Andaman and Nicobar: History
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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2004-24: life after the tsunami
Saibal Sen TNN, Dec 26, 2024: The Times of India
Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair): Depopulation had almost pushed them to the verge of extinction. But in the last 20 years since the tsunami, Great Andamanese tribes — among the most threatened Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) — have now doubled from an estimated 35 before tsunami to around 74 now.
Winds of change in the last two decades are also evident in Adi Basera, a tribal hostelry in Port Blair. Adi Barera was set up by Centre after Strait Island’s 2.8 square kilometre (where the Great Andamanese were resettled) was ravaged by tsunami.
After the tsunami, they now have a woman chief, King Jirake’s widow Surmayi, first in their recorded history. They also boast of an engineer, an aspiring woman cardiologist and a lawyer, seven cops, one among them recently promoted as an ASI. Olake, the engineer, has cleared an open entrance to land a govt job, and his sister Techa cracked NEET-UG 2022. Their sister Elay wants to be a lawyer, the family insists on her being an IPS. But this phase in the last twenty years has also coincided with 13 recorded marriages, outside their own fold. A post tsunami research paper published in the Journal of the Andaman Science Association in 2022 says out of 13 such spouses surveyed, five are non-tribal males who married Andamanese girls as brides, and eight are non-tribal females who married Andamanese boys as a groom.
Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) researcher Nilanjan Khatua in this paper also sounds a word of caution. “As per their old rules for property inheritance, the youngest daughter inherits the deceased property. The youngest daughter is preferred to a son or sons, and the youngest son to other sons in the absence of any daughter. These traditional rules are no longer in their society.”
Khatua could not be reached for comment but anthropologist N Somorjit Singh, who now heads ASI’s Andaman and Nicobar Research Centre, said, “The tendency to marry outside their fold is evident. This can be due to multiple factors. We have recently got a nod for a more detailed and exhaustive research-survey on the Great Andamanese, which will try to understand their population growth. As per the index now, first generation children of cross-cultural marriages are also identified as Great Andamanese.”
Island born ethnohistorian, anthropologist Pronab Sircar, who is now a consultant with the Centre’s Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti (AAJVS), said, “The other aspect to it is also the strides these people are taking. In recorded history, we have never witnessed a woman leading the Great Andamanese. Though queen Surmayi is of frail health now and mostly stays in Strait Island.”
Sircar argued, “The vulnerability of the Great Andamanese, first after the battle of Aberdeen, and then due to severe epidemic outbreaks, had pushed them to the verge of extinction after the 1961 census which put their numbers at 19. Now it is 74. The gradual assimilation is their own choice, which should also be respected.”
Leading the change is Olake and his sister Techa. Techa was recently felicitated by the Andaman and Nicobar administration for scripting history by cracking NEET UG, the first among the aborigines. Techa aspires to be a cardiologist but is very clear in her mind she will never leave home. Techa who was unwell could not speak but responded once to TOIon WhatsApp. Interestingly, an Andaman Chronicle 2022 report suggested that Techa’s stepmother Shanti Devi, a non-tribal, had helped her to complete her schooling. Shanti Devi had married Techa’s father Look but separated later. Techa’s own mother Koba had died when she was very young. Sircar also added, “It is not just about higher studies, Jorel Ang for example is a very good archer who is competing at the state and national levels.”
