Thread by @Kanishka4Kushan

(1)The British classified many local janjatis that resisted colonial presence as “criminal tribes”in the notorious Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.
“Tribe” is a derogatory Western term. In the terminology of Bharat, all these so-called tribes are jatis.

(2)Tribes are those jatis the West could not digest into its own structures of “civilization". In our system, they were always an integral part of everything.

(3) Ekalavya had the honour of being invited to Yuddhisthira's Rajasuya Yajna (royal consecration ceremony). Tribals are mentioned as parts of royal armies on all sides in both Ramayana and Mahabharata

(4) Even the Arthashastra mentions them as integral parts of royal armies. Stories of their relationship&loyalty to the neighbouring kings range from the ancient-in Kalinga against Ashoka, to medieval- Maharana Pratap and Bhils in Mewar, to the modern- Birsa Munda against Brits.

(5)Hindu Dharma is the only natural system which assimilated them- both learnt and taught from them-unlike cultist imposition/destruction by Abrahamics. For eg at Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneshwar, the Badu tribal priests have a higher authority than the Brahmans. Many more egs.

(6) Shiva as Kirata or Vishnu as Kaldutaka- we have many adivasi avatars of our gods. Many saints, rishis and maharishis were tribals too- for eg Matang rishi is quite famous mentioned in both the epics.

(7) Hence it is only natural that we keep alive this millenia old relationship (destroyed in the colonial period) and stop them from becoming slaves of Vatican or Arabia, inspite of the very similar outlook and natural bonding we have with nature n culture (prakriti n sanskriti)