Quite a handful of tribal communities have settled down in large numbers in several provinces of Himachal Pradseh. Amongst them , the tribal community of Kinnaura has drawn the attention of almost all the anthropologists of the Indian subcontinent. There are some people of Indian subcontinent who call Kinnaura tribal community in another name. It is Kinor. Not only that, as per the provision of the Constitution of India , these Kinnaura tribal community has been considered to be one of the Scheduled tribes of the state of Himachal Pradseh.
Numerous surveys have been conducted in the region in order to know the exact location of the settlement of this Kinnaura tribal community. In the western Himalayas, this Kinnaura tribal community is found in Baspa/Sangla valley that is located in high altitude of the Kinnaur district. Other regions where these Kinnaura tribes are located include Batseri/Bosering, Rakchham and Chhitkul.
No tribal community is considered to be enriched unless there has been exuberance in the culture and tradition of that society. In that regard , it can be rightly said that this Kinnaura tribal community is ennobled as depicted in all the elements . Dancing , singing , festivals and languages - all these bore witnesses of it.
This Kinnaura tribal community has got physical stature that has got resemblance to the race of the Mongoloid. This obviously establishes the fact these Kinnaura tribal community too have been descended from the Indo- Aryan tribal groups, also called Mongolians.
In order to sustain their livelihood, this Kinnaura tribal community has developed expertise in speaking the beautiful dialect of the Kinnauri. Under the influence of the tribal communities of Indian subcontinent, this Kinnaura tribal community have developed fluency in other languages like Hindi . Amongst these Kinnaura tribal community , there are Bhoti speakers also.
As far as the occupations of this Kinnaura tribal community are concerned, they following the tradition of most of the tribes of the Indian Territory, have taken up the profession of cattle rearing. In fact these Kinnaura tribes have the tradition of maintaining herds of cattle in their houses. Quite a few also practices cultivation. What is really interesting is to note the status of the women of this Kinnaura tribal community. Women of this Kinnaura tribal community are quite hardworking. Especially females of the Kinnaura tribal community practice weaving. This Kinnaura tribal community produces exquisite baskets and other utensils, which have got demand not only on the local markets but also in the entire nation.
As has been evidently pointed out by the anthropologists of India, this Kinnaura tribal community has less orientation towards education and learning. However, due to the initiatives of lot many NGOs and other social welfare organizations in the recent times, many of the Kinnaura tribal communities have showed interests to academics, Festivals , are also an integral part of the Kinnaura tribal community.
|