India :-
In the Indian context the term tribe refers to Indigenous Janas. They are commonly designated as Adivasi ( Original settlers ). In India there is an amalgam of 437 tribes, and in Orissa the Number is Sixty two. Linguistically the tribes of India are broadly classified in to four categories 1.Indo-Aryan 2.Dravidian 3.Tibeto-Burmese & Austric Speakers. In Orissa Tibeto-Burmese language family are absent.
In Orissa we have 62 different tribes most of the primitive tribes such as Kondh, Bonda, Gadaba, Paraja, Sauora, Dedei & Dhuruba live in southern
part of Odisha due to Geographical surroundings. The details of some primitive tribes are mentioned bellow.
Orissa :-
Orissa is a state located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It was established on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganization Act, and consists, predominantly of Oriya speakers.
Orissa has a history spanning a period of over 3,000 years. The history of Orissa is in many ways atypical from that of the northern plains, and many of the common generalizations that are made about Indian history do not seem to apply to the Oriya region. The word Oriya is an anglicised version of Odia, which itself is a modern name for the Odra or Udra tribes that inhabited the central belt of modern Orissaa. Orissa has also been the home of the Kalinga and Utkal that played a particularly prominent role in the region's history, and one of the earliest references to the ancient Kalingas appears in the writings of Vedic chroniclers. In the 6th century BCE, Vedic Sutrakara Baudhayana mentions Kalinga as being beyond the Vedic fold, indicating that Brahminical influences had not yet touched the land. Unlike some other parts of India, tribal customs and traditions played a significant role in shaping political structures and cultural practices right up to the 15th century, when Brahminical influences triumphed over competing traditions and caste differentiation began to inhibit social mobility and erode what had survived of the ancient republican tradition.
Area :- 155,707 Km2 ( 60.119sqmi )
Capital :- Bhubaneswar
District : - 30
Population :- 36,706,920 ( 11th )
Density :- 236 / km2 ( 611 / sqmi.)
Kondhs :-
Kondhas devided into various subsections such as Kutia Kondh,Dongaria Kondh , Pengo Kondh,Jharia Kondh & Desia Kondh.The Kondhas are devided into two Linguistic group Kui & Kuvi.Kutia Kondhs speak the kui dialect while kuvi is spoken mainly in the eastern part of Koraput district.
Kutia Kondhs live in belghar area .The climate of the Kutia area is more or less tropical.
The economic life of the Kondh and their survivals based on agriculture. They practice both shifting cultivation on the hill-tops,and plough cultivation in low lands. Most of the families are of nuclear type consisting of parents and unmarried children.The Kutia Kondhs was doing human sacrifice at present they are doing buffalo sacrifice as a religious customary.They worship sun & earth goddess. Aesthetically they are very soun
Bondo :-
The most primitive tribe in orissa is Bondo.Theeir language is called Remo which comes under Austro Asiatic language belonging to Mundari Group.The bondos are mainly agriculturists besides, they practice shifting cultivation quite extensively. The bondo society is broadly divided into two moieties one is ONTAL ( cobra ) and KILLO ( Tiger).
Most of the bondo families are of Nuclear type.The most interesting is the bondo marriage, The wife is often older than the husband.Older girls prefer to marry younger boyes who would earn for them when they grow old. When the wife grows old the husband s are found at times intriguing younger brother’s wife.This leads to family quarrel and divorce. The bondos also believes in the efficacy of magic and sorcery shamans are the oracular practitioners who with the help of Rice-divination detect the spirit, communicate with them in trance and offer rituals and sacrifices. Dishari is theMedicine man cum astrologer. The bondos are extremely aggressive their strong sense of equality and independence, age- old isolation, poverty, indulgence in excessive liquor consumption and fear of sorcery are the chief reasons for committing criminal act.
Gadaba :-
The GADABAS are one of the Very primitive and colorful tribes in Orissa.They build their Houses are in two rows.The headman’s houses is the biggest and stands in the Middle of one of the rows.The economic life of the gadabas mainly centre around agriculture. They also collecting forest product, doing hunting and fishing. The agro-climatic condition of the area is very much suitable for horticultural plantation. The Gadabas are divided in to five divisions 1.Bondo Gadaba 2.Prenga Gadaba 3.Sano Gadaba & 4.Ollar Gadaba.The Gadabas believes in many gods and goddesses.Adult marriage is in vogue among the Gadabas although the incidence of child marriage is not rare. The girls age of 14 or 15 years after attaining puberty and the boys at the age of 19 or 20 years. Marriage within the clan is prohibited, hence exogamous. The boys and girls of a single clan are regarded as brothers and sisters. Monogamy is the rule although in the exceptional cases polygyny is practices.This happence when the first wife dose not give birth to any child and proves herself barren.
Paroja :-
The parojas are one of the well known major tribes of orissa.The paroja tribe is devided into two sections such as Bada Paroja & Sana Paroja.The bada Parojas following the Hindu Tradition do not eat beef or Buffalo meat and observe elaborate purificatory rituals even when a cow or buffalo dies in their households while the Sana Parojas eat the Flesh of both these animals.The paroja men usually wear lion cloths,Napkins & Women coarse and sarees.They have different kind of ceremony’s.The rituals and ceremonies connected with the name and first hair cutting of the Child is held on auspicious dates fixed by the traditional astrologer within a year.In these ceremonies ,the
Maternal uncle and grand parents play a vital role.The paroja have exogamous totemic septs ( clan ) such as Tiger,Tortoies,Goat,Dog,Lizard & Dove. Divorce is socially permitted on the grounds of marital incompatibility, mal –adjustment and infidelity. The matter of divorce is decided in the traditional village council.The most significant and colour festivals of the year are PUS PARAB & CHAIT PARAB.Pus Parab held in the month of ( January ) to celebrate the harvesting of paddy and other crops & Chait Parab is held in the Month of ( March – April ) when the people fo for communal hunting expedition.
Saora :-
The saoras are onr of the oldest known tribes of orissa.The saoras from their appearance resemble the other Pre-Dravidian tribes.Saora man which consist of loin-cloth about six feet long and about ten inches in breadth and decorated with red tarsels at the end.The women used skirt about three feet in length & two feet in breadth.These cloths are woven by the Doms from the yarn hand-spun by the saoras themselves.The saoras are very famous for their wall-paintings known as Ikons.Inside the House on the walls one often finds a group of sketches elaborately drawn,which are of religious significance and therefore called italons or Ikons.The saora society is full os Shamans called Kudan. ( Male ) and Kudanboi ( Female ).They play a great role in curing all type of illness. A shaman is a diviner-cum-medicineman who in a trance can establish direct communication with the unseen world and cure all type of illness caused due to the wrath of the evil spirits.
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