The Locals of Port Blair: A Bio-Cultural Profile

This book seeks to examine the various aspects of life of Andaman Indians, popularly known as Locals, the descendants of the convicts and freedom fighters who were deported to the island. Giving a historical account of their settlement, it shows how these people overcame the cultural crises at the early phase of their settlement-life and formed a unique society where Christians, Hindus and Muslims adopted a strategy to keep the society of the Locals free from the orthodoxy of religious practices. Describing their demographic features such as family typology, family size, age, sex, marital status, literacy and occupation, it also deals with their fertility pattern, and socio-cultural aspects—housing, dress and ornaments, marriage, religion and society, political system and economy. his book gives us a historical account of their settement, and genesis of the Locals. Then, and attement, has also been made to show how these people overcome the cultural crises at the early phase of their settlement life and form a unique society where the Christians, The Hindus and the Muslims adapted a strategy to keep the society of the Locals free from the orthodoxy of religious faiths lived together in a family.