Tribe is a distinctive social type or represents a stage in the socio-economic evolutionary scale. Robert Redfield characterises them as little communities. He delineates four features as markers of a tribe, such as (1) the quality of distinctiveness aparent to outside observers and is expressed in group consciousness of the members of a tribe. They always distinguished themselves as insiders in relation to others.
They are in a position to recognize where their community begins and where it ends and who are insiders and who are outsiders; (2) community is generally small in size and members live in face to face interaction, usually one knows everyone else of the community directly or indirectly; (3) culturally homogeneous, structurally simple, slow in respect of change, satisfied with small requirements and have intimate relationship with the environment or ecosystem; and (4) communities more or less self-sufficient, and community life is based on co-operation and positive conflict, members of every generation have respect for members of ascending generations and affection for descending generations.
Dozier suggests the following characteristics of simple societies, namely (1) absence of literary tradition, (2) possess relatively simple technology, (3) social institutions are simple, (4) size of the tribe is usually small, (5) members of the community live in relative isolation and (6) members of a tribe evince slow pace of change.
Each tribe has a myth about its origin. The myth narrates an incident when there was no life on earth. A god from heaven, for example among the Kandha of Orissa, popularly known as Andhara Muni Kadaka Muni created some white ants from a stone mould. Agonised at seeing no life on earth the ants began to eat the pillar supporting heaven, in order to draw the attention of the gods.
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With a view to placating them Andhara Muni Kadaka Muni told them that there will be many people, lands and animals on earth from Dharam Sukhi Surya. Sukhi, which when, dead will serve as their food. Then he directed the ants to seek the help of another survivor celestial being Eirani. At that time a goddess, Andharani Kadakarani emerged from the nether world by cracking a rock. She was blind and deaf which made her cry and this drew attention of the ants. Then taking pity on her a spider offered to clear her eyes so that she could see and a bumble bee cleared the dirt from her ears to make her hear again.
The Andharani then sent the female ant and Eirani’s female companions to bring sand from the sea. This they did with great difficulty by bribing the watchman of the sea with rice and hen having sohala ranga and satara singha. From this sand someone , made into seeds to grow crops and some into food materials. Some of the sand was cleaned and shaped into a man. He was given life and named as Jamajaura and was asked to create men and women. When he hesitated to do so, saying that the men who are born must die and when they do so, their relatives will curse them. Andharani created three men-Brahma, Vishnu and Moheswara and assured that Brahma will specify life of people who die of their own faults and thus not curse.
Then Andharani created seven sons with Jamajaura. The Brahma, Vishnu and Moheswara created many men and women and sent them to nether world who returned to the earth as Dharam Sukhi and Surya Sukhi. Then they in their turn created Kandhas of various clans to intermarry and procreate. The clans are more or less of equal social status, clan boundary being the demarcating line of exogamous group formation. Members of one clan can marry into other clans of the same tribe or sub-tribe. The myth of origin which the members of the tribe profess provides an account of their ethno-cultural origin and identity. The myths of origin are universally of the same type with some variations which are related to their environment, their culture and their ideology.