Before taking to settled agriculture the tribals lived in hills and forests. At best, they practiced shifting cultivation. Their sustenance depended on forest game and forest produce.
In course of time, they took to settled agriculture and began to live in villages. The acceptance of agriculture also forced the tribals to take to irrigation. Writing on the preconditions for the formation of states, K.S. Singh observes:
Settled agriculture and correspondingly organized communities gave rise to state formation. The extension of cultivation through a network of irrigation schemes was necessary for building and sustaining states the migration of horns to Assam from the east in the 13th century and the subsequent expansion of their rule positively encouraged the extension of sali (wet land) cultivation and new transplantation techniques.
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Thus, the first condition of any state formation was stability. The tribals having states had to live a settled life and create a viable economy which could maintain the state. The Bhils of western India also experienced similar pattern of life. When the band system was abandoned, the tribe had to settle in plains and provide stability to their government.