ABSTRACT
The life of the individual Gond and indeed of the whole tribal community is sustained almost entirely by the tillage of the soil and the whole nature of Gond culture can be understood best when seen against the background of the agricultural activities which absorb so much of everyone’s time and energy. The Gonds are plough-cultivators whose farming methods are not fundamentally different from those of the Hindu peasants of the region. The most essential spice in all Gond cooking is chillies or red pepper, and over the cultivation of chillies the Gonds take almost as much trouble as over their tobacco beds. A major problem facing the Gond farmer as much as the peasantry throughout India is the rapid population growth which has led to a mounting pressure on finite resources of land. The breeding of cattle has always played an important role in Gond economy.
