![]() ![]() While the tribe let the team onto the island in 1967, in 1991, for the first time, the Sentinelese, he says, met the team halfway in the water. Of all his expeditions to the island, Pandit says two were the most significant. “If they were to our right, we’d go left and place the gifts,” he says. Pandit’s team took to placing gifts to gain their trust – a few coconuts, which don’t grow on the island, and some plastic toys. “The Onge were frightened, they asked to leave the area immediately.” They shot a few warning arrows at us,” the anthropologist says. “When the Onge tried to talk to them, the Sentinelese became very belligerent. They hoped that the languages may have some common roots, facilitating the contact. The team even decided to take the help of a few Onge tribesmen, another tribe native to Andaman, to make contact with the Sentinelese. “Our languages might be different, but we understood them perfectly, they didn’t want us here,” he says. ![]() They would wave their hands in an aggressive manner. On his expeditions, Pandit says that the Sentinelese initially would grimace at the team. Maybe in a few years, the community themselves will want to make contact,” he says. “Aggressive technology will not help, only time and goodwill can. Pandit also dismissed the possibility of using drone technology to study the community. How long the tribe will survive, only God knows,” says Pandit. He bases his calculations on a simple formula – the island is nearly 20 square miles, which implies that there are enough resources for at least a hundred people. In my estimate, there are at least 80 surviving Sentinelese on that island,” Pandit says. Estimates have varied from as little as 15 Sentinelese, according to the 2011 census data, to about 500. The lack of information about the Sentinelese has often given rise to speculation regarding the number of inhabitants on the island. They have chosen to stay away from us, perhaps, they think outsiders are dangerous,” he says.Īlso read: American national allegedly killed by protected tribe in Andaman and Nicobar Islands Pandit says the Sentinelese have made a conscious decision to shun contact. “The Jarawas began drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and caught diseases that they wouldn’t have had they not been exposed to our culture,” he says. Pandit, even today, remains of the opinion that the tribe should be left alone and uses the example of the Jarawa tribe, who have come in contact with others, to illustrate his point. The encounter resulted in the kidnapping of a few Sentinelese, thus cementing their mistrust of non-islanders. In the 1880s, British naval officer Maurice Vidal Portman landed on the island with some of his men. The antagonism can be traced back to British colonial times, according to him. “It has been passed down through generations,” he says. Pandit believes that the hostility that Sentinelese display towards outsiders is not a sudden phenomenon. But it seems he (Chau) did a foolish thing.” “Of course, the details of the case still have to be investigated. “Patience can win back their trust,” he adds. On the possibility of recovering Chau’s body, Pandit recommended a good deal of caution and said there should be some element of luck as well.Ī trial team must visit the island to determine whether the Sentinelese are open to allowing visitors on the island, he says, adding that if they think the team is there to only recover the body, they may allow it. Why would anyone want to go for a picnic in their area?” asks Pandit, in response to the recent developments. They aren’t an obstacle to any development projects. The team encountered a settlement with at least 10 huts, leading Pandit to conclude that at least 100 Sentinelese were present on the island.Īlso read: It’s practically impossible to recover body of American killed by Andaman tribe: PoliceĬhau’s death, Pandit says, has brought undesirable attention to the Sentinelese. I don’t know if it was luck, chance or fate but they let us onto the island,” says the 83-year-old anthropologist. “Around 15-20 of them (Sentinelese) watched us from behind thick forests. ![]() Unlike most other visitors, however, the Sentinelese did not react in an overly aggressive manner. It was, he says, a ‘blind’ attempt to explore the island that still remains shrouded in mystery. ![]() In 1967, posted with the Anthropological Survey of India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Pandit travelled with a crew of nearly 20 people to North Sentinel. ![]()
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