In the early 19th century, Buchanan travelled through the Rajmahal Hills. There were hill folks who lived around the Rajmahal Hills. Identify the hill folks?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Paharias
Late-eighteenth-century revenue records show that the hill folk Buchanan met around the Rajmahal hills were known as Paharias.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.1 In the hills of Rajmahal … In the early nineteenth century, Buchanan travelled through the Rajmahal hills. From his description, the hills appeared impenetrable, a zone where few travellers ventured, an area that signified danger. Wherever he went, people were hostile, apprehensive of officials and unwilling to talk to them. In many instances they deserted their villages and absconded.… 2.1 In the hills of Rajmahal … If we look at late-eighteenth-century revenue records, we learn that these hill folk were known as Paharias. They lived around the Rajmahal hills, subsisting on forest produce and practising shifting cultivation. They cleared patches of forest by cutting bushes and burning the undergrowth. On these patches, enriched by the potash from the ash, the Paharias grew a variety of pulses and millets for consumption. They scratched the ground lightly with hoes, cultivated the cleared land for a few years, then left it fallow so that it could recover its fertility, and moved to a new area.…” |