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Totemism and Tribes: A Study of the Concept and Practice

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 Totemism and Tribes: A Study of the Concept and Practice
Manash Pratim Goswami*
Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, Media and Mass Communication,
Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak (MP)
Email: mpgoswami@gmail.com
(Abstract)

Totem, the spirit or sacred object, or symbol or emblem of a group of people, such as family,
clan, lineage, or tribe, has special significance in the tribal life. They believe that totemic
character, sign, mark, letter, ideogram or any other identity, etc. serve as a reminder of the
ancestry or mythic past of them. It signifies a spiritual, religious, social and cultural association
between a clan or lineage and a bird, animal or a natural phenomenon.

India is the home to large number of indigenous people, who are still untouched by the life style
and beliefs. Of the 8.6% of the total population of the country (Census 2011), the diversified
tribal groups of tribal of the country are scattered across the country. The tribal people have their
own physical, cultural, religious and spiritual identity. Most of the tribes living in India believe
in the concept and practice of totem. The idea, concept and message that totemism communicates
has spiritual connection or kinship with creatures or objects of nature. The totemic belief of the
tribal people is not only an integral part of their social-cultural, religious and spiritual behavior.
The objective of this study is to understand and document the significance of totemic belief of
the tribal people of India.

Key words: Totem, tribal people, culture, tradition, religion, spirit.

Introduction
According to Webster's dictionary, totem means “A natural object, usually an animal that serves
as a distinctive, often venerated emblem or symbol. It is a means of personal or spiritual
identity.”

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines Totem as “A natural object or animal that is
believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and that is adopted by it as an
emblem.”

According to Emile Durkheim, a renowned French sociologist, social psychologist and

philosopher, the word totem is originated from Ojibwe, an Algonquin tribe of Northern America,
and it refers to an object of an animal or a plant. (Bongo, 2008). Some experts believe that
Ojibwa word ototeman, meaning “one's brother-sister kin” is origin of the word totem. (Laynton,
2013) The grammatical root, ote, denotes a blood relationship between brothers and sisters of
having the same mother and marriage between them is not permitted. In kinship and descent, if
the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem.

Sigmund Freud, known as the father of psychoanalysis, in his collection of essays for the book
‘Totem and Taboo’ analyzes the socio-ethnographic perspective of totem. In the essay, ‘The
Horror of Incest’ he examines the system Totemism among the Australian Aborigines. It is the
prevailing practice among them that prevents against incest.

E.A. Hoebel, a renowned professor of Anthropology, defined totem “an object, often an animal
or a plant, held in special regard by the members of a social group who feel that there is a
peculiar bond of emotional identity between themselves and the Totem”. (Sharma, 2007)

G. Van Der Leeuw, the Dutch historian and philosopher of religion, summarized the concept and
definition of totem as:

(a) group bears the name of the totem

(b) totem denotes its ancestor

(c) totem involves taboos, such as (i) prohibition against killing or eating the totem, except in
specific circumstances or under special conditions and (ii) prohibition against intermarriage
within the same totem. (Leeuw, 2014)

The belief in tutelary spirits and deities is not restricted to indigenous peoples but prevalent to a
several cultures across the world. It is found in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Arctic
region.

The spirit or sacred object, or symbol or emblem of a group of people, such as family, clan,
lineage, or tribe, is termed as totem. Totems are considered as emblems of tribes that reflect the
lineage of a tribe. The totemic character, sign, mark, letter, ideogram or any other identity, etc.
serve as a reminder of the ancestry or mythic past of such groups of people. It signifies a
spiritual, religious, social and cultural association between a clan or lineage and a bird, animal or
a natural phenomenon.

Each totem of the tribal clans has distinct identity with regard to their habitat and physiology.
Anthropologists classified them into different types such as (1) land animal totem (2) water
animal totem, (3) air animal totem, (4) reptile totem, (5) insect totem and (6) vegetable or plant
totem.

In general, the land animal totems includes beaver, otter, bobcat, bear, deer, fox, horse, cow,
ram, lion, tiger, panther, wolf, bear etc. and the water animal totems comprise of the dragon, fish,
frog, seahorse, turtle, etc. The birds like eagle, crow, bat, hawk, dove, etc. comes under air
animal totems. The reptile totems include salamander, chameleon, turtle, etc. The insect totems
include firefly, praying mantis, dragonfly, spider, butterfly, etc.

Significance of Totems in Tribal Life

There is no distinct or universally accepted theory to understand the origin of religion among the
tribes across the world. But totemic belief, concept of taboo, the philosophy of rebirth and
immortality of soul, in whatever rudimentary forms that existed or prevails, are common in all
tribal religion all over the world.

The primitive form of religion is observed in Totemism, Mana, Animism, Animation and taboo
belief. Such forms of religion have dominant influence on tribal population across the world.
They find their origin mainly from objects like animal and plants.

Totem and Spirituality

The mystical animal from which a tribe relates its origin is its totem. The totem animal is
believed to be the beginner of life of the tribe. The tribal people believe that there is some
supernatural and mystic relationship among the member of the same totem. The animal totems
are believed to be animal spirits by different clans of indigenous people living across the world.
They think that totem animals always stay with them for life both in physical and spiritual world.
Many tribes believe that an offense against the totems can produce a corresponding decrease in
the size of the clan.

Totem and Culture

All animal totems included as supernatural creatures of mythology and legend in the tribal
culture and literature had special meaning, characteristic and significance. Totems find special
significance in dance, drama, motifs, handicraft, artifacts, painting, etc. of the ingredients of
performing and visual tribal art.

Totem and Religion

For every tribe, totem is very sacred. A totem has religious significance in tribal life. Many tribes
inscribe the sign or figure of totem on some specific location of their body or on the wall of their
home or prayer room. Even the shape or figure of the totem is developed and kept at their sacred
places. It is perceived that blessings of the totem animals protect the tribal people in all difficult
situations and at all hard times. It warns the members about the any possible danger and predicts
about the future.

Totem and Taboo

They do not kill their totem animal except on special occasion or sacred situation. In certain
tribes, the prohibitions or taboos are sometimes cultivated to such an extreme degree that they
believe eating, killing, or destroying them may lead to occur unrecoverable loss to the clan. Its
skin is worn out during important occasions and used with care. Some tribes take out funerals for
the death of their totemic animals as mark of respect for the totem.

Totem and Social behaviour

In sociological perspective, the totem animals keep the tribal people in bonds of unity and
brotherhood. It brings social and community consciousness among the tribal people. They
consider that totem protects the clan of the tribe in difficult times. Mourning is observed on the
death of the totemic animal. As the members of the same totemic clan consider themselves to be
bound by blood relationship and strictly follow the rule of exogamy.

Totem and Tribal Life

Several tribes across the globe believe that totem animal of a clan guides them in every walk of
life. They consider that totemic animals teach and protect them in different situations of life. The
life with totemic consideration is essential for most of the indigenous people in the world.

Indian Tribes and Totems

The area covering, central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Eastern Indian
states of Odisha and Jharkhand and west India states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan, has the
largest population of tribal people. The study of the totems of the tribes of North, North East and
South India could not be included in the study due highly diversified population of tribes in those
areas.

The totemic believe among the tribes of the area is a significant part of their spiritual, religious,
social and culture life style. The Birhor, an indigenous group of people lives mainly in
Jharkhand, believes that there is a temperamental or physical similarity between the members of
the clan and their totems. They are socially organized into patrilineal exogamous totem groups.
A list of 37 clans, 12 are based on animals, 10 on plants, 8 on Hindu castes and localities, and the
rest on objects, believed to be prevalent among the Birhor tribe. There are tales of the birth and
classification of totemic objects among the tribe. Each totem had a fortuitous connection with the
birth of the ancestor of the clan.

The Ho tribe of Jharkhand believes in the totemic significance in every walk of their life. Every
Killis, means clans in their language, bears a totemic object that is sacred to them. They have
more than 50 Killis that includes Hansda (a wild goose), Bage (tiger), Jamuda (spring) and Tiyu
(fox). Every clan of Ho tribe has to undergo rituals of fast to worship its totemic object.

One of the largest tribe of central Indian tribe, the Gond believes in social recognition of their
population on the basis of clans with totemic animals or plants. Some of them have the clan
names after the fauna and flora of their immediate habitat. Similarly, the Oraon and Munda tribes
of Jharkhand and Odisha are classified on totemic clans.

Out of more than 64 totems, the Munda tribe of Jharkand and Odisha has some popular totemic
objects like Sol fish, Nag (serpant), Hassa (goose). Similarly, among the Santhals, there are more
than 100 totems. It includes some popular totems like Murmu (a forest based wild cow), Chande
(a lizard) and Boyar (a fish). The Bhil tribe of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh believe in more
than 25 totemic objects based on clans.

Every geographical region is known for trees and animals that grow and inhabit there. The
totemic animals of Chota Nagpur region of Jharkhand includes mainly of those animals that are
found in the plateau. The totemic clans of the tribes of the region include Toppo (a small bird),
Kerketta (the quail), Khalko ( a fish), Ekka (tortoise), Gidhi (the eagle), Tatenga (the lizard)
Dhidma (a bird), Karkha (the cow), Tirki (a young mouse), Lakra (the tiger), Kindu (the ‘Saur’
fish), Lapoung (a small bird), Minz ( Eel), Barwa (wild hog), Kachhap ( tortoise), Xaxa (crow),
Xess (corn), Bakula (crane), Kokro ( cock), Bando (fox), Tiga (the field mouse), Alia ( the dog),
Hartu (the monkey) Rawna (vulture), Orgoda ( the hawk), Godo (name of a water creature),
Kuhu (Cuckoo), Kannhar (vulture bird), Baghwar (the tiger), Beshra (a name of tree), Ckigalo
(Jackal), Khoya ( jackal), etc.
In fact, some castes of Orissa, not considered as tribe and rather have advanced social and
cultural life style such as the Kurmi, the Kumhar etc. have totems such as serpent, pumpkin,
jackal, etc.

Totem: A Significant Identity

The study of totem in different levels and aspects suggest that totemic significance of tribal life
still prevails among the tribes of India. The classification of a tribal population has spiritual,
religious, social and cultural significance. The method of classification based on totems and
prohibitions related to totemic objects make the tribal people disciplined and sincere to their
belief.

The modern anthropologists look at totemism as a recurring way of conceptualizing relationships

between different clans of a tribal group and the natural world. It communicates their love for the
nature and efforts to preserve the environment, animals and birds around them. Other than
totemic animals, many Indian tribes consider trees as their totemic spirits. Such strong
connections of totemism with nature help to protect the equilibrium of the biodiversity.

The idea, concept and message that totemism communicates has spiritual connection or kinship
with creatures or objects of nature, similar to the thought and practice of Animism. In Animism,
the central concept is based on the spiritual idea that the universe, and all natural objects within
the universe, has souls or spirits.

The spiritual perception behind the totemism communicates the strong belief of the tribal people
on the existence of souls or spirits that exist not only in humans but also in animals, plants, trees,
rocks and all natural elements. It speaks about the strong boding of the tribes with animal and
plants around them. With the changing times, proliferation of the mediums of communication,
varied sources of entertainment and spreading of knowledge, the totemic belief among the new
generation of tribal groups is gradually decreasing. Those tribal people, who still stick to the
ideological, mystical, emotional, reverential, and genealogical relationships with totemic objects,
keep them away from the self-centric modern world. Moreover, the totemic belief is not only an
integral part of their social-cultural, religious and spiritual behavior but also a message of living
in coexistence with nature.
 References

1. Abbasi, A. A. (2001). Dimensions of Human Cultures in Central India. New Delhi: Sarup &
Sons.
2. Bongo, K. A. (2008). Civilization and the Ancient Egyptians. Outskirs Press.
3. Dehejia, V. (1986). Yogini Cult and Temples . New Delhi: National Museum .
4. Freud, S. (2013). Totem and Taboo. Oxon: Routledge, .
5. Halpin, M. M. (2011). Totem Poles: An Illustrated Guide. Vancouver : UBC Press.
6. Hobson, G. (1978). The Rise of the White Shaman: Twenty-Five Years Later. Boston: Red Earth
Press.
7. Laynton, R. (2013). Behind the Masks of God. London : Companion Guides.
8. Leeuw, G. V. (2014). Religion in Essence and Manifestation. Princeton USA: Princeton
University Press.
9. Sharma, R. K. (2007). Indian Society, Institutions and Change. Jaipur: Atlantic Publisher.

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