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Lambadi
The Lambadis are a
large picturesque tribe who is found throughout Deccan though most of them are
found in Andhra Pradesh, especially in Telangana. They are also called Banjaras
and Sugalis. They are tall, fair complexioned, have aquiline noses and classical
Nordic features. They are good agriculturist and excellent cattle breeders. They served as the
commisariat of the Moghul armies. Lambadi women wear heavy cumbersome
ornaments, and beautifully coloured garments decorated with pieces of stone, cowries and bits
of mirror glass, the last of which is becoming the rage of fashionable women all over the
country. A model of a Lambadi woman with her picturesque dress and ornaments is one of
the most attractive exhibits of the Museum. |
Khonds
The Khond tribes of Ganjam,
Orissa are hunters and shifting cultivators. They used to sacrifice human beings in
honour of their Earth Goddess, Tara pennu. The sacrificial victim was dedicated,
purchased or captured. He was anointed with oil and turmeric and tied to the crosspiece of the
post, which represented an elephant. This crosspiece was whirled round and round the upright
post. Men and women danced and sang around the victim who was drugged and intoxicated. He was
then battered to death and hacked to pieces. Every Khond took a piece of the
victim's flesh and buried it in his field to ensure good crops and avert evil. When the
practice was prohibited in 1845 the Khonds took to sacrificing goats and buffaloes.
The Khonds have
ceremonial objects of a wide range of brass images of animals and human figures which are
worshipped and carried in front of marriage processions. |
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Boomerangs
The Australian aborigines are the nomad
hunters in a hostile desert environment. In physical type the Australian aborigines
resemble the aborigines of Southern India, who are therefore, to be Australoid. Tall and well
built, they have prominent eyebrow ridges, broad flat noses, thick lips, dark skin colour,
curly hair and hairy bodies. Their material possessions are boomerangs, spears, digging
sticks, food bowls and a few skins or hides. Boomerangs are of two kinds, the longer ones used
in wars are of the non-returning kinds. The smaller ones which return when thrown are used in
hunting.
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Ethnology