Tribal women mix freely with men in all spheres of life. They climb trees to pluck fruit, axe firewood and plough the fields. A tribal woman can resort to divorce and remarriage.

Though marriages arranged by parents are customary among the Adivasis, the more popular forms seem to be marriages of love preferably those made by elopement with the eloped lovers returning home after a few days spent in hiding. Their parents then complete the formalities and celebrate the wedding.

The custom of levirate is common among the Bhils, the Dhankas and many other tribes in Gujarat.

In the Ratwa community if two people are in love, the woman enters the man`s kitchen and starts cooking for him. His erstwhile wife, taking her cue from this, leaves the house, making room for the new `wife`.

Literacy among the Adivasis has spread with the opening of hundreds of schools (Ashram Shalas) in the tribal belt by social reformers.

The influence of the Christian Missionaries activities in Broach, Surat and Bulsar and of the Arya Samajists in Surat has had a considerable impact on Adivasi thinking. The enactment of the prohibition law has, to a large extent, helped in improving the tribal way of life.

The Adivasis have produced ministers and legislators in Gujarat from among the Choudhury, Vasawa, Bhil, and Dhodia groups. They are also to be found as doctors, professors, journalists, government officers, contractors, businessmen, lawyers and magistrates.

It is claimed that the Adivasis gave India her first civilisation. In the physical forms and physiognomical characteristics represented in the old sculpture of Bharhut, Sanchi, Bodhgaya, Karle, Ajanta and Khajuraho and also in their dress and coiffure, one can see the art prototypes of the present day Adivasis. The communities of the Bhils, Murias, Gonds, Baigas and Santals, from time immemorial, have inhabited the regions where these centres of artistic achievement are located. The affinity of the low relief wood carvings, particularly in the funerary pillars and temple doors of the Marias, with the style of carvings of the gateways of Bharhut and the Sanchi stupas, is unmistakable.

Among Adivasi arts and crafts the most interesting are textiles, wood and ivory carving, horn, bamboo and cane work and the making of a variety of archetypal bronzes used for ritual and domestic purposes. It is surprising how the technique of bronze casting practised in India from the proto historic age survives today in the Adivasi craftsman`s method of bronze casting.

The cult of the totem is an important feature in the Adivasi culture, which has conditioned the life and thought of the people and their arts and crafts. The totem is deeply revered in each clan and many of the significant forms and colours used by them bear an intimate relationship with their life. Totems are propitiated through rituals and magic.

Dance, with all its intricacies, is a salient feature of the Adivasis social expression and constitutes an important part of ceremonies connected with marriage, harvesting and funeral rites. The aesthetic awareness is also revealed in their personal adornments and belongings.