7 - Identities and aspiration – not noble savage but savage noble

Summary

Introduction

So far we have looked at the forest peoples largely from an external perspective – an attitude frequently dictated by the nature of the available sources. Nevertheless, the reader will have observed that certain assumptions have implicitly been made about the understandings and aspirations of these peoples and their chiefs: notably, their ability and desire to use their habitat, knowledge and skills to secure integration at the warrior level of the social hierarchy. However, precisely because such integration was based upon the obfuscation of origins, success would leave few traces in the historical record. In seeking to understand the values and motivations of the specialist communities of the woodlands, we must therefore risk falling into anachronism, and all too often read earlier evidence in the light of later knowledge.

We may begin by considering the earliest evidence available – the rich tradition of painting that, over several millennia, came to adorn rockshelters and similar locations in central India. In early historic times the motifs come to include scenes of war involving horses and chariots, archers and serried ranks of spearmen. There are also depictions of processions with elephants and attendants. The panoply of early kingship clearly had a certain fascination for these itinerants of the forest fringe – and indeed may have been designed to have such an effect by kings not long removed from the forest themselves. The horses and elephants are especially significant: in ancient and medieval India these were animals meant for war and display.