot cooked rice without any curry. After having her meals, the mother starts sucking the neonate. The hot food served is believed to increase the milk yield with castor oil and gives hot touch to clear her bowels, everyday for a week or ten days from the day of delivery.
After delivery a women is considered to be under birth – pollution, the period of which usually extends to 9 days or until the “desari” fixes the day of purification bath. Until that time the woman is not allowed to touch anything in the house. The female child and fifthday in the case of male child, during which periods she continues to stay in the enclosure in the verandah. Afterwards the women allowed to entire the house. But she should not touch any of the household articles. She is permitted to sleep on a cot confined to one corner of the house.
The desari fixes the auspicious day for giving the lactating mother the purification bath and ceremonially introducing her to the household work for the first time after delivery which usually falls on the 9th day of delivery. On the fixed day, the ‘ kudanboi’ shaves the child head. The woman collects all her clothes and goes to the stream. After thoroughly cleaning her body, she washes the clothes and returns home. She keeps the neonate before the ‘lingor’ figure drawn on the wall, sprinkles turmeric rice and bows before it. From then onwards she is free to use all the household possessions and move about the house any restriction.
Savara custom of name giving is devoid of elaborate ritual. But for a few villages there is no special ceremony for name giving in general. Usually the child is named after the day on which it is born. The name of the child end with “a” if it is male child and “I” if it is a female child.
However, in some instances ancestral spirits are believed to disagree with name given neonate. This is expressed in the loud and continuous crying of the child after naming it. In spite of mother’s cozying, if the child continues to cry it is believed that one of their ancestors is reborn and satisfied with the name given to the child as it should be named after the reborn ancestor.
To identify the particular ancestor reborn in their family, the ‘kudan’ is approached with a ‘solla’ of rice and a small pot of liquor. The ‘kudan’ keeps the rice in a winnowing fan and starts uttering some hymns and falls into a trance. In the trance the ‘kudan’ loudly utters the name of the ancestor reborn. He also gives out the demands of the ancestor spirit which invariably includes a goat or other animal sacrifice.
The Savara marriage is not an elaborate affair. It is rather queer that the who spend most of their resources in observing a chain of festivals and ceremonies celebrate their marriage in a very simple way. There are various forms of marriage for acquiring mates. To mention a few of them are, marriage by service. Of all these types, marriage by arrangement is most common and held prestigious in the society as the Savara have negotiation is made between two parties having equal economic and social status. For a son of gomang (secular headman) another gomang’s daughter may be arranged and a royat (commoner) may not venture to propose for a gomang’s daughter.
The Savara do not observe village exogamy except where the village is inhabited by the members of one birinda. In big villages having more than one birinda marriage are often arranged within the village.
Since a woman does not change her birinda after marriage as it happens in other tribal societies where the woman adopts the clan or gotra of her husband’s family. Marriages are possible between a man and woman of his maternal side. But the Savara are not quite fond of arranging marriage with maternal uncle’s daughter. Only those who fail to arrange girls for their sons elsewhere select one of maternal cross-cousins for marriage (mother’s brother’s daughter). The father’s sister being a member of the same birinda there is little scope for marriage with her children.
The Savara cremate their dead but persons dying of cholera, smallpox and snake bite are buried. As cremation is a family function birinda members participate in it. Some members collect wood for the pyre and the girls who are trained to act as assistants in funeral rites fetch water and prepare turmeric paste,. Then, the corpse is carried to the cremation ground in a procession accompanied by a musical band. The next day they visit the cremation ground to examine the ashes with a view to find the sign of the cause of death. In the same day evening a fowl is killed in the cremation ground and cooked with rice which is shared by the members of the village. Then after a year or two the Guar ceremony is performed. On this occasion, Menhirs are planted and large number of buffaloes is sacrificed. This is generally followed by three successive Karya ceremonies in every second or third year to commemorate and to honour the deads of that particular period.
ECONOMY:
Savara are the best terraced cultivators. Agriculture, especially podu or shifting cultivation is the mainstay of the Savara. Terraced cultivation is mainly practiced by those living along the foothill areas of Palakonda hills or near the plains of hill streams. Hunting and gathering, forest labour, collection and sale of minor forest produce are other important sources of livelihood.
Their economy is still largely subsistence oriented and production is for self-consumption rather than for the market. Their method of agriculture is terraced cultivation and they also called shifting cultivation as podu (slash and burn or swidden cultivation), which is supplemented by hunting and gathering. The technology is still simpler, as swiddening does not need any sophisticated technological input.
The major crops raised by Savara are paddy and cashew. Savara also raise pulses like red gram (kandhulu), green gram (pesalu); vegetables like brinjal (vanga), chillies (mirupa) etc., Although there is hunting and gathering in Savara society, the bulk of their diet comes from foods that are cultivated. Perhaps 90% or more of the diet consists of domesticated rather than wild foods. Paddy is by far the most important food in the diet.
The forest on the hills is considered as a communal property. Unilateral decisions in the selection of plots for podu cultivation are not approved. The members make a collective decision with regard to selection of podu lands. The sites for Podu are selected according to a number of criteria, some ecological and some social. With regard to ecological criteria, they restrict site selection by excluding certain kinds of land as agriculturally not fit for Podu. Excluded is the land that is too rocky or too steep. Of land that is suitable, the Savara prefer, sites covered by well developed forest growth. Vegetation serves them as an index of the fertility of site. The thicker the forest vegetation of an area, the more years it can be kept under cultivation and the larger its yields But at the same time, the hillocks which include too many huge hardwood trees which would require too great an amount of labour to cut, is also not preferred by them.
Some other factors which influence the choice of the site for podu cultivation are, its distance from the village and the distance between it and other fields. The selection of sites adjacent to each other facilitates one to maintain close watch on his fields. Another very important feature is, even if a site is considered favourable for podu cultivation, they do not go for podu cultivation unless at least two other households of the village are willing to join them. It is strongly stated: "Whether good or bad, we should do it in the company" . This requires prior consultations and group decisions.
Further, the selection of more than one site depends upon the numerical composition of the households. The Savara consider that it is not possible to undertake podu cultivation at more than one site when the numerical size is less than five members. This is because; the cultivation of each plot of land (about one and half acre) requires the services of at least three adult members to work as a unit.
Before the start of activities related to Podu cultivation the heads of all households (or a representative of the household) formally assemble (as in case of ChadhunuGuda) or informally discuss (as in case of AppannaGuda) to take collective decisions. The site for Podu cultivation, the extent of area, etc., are all decided to the maximum satisfaction of all. Once the decisions regarding the sites of Podu cultivation, are finalised, next step would be to get the agricultural implements like barisim, gitti, todu, goddali, pandre kola, nagali, nolla etc., ready. Most of these tools have two components; a wooden part and an iron part. The wooden part consists of a handle and it is prepared by the Savara themselves. The iron component is prepared by Panodu., a Jatapu crafts man.
Thus there requires a lot of pain to raise and maintain a podu plot. Hence shifting cultivation become less important and tendency towards podu is decreasing day by day in Savara society. The main problem of shifting cultivation is its irrigation. It is not possible to irrigate the podu plots; hence one has to depend on rainfall to raise the successful crops. Failure in rainfall results in failure of crops. So Savara prefer settled cultivable land near hill streams than podu cultivation.
Savara raise pulses, pineapple, turmeric and grams in podu land. The settled cultivable plots near hill streams gets water from it. Thus irrigated stretches of cultivable land increases the crop yield per season than podu cultivation.
Apart from cultivation, hunting and gathering plays an important role in Savara society by supplementing them with meat protein. Savara hunt wild sheep, wild goat, wild boar, rabbits, fowls, birds etc., in the nearby hilly forests. Of late due to deforestation and restrictions on human activities in reserve forest areas the game of hunting is gradually discouraged.
Traditionally, Savara use common bow and arrow to hunt animals. Nowadays they are using guns, pistols etc., to hunt the speed game. Usually during summer months i.e., between April and June, Savara spent most of their time in collecting forest produce and food gathering. The minor forest produce gathered include adda leaves for leaf plates; yams like adavi vaimu, savadi dhumpa, donda dhumpa; and other produce such as sheekai, soapnuts, hill brooms, tamarind and honey. They also collect mango, jack fruit, citrus fruits, cashew fruits, etc., from the forest.
ECONOMIC ORGANISATION:
“Economic organization, a type of social action involves the combination of various kinds of human services with one another and with goods in such a way that serve the given ends.” (Raymond firth, 1952). In brief, it can be said that the concept and meaning of economic system with special reference to the tribal may be defined that economic system may have two important things, viz., the mode and structure of production and its relations, and the process of distribution existing and operating in a given socio-political setup.
The mode of production implies technique and organization of economic activities relating to production. The structure of production means social-relations in the performance of production activities and in the process of distribution between different social groups of the tribal societies.
The mode of production in Savara economy is traditional, indigenous and culturally predominant. The Savara work hard to get their livelihood to meet the basic needs of life as well as the social needs like the materials for rites-de-passage (life cycle ceremonies), through their economic performances. Herskovits has rightly said that an individual operating as a member of his society in terms of the culture of his group is the economic unit.
There is an absence of technological aids in a Savara economy which results in inefficient, inadequate or even wasteful exploitation of nature. Consequently, the bare minimum necessary for sustenance is raised with great difficulty. An economic surplus is rare in Savara community. Even though they get surplus yields they never sell it to the money market but they store it for future purpose.
The economic relations among the Savara are mostly based on exchange. Money as a store and measurement of value and medium of exchange is not used widely. Institutions like banking and credit are used only in dealing with non-tribal groups which depends upon the nature and frequency of contacts with them. They take loans from non-tribal and banks in order to raise their crops. They repay the loan amount after the successful harvest of the yield. Nowadays the private money lenders or non-tribal are investing the money on crops and taking shares from the yield.
The profit motive in economic dealings is generally absent. The role of an incentive is fulfilled by a sense of mutual obligation, sharing and solidarity. Co-operative and collective endeavor is a strongly developed feature of Savara economy. The rate of innovation, internal or induced, is very low and consequently they are stables and make hardly any progress.
The regular market as an institution along with its conditions of market like perfect competition and monopoly is absent. What comes nearest to it is the weekly market (shandy/santha) or festival and seasonal meets.
Specialization based on specially acquired specific technical abilities is absent. However, division of labour based on factors other than specialization, like sex, is widely present. Male ploughs the field, sow the seeds and collects the harvested crop. Female remove the weeds and harvest the yield. Children has limited role in agricultural activities. They help their parents in field. This is the mechanism to make the children learn about the agricultural activities. In general, children help their mother’s in weeding the crops.
The notion of property is closely related to display and expenditure of wealth rather than to its accumulation. Material goods, movable and immovable may be referred to as property and this entails the existence of some rules of inheritance. Both types of ownership, collective and individual are known to Savara.
The structure of the Savara economy is generally based on forest (Eastern Ghats forest) and hill streams. The simple technology and absence of technological aids is the other structural feature of the Savara economy. At the socio-economic and cultural level the family is a unit of both production and consumption. The community itself acts like a co-operative unit and the Savara are economically independent. The Savara economy has the close relationship between their economic life and the natural environment or habitat which is usually the forest. Besides the forest, the existing natural environment had molded their economy to a great extent.
Production, Consumption and Distribution –
The family in the Savara economy is the unit of production. Thus, the mode of production of Savara people is styled ‘familial’ or ‘domestic’. All the members of the family whether husband or wife, parents or children, together form the production unit. The allocation of labour, and decisions for food quests are taken at the family level. They usually produce what they actually need. Yet, it never means that the familial group is self-sufficient. They get the co-operation of individuals of other households too.
The family is constituted for production by possession of the necessary tools such as axe, weed remover, knives, sickle, plough etc., which are made indigenously. The children go out in the jungle with their cattle herd and some of them accompany their mother and sister to help in weeding the crops or collection of fire wood. Thus, besides the elderly persons the youth form the axis of domestic production. They also take part in their agricultural production i.e., preparing the fields, sowing, harvesting or in forest operation like collection of minor forest produce, hunting etc.
The pattern of labour in the Savara society is also based on family level. However, some Savara who are comparatively rich and have large fields, the labour is borrowed from their village or from adjacent villages. They are paid with daily wages. However, the division of labour is usually sex-wise as women are considered physically weak by the men folk. So women are paid less wage then men i.e., approximately Rs.90 per day per woman and Rs.140 per day per man. Men are paid with double the amount than women.
So far the consumption is concerned; the Savara economy reveals the nature of democratic system at the family level. The forest produce like the roots and fruits, or the hunting games if the animals have been hunted jointly by the villagers together, those are shared equally. However, the main hunters or the village-chief are given sometimes more shares. But, usually the democratic pattern of consumption is reflected in the Savara economy.
In distribution, they follow market economy (not a true market economy) i.e., they sell their product for cash. Except for turmeric, cashew and tamarind Savara never sell any product. They store the surplus paddy, pulses, grams etc., for future purpose in order to overcome the shortage periods. They treat turmeric, cashew and pineapple as commercial crop and sell the entire produce in the money markets. There is no sign of prevalence of barter system in Savara.
The concept of generalized reciprocity is well developed in Savara. General reciprocity includes in itself the assistance given and taken or returns, sharing hospitality, gifts-taken, mutual aid and generosity. The expectation of reciprocity is left in-definite, unspecified as to qualities, quantity and time. Values of return depend on the donor and the recipient.
Tribal market and Trade –
In addition to the system of exchange and reciprocity, the Savara people have their tribal market in their respective areas. Among Savara inhabited area no permanent markets exist except for weekly markets locally known as santha (Shandies). The Savara villages falling in a radius of 5-10 km have separate weekly markets which play an important role in the life of Savara people.
The tribal market brings together people from different ethnic groups not only for economic transaction but also for secular and religious activities in the tribal region. The impact of weekly market on the traditional life of Savara too has shown an attitude of accepting innovations. The market is the most powerful channel of communication in the tribal region. In Savara society, monetary economy has now percolated through the market only. Also the weekly market has obtained a place in the social organization of the Savara. It has proved that the weekly market is the best place of meeting and interacting together.
Weekly markets in Savara society also function as an agent of culture change. The weekly market is a centre which brings together a number of communities like the agriculturist Jatapu, the hunters and the food gatherers, occupational caste people such as potters, black smith, fishermen and many other non-tribal together. Tribal markets are also places where disputes of tribal villages are discussed and settled. Marriage negotiations are also done in the periodical tribal/weekly markets.
Of late, the government development agencies have also started to exhibit their development programmes such as posters of NREGS, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Pulse Polio Immunization etc., during weekly markets.
POLITICAL ORGANISATION:
The Savara have a traditional political organization at each village and region, having hereditary post of Gomango (secular head), Buyya (religious head), Mondal, Raito and Barik (messenger) discharging the function of a tradition court of law, by hearing both sides and awarding punishments. However, the Savara in Seethampeta have adopted Christianity in large numbers and therefore the traditional economy, polity and religion is at a cross road. Due to its impact, they have adopted modern ways of life by joining Govt. and Non-Govt. services.
Savara law is based on clan’s organization. It has territorial limitation. Savara law is based on customary law and usages. A strong sense of collectivism prevails in their law. The oath and ordeal are main mode of evidence. Punishment is awarded in the shape of fine, compensation to the aggrieved party, communal feasts etc., depending upon the seriousness of the crime and the capability of the person concerned.
The collected fine is usually spent in giving a communal feast or as an offering to the supernatural power for appeasing them. The most serious punishment among the Savara is excommunication from tribe or village.
The concept behind punishment among the Savara society is also remarkable. They believe that the punishments are to compensate the aggrieved, to purify the offenders and to re-admit the guilty person after paying a fine or after hosting a feast. Savara believe that a breach of norm is likely to affect the whole society. It is also believed that the punishment, awarded to the accused by the village council, is actually by the supernatural power.
The government of Andhra Pradesh has clubbed few villages together and formed a statutory village panchayat, the president and members of which are elected by all the tribal in these villages through secret ballot. The panchayat looks after general administration and the developmental works of the village.
The post of village panchayat president, mandal president, member of the legislative assembly, zilla praja parishad president in this area are reserved for scheduled tribes. Few Savaras are elected as village panchayat presidents.
RELIGION:
The Savara are highly religious with each and every natural phenomenon attributed to the works of some Gods, deities or spirits. Therefore, the customary law, values, norms are highly respected by all members of the society for the fear of inviting personal or communal harms. The social control mechanism revolves around the religious beliefs, which are very strong.
The tribal of Seethampeta observe a string of festivals. Some are closed affairs, relating to a birth or death within the family or daughter attaining puberty. Others relate to sowing or harvest time and these involve the entire community. Mostly, a festival is an occasion for a good of Mahua liquor or handia liquor, a game roasted on the spirit and a night of song and dance and reveling. But that is not the end. There is an animal sacrifice too for the deities and spirits must be appeased first, particularly the malevolent ones so that they will not face drought or sickness of land.
However, in the last two or more decades many of the traditional Savara beliefs have been superseded by Christianity that was introduced by missionaries. In many areas the shamanic and animist beliefs are distant memories, and in some areas, particularly around SeedhiGuda the graveyards of the ancestors have been destroyed. There is nowadays a move by Hindu groups to convert the Savara to Hinduism. This conflict has given rise to great tension in the area. Almost every day among the Savara, the living conduct dialogues with the dead. A shaman, usually a woman, serves as an intermediary between the two worlds. During a trance, her soul is said to climb down terrifying precipices to the underworld, leaving her body for the dead to use as their vehicle for communication. One by one the spirits speak through her mouth. Mourners crowd around the shaman, arguing vehemently with the dead, laughing at their jokes, or weeping at their accusations.
To prepare her for the important position of intermediary, a future shaman is visited in childhood dreams by helper spirits, who are said to turn her soul into a monkey to enable her to clamber down to the underworld. Later, the Savara believe, she learns to make this journey at will during a trance. She marries a helper spirit, bears spirit children, and makes a second home in the underworld, which she visits every time she dreams or goes into a trance.
According to Savara thinking, death is not the end of existence, but merely another phase. After death one becomes a powerful spirit with contradictory motives. On the one hand, the dead nourish their living descendants by infusing their growing crops with their own "soul force." In aggressive moods, however, they may "eat" their relatives' souls and cause in them the same illness to which the deceased succumbed.
At funerals and in divinations to diagnose the cause of illness, people stage dialogues to interrogate the dead about where they are--the landscape, the sky, or the underworld. A spirit that is trying to harm the living is presumed to be in a bad place. The relatives will then try to persuade it to move or offer a sacrificial animal as a substitute for the sick person under attack.
The Savara believe in and fear the existence of many supernatural powers. To ensure their protection and success of operations, various deities are propitiated. These deities and supernatural powers are classified into two forms namely Benevolent and Malevolent. Benevolent deities are revered and propitiated to secure their sustained blessings. Malevolent deities are feared and offered bloody sacrifices to escape their wrath.
Sickness, ill luck and other difficulties are attributed to the work of angered malevolent deities. Diagnosis and treatment of sickness involve a series of magico-religious practices besides administering herbal medicine. The native doctor is known as vejju.Savara firmly believe that planetary ill effects and witchcraft cause diseases and death. Whenever a person falls ill a physician or a magician is summoned, the reason for the illness is elicited, and remedial measures are taken.
Savara Art
Also the Savara tribal are noted for their paintings. Among the various tribes of Eastern Ghats, the Savara are known to have the best developed aesthetic sense. The tribal are known to decorate the walls of their home with paintings depicting birds and animals, men on hunting trails, their lifestyle, fauna etc. One of the integral elements of Savara paintings are the geometrical shapes that are used to create bold borders for the center-piece that is invariably drawn in fine lines. They are also known for their handloom products and particularly T-Shirts made by the Savara with a type of Warli painting done on them are very highly appreciated.
