Warli Social History

The overwhelming motif of this study that stretches across three periods of Warli history - the pre-British period; the colonial era and the post-independence era, is the depiction of the 'outsider as exploiter'. However, an increasing devolution of self-assertion in recent years has provided such hitherto marginalised groups a new opportunity to claim their rights and reaffirm their identities in a new context. But self-rule needs a history and a reconstruction of Warli history can only begin with a relook at their oral traditions.