DECONSTRUCTING CUSTOMARY LAWS OF INHERITANCE IN BIRHOR SOCIETY: SPECIAL FOCUS ON BIRHOR WOMEN

Tribal women are victims of double discrimination. They are discriminated because they are tribal and they are women. Across the globe indigenous women are marginalised and exploited. Various factors like depletion of forest resources, intrusion of industries, alteration in traditional means of occupation have threatened the basic social structure of tribal society. Along with these threatening conditions some additional conditions experienced from internal social structure like customs, traditions, folkways, norms etc. exclude tribal women from the process of land inheritance rights, absence in decision making process, withholding the right to choose sustenance skills. In comparison to their male counterparts, they lack in every sphere of human development indicators like basic education, healthcare facilities, sanitation, employment etc. tribal women though are significant contributors in economy have been at the juncture of marginalisation when it comes to property ownership and inheritance. This paper tries to explore the customary laws of inheritance among the Birhors of Mayurbhanj and the changes that have ushered in due to sedentarization process. This paper tries to examine in detail the notion of property among the Birhors of Mayurbhanj. The Birhor women and their perception towards the property in various dimensions viz. Family property, community property and individual property has been explored. The Birhors notion of property along with it the mode of transmission of property has also been enquired. The shift in the perception and practise of Customary laws of inheritance in Birhor society has been examined from the perspective of Birhor women and their stated responses.