Dhanka

The Dhanka are a tribe of India who believe themselves to be aboriginal, although they are unable to assert from whence they came. They are historically neither Hindu nor Muslim and their occupations have changed over time, as circumstances have dictated for survival. Although similar groups in India are often referred to as adivasi, the Dhanka generally reject this term.[1]

The Dhanka name may be derived the somewhat pejorative word dhanak, meaning a forest dweller.[2] However, it could also come from dhanush, meaning bow, which may reflect a historic association with that weapon.[1] Tribal people - as agriculturists and hunters - historically carried bows with them everywhere.[3] Anthropologist Megan Moodie says that their history and culture is poorly documented and that what does exist "tend[s] to be brief and stress their 'insignificance' and lowness". She notes that they are a sub-tribe of the Bhil people, that they are today found throughout much of western India, and that there has been much official confusion regarding their identity, which has tended to impact on their position as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) entitled to various positive discrimination benefits. Much of that confusion centres around various names that have been posited as synonyms for Dhanka, including Dhanak, Dhankia, Dhanuk and Valvi.[4]

The Dhanka share many cultural similarities with the Rathwa and Naikda tribal people, and are largely indistinguishable from them. The Rathwa provide pithora ritual paintings for the interior walls of Dhanka homes. Described by Shereen Ratnagar as "vibrant colours ... teeming with gods, people, plants, birds and animals", creation of this artform is unique to the Rathwa.[5]

The 2001 Census of India recorded the Dhanka in the state of Rajasthan as one of the 30 STs which did not form part of the Bhil, Mina and Bhil Mina tribes. Those latter communities accounted for 93 per cent of the ST population at that time, whilst the combined population of the Dhanka, Tadvi, Tetaria and Valvi, which was recorded as being one community, comprised 77,047 people.[6]

References
  1. Moodie, Megan (2015). We Were Adivasis: Aspiration in an Indian Scheduled Tribe. University of Chicago Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-22625-304-6.
  2. Ratnagar, Shereen (2010). Being Tribal. Primus Books. p. 9. ISBN 978-9-38060-702-3.
  3. Ratnagar, Shereen (2010). Being Tribal. Primus Books. p. 8. ISBN 978-9-38060-702-3.
  4. Moodie, Megan (2015). We Were Adivasis: Aspiration in an Indian Scheduled Tribe. University of Chicago Press. pp. 29–30, 49. ISBN 978-0-22625-304-6.
  5. Ratnagar, Shereen (2010). Being Tribal. Primus Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-9-38060-702-3.
  6. Moodie, Megan (2015). We Were Adivasis: Aspiration in an Indian Scheduled Tribe. University of Chicago Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-22625-304-6.
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