Anthropological perspectives in Primitive Social Production and Evolution

Abstract

The work refers to the socio-agricultural system of the Sangam period. In the Thinai community, the Kurinjinila community initially involved in hunting. These ancient tribes who lived as hunters are socially classified as vettuvar, kanavar and kuravar. Kanavar community is the forerunner of deforesting the forest for agricultural purposes the Kuravans also farmed here. They set up locations according to the nature of the situation. In the hilly and mountainous area, they have used the land for agriculture by burning the bushes under the trees. They stirred the soil with tools like ‘thondukali’ and ‘thular’ and sowed seeds. ‘Thondukali’ was the first agricultural tool to appear here and it was first used by women. Bhagavatsala Bharathi mentions that the woman was the first farmer. The land thus created is called ‘thinaipunam’ and both the man and the woman have harvested the crop in ‘thinaipunam’ safely. The harvested crop is stored for reproduction. They offered it to their Gods and later they cooked and ate them. They involved in bartering in exchange for their forest products. This study explains how the Kurinji land community evolved from the hunting community into the food producer, bartering and collector of foods.