Book
The Kol tribe of central India
Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal • 2 • Published In 1946 • Pages: xiv, 333
By: Griffiths, Walter G., Guha, B. S. (Biraja Sankar).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source presents a well-rounded ethnographic study of the Kol tribe located in the central highlands of India. The author, a missionary of the Methodist Church, gathered his data during a residence of fifteen years in Jabalpur (Jubbulpore), Madhya Pradesh. It should be noted that most of the data contained in this source pertain to the Hinduized Kols, rather than those in Rewa whose customs differ somewhat in form and content. It is noteworthy that, in contrast to the usual bias found in a majority of missionary reports of this type, the data presented here are clear and concise statements about native ethnography, wholly lacking in any attempts at proselytizing. Although the author's data are somewhat deficient in the material culture aspects of Kol society, there is abundant information on almost all other phases of Kol ethnography, from birth to death, religion, the family, magic and witchcraft, social structure, folklore, fine arts, and economics. Marriage ceremonies are especially well described. Seven appendices present information on kinship terminology, personal names, additional notes on Kol songs and poetry (illustrated elsewhere in the text), castes, a glossary of native terms, anthropometry, and a bibliography. The index is exceptionally well done and should be used. The plates scattered throughout the text are not in numerical order so the researcher should refer to the list of illustrations for page references (pp. xiii-xiv).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Identification
- Dwellings
- Diet
- Food preparation
- Castes
- Reproduction
- Arranging a marriage
- Nuptials
- Spirits and gods
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Sacred objects and places
- Magic
- Verbal arts
- Mythology
- Texts in the speaker's language
- Texts translated into english
- Music
- Life history materials
- Anthropometry
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Kol
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2014
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- South Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Missionary
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle; 1964
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- ca. 1940
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1900-1940
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India
- NotesAdditional notes
- Walter G. Griffiths ; with an introd. By B. S. Guha
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-333)
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Munda (Indic people)