More than thousand islands exist in Indian ocean. Some are inhabited, some are not. The Sentinelese are an uncontacted tribe living on North Sentinal Island, one of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. Nominally, the island belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Senteneles vigorously reject all contact with outsiders. The Indian government respects thier decision and conserves them. They live in their own land, within their own culture and totally differ from the outer world. They are among the last tribal people to remain virtually untouched by modern civilisation.
There is no reason to believe the Sentinelese have been living in the same way for the thousands of years they are likely to have been in the Andamans. Their ways of life will have changed and adapted many times, like all peoples. For instance, they now use metal which has been washed up or which they have recovered from shipwrecks on the island reefs. The iron is sharpened and used to tip their arrows.
How much have been seen from a distance from the coastline the Sentinelese hunt and gather in the forest, and fish in the coastal waters. Unlike the neighbouring Jarawa tribe, they make boats – these are very narrow outrigger canoes, described as ‘too narrow to fit two feet in’. These can only be used in shallow waters as they are steered and propelled with a pole like a punt. It is thought that the Sentinelese live in three small bands. They have two different types of houses; large communal huts with several hearths for a number of families, and more temporary shelters, with no sides, which can sometimes be seen on the beach, with space for one nuclear family. The women wear fibre strings tied around their waists, necks and heads. The men also wear necklaces and headbands, but with a thicker waist belt. The men carry spears, bows and arrows. Their extreme isolation makes them very vulnerable to diseases to which they have no immunity, meaning contact would almost certainly have tragic consequences for them.
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| As seen from a distance (© Christian Caron – Creative Commons A-NC-SA) |
According to a 2011 census effort, and based on anthropologists’ estimates there are probably somewhere between 80 and 150 people living on North Sentinel Island, although it could be as many as 500 or as few as 15. Proper data is still not available for their population number, not even their proper anthropological data. They survived after the 2004 tsunami, though the government tried to help them, they never accepted and all the missions failed. Their ancient knowledge about nature and natural forces made them enough to fight against the natural calamities. There was a common belief that the Senteneles are cannibals though there is no clear cut evidence of that. This tribe is still a mystery to the rest of the world.
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| Dr. Madhumala Chaterjee with a Jawara child (Source: Dr Madhumala Chattopadhyay https://thelogicalindian.com/) |
On 4 January, 1991, more than 1,200 kms from the Indian mainland in the Bay of Bengal, a young Indian woman anthropologist waded waist-deep into the coral reefs to hand over a coconut to a man from the Sentinelese tribe. This was the first-ever friendly contact with this hostile tribe of the Andamans. The Sentinelese for the first time let their guards down and accepted an outsider. This braveheart women is Madhumala Chattopadhyay, then a researcher (initially a fellow and subsequently research associate) with the Anthropological Survey of India, who went on to spend six years researching the various primitive tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Madhumala is also the first woman to be accepted by another Andaman tribe, the Jarawas, with whom she established a friendly relationship, especially the women folk. Jarawas trusted her so much that they even left their babies to her when they were doing their work.
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| Chau, who was killed by the Sentinelese (Copyright:REX/Shutterstock) |
In November 2018, John Allen Chau, a 26-year-old US missionary trained and sent by Missouri-based All Nations, was killed during an illegal trip to the restricted island, planning to preach Christianity to the Sentinelese. Seven individuals were taken into custody by Indian police on suspicion of helping Chau's illegal access to the island. Entering a radius of 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) around the island is illegal under Indian law. Fishermen told police that they had seen the tribespeople dragging Chau's body around but the authorities had not been able to independently verify it.
The antiquity of Sentinelese , traced to the Palaeolithic age, makes them the first inhabitants of India. There have been many attempts previously to establish contact with the Sentinelese, which however failed with contact parties being received with arrows, some even finding their mark. Given the hostile nature of the Sentinelese, the contact parties would avoid approaching the tribe directly and watch them from the safety of their ships or leave gifts in remote part of the island. Indian government has also left further expeditions to contact them . Being isolated for thousands of years, they are prone to diseases and contact with outer world can prove to be fatal. So it is better to let them live the way they are.
"This universe has enough for everyone, we don’t need to snatch possessions or damage other people’s lives in order to fulfil our desires."(Hina Hashmi, Your Life A Practical Guide to Happiness Peace and Fulfilment)
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island
https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/sentinelese&ved=2ahUKEwjCh_meo47qAhWszTgGHUqHCQQQFjAXegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw0HLBNVfgNv3tAHRALj1VuO
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46350130
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/study-sheds-more-light-on-killing-of-american-by-sentinels/article29369181.ece
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2018/11/30/everything-we-know-about-the-isolated-sentinelese-people-of-north-sentinel-island/
--- By Wayfarer
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