The Andaman Islanders The aboriginal inhabitants of a stretch of islands near India offer a fascinating glimpse into the way of life of traditional hunter-gatherers. But how long will this window to our past remain open? by Sita Venkateswar BOURNE & SHEPERD National Geographic Society Image Collection Copyright 1999 Scientific American, Inc. he indigenous people who inhabit the lush, ver- These creative flights of fancy aside, the history and cul- dant rain forests of the Andaman Islands in the ture of the Andamanese continue to intrigue visitors to the is- Bay of Bengal have made the islands their home lands, as well as anthropologists such as myself. Between Tfor at least the past 2,000 years. Over the centuries, the An- 450 and 500 indigenous people still live on the islands, the daman Islanders have been a subject of both fascination and last representatives of the dwindling population of Negrito dread, often being portrayed as brutish cannibals. The 13th- people in south Asia. The Andaman Islanders followed the century explorer Marco Polo, for instance, recorded in ac- traditional way of life of these people—one of seminomadic counts of his travels a story he heard of the “dog-headed” in- hunter-gatherer-fishers—well into the 19th century, when habitants of the islands. More recently, in Sir Arthur Conan British colonists arrived and began to take over the islands. Doyle’s The Sign of Four, an Andaman Islander appears as a Despite intrusions, however, some islanders have managed villain, complete with “murderous darts” and a “face [that] to hold on to many of their traditional customs. Indeed, even was enough to give a man a sleepless night.” now, one group remains extraordinarily isolated and hostile to any outsiders, defending its territory with po- DECADES OF COLONIALISM have nearly wiped out the culture of the Great tentially deadly force. But the influence of oc- Andamanese people, one of four indigenous societies of the Andaman Islands in cupation, first British and now Indian, has tak- the Bay of Bengal. By the 1890s the group felt the influence of British occupation: en its toll. The number of Andaman Islanders despite the traditional body decorations shown in a photograph from the time has dropped precipitously over the past two (opposite page), the islanders had discovered not only British pipes but also dead- ly diseases, such as syphilis and measles. Today only about 40 Great Andamanese centuries, down from an estimated average of remain. An older woman in the community, Boro, shown below at the right, fin- 5,000 islanders living throughout the archipela- ishes an evening of fishing as two young boys arrive on the beach to greet her. go in the middle of the 19th century. MADHUSREE MUKERJEE Copyright 1999 Scientific American, Inc. Scientific American May 1999 83 The Andaman Islands BURMA (MYANMAR) INDIA CE ANDAMAN A ISLANDS URIE GR MALAYSIA A SUMATRA INDIAN OCEAN HS BY MADHUSREE MUKERJEE; MAPS L AP NORTH OGR ANDAMAN T HO P ANDAMAN ISLANDERS now consist of four tribes: the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge and Sentinelese. Great Andamanese, such as the three boys shown above, typically have both Andamanese, Indian and Karen Burmese heritage. Today the group, which originally occupied North, Middle and South Andaman, has been moved to tiny Strait Is- land (map) by the Indian government. The Jarawa people have remained much more iso- lated, only sporadically venturing out from the dense forests set aside for them on South MIDDLE and Middle Andaman. Three young Jarawa men are shown wearing decorations and ANDAMAN jewelry (near right). The Onge now inhabit coastal areas of Little Andaman. This Onge GREAT mother and child, shown at the far right, display the traditional practice of painting faces STRAIT ANDAMAN ISLAND and bodies with white clay. Members of the Sentinelese group are rarely seen. They live on North Sentinel Island, which they vigorously defend from invasion. At present, only four tribes live on the from the mainland Indian population islands—the Great Andamanese, the as well as from the aboriginal popula- Onge, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese. tion on neighboring Nicobar Islands. NORTH Yet scholars believe that at one time, Lidio Cipriani, director of the Port SENTINEL SOUTH ISLAND ANDAMAN some 12 distinct linguistic and separate Blair office of the Anthropological Sur- territorial groups inhabited the islands. vey of India during the early 1950s, and, Time is running out for the last represen- more recently, Vishvajit Pandya of Vic- tatives of aboriginal Andamanese cul- toria University in New Zealand have ture. In hopes of learning more about the suggested that the Andaman Islanders GREAT ANDAMANESE islanders—their past, present and fu- may be related to another Negrito ONGE ture—I spent some 18 months on the is- group, the Semang of southeast Asia. JARAWA lands between 1989 and 1993, living pri- And some new, though still tentative, ge- SENTINELESE marily with members of the Onge tribe. netic data suggest that the Andaman Is- landers may be descendants of the first Paleolithic Pasts humans to migrate out of Africa some LITTLE ANDAMAN 100,000 years ago, reaching the islands he origins of the Andaman Is- between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago Tlanders remain enshrouded in spec- [see “Out of Africa, into Asia,” by Mad- ulation. Current evidence—most re- husree Mukerjee; Scientific Ameri- cently, excavations by Zarine Cooper can, News and Analysis, January]. INDIGENOUS POPULATION of Deccan College in India—supports Two possible routes for the An- the theory of a long, continuous occu- damanese’s arrival in the islands have 1901 1951 1998 pation of the islands for at least the been offered. During the ice ages 40,000 GREAT past 2,200 years. Some scholars believe years ago, when sea levels were signifi- ANDAMANESE 625 23 39 the ancestors of today’s indigenous cantly lower, people could have both ONGE 672* 150* 100* groups reached the islands some 35,000 walked and crossed the shallow seas in JARAWA 468* 50* 250* years ago. The Andamanese people’s their dugout canoes either from Suma- small stature and distinctive hair type, tra by way of the Nicobar Islands or SENTINELESE 117* 50* 100* in association with their very dark skin, from the Malay and Burmese coasts. *ESTIMATED indicate that they are racially separate Contrary to the common misconcep- 84 Scientific American May 1999 The Andaman Islanders Copyright 1999 Scientific American, Inc. Jarawa decorative pattern, used on leaf belts AR A SARK ANT Y BY JA A, W A THE JAR CE: CE; SOUR A URIE GR A TERNS BY L T A T P BEL tion, the Andamanese are not and never ern tip of the island. The rest of the is- That’s why during Torale [the dry were cannibals. The probable origin of land is inhabited by ethnically distinct season] all the wood is obtained and this myth is the islanders’ former prac- immigrants from India. By piecing to- stored. Then before the rain begins, tice of cutting up the dead bodies of their gether details obtained from diverse the big tokabe [communal hut] is enemies and throwing the pieces into a sources—tales from the Onge them- built, and during the rains it is very fire. Outside observers apparently as- selves and my own observations, as comfortable inside. sumed this act was a preamble to a can- well as earlier research by Cipriani, by “In the past, there was no wage nibalistic feast. But scholars now know Badal Basu of the Anthropological Sur- work, we had all the time to build that the bodies were never consumed vey of India and by Pandya—I have our houses, get pork, eat pork rich and that this practice was simply a pre- been able to assemble a patchwork of in fat. They didn’t have any utensils, cautionary measure for dispersing harm- information about aspects of the Onge they would make bucu [clay pots] ... ful spirits. In contrast, the islanders bury way of life and about many typical An- to cook the pork. Then when Kwa- the bodies of their kin under the com- damanese traditions. lokange [the southeast monsoon] munal huts to keep their spirits close to starts, the boars become thin, and the surviving family members. Daily Life they are not tasty. In the creeks in the People often describe the Andaman forest there is so much fish, we Islanders as a Stone Age culture, but it ver the course of my numerous in- would get fish and nana [prawn]. is inaccurate to portray them as having Oterviews with approximately 30 “There was no iron then, we been utterly isolated until the appear- Onge women, men and children, previ- would use the wood from the areca ance of the British. Even before the ar- ously unknown details emerged about trees ... but we would get iron from rival of the colonial powers, the is- their life in the forest. I conducted these the sea, when it washed ashore. And landers had been forcibly drawn into discussions in Onge; some of the most use the resin from the forest to the slave-trading networks of south and informative accounts came from three sharpen the metal. Otherwise, we southeast Asia. Many of the slaves men, Bada Raju, Totanange and Tilai. I used the wood from the forest. We were supplied to the rajah of Kedah, have integrated these details into the would make dange [dugout canoes] who then sent them to the king of Siam composite account that follows: using a different wood, but when it as part of his tribute. There is even was taken to the water it sank, so we some evidence that Andamanese slaves “During the dry season, they [an- knew this wood was no good.