Adivasi means "first dweller" in Hindi. Different groupings of tribal peoples are referred to as "tribal peoples" in general.
- They are typically found in woods and other less developed regions, where they make a livelihood through hunting, woodcutting, collecting honey and medicinal herbs, and subsistence farming.
- On both sides of the Vindhya Mountains dividing northern and southern India, the greatest concentrations are in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, although they may also be found in southern India's Nilgiri Hills.
- Adivasis have yet to fully integrate into caste Hinduism.
Despite initiatives that give them priority for higher education and government jobs, many remain illiterate and impoverished.
They have been the target of intensive missionary effort by both Christians and Hindu missionaries supported by the Vishva Hindu Parishad in recent years.
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