The Gondi, Goindi (Gōndi) or Gond people are people in central India, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra (Vidarbha), Chhattisgarh, northern Andhra Pradesh, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India.
The Gondi language is related to Telugu and other Dravidian languages. About half of Gonds speak Gondi languages, while the rest speak Indo-Aryan languages including Hindi.
Akbarnama, the official chronicle of Mughal emperor Akbar's reign, mentions the Gond kingdom. It refers to the Gond Kingdom as Garha Katanga and having 70,000 villages.
The Gonds have scheduled tribe status in most of the Indian states.
The Gond are also found in the Mirzapur District of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Unlike in other parts of India, the UP Gond have scheduled caste as opposed to scheduled tribe status. They no longer speak Gondi, but now speak Hindi. The UP Gond are divided into seven sub-groups, the Dev Gond, Dholi, Kolan, Kailabhut, Mudipal, Padal and Raj Gond. Traditionally, the Raj Gond have had a higher status, and were rulers of a number of states in the region. Each of these clans is exogamous. The Gonda of UP are a landowning community, and most of them practise settled cultivation. Historically, the community practiced slash and burn agriculture, but these practices have long been discontinued.
Multiple education commissions on the "language question" have called for instruction, at least at the primary level, in the students' native tongue.[citation needed][clarification needed] However, state governments have often introduced regional language instruction in Gondi areas.[clarification needed] Primary schooling among the Gonds of Andhra Pradesh, for example, began in the 1940s and 1950s. The Andhra Pradesh government selected a group of Gonds who were semiliterate in Telugu and taught them the basics of written script. These individuals became teachers who taught in Gondi, and their efforts enjoyed a measure of success until the 1970s, when state policy demanded instruction in Telugu. The switch in the language of instruction both made the Gond teachers superfluous because they could not teach in Telugu and also presented the government with the problem of finding reasonably qualified teachers willing to teach in outlying tribal schools.
The Gondi language is related to Telugu and other Dravidian languages. About half of Gonds speak Gondi languages, while the rest speak Indo-Aryan languages including Hindi.
Akbarnama, the official chronicle of Mughal emperor Akbar's reign, mentions the Gond kingdom. It refers to the Gond Kingdom as Garha Katanga and having 70,000 villages.
The Gonds have scheduled tribe status in most of the Indian states.
The Gond are also found in the Mirzapur District of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Unlike in other parts of India, the UP Gond have scheduled caste as opposed to scheduled tribe status. They no longer speak Gondi, but now speak Hindi. The UP Gond are divided into seven sub-groups, the Dev Gond, Dholi, Kolan, Kailabhut, Mudipal, Padal and Raj Gond. Traditionally, the Raj Gond have had a higher status, and were rulers of a number of states in the region. Each of these clans is exogamous. The Gonda of UP are a landowning community, and most of them practise settled cultivation. Historically, the community practiced slash and burn agriculture, but these practices have long been discontinued.
Multiple education commissions on the "language question" have called for instruction, at least at the primary level, in the students' native tongue.[citation needed][clarification needed] However, state governments have often introduced regional language instruction in Gondi areas.[clarification needed] Primary schooling among the Gonds of Andhra Pradesh, for example, began in the 1940s and 1950s. The Andhra Pradesh government selected a group of Gonds who were semiliterate in Telugu and taught them the basics of written script. These individuals became teachers who taught in Gondi, and their efforts enjoyed a measure of success until the 1970s, when state policy demanded instruction in Telugu. The switch in the language of instruction both made the Gond teachers superfluous because they could not teach in Telugu and also presented the government with the problem of finding reasonably qualified teachers willing to teach in outlying tribal schools.
