In situ Studies of Astronomy of the Nicobarese Tribe of Nicobar Islands M. N. Vahia1, 2, Ganesh Halkare3, S. A. Awaradi4 and Kishore Menon2 1. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Dr Homi Bhabha Road, Navy Nagar, Colaba, Mumbai – 400 005, Maharashtra, India (Email:
[email protected]) 2. Centre for Excellence in Basic Science, Vidya Nagari, Kalina, Santacruz (East), Mumbai – 400 098, Maharashtra, India 3. Indrayani Colony, Badnera Road, Amravati ‐ 444 607, Maharashtra, India 4. Andaman and Nicobar Tribal Research and Training Institute (ANTRI), Haddo – 744 102, Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India Received: 08 July 2018; Revised: 11 September 2018; Accepted: 25 October 2018 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 6 (2018): 1013‐1038 Abstract: Sky is open for all to observe and it has fascinated humans from the time they first realised its existence. Humans have seen various objects in the patterns that the stars make. Most of the commonly held division of the sky has its roots in Babylonia about 3000 years before the Common Era. However, isolated tribal groups have not been a part of this narrative and they have interpreted the sky in different manner. Elsewhere (Vahia and Halkare 2017 and references therein) we have reported studies of the astronomy of various inland tribes in central India. Here we report the astronomical perspective of the tribes of the Nicobar Island. Isolated from the mainstream they have developed their own story about the astronomy and cosmogony of human race and the nature of Sun, Moon and stars. However, we find surprising lack of interest in using astronomy for navigational purposes.