Distribution of Tribes in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is an ethnically heterogeneous State, embracing as many as seven major and a few minor tribes of mainly Hindu, Christian and Muslim faiths. These are mainly the Bhil, Baiga, Gond, Saharia, Agaria, Ahir, Dhoba, Korku, Kol and Muslim.

Tribe-wise distribution
After the division of Chattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh, culturally and geographically the scheduled tribe (ST) population of the latter State may be distributed into four cultural zones:

• Northern zone: This zone covers Morena, Shivpuri and Guna districts and the
  prominent tribe of the northern zone is the scheduled tribe Saharia.
• Southern zone: This comprises Mandla, Betul, Chindwara, Seoul and Balaghat
  district and the tribal groups residing are Gond, Korku, Kol and Baiga.
• Eastern zone: Districts of Surguja, Shahdol, Raigarh, Bilaspur and Sidhi fall in
  this zone and Kanwan, Oraon, Korba, Binjhwar, Dhanwan, Munda, Mujhwan, etc.
  tribal communities reside in this zone.
• Western Zone: Districts of Jhabua, Dhar, Khargone, Khandwa and Ratlam fall in this
  zone and Bhil, Bhilala and Patelia tribal communities inhabit this zone.
  

Thus in Madhya Pradesh, there are 46 scheduled tribes with 160 sub-tribe groups. Gond, Bhil, Baiga, Saharia, Kanwar, Halba, Kol, Bhatra, Draon, Korku, etc. are some of the prominent tribal groups living in this State. The Government of India has recognized Kamar, Bharia, Abujmaria, pahadi korba and Birhor of Patalkot are particularly primitive groups. Our project studies the Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur Districts of the Western Zone where Bhil is the most populous tribe having a population of 4,618,068, constituting 37.7 per cent of the total ST population of the State. They have the highest concentration in Jhabua district followed by Dhar, Barwani and West Nimar districts. Gond is the second largest tribe, with a population of 4,357,918 constituting 35.6 per cent of the ST population. Four other STs in descending order are Kol, Korku, Sahariya and Baiga.Along with Bhil and Gond, the six tribes constitute 92.2 per cent of the total ST population of the State. Pardhan, Saur and Bharia Bhumia have a population ranging from 105,692 to 152,472; together, they form 3.2 per cent. Four tribes, namely, Majhi, Khairwar, Mawasi and Panika have a population in the range of 47,806 to 81,335 and together account for another 2.2 per cent of the ST population; while a remaining thirty-three tribes along with the generic tribes constitute the residual 2.5 per cent of total ST population. There are twelve tribes having below 1000 population. Of them, five tribes, namely, Mina, Andh, Birhul, Parja and Nagesia each have a population of less than 500. Each major tribe envelops at times over a dozen sub-sects. This racial heterogeneity typifying the tribe assumes added importance because the constituent groups are at varying levels of material, social and aesthetic culture.

I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Dr Sudha Anand Bhandari, Research Consultant
& Expert on the Tribes of Madhya Pradesh, for her invaluable assistance and insightful notes that
greatly contributed to our research.