Sentinelese- The only living tribe in India

Sentinelese - The only living tribe in India

Sentinelese is one of the known tribes that is completely isolated from the entire world. The individuals belonging to the tribe are believed to be a native breed of Africans who visited the Andaman Islands several million years ago. The tribe does not allow any individual to come near them and are known to attack with bows and arrows. There have been several cases where individuals from different countries tried to get in touch with the Andaman tribes in a hope to help them live a normal life but unfortunately that turned out to be the last trip of their life.

One of the major cases that have been circling around from few days is the tragic death of the American Missionary John Allen Chau. He was 26 years old with a hope of converting the Sentinelese of the Andaman Tribes into the frame of Christianity. The individual was a graduate of Evangelical Oral Roberts University. The tragic cause of death was due to the arrow with poison that hit John Chau. The 26-year-old did not stop as the tribe went on aiming arrows at the individual. He was quite determined to send the message to the Sentinelese tribe of the Andaman Islands, that he believed was from God. So a question or a thought that every individual might want to know more about the Sentinelese of the Andaman Tribes.

The Indian Government has issued a special request to all the individuals across the world to not get close to the Andaman Tribes as their closeness could inhabit several diseases for which they do not have the required immunity to fight those diseases. According to the Indian Law, it has also been stated that it is illegal to visit these islands for the safety of both the tribe as well as the individuals of this generation.

The Sentinelese tribe rejects all the contacts vigorously. Anybody who gets too close to the North Sentinel Islands is more often than not are attacked with arrows. The Andaman tribes are quite skilled enough to use the bow and arrow. If we look at past history, people from various parts of the world have tried out to make the relationship with the Sentinelese, one of the Andaman tribes, but that had only turned out to be quite sour.

The information gathered about these Andaman Tribes is more or less from the fishermen and the boats that traveled along the shores of the North Sentinel Island. Unlike the Jarawa tribe living in another part of Andaman Islands, the people of Sentinelese are said to be quite healthy and strong. There have been few successful interactions by the authorities with the Sentinelese tribe when provided with the coconuts.

The nature of the Sentinelese tribe is just like the early age humans. These individuals use conventional bows and arrows to hunt their prey in the forest. Additionally, the arrows are also utilized for fishing purposes. The sea along the shore is quite shallow for at least 500 meters from the island. For going further into the sea, these skilled Sentinelese of the Andaman tribes are known for making boats with the help of coconut leaves and the size of the boat is not quite enough for 2 of them. The boats can be used only in shallow waters with it being propelled with the help of a pole that looks like a punt.

During the early rule of British in the Andaman Islands, most of the local tribes were wiped out. The main reason being their lack of immunity level. Individuals belonging to the Andaman tribes suffered from many diseases such as flu, measles, and fever. It can be clearly said that the decision of not interacting with the outer world is a wise decision by the Sentinelese tribe as that would help them live their life peacefully. The Sentinelese of the Andaman tribe is known to exist in three bands. in the North Sentinel Island, there can be seen two types of houses built with the log of woods and coconut leaves. One is the larger one, in which the entire family staying together. Several small huts can also be seen along the shore of the North Sentinel Island, where smaller nuclear families stay together. One cannot say that the individuals belong to the stone age group as the skill level of these individuals is quite precise and efficient for their routine work. The arrows used by these individuals are known to be made from the metal. These are the remains of the shipwreck that got drained along the shores of the North Sentinel Islands. The Sentinelese of the Andaman tribes, then sharpen these metal pieces and utilize it as the tip of the arrows.

The females of the Sentinelese tribe are known to wear hairbands made up of shells and other fiber materials. Additionally, they also wear these fiber strings along the wrists, waist as well as around the neck. Males are also known to wear the same kind of fiber bands but much thicker than that of the females. The lives of these Sentinelese tribes have changed over a period of time and as per the latest information, the individuals of these tribe are known to thrive better than their previous generations.
The Sentinelese people of the Andaman tribes, are quite proud of themselves and are thriving pretty well in the natural forest environment just like the old aged humans of our early ancestors. The popularity and an eagerness to know more about the Sentinelese tribe of Andaman Islands came during the Tsunami disaster that destroyed many parts of the countries around the world in the year 2004. During that time, a helicopter with navy force was taking rounds to see the situation across the different Islands of the Andaman and Nicobar to provide necessary amenities to the individuals. While going through the North Sentinel Island, a member of the Sentinelese tribe fired arrows at the helicopter thinking it as a source of threat to them while the members in the helicopter wanted the welfare of the people living in the Islands.

Though more individuals came to know about the existence of the Sentinelese tribe after the major disaster of Tsunami in the year 2004, the first interaction with the Sentinelese was by the crew members of the cargo ship that was traveling from Bangladesh to Australia. The ship was caught by a typhoon in 1981 and got quite close to the North Sentinel Island. The crew members were strangled near the island. Several days later, a distress message was received where the crew members are known to specify of being attacked by the group of people with arrows. Luckily all the crew members survived the incident. The contact in the year 1991, by a guy named pundit, is the first formal interaction with this tribe. As per the photo records, the individual named Pundit is seen giving coconuts to the Sentinelese of the Andaman Tribes. It is the only known positive interaction with the Sentinelese tribe of the North Sentinel Island. After this incident, there has been no case of positive interaction with the Sentinelese tribe of the Andaman Islands.

Well, the Sentinelese tribe of the Andaman Islands, have been living their lives from a long time along the North Sentinel Islands. It would be better for every individual to understand their needs for the existence and let them survive peacefully along their lines.

As a resident of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, I would humbly request each one of you to avoid visiting the North Sentinel Island in a hope to make formal interactions with the Sentinelese tribe as it might turn out to be dangerous for you as well as the tribes.