ABSTRACT
There is a widespread feeling of surprise among the intelligentsia, including social scientists, about the spread of recent (2002) communal violence in Gujarat to its so-called tribal areas and the subsequent victory of many candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly election in the same areas, both signifying victory of forces of so-called Hindutva among the tribal people. This feeling of surprise may be attributed partly at least to the failure of social scientists to carry out intensive fi eld studies of social change in tribal society in modem times and therefore lack of information about this change among the intelligentsia. It seems to me, however, that the feeling of surprise is also due to the false images of tribal society created by social scientists, and their spread among the intelligentsia for more than a century. In other words, it is a problem not merely of non-availability of facts, but also of perspective of known facts. I wish to discuss the latter in this article.
