Orissa tribal creation - origin, myths and religion: a study in intellectual tradition with special reference to undivided Koraput District

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ORISSA TRIBAL CREATION-ORIGIN, MYTHS AND RELIGION: A STUDY IN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO UNDIVIDED KORAPUT DISTRICT THE THESIS SUBMITTED TO UTKAL UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY, CULTURE & ARCHAEOLOGY

By Satyaban Garada Ph.D Regd. No.05-AIHCA-2006-07 Under the Supervision of Prof. Susmita Prasad Pani Director, DDCE, Utkal University

POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY, CULTURE & ARCHAEOLOGY UTKAL UNIVERSITY BHUBANESWAR-751004 2015

Prof. Susmita Prasad Pani Director, DDCE, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, India- 751004. Mobile: 9437095522 Email: susmit 1951 Ca'yahoo.co.in

CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis entitled Orissa Tribal Creation-Origin, Myths And Religion: A Study In Intellectual Tradition With Special Reference To Undivided Koraput District submitted by Sri Satyaban Garada for the award of Ph.D. degree of Utkal University in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, has been prepared under my guidance and supervision. I further certify that the thesis embodies the result of his original research and in-depth studies. This work has not been published anywhere or submitted to any other university h}r the scholar for the said degree. To the best of my knowledge the thesis is an original piece of work and is adequate for consideration for the award of the degree for which it is submitted.

(S. P. PANI)

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Prof. Susmita Prasad Pani Director, DDCE, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, India- 751007. Mobile: 9437095522 Email: susmit [email protected]

AREA CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis entitled Orissa Tribal Creation-Origin, Myths And Religion: A Study In Intellectual Tradition With Special Reference To Undivided Koraput District submitted by Sri Satyaban Garada for the award of Ph.D. degree of Utkal University in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, has been prepared under my guidance and supervision. The work is done in the area of Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology. The content of the thesis are within the area of the topic selected at the time of registration.

(S.P. PANI)

DECLARATION I, Sri Satyaban Garada, hereby declare that this thesis entitled Orissa Tribal Creation-Origin, Myths And Religion: A Study In Intellectual Tradition With Special Reference To Undivided Koraput District is the outcome of my own study undertaken under the guidance of Prof. Susmita Prasad Paid, Director, DDCE, Utkal University. This is submitted for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. It has not previously formed basis for the award of any degree, diploma or certificate of this university or of any other university. It is the result of my bonafied research work. I have duly acknowledged all the sources used by me in the preparation of this thesis.

Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I express my profound sense of gratitude to my Research Supervisor Prof. Susmita Prasad Pani (Ancient History), Director, DDCE, Utkal University, who encouraged, inspired and guided me throughout the writing of this thesis. I am really indebted to him for his valuable suggestions and constant supervision. But for his tremendous patience and incredible confidence in me, I could not have completed this work. It is my earnest duty to express thanks to my teachers Prof. Ashok Nath Parida, Prof. Sadasiba Pradhan, Dr. Sanjaya Acharya, HOD, Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology, Utkal University for their help and necessary support in carrying out this work. I am also thankful to other teacher Dr. S.K. Patra and Dr. Anam Behera for their support and co-operation in completing this work. I am equally grateful to Prof. Geeta Satpathy, Dr. Pragyan Paramita Panigrahi, Dr. Mamta Rani Behera, Dr. Sujit Acharya, Dr. Binod Bihari Satpathy and Dr. Sarita Mishra for their moral support and encouragement during the course of my research work I would like to thank my family for all their love and encouragement. This work would not have been realized without my family support. So, I am grateful to my loving Parents. I am very much thankful to my friends and seniors for their outstanding cooperation and moral support. I acknowledge all authors whose papers and research work helped me to carry out this gigantic exercise on a much needed research area. I also acknowledge the helpful cooperation extended by staff members DDCE Library, P.K. Parija Library, Utkal University and Department Seminar Library, Library of Odisha State Museum, State Achieves and SCSTRTI Library. I own the responsibility for all the errors and omissions that might have crept in this work. Last but not the least, I also highly thankful to UGC for providing me for financial assistance, without it I could not have completed this work. I am also thankful to Omm Sai Service center, Saheed Nagar, Bhubaneswar for their help to me for completion the work.

Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar Date :

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Fig. 1.

Village deity of DIDAYI tribes ofMalkangiri

Fig. 2.

Sindibor of Godaba Tribes

Fig. 3.

DELLY MUNDA hose deity of GODABA

Fig. 4.

Egg worship by didayi tribes before the collection of Mohula

Fig. 5.

JANGHA the God of Gond tribbes (Jaganatha of hindusim)

Fig. 6.

Marriage ceremony of PARENGA tribes of Koraput

Fig. 7.

DHEMSHA dance by Bhottoda tribes in Nabararangpur

Fig. 8.

Traditional DANCE OF KOYA woman in Malkangiri

Fig . 9.

KOYA, Egg sacrifice in Ikka Pandu for the collection of Mohula phulla.

Fig. 10.

Didayi woman are narrating to myths and traditional song

Fig. 11.

Dhemsa dence by GOND Ttribes of Nabarangpur

Fig. 12.

IDITAL Painting of SOARA

Fig. 13.

Koya Tribes with their costumes

Fig. 14.

Dongria girls preparing dress

Fig. 15.

Dongria Womans calling the sprit through cock & pission

Fig. 16.

Dormitory Paintings of Dongria Kandha

Fig. 17.

Spiritual Dance of Kandha

Fig. 18.

Dhemsa Dance by Bonda Woman at Bhubaneswar

Fig. 19.

Preparing for Kerang Wool

Fig. 20.

GOND village in Pakna Guda

Fig. 21.

Gasadasum (village deity) of Saora

Fig. 22.

Festival Dance of Saora

Fig. 23.

Marriage couple of Didayi

Fig. 24.

Dongria Kandha woman and with their traditional decorum

Fig. 25.

The Kandha woman in Daren manda

Fig. 26.

GOND Woman

Fig. 27.

Bonda Woman of Sargiguda

Fig. 28.

Gurumain dance of Kandha

Fig.29.

Godaba girls in Dhemsa dance

Fig.30.

Bhottada Woman’s at weekly market

Fig.S 1.

Preparing for Kerang Wool

Fig.32.

Gottar Ceremony of Godaba

Fig.33.

Janga the deity of Gond

Fig.34.

Cattle shed House

Fig.35.

Brass Bengel of Kandha Tribes

Fig.36.

Wooden Bengel of Saora Tribes

LIST OF MAP

1. POLITICAL MAP OF INDIA 2. PHYSICAL MAP OF INDIA 3. SCHEDULED TRIBES MAP OF INDIA 4. POLITICAL MAP OF ODISHA 5. PHYSICAL MAP OF ODISHA 6. TRIBAL DEMOGRAPHIC MAP OF ODISHA , 2011 7. UNDIVIDED KORAPUT DISTRICT MAP OF ODISHA 8. UNDIVIDED KORAPUT DISTRICT MAJOR TRIBALS MAP

PREFACE Tribal society displays a fascinating profile of ethnic diversity. They belong to different racial stocks, speak language of different families and show considerable variations in basic economy. The variation in physical and biological environment of their habitat is equally amazing. A tribe is widely understood educational ply, historically, or developmentally in the society and it stands for social group existing in the society and its parts. A tribe is a separate people, reliant on land and livelihood; they are fundamentally self-sufficient and not completely integrated into the national society. From the history, we find that the tribals are an integral part of the Indian civilization. Various elements in the ancient civilization of India were contributed by the tribals. It is believed that, they were the earliest among the present inhabitants of the country. The constitution of India identifies the indigenous people as ‘tribes”. Tribes as a social formation may be recognized in two ways: firstly, as a stage in the history of evolution of human civilization; secondly, as a society organized on the basis of kinship ties which enables them to be a multifunctional group. In the broad sphere of Indian society, the tribal communities represent an important social category of Indian social structure. They are considered as the original inhabitants of India, who carry forward a legacy of rich and distinct cultural traits for many decades. It displays a fascinating profile of ethnic diversity. The tribes are the oldest inhabitants of Odisha. The tribes have immensely contributed to the culture of Odisha over the centuries. The Odishan tribal communities enriched the cultural fabric of our nation and they also occupy a unique position in ethnographic map of India.

If one thinks about the cultural history of primitive tribes, then they must turn to the undivided Koraput district which is the largest area of Odisha. For those studying a cultural part of Odisha tribe, one should be aware that Odisha houses 62 tribes & Koraput District houses more than 52 or all most all. The Koraput district is famous for its beautiful landscape, hill-forest and tribal cultural heritage. It has rich potential for study of tribal language and culture. Their tradition and culture is broad and rare. And the cultural heritages of tribals of Koraput have special importance all over India. Koraput as a part of the Dandakaranya region and its socio-cukural nexus has been synthesized by

the author. Following the Gazetteer of India, the author has identified the Dandakaranya region and the Koraput plateau which is located at its centre towards the northern part of the Eastern Ghats. The tribes have immensely contributed to the Odishan culture over centuries. Infact Odishan culture is an outcome of inter-play among tribal, dravidian, brahminical and other cultures.

It is important to understand the mutual influences,

synthesis and the process of acculturation, brahminisation, aryanisation, tribalisation and even re-tribalisation.

The Doctoral research is broadly juxtaposed against this

background. The thesis shall focus on “Orissan Tribal Creation-Origin Myths and Religion: A Study in Intellectual Tradition with Special Reference to Undivided Koraput District”. The thesis intends to narrate few representative myths popular among the tribes of undivided Koraput district in Orissa regarding the origin of creation. These would be analyzed in terms of major tradition of myths in world context. For the researcher interpolation of ancient myths is not an issue. This research recognizes that the tribal creation-origin myths are dynamic and continue to change. This work is not trying to reconstruct myths historically.

The current myths which provide a clue to the

understanding of the tribal conception of the world, beyond and below and their culture root are emphasized. Myths are stories that narrate in an imaginative and symbolic manner, the total and basic structures upon which a culture rests. Myths form an important component of the intellectual tradition of a culture. By intellectual tradition, the academia associates rationalism and theory of knowledge. They are interwoven with mysticism. Mysticism, in general, refers to a direct and immediate experience of the secret or the knowledge derived from such an experience. Though mysticism is invariably associated with God, creation, various worlds etc., it can also be atheistic in nature. The diverse tribal communities inhabiting Odisha has enriched the cultural heritage of the state by their cultural diversities. Their rich folk traditions of song, dance, music, religion, rituals and festivals are celebrated round the year add colorful dimensions to their very existence as well as their cultural man-nature-sprite complex. Every dimensions of their life covering round the year activities are intimately connected with religion and beliefs and practices associated with it. . Their unquestionable belief in super natural which regulate human existence in the world is the basic observation of many festival and rituals. Religion in the broadest sense determines a society’s world

view. This world view determines the attitude to the natural and supernatural world. The human personality and its basic traits, the relationship between man in society and social moral values systems on which such relationship is built. Within the tribal society there are three inter linked world of gods and spirits and the world of ancestors. The tribal religion in Odisha

is an admixture of animism, animatisms, anthropomorphism and

ancients worship. Religious beliefs and practices aim at ensuring personal happiness as well as community well being and group solidarity. Their religious performances include life- crises rites, community rites, ancestor cult and totemic rites and observance of taboos. Beside these the tribal also resort to various types of magical and occult practices. This research work is based on five chapters. Chapter-1. Introduction: Title, scope. Methodology, Review of Literature, A general Introduction on creation-origin myths and religion. Chapter II: Socio-Cultural background of tribal culture in Orissa. Chapter- III: Creation-origin myth and religion of tribe’s of Undivided Koraput District: a) Bonda, b) Bhotra, c) Gond, (d) Godaba, e) Dongria Kondha, f) Koya, g) Didayi h) Kondh i) Parenga and j) Saora. Chapter - IV The Interlink between tribal creation-origin, myth and religion: a) Interaction with Hinduism, Brahmin Buddhism Jaina Tradition, b) Process of acculturation, c) The Intellectual tradition of tribes of Koraput. Chapter - V

Conclusion: Summary and dicussion. The

thesis involve three major concepts; tribe, myth and creation origin.

Satyaban Garada

CONTENTS Certificate Area Certificate Declaration Preface Acknowledgement Abbreviation List of Photographs List of Maps & Table

Page No. Chapter -I

Introduction

1-28

a) Title, scope & Methodology b) Review of Literature. c) A general Introduction on creation-origin myths and religion. Chapter II

Socio-Cultural background of tribal culture in Orissa.

29-54

Chapter- III

Creation-origin myth and religion of tribe’s

55 -120

of Undivided Koraput District, a) Koya, b) Kondh , c) Dongria kondh d) Didayi, e) Gond, f) Saora, g) Parenga h) Gadaba, i) Bhottada, j) Bonda, Chapter - IV

The Interlink between tribal creation-origin myth and religion.

121 -145

a) Interaction with Hinduism, Brahmin Buddhism Jaina Tradition. b) Procesps of acculturation. c) The Intellectual tradition of tribes of Koraput. Chapter-V

Summary and Conclusion

146 - 152

Glossary

153 -156

Selected Bibliography

157-167

ST Census Table - 2011 Maps Photographs

& & &

Chapter I INTRODUCTION

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India is a country with vast cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity. Diversity gives her unique character in terms of cultural wealth. An important feature of Indian society is its stratified structure. It broadly classifies the society into two groups tribal and caste Hindus. The tribals who have accepted Christianism and even Islam remain tribal. And even many Muslims and Christians have not been able to come out of the caste system of Hindu society completely. In India tribes are identified as the indigenous inhabitants of the country. They are seen in almost every state of India. For centuries, they have been living a simple life based on the natural environment. They have developed cultural patterns congenial to their physical and social environment. The name tribe is derived from the Latin word “tribuz’\ it means the ‘poor ’ or the 'masses The name ‘tribe ’ refers to a category of people and designates a step of development in human society. As a type of society the term signifies a set of typical features and as a point of advancement, it connotes a definite form of social organization1. In English the word 'tribe' appeared in the sixteenth century and denoted a community of persons claiming descent from a common ancestor.

The tribal India lives in the forest hills and naturally isolated regions known as a rule, by different names like The people of forest and hill' or The original inhabitants’ and so on. The popular names are: vanyajati (caste of forest), vanvasi (inhabitants of forest), pahari (hill dwellers), adimajati(on%im\ communities), arf/va.v/(primitive people) and anusuchit janajati (scheduled tribe) and so on. Among all terms adivasi is known most extensively and Ansuchit janajati scheduled tribe is the constitutional name covering all of them.

The tribal people of India have been in contact with their neighbours. This contact goes back, to the day of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata: for in them there are references to tribal communities who are referred to as “Jana”, when in his exile, Rama reached the borders of the forest of Central India. The land was introduced to him as the abode of the tribal people, Janastana. Even in the Vedic literature, there are references to people who were different in physical appearance and who worshiped strange god: in

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other words the contact between the tribes farmers and the cattle rears who crowded the plains has been continuing for over the centuries.

From the history, we find that the tribals are an integral part of the Indian civilization. Various elements in the ancient civilization of India were contributed by the tribals. It is believed that, they were the earliest among the present inhabitants of the country. Four main races and cultures welded together into one i.e. the Hindus. These are as follows : - (I) the Austro- Asiatic; in their primitive form are represented by the Kolhos or the Mundas, the khasis and the Nicoborese (2) The Mongoloids; people speaking dialects of the Sim-tibetan family who are found largely among the Sub-Himalayan regions and who are represented by the Nagas, the Bodos and the Kakichins etc. (3) The Dravidians; the Malers, the Oraons. the Gonds and the Konds who speak the language of the Dravidian family (4) The Aryans; who are supposed to be the last to come to India. Thus we see that the first three racial and cultural elements made a great contribution to the formation of the Indian people.

The ancient literature of India referred to the names of the tirbes in Sanskrit language. They appear to be the (i) Nishadas, Sabaras, Bhils and Kolias (ii) Kiratas (iii) Dasas, Dasyus, (iv) Dravidas2. f

The constitution of India identifies the indigenous people as ‘tribes’'. Tribes as a social formation may be recognized in two ways: firstly, as a stage in the history of evolution of human civilization; secondly, as a society organized on the basis of kinship ties which enables them to be a multifunctional group3. As the name implies, tribals are 'Adivasi' or the original living in the subcontinent from unrecorded time and possibly driven dwellers into the forests by aggressive settlers. The Aryans being the earliest one socially subjugate to them. In order to resist complete domination, tribals evolved their distinct identity through their endogamy, cropping pattern, hunting and food gathering. Above all, in their intensely personal relationship with the forest around them, they formed perfectly balanced rhythms which can best be described as symbiotic.

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An important feature of tribal people in the past was their different agricultural practices. The Tribes had practiced inferior level of technology in agriculture. They also partly gathered food from the forest. They engaged in hunting for food. Even today the technological gap between tribal and non tribals in agricultural practice, exists in the form of Poduchasa i.e, forest clearing by fire, and cultivating the clear patch amongst tribes is shall popular. Use of fresher is also almost nonexistent. Even cattle are not bred by major groups for milk. Rice, pulses, vegetables, masala, condiments and oil is the standard food habit of the non tribes in Odisha. In contrast, the principal food habit excludes use of condiments and excessive oil. Instead of rice, Mandia (finger millet (Ragi) is the major cereal consumed. Also fermented brew from rice, flower and fruits is the preference of tribals not the chemically prepared alcohol.

The tribal society is an enigma to the world of culture and heritage. In the broad sphere of Indian society, the tribal communities represent an important social category of Indian social structure. They are considered as the original inhabitants of India, who carry forward a legacy of rich and distinct cultural traits for many decades. It displays a fascinating profile of ethnic diversity. They belong to different racial stocks, speak language of different families and show considerable variations in basic economy. The variation in physical and biological environment of their habitat is equally amazing. This bewildering variety in race, language, habitat and economy is fully reflected in their culture, which like a mosaic, evokes the admiration of social scientists to study the dynamics of their society.

In India, there is an amalgamation of 437 tribes and in Odisha the number is 62, According to the 2011 Census in Odisha, the total strength of tribal population is approximately nine million, which constitutes 22.19% of the total population of the State (total population of Odisha is estimated to be 4l,947,358).They are the primitive inhabitant of Odisha. So far as the percentage of the tribal population is concerned, Odisha ranks 3rd. In (Ist Chattisgarh - 30.6%, 2nd Jharkhand -26.1%, and 3rd Odisha22.8%) Indian context, tribes constitute 9.7% of the national population. Orissa has the largest tribal population in India4.

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The tribes are the oldest inhabitants of Odisha. The tribes have immensely contributed to the culture of Odisha over the centuries. The Odishan tribal communities enriched the cultural fabric of our nation and they also occupy a unique position in ethnographic map of India. The tribals have influenced the history and culture of the state to a very great extent. There are good grounds to believe that Odishan culture which developed in a broader Indian framework, have assimilated folk and tribal cultural elements all along its very long history. The present Odisha state is situated at 17 °49 0 North to 22°.34° North latitude between 81° 29° East and 87° 29° East longitude. Odisha is surrounded by Bay of Bengal in the east, Andhra Pradesh in the south, Jharkhand in the north, Chhattisgarh in west and West Bengal in the north east. Odisha has broadly two regions “coastal region” and “high land region4”. From the geographical point of view, Odisha is divided into four zones namely; the Northern zone, Eastern-ghat zone, Central table land, and Coastal zone. The Northern-plateau and Eastern-ghat constitute 55% of the total area of the state which is primarily dominated by tribal population5.

The population of Odisah is also divided into three broad segments, the folk (tribal} community, the peasant (rural caste) community and the urban (city or town dweller) community. Each segment has its uniqueness. They exhibit reciprocal interaction throughout history and they continue to interact with each other, e.g. the first segment interacts with the second and both with the third segment; and thereby constitute the folkurban continuing Redfield and dictum6.

The tribes of Odisha are also divided into three broad linguistic groups, AustroAsiatic (Munda), Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Excluding the Santal (Olchik), Ho (Warrang Chiki), Saora (Saora Sampen) and Kondha (Kui) have developed their own scripts7. And other tribe have only one spoken language. Odisha is the meeting ground for the north and south Indian culture. And they are also known as the Adivasis (aborigine), the Vanabasis (forest dweller), and the Girijanas (mountain dweller). They are described as aboriginals of Odisha in anthropological literature. Historically, Odisha has been identified with tribal culture. The name Odisha is derived from the word 'odra'

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which is a tribal term (from the Munda term ‘area’).The name Kalinga also probably represent a corrupted version Munda term. This region was named as Odra. Kalinga and Utkala. In this area the Savara and the Pulinda tribe also lived in distant past. The Mahabharai mention that the tribes of Kalingas (Odishan) participated in the famous Kurukhetra war under the leadership of the Kalinga king. The famous Budhist text Budhayana Dharma Sutra described about the Odishan tribes*. Ashoka in his inscription of Odisha refers to the unconquered Atavika (Ananta Avijita) or forest dwellers’. The Allahabad prasasti mentions that Samudragupta during his south Indian campaign passed through some inaccessible region of Odisha. Presently majority of the tribal population are located in the hilly tracts. In coastal Odisha also there are some pockets of tribal population. It is generally believed that the tribals have been pushed into hill tracts in the course of time. Tribes are predominantly inhabited in the non-coastal parts of Orissa. These areas are known as the “tribal belt”; like Koraput, Ganjam, Boudh, Phulbani, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar10.

If one thinks about the cultural history of primitive tribes, then they must turn to the undivided Koraput district which is the largest area of Odisha.

For those studying a

cultural part of Odisha tribe, one should be aware that Odisha houses 62 tribes & Koraput District houses more than 52 or all most all.

Since 1992, Koraput has been divided into four new districts namely; Koraput. Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. This research attempts to give an insight into the tribal studies of Odisha and in particular the undivided Koraput (Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Malkangiri).The Koraput district is famous for its beautiful landscape, hill-forest and tribal cultural heritage. It has rich potential for study of tribal language and culture. Their tradition and culture is broad and rare. And the cultural heritages of tribals of Koraput have special importance all over India. The Korapdf district derived its name “Koraput” from the town of its head-quarters. The name Koraput is derived from “Kora-putti ” (the hamlet of the nux-vomica), it is presumably from a tree or tree that must have been prominent at one time near the site. But today not a single nuxvomica tree is to be found near the town of Koraput. Another view about the name.

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Koraput is a corrupted form of "Karaka pentho” means “hailstoneStill others believed that one ’Khora Naiko’ laid foundation stone of the village during the time of Nandapur kings. He hailed probably from Rcmpur and served under the Nandpur king Militia and for his faithful meritorious service he was permitted to establish this village which was named after him as Khoraputu and later on the name has been changed to Koraputn. The total area of Koraput district is 27,020 Sq. km. These area lies between 17°50 north latitude and 20°3 north latitude and between 8I°27 East and 84° 1 East longitude. The total population of Koraput is 4,170,382 and among them 1903000 (53.74%) are tribals as per the 2011 census records. It is surrounded in the north by Kalahandi district of Orissa and Raipur (420km. from Koraput) district of Chhattisgarh. In the southern side is East Godavari (344km.from Koraput), Khamam (392km.from Koraput) and Visakhapatnam (268km.from Koraput) districts of Andhra Pradesh. In the Eastern side ard* Gajapati and Kondhamala districts of Odisha, Vijyanagaram (220km.from Koraput) and Srikakulam (280km.from Koraput) districts of Andhra Pradesh. In the western side is Bastar (120km.from Koraput) district of Chhattisgarh. Being irregular in shape, the district resembles the English letter of ‘Y’u. This region of the undivided Koraput along with the district of Ganjam in Odisha and Srikakulam, Vijayanagar and Visakhapatnam of Andhra was a part of Vizag agency tract till 1936 which was under Madras Presidency. Koraput district consisted of the major portion of the district of Visakhapatnam and the list of hill tribes was amended by the Government of Odisha, Revenue Department, notification No. 148/R, dated 14th January 1943. Further, The Agency Tracts Interest and Land Transfer Act, 1917 and Regulation 2 of 1956 are significant in providing legal protection to the ownership of tribal land’3.

Koraput as a part of the Dandakaranya region and its socio-cultural nexus has been synthesized by the author. Following the Gazetteer of India, the author has identified the Dandakaranya region and the Koraput plateau which is located at its centre towards the northern part of the Eastern Ghats14.

Out of the sixty two tribes in Orissa, more than fifty two tribes are inhabited in Koraput. They are; Bonda, Bhotra, Banjari, Bhumia, Bathudi, Bhunjia, Birhor.

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Binjoha, Chenchu, Dal, Desiabhumija, Duma, Didayi, Godba, Gond, Gondia, Ghara, Holya, Jatapu, Jatapudora, Kolloharas, Kotia,Koya, Kollha, Kora, Kama, Matia, Munda lohra, Madia, Mahali, Mali, Mirdha, Muda, Mankidia, Omamtya, Parenga, Paraja, Pentia, Samtia, Rajur, Soura, Santala, Ho, Kharia, Kissan, Lodha, Oran. Kulis. Khilo, Poraja jhadia and Gutab gadbais. Above all the tribes have their own distinctive language, oral myths, religion and rituals, folk tale, music and dance and art and craft.

The cultural and historical evidence of Koraput is found from the pre-historical (Neolithic culture) period. The Neolithic tradition is found from the tribes like; Bonda, Godba Parenga, Rona and Soara .The Mahabharata states that people of Kalinga in the Mahabharata war, they were on the side of Kourabas. Many believe that the tribes of Odishan including that of Koraput would have participated in the war. Similarly the Dandakaryana of Ramayana traditions are identified with Koraput and Bastar (Chhatishgarh) region (Bastar is adjacent to Nabarangpur and Malkangiri region). Ashoka also mentions in his special Rock-edict-2 that the Atvika people were a great source of strength to Kalinga in the 3rd century B.C, but the land of Atavika which could not be conquered remained out of his empire. During the time of Kharabela, Kalinaga become the strongest power of India and Atavika comprised an important part of his growing empire. So the Atavika territory appears to have been referred to as the invincible Vidyadhara region in the Hatigumpha inscriptions. The Koraput and Kalahandi regions were referred to Mohakantara in Nagarjunikonda inscription of Mohavahana. Various dynasties who ruled over Odisha had also control over Koraput region. Notable amongst them were Satavhana, Vakatakas, Nalas Matharas, EatsernGangas, Chalukyas, Somavamsis, Gangas. Kalachuries, Chindaka-nagas, Mastya Sailavamsis and Suryavansis. The Suryavansis had established flourishing urban center at Nandapur, Jeypore, Narayanpatna and Kasipur. The Batrisa Sinhasana f32 steps throne) at Nanadapur is ascribed to the Sailavamsis rulers who with their power and self emulated the glory of the famous king of Ujjain. The Matsya and Sila dynasties merged into one in the early 15th century. The monarchs were acting as the chief Feudal Lords of the Southern dominions of the Gajapati kings of Kalinga (Odisha). As many as 25 rulers belonging to the solar race ruled over Jeypore Estate or Koraput District from 1443 A.D

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to 1952 A.D. Full administrative control and system was placed under independent India and zamindari was abolished in 1952. The English had administrated the Jeypore Estate under the direct super vision of Vizag agency official16.

In fact Odishan culture is an outcome of the inter-play between tribal, dravidian, brahminical and other cultures. It is important to understand the mutual influences, synthesis and the process of acculturation, brahminisation, aryanisation, tribalisation and even re-tribalisation. This research is broadly juxtaposed against this background. The work shall focus on “Orissa Tribal creation, origin, myth and religion: a study of the intellectual tradition with special reference to Undivided Koraput District”. The present research goes beyond elitist approach and considers that intellectualism or myths and tradition is not confined to Brahmin culture alone, in other words, tribals have their own intellectual traditions or myth.

The tribal and nontribal societies all over the world have their own creation-origin myths and religion. The Orissa tribes like other tribes of India have their own creationorigin myths and religion. These are linked with Brahmin, Buddhist and Jaina traditions which have strong creation-origin myths. Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman civilization had also similar myths, religion and concept of God and Evil. The prayers to God, sprit and ancestors and various other rituals provide interesting clue to understanding the mind of people, theirs agriculture, hunting and other activities and “’religion spells out the world view and the ethical value of a society. The ethic and world view of a tribal population was inter-linked with their practice relating to agriculture, hunting and other socio-economic activities.

Myths provide the first systematic explanations of history and the first prophecies of the future. For most of the recorded history, the primary mode of understanding both the past and the future has been the myth-stories and sagas describing the challenges, meaning, and purpose of life. Myths are said to be narratives in which the doing of some God or Goddess are related17.

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By the view of the dictionary, the meaning of myth means a traditional or legendary story usually concerned with deities or dermis-god and creation of the world and its inhabitants. Also myth means a story or belief that attempt is to express or explain basic truth18

Mythology is a body of such myths having a common source of subject and, therefore, mythology may be called primitive science or philosophy in which explanation takes the form of picture and event which are enough to satisfy primitive intellectual curiosity.

Myths are stories that narrate in an imaginative and symbolic manner, the total and basic structures upon which a culture rests. Myths form an important component of the intellectual tradition of a culture. By intellectual tradition, the academia associates rationalism and theory of knowledge. They are interwoven with mysticism. Mysticism, in general, refers to a direct and immediate experience of the secret or the knowledge derived from such an experience. Though mysticism is invariably associated with God, creation, various worlds etc., it can also be atheistic in nature. It involves experience or knowledge that is felt to be self authenticating without the need for further evidence or justification.

Its essence is incapable of being expressed or understood outside the

experience itself. It is an extension of the ordinary field of human consciousness. It is the perfection of intuition. It cannot be explained only through psychology and physiology. Myth is interwoven with mysticism, thus it is easy and legitimate for many to reject myth and mysticism. Yet others feel that it can be put to analysis and it provides clues to a deeper understanding of culture. It is with the later belief that the scholar approaches the subject “Orissan Tribal Creation, Origin, Myths and Religion: A study in Intellectual tradition with special Reference to Undivided Koraput District.’' This thesis intends to narrate few representative myths popular among the tribes of undivided Koraput district in Odishan regarding the creation, origin. These would be analyzed in terms of major tradition of myths in world context. For the researcher, interpolation of ancient myths is not an issue. Here i want to explain that the tribal creation-origin of

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myths is dynamic and continue to change. In order to develop an understanding of tribal creation - origin of myth, currents myths are ultimate. Myths also throw light on the roots and growth of the tribal life. This work is being organised in three parts-the world view; creation-origin, myths, and religion and especially tribal view of undivided Koraput district in Odishan context. Generalization would be attempted.

Myths may be classified according to dominant theme expressed in the narrative. Important themes treated in myths include creation-origin of gods, and divine beings, and renewal and rebirth of the world. The creation of cosmogonist myth is usually the most important myth of a culture. It relates how the entire world comes into beings. Not only the beings revealed in the myth but also the qualitative mode of creation become a model for all other forms of creation in the culture. In some myths, a deity creates from nothing, in other he creates out of “Primordial chaos ”, Still other creations emerge out of the metamorphosis of embryonic forms within the earth or water. Creation is also seen as a result of violent act and warfare among the gods. The activity of divine beings such as diving into primordial waters to secure a small piece of earth is found in other creation narratives. There is a wide spread myths which speak of creation coming out of cosmic egg. Most of the creation myth contends a structure of rapture or a break. It separates the primordial condition from the human condition. There is a discontinuity between the original condition and the creation at the beginning and the human condition as it is now.

The Myth is reflected in mythology. The myths of Indian culture are associated with mythology. The Indian mythologies can be traced from the Vedas. The Vedas were compiled from ground 1000 B.C. to 1500 B.C., it created the web of God and Goddesses who are associated with creations. According to the Vedas "Varum" the God of water is the master of knowledge and magic and presides over the changing spectacle of the Universe. With him Mitra, the sun god is associated, who is responsible for establishing law and contract ensuring the well being of society. The Sun, in course of time also evolved as ”Dharmadevata”, “ Yama” the god of time and he is variously associated with later Gods and Goddess of the Vedic phenomenon, "Indra ” the god of rain, thunder bolts and war is the most important god of Rig Vedic period. Varum, Mitra and Indra are host

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of other gods are known as Aidtya.

The Mother Earth is conceived as Aditi, the

primordial goddess. The cosmic water, the sun and the earth create and uphold the creation.

Myth is the folk-tale primarily and fundamentally as a work of primitive art. ” It constitutes not only an integral part of the folk-lore but are also the most essential core.

According to Tyler; - Myth was primitive ethnology expressed in poetic ffom.Myth is motivated not by subjective wishful thinking but rather by the quest for an understanding of the significance of the nature and life10.

From now unlike fairy tales myths are taken with religious seriousness either as history fact or as mystic truth. Whereas fairy tales are held to be the express but thinking Mid personal gratification myth at is best is to be regarded as recognition of the drama and human existence. The myths ultimate aim is not the wishful distortion of the world, but rather serious comprehension and representing metaphorically a world - picture and insight into life generally and May, there for, be considered as primitive philosophy or metaphysical thought.

Characteristic qualities of myth: «

Characteristic qualities of myth, in general it can be said that myth as experienced by archaic societies, (1) constitutes the History of the acts of the Supematurals; (2) that this History is considered to be absolutely true (because it is concerned with realities) and sacred (because it is the work of the Supernaturals); (3) that myth is always related to a "creation. ” it tells how something came into existence, or how a pattern of behavior, an institution, a manner of working were established; this is why, myths constitute the paradigms for all significant human acts; (4) that by knowing the myth, one knows the "origin" of things and hence can control and manipulate them at one’s will; this is not an "external," "abstract" knowledge but a knowledge that one "experiences" ritually, either by ceremonially recounting the myth or by performing the ritual for which it is the

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justification; (5) that in one way or another one "lives" the myth, in the sense that one is seized by the sacred, exalting power of the events recollected or re-enacted21.

The nature and function of myth: The nature and function of myth in ancient societies deliberate alive. Myth is not an explanation in satisfaction of a scientific interest, but a narrative resurrection of a primeval reality, told in satisfaction of deep religious wants, moral cravings, social submissions, assertions, even practical requirements. Myth fulfills in primordial culture in a vital function. It expresses, enhances and codifies belief; it safeguards and enforces morality; it vouches for the efficiency of ritual and contains practical rules for the guidance of man. These stories are to the natives a statement of a primeval, greater, and more relevant reality, by which the present life, facts and activities of mankind are determined, the knowledge of which supplies man with the motive for ritual and moral actions, as well as with indications as to how to perform them’’. Orissa tribal people can tell us what thei opinion about the great problems of the origin and meaning of life. Their mind always shrinks from the abstract and does not easily philosophize one can sense the relief with which the tribal theologian escapes from attempting to describe general ideas when they in concrete form.

His possible in the way the myths of Orissa should generally, by regarded. It has defined in many ways and according to the fashion of the day. Its functions have been stressed now in one manner. Now in another but myths is too wide and adopt a thing to be adjusted to a policy, we will do well to recognize that is may play different parts in different cultures, and may well fulfill varied function in the same cultures. The religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural system and world view that relate humanity to an order of existence. Religion has been considered to be an integral part of human life and study of man cannot be complete without the study of religion. Religion is the most important feature of human life. In fact comets rightly

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admitted that religion embraces the whole of existence and the history of religion resumes the entire history of human development22. Religion has narrative symbols and sacred histories that aim to explain the meaning of life and the origin of life or the universe. Religion is the major concern of man. It is one of the earliest and deepest interests of the human being. Religion is universal, permanent, and pervasive and has the perennial interest of man. Belief in the existence of super human or supernatural power is almost universal. Experiences of day to day sudden happenings of disease, death and the unexplainable, have led tribal people into believing in other than the material visible world, i.e. in the invisible sprit, world or supernatural power. They have established a kind of close relationship between themselves and this power by adjusting themselves to it in two ways:- 1. Controlling or overpowering the sprit by enchanting some techniques and canalizing the power, for good or bad. 2. By offering puja or worship to propitiate the super human power of acquisition of the thing or object desired. We call the former magic and later religion.

Some Important Characteristics of Tribal Religion

(a) There is an absence of any written scripture in Tribal religion. It is the religion of oral traditions. It is the religion of corporate 'memory' passed on from generations. Religious rituals, teachings and principles are transmitted orally from one generation to another.

(b) No human-made images or temples are used for worship of the Divine. Natural objects are accepted as symbols of the divine presence and adoration and oblations are given seasonally. Life-cycles, birth, marriage and death, and annual cycles of major seasons and changes of nature accordingly form an integral part of occasional and seasonal festivals and scarifies.

(c) A nature-human spirit continuum is the key to the tribal vision of life. All religious rites, observances, festivities are based on this holistic vision of reality. Tribal

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religion accepts the integral relationships of nature, humans and spirit in their experiences. The Tribal totem is one of the concrete examples of this continuum.

(d) Another-important characteristic of Tribal religion is the worship of the ancestors. And stars are a part of life of those who are aiive and they are interested in the welfare of the living. The tribals offer grains of rice at the beginning of their meal to the ancestors and the faith is that they partake the meal with the living one.

The religion of the tribes of Koraput region is an admixture of animism, animalisms, nature worship, fetishism, shamanism, anthropomorphism and ancestor worship like other tribes spread over India. Religious beliefs and practices aim at ensuring personal happiness as well as community well-being and group solidarity. Their religious performances include life-crises rites, community rites, ancestor cult and totemic rites and observance of taboos. Besides these, the tribals also resort to various types of magical and occult practices and they are generally polytheists.

All the rituals concerning agricultural operations, first fruit eating, live stock and crop welfare are observed by members of a village on an appointed date which is fixed by the village headman in consultation with the village priest.

The pantheon in most cases consists of the Sun God, the Mother Earth and a number of gods and goddess arranged hierarchically, besides there are village tutleries. nature spirits, presiding deities, and ancestor spirits who are also propitiated and offered sacrifices. A peculiarity of the tribal mode of worship is the offering of blood of an animal or bird, because such propitiation and observance of rites are explicitly directed towards happiness, safety and security, abundance of crops, live-stock, plants and welfare of progenies in the mundane would.

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second, it attempts to bring out the richness of tribal culture, carried in their myths and legends, and to establish its antiquity in the context of the prime civilizations of the world: the Mesopotamian, the Babylonian, the Hindu, the Egyptian, the Greek and the judeo-Christian. The book introduces a competitive reading to evaluate degrees of being civilized, is such things are possible. Finally, it examines myths as a fossil field, which is layered and in which ancient facts are trapped and held as fossils. The book suggests ways of identifying, recovering and studying these fossils in order to construct the tribe's prehistory and ethos. The main body of the book consists, of primary material on creation myths, myths of origin and history, and myths on the making of gods.

Rahmann, S.V.D. Rudolf (1962) in his article Quarrel and enmity between the Sun and the Moon was contributed to the mythologies of the Philippines, India and the Malaga Peninsula. This article is co-related with creation myths of Bond tribal in Undivided Koraput of Odisha. The Bonda tribal myths also provide enmity between the moon and the sun due to their children’s quarrel, that’s why the sun and moon are rise in opposite periods like day and night.

Radhakhrishn. S. in his books the Principal of Uponisada (1953), He discussed about the theory of careful by Brahmanism. The Brahmanism Theory of creation described from Upraised which was writtined of on 700 B.C. The main creating actor of the story was takened by Prajapati Brahma or The Lord of creation like the original, however, the Story uses ‘‘he” as 7 subjects, because he may taken more metaphorically as any seatert being who creates by his or her own thought.

Brandon, S.G.F. (1963) s books of creation legends of the Ancient Near East (LONDON) he discussed about the creation myths in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece generally express the idea of creation and defense of an ordered cosmos from out of primordial chaos many connection can be made among these different mythic tradition in their attempt to make seas of cultural word for example the idea of water as the primordial source of like can be found in all of these traditions.

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Strauss. Claude levis book of Myth and Meaning ” (1978) in this Books he discuss about the myth and meaning. He tries to bring us back to mythical though that we have lost something very previous and that we must try to gain it black. Does this means that Scion and modern thought must go out the window and that we must go back to mythical thought? In here he also interprets on Structural study of myths and compare to myth on primitive thought with scientific thought. He discusses the difference between the conceptual organization of mythological thinking and that of history and explain the mythological telling of a story deals with historical fact.

And discuss about the

relationship of might and music.

Russell. R.V., and Hiralal R. B- (1961) was a renounced name on Indian civil service ethnographical study of India, for his great contribution to Indian ethnographical on their books Tribal and castes of central provinces of Indian in 1,2,3,4 volumes provide the started work on ethnological accounts of India I have collect some information from Vol 1 2 3 and 4 about the theses of Gond, Parja, Gadba and Kordhas. Habitat status marriage, religion and Burial practice were explaining.

Rowney Bickerstaffe Horatio (1920) one of the British Scholar, he researched in title of WILD TRIBAL OF INDIA He discuss from Aryan and Non Aryan, It must be accepted that the Indian population may be broadly arrange under two distinct divisions namely the Aboriginal and the immigrant. Four boundaries area of India area more than a hundred passes through the mountain barriers that invest the country i.e. the Suleiman, the Himalayan and the Arracan Mountain ranges. And these have been given various races of invaders admittance into a land famous for its wealth from time anterior to the dawn of legend and chronicle.

Hamendarof. C. V. F. (1988) has discussed the pattern and causes of disintegration of the traditional tribal system, failure of welfare programmed by taking the example of two tribes, Apa Tanis of Arunachal Pradesh and Goods of Andhra Pradesh, He found that the two tribes stood at opposite ends of a spectrum today. While Apa -Tanis were clearly set on upward path, the Goods were threatened by an apparently

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irreversible decline in their fortunes. He claims that Apa-Tani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh numbered about 15000, achieved development and integration without losing its identity becauseof protection given by the Government of India

Majumdar D.N. (1944) Cultural Identity of the Tribal took a slightly different position. His suggestion was that the’s as far as possible should be retained. He feared that if the isolation was broken, the tribal’s would lose their ethnic identity. To maintain it, he hypothesized that there should be a 'selected integration' of the tribal. While spelling out, he argued that not all the elements of civilization should be allowed to enter the tribal area. Only those which have relevance with tribal life should be permitted into such area. Such a policy would keep the tribals away from the vices of urban life.

Nag D. D.,Saxena.R.P. (1958): The scientific study of tribal economy in India was first undertaken by two scholars, made an extensive field tour in the areas of Madhya Pradesh like, Mandla, Bilaspur, Durg, Balaghat and studied the Baiga economy in the context of general economic theories laying emphasis on the sources of economy of Baigas. Saxena followed a model of Nag and studied the tribals of Western Hills in Madhya Pradesh and presented the economy of five tribes. These two studies have some limitations like, exclusion of socio-cultural conditions of the tribes on their study areas.

Vyas N.N. (1967) presents the Historical. Social and Economic Life of the Baniyas of Rajasthan. Andhra Pradesh. Punjab and Gujarat. Vyas thus points out the differences in customs and practices of the Baniyas of different States. This study has a good comparative background; still it has a limitation like on suitability of the methodology.

Shah V.(1969): studied the Tribal Economy of Gujarat based on the all India Rural Development and Investment Survey of the RBI (1961-62) and the study undertaken by the Gujarat State. Shah selected a sample of 1120 rural households selected from 28 villages. This study has very effectively brought out the tribal economy in Gujarat. He points out that, there is very little diversification in occupation. Agriculture

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continues to be the main stay of tribal population, very little investment is made to modernize it, very few inputs are made to increase the productivity of land, and many people mostly depend upon traditional agencies for their credit requirements. All these are obviously the characteristics of a subsistence economy.

Vidyarthi L.P. (1970): attempted to examine the Impact of Urbanization on Tribal culture. He studied the impact of the emergence of a heavy engineering complex in a tribal belt of Chotanagpur, and by analysing the pattern of socio-economic changes that occurred in this region owing to large scale industrialisation.

Roy B. (1973) Speaking about the Process of Modernisation among the tribal people in India's borders rightly maintains that the tribals live among the non-tribals, but hardly share a common life. Their contacts are few and formal. In fact, according to him, the tribals in urban areas are neither of the two worlds. Many of them adopt the technology, skill of the modem world, still retaining the emotions of the tribal world. At the primitive level of aspiration, tribals were not concerned with the fact that they were a minority at the regional level. Now, with political and occupational aspirations at the regional level and national levels, the tribals begin to feel themselves as a significant minority. This is the gift of modem education in particular and the modernisation in general. Through his study he expresses his dissatisfaction regarding the strategies for tribals modernisation.

Dean Joros (1973), In his study, presents his views on the Relation between Political Socialisation of the Tribals and integration process or the effect of tribal welfare programmed on their political socialisation. He reveals that by analysing the political socialisation process of tribals, a more complete evaluation of tribal welfare programmes would be ensured.

Mathur P.R.G. (1977). He points out that induction into political culture and integration into the mainstream of national life are a part of the same process and without political socialisation being achieved, tribals integration into the national social life is

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impossible. Political socialisation must precede their integration into national life. Motivation and objective underlying the tribal welfare programmes and political socialisation are common.

N. K.Bose (1977), gives some insight into the tribes social life. "Tribes differ from others in their social system. They have retained their own marriage regulation. Almost all marry within their restricted local group, and are sometimes guided by their own elders or political chief in internal and external affairs. In other words, they form socially distinct communities who have been designated as tribes and listed in the Schedule for special treatment, so that within a relatively short time they can come within the mainstream of political and economic life if India".

Joshi, S.L. (1978), takes a case study of Bhils, on the process of unification and integration. He said that, a sort of integration is achieved by the tribals' with the wider society as a result of political unification. They are aware of the working of democracy, democratic institutions and identification with the level of values. This study has limitation like neglecting the economic aspects of tribals,

N. G. R. (1978), examines the process of transfer of land from the tribals to the non-tribals and the various factors influencing such transfers, by taking a case study of Mondemkhal, a mixed village of tribes and castes, at Parvahipuram taluk of former Srikakulam district. Data was collected by canvassing schedule and by holding prolonged interviews with the tribal elders and village officials. Land has been alienated by some people to finance agricultural operations. Cultivators require cash to buy cattle and to pay the labourers. It is clear from the study, that credit being taken on pledging land led to land alienation. Land has a tremendous prestige value in the rural context and it could stand as a security both for borrowing and lending.

Roy B. (1978), speaking about the tribal integration process, points out that, present context integration means four things; independent thinking, democratic style of

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life, secularism and planned economy. These are urgently needed for the tribals to integrate themselves into the mainstream.

Sharma R.S. (1980), discussed the status of tribals in India during ancient times. The epistemological theoretical perspective about the tribals of this period is very clear. It was the time when the Aryans and, at a later period, the high caste Hindus make all efforts to have their hegemony over the tribals. Sharma has applied material approach to the study of history. This study of tribals is based on the assumption that the mode of production involving the theory of surplus leading to class formation continues to the best working hypothesis, not withstanding countless assertions to the contrary.

Panday J. (1981), tries to analyse the classes and class relations in three villages of Orissa and considers the particular mode of production operating in the economy. The study covers predominantly a tribal village, a village characterized primarily by feudal relationships and a village mainly showing signs of capitalist development in agriculture.

Bose P. K. (1981), in his paper, questions the validity of observing stratification pattern among Indian tribes on the basis of caste hierarchy or 'Sacred* hierarchy or division on the class basis. This is observed in the context of Gujarat tribes. Tribal population in modern market and production systems and their incorporation into modem political systems have shown regional variations, in occupations and use of modern machinery, etc. Data were collected from seven districts of Gujarat, through the survey method with modern sampling, identifying four distinct classes: rich peasant, middle peasant, poor peasant and agricultural labourers.

Pameche R. (1985), has studied the political aspects of the Bhils and the process of the formation of elite in the Bhil Society. Elaborate accounts of the traditional political system of the Bhils and the impact of the modem system on them are given. A serious limitation of this book is that, it is has not taken into consideration the socio-economic aspects of the poor tribals.

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Kumar A.(1986), has attempted to analyse and interpret the socio cultural organisation and economic structure of Mal-paharias tribe, Santal parganas district Bihar in the light of regional geographical complex. Based on his extensive field work, he examines the land use, income expenditure pattern, size of the families and its geographical ratification. This book provides innate glimpse on the habit of Mal-paharias with regard to their dress, religious ceremonies, customs, hunting, agricultural instruments and musical instruments. Finally, the author observed the major requirements of their settlements and has opined that paying adequate attention to the facilities lacking in their settlements can hasten emerging of Mal-paharias in the mainstream Indian life. This book will be helpful to scholars and researchers of social sciences and planners of regional development.

Thakur D. (1986) made an elaborate study about the Santhals in Bihar. The study highlights their socio-economic conditions. It has been observed to what extent they were responsive to the projects and programmers undertaken during the different developmental plans. Before the introduction of the Five Year Plans, during the colonial rule, the tribals in the country as a whole remained in isolation. If the problem of untouchables in pre-independent India was that of pollution, vis-a-vis, purity, the problem of tribals or adivasis was that of isolation. They were considered backward and savage. He laments such encroach and attitude.

Singh Y.(1986) observes that the colonial ethnographers, for instance, took a placid, even a synchronic view of the tribal society. The conception framework developed by the British administrators-tumed-ethnographers and by anthropologists was inspired by the then prevailing model in anthropology. Tribal communities were treated as isolates and the primitive condition was described as a state of Arcadian simplicity.

Menon G. (1987), reveals that the impact and the loss of common property resources is very severe on tribal women. She shows that the hardship of the tribal women have been increasing. Thus tribal women are the major victims of the deprival of the traditional rights of the tribals in common property resources.

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Ramamani V.S. (1988), presents a descriptive analysis of the main features of tribal economy. She also postulates in this study, the gap between the tribals and non-tribals, and emphasis the protective and promotional measures in order to reduce this gap.

Christoph Von Furer-Harnendart (1988), has discussed the pattern and causes of disintegration of the traditional tribal system, failure of welfare programmed by taking the example of two tribes, Apa Tonis of Arunachal Pradesh and Gonds of Andhra Pradesh. He found that the two tribes stood at opposite ends of a spectrum today. While Apa-Tanis were clearly set on upward path, the Gonds were threatened by an apparently irreversible decline in their fortunes. He claims that Apa-Tani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh numbered about 15000, achieved development and integration without losing its identity because of protection given by the Government of India.

Mishra M.K. (2006) in his article. Influence of the Ramayana tradition on the folklore of central India, an internet journal named Indian folklore, as mentioned about the influence of Ramayan epics in tribal society and other society of India. Many communities of India with their regional traditions have been deeply attracted towards the mainstreams of the Indian great tradition through these epics. Thus the Ramayana forms the center of the integration to the India civilization and has a great influence of the network of regional cultures. He also give the examples of the “bonda myths of maked women" was influencing with Ramayan epics. Dash G.N. (2012) in his article, "Hinduised tribal priest in the cult ofjagannath”, the Tribal Tribune, analyses how the daitapatis the decedents of Viswabasu, the tribal priest have been Hinduised. The Tribal priest as Nilamadhaba, a tribal god has become the priest of Jagannath, Narayan-Bishnu-Krishna in the process of the Hindulization.

Dash P.K. and Jena Narayan in their article ‘ Ruminating the rural rhythms: a study of odishan folk tales, ” published in an e-journal of “folklore foundation,” Odisha “Lokaratna ” voe-vevi (2013) discussed about low folk tales constitute the strain of Indian village find expression. In addition to this, the paper also examines the connection with folk tales of Odisha.

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Padhi S. R., in his article, “the Incredible cultural heritage of Godaba tribes of koraput district, in the journal of orissa review “Feb March (2011), discussed “Godaba” "

a primitive tribal groups origin, settlement language and other cultural heritage themes.

Swain H. D. in her article “Tribal contribution to the cultural history of India" “orissa Review ; december 2009” discusses how Jagannath cult originate from Tribal cultures of Odisha. She traces the link between Jagannath cult and the Tribal religion of Kandha and Sabaras. The Kandha tribe worshiping their deity Jeleri penu, tana penu, muramipenu” are regarded us the Jagannath Balabhadra and Subhadra respectively.

Dash K.C., (2008) in his article “Deities of Odisha a case of Hindus and tribal convergence" is the journal of the tribal tribune; mentioned that the tribal people have least contribution to the reshaping of Hindu rituals and religious beliefs for many centuries. The deities worshipped by the tribal people in some cases have been transformed into Hindu forms. For example lordjagannath (Puri). Lord Siva of Kapilash (dhenkaral) gupteswar (koraput) and other Goddesses Tarini (Ghotganon) and a last of other had tribal of origin. Besides anthropologists have also detected the true tribal nature of many of the Hindu deities. Swain M. (2012) in her article, “Inter community interaction and preservation of tribal culture” The Journal of the Tribal tribune”, argues that the inter community interaction provide the required momentum for a society to preserve peace and harmony and to make progress, it is a case study of koraput district. The study, while exploring the indigenous social cultural environment and its role in inter community interaction and preservation of tribal explores untouchability and the social hierarchy among the trivial and non tribal population.

Ghoshamaulik S.K.,(2013) in his article “Tribal scene in India”. The Tribal Tribune interprets the tribes of India with special reference to Odisha. He covers about habitat, status, economy, cultural identity and religious faith and examines, why they are under developed.

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Mishra K.K.(2013) in his paper, Siva Legends in the Sacred Tradition of Indian Tribes, presented in the seminar on “Amdi-II Tribal heritage of South India " organized jointly by the IGNCA, in his paper, India Tribes, 2000 argues, how several tribes have borrowed from mam-tribes Traditions and Hindu religion practices. He traces the influence of Hindu gods and rituals on the tribal without giving any stress to the influence of the tribal god and ritual on the Hindus. The influence was in fact rural.

Tanner. E.S.R.(2007), in his article, "Tribal’s Religion in their modern Environment”, examines how tribal have advantage without a prophet, theology and printed authority-text and almost certainly as a high properties on of intellectuals as any modern developed societies with their highly educated minorities. Its gives them the cultural ability to change these at the actual level of the people who practice rather than think about their spiritual and religious ideas without the difference created by status and professionalism. Das R.N.(2011) in his articles “K andha Art and Crafrti Stydies of the Nineteenth Century, Tribal tribune aims at presenting a brief history of Kondha art and craft with the available material and access to information. The Kondhas art object may be with or without designs, relevant or irrelevant and attractive or not attractive to the people who see or use them and to the individual who prepare them but the craft is a device applied by a person or persons who convert material into finished products. Kandha art and craft object may incorporate all the articles of daily, occasional rituals and other uses.

Padel Fclix.(20l3)in his article, “The Kondha Tribe,” Journal “The tribal tribune”, discuss their orgin, culture tradition, settlement and religious system. He discusses their belief about how they emerged from the bowl of earth and their special relation with earth Goddess.

Gregory, A.Chris, in this article, The oral epics of the women of the dandakaranya platean: a preliminary mapping Jounal of Social Science 8 (2) 2009, show that man are principal singers, they reflect male concerns about wars and conquest.

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death as a central theme . A contrary tradition, hitherto unreported, exists among the woman singers of the Dandakaranya plateau of middle India who sing about birth, food production and domestic violence. A preliminary mapping of these epics shows how they are grounded in the ecology of the Dandakaranya plateau and in the tradition of the patriarchal house hold.

Satapathy Shivashankar(2009) in his article Ritual sacrifice among the Kandh people Tribal tribune discussed the cultural study of the “Kondhas”, the ritual practices of the Kondha on the basis of classes of priest and sacrificial rituals, human sacrificial ritual of earlier time, worshiping of sarupenu, dharmipenu, and gurbapenu, Turkeypenu puja, pitabalipuja (mangala). khambeswari-cum-maheswari (sankudi khai mangala and nisankahandikhai mangala) and different traditional festivals by observing them.

Mahto Khandiratn(2012) in the article Transition from Ethnic group to Ethnic Identity Tribal Tribute, he discussed about the systemic transition of ethnic groups into ethnic identify acquiring political resources and relevant identity through policy advocacy. Such ethnic identity can effectively fight the systematic exploitation, social and economic abuse of the Adivasi society.

From the above review of literature it is apparent that there is a serious gap in research relating to creation-origin myth of the tribes and its claim to be a part of intellectual traditions of mankind. No attempt has been made to juxtapose the creation origin myths of undivided Koraput district with Brahminic and world view. The present work aspires to till this gap.

Reference;-

1. Behura N.K. 2004 Tribes of Odisha, SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar pp-04 2. L.P. Vdyarthi, B.K. Rai; 1985 Tribal culture of India, New Delhi, pp. 25.

27

3. Kundu S.K.; 2011, Evolution study of Tribal / folk arts and culture in West Bangal, Odisha, Jhardkhand, Chhatisgarh and Bihar, SER Division planning commission Govt, of India, New Delhi, pp-01 4. Ota A.B., Mohanty B.N.; 2010 population profile of Schedule Tribe in Odisha, Bhubaneswar pp. 04. 5. Mohapatra S.K.; 1993, The Tangled web tribal life and culture in Odisha, OSA, Bhubaneswar, pp - 17-19. 6. Ota A.B., 2010, Review of Tribal Sub-plan Aproach in Odisha, SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar pp-01. 7. Mahaptra, K. 1997, Tribal Language & Culture of Odisha P-02 ATDC, Bhubaneswa 8. Behera K. S.: 1997, Tribal language and culture of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, pp. 115. 9. Thapar, R.: 1977, Asoka and the Decline of the Mouryas, New Delhi, pp.258. 10. Panigrahi K.C., 2013, Tribal Scinario of Koraput Platieu, Koraput, pp02-03. 11. Senapati N., Sahu.N.K, 1966, Koraput District Gazetters, Cuttack, pp-22. 12. Senapati N., Sahu.N.K. 1966, Koraput District Gazetters, Cuttack, pp-02. 13. http://www.panigrahv-koraDut.bk?gspot.conn/httD://www.sriiagannath sabarasrikhetra.blogspot.comhttp://www.tribalkoraput.blogspot.comhttp://www.korap utdongar.blogspot.com 14. Panigrahi, K.C., 2013, Tribal Scinario of Koraput Platieu, Koraput, pp0-04. 15. Mohanty, B.B. 1990, Tribes of Odisha, SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar, pp-22-23. 16. Senapati N., Sahu.N.K. 1966, Koraput District Gazetters, Cuttack, pp-42-45. 17. Encyclopedia of religion and Ethics Vol. IX, pp. - 113. 18. Random House Dictionary of English language, 1998, pp-369 19. Edwards D.M., The Philosophy of Religion, London, pp.I07. 20. Elwin.V.;2004, Tribal Myths of Odisha, OUP, Rptd. Praffula Jagatsinghpur, pp-15 21. Malinowski B. Myth in Primitive Psychology. 1926; reprinted in Magic, Science and Religion. New York: 1955: pp. 101, 108. 22. Quotedin D.M. Edwards, 1956, the Philosophy of Religion, Oup, pp-8. 23. Longchar A. Wati, 2006, an Emerging Asian Theology, pp. 68-88.

& & &

*9**

28

«#»

Chapter II

SOCIO-CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF TRIBAL CULTURE IN ODISHA

29

In India more than thirty million tribal’s inhabited. They are divided into 427 tribes. Out of them 62 tribes are living in Odisha. Today tribals constitute one fourth (22.21%) of Odisha population. They are the primitive inhabitant of Odisha. So far as percentage of tribal population is concerned Odisha rank 3rd

Jharkhand 1st

and

Chattishgarh 2nd in pan Indian context1. Odisha is the meeting ground of the north and south Indian culture. Tribal component is a major contribution to the Indian culture. Historically Odisha has been identified with tribal population. The name Odisha is derived from the word iodra’ which is a tribal term (from the Munda term 'orea').The name Kalinga also probably represent a corrupted version Munda term. This region was named as Odra, Kalinga and Utkala. In this area the Savara and the Pulinda tribe also lived in distant past. Mahabharat mention that the tribes of Kalingas (Odishan) are participated in famous Kurukhetra war under the leadership of Kalinga king2. Ashoka in his inscriptions refers to the unconquered Atavika (Ananla Avijita) or forest dwellers3. The Allahabad prasasti refers that Samudragupta during his south Indian campaign pass through some inaccessible region of odisha. Presently majority of tribal population are located in hilly tracts. In coastal Odisha also there are some pockets of tribal population. It is generally agreed that the tribal’s have been pushed into hill tracts in course of time.

In the pan-Indian context, the society has three fold division such as the folk (Tribal communities) (2) the peasant (rural cast communities) (3) The Urban (city and town dwellers) communities. Although each segment exhibit unique mentality yet they interact with each other constantly both in the past and present4.

Geographical view Odisha From the physiographic, Odisha is divided into four zones like: 1. the Northern zone, 2. Eastern-ghat zone, 3.Central table land, and 4. Coastal zone. Northern plateau and Eastem-ghat constitute 55% of total area of the state is primarily dominated by tribal population5.

30

Northern Plateau (25.5% of Total Area)

The Northern plateau comprise the modern district of Sundargarh (Bonai,Tensa hills Gangpur and Panposh), Mayurbhanj(Similipal range,Baringiposi and Bisoi), Keonjhar (except Anandpur), Sambalpur (Bamara and Kuchinda ), the interior plains of Balasore and Pallhara region of Dhenkanal. In this zone there are as many as 58 tribal groups. Among them nine groups belongs to major tribes like

Santala, Kolha, Munda,

Bhuiyan, Orraon, Gond, Kissan, Bathudi and Bhumija they are numbering more than one lakhs. There are five primitive tribes such as: Hill khoria, Hill bhuinya, Birhor, Mankiridia and Juang.

1) The Central Table Land (24.1%) Its include undivided Sambalpur , Bolangir and Dhenkanal district of Odisha. This zone covers the whole of the upper Brahmani and the Mahanadi basins. There are as many as 45 tribal communities and among them there are only two groups are major tribes like, Gond and Saora.

2) The Eastern Ghat Region (29.2%) This region may be considered to comprise of the undivided Koraput (Rayagada, Malkangiri. Nawarangpur and Koraput) Phulbani, Boudh, Kalahandi Nuapada. The peninsular plateaus are bordered on the east by the Eastern Ghat, a tectonic range cut by many rivers into discontinuous blocks of mountains. Broadly it is divided in to four sections. 1 Northern-eastern Section, 2 The Central Section,3 South-eastern sections, 4 The south -western section:-

a) Northern-eastern Section; - The hill of this section extended upto Nilgiri of Balasore through Daspalla ofNayagarh and Kapilash of Dhenkanal district. The section tretches up to Boudh border rising to a height of 2239 feet. There are 39 tribal communities in this area. The total population of tribal communities exceeds one lakhs. The Kondha and Saoura are the most dominant tribe.

31

b) The Central Section:

-

This section of the eastern ghat covers Boudh,

Baliguda, Ghumsur, and G.Udayagiri areas. Hills of this section range in height from 1000 ft. to 4000ft. Total 29 tribal communities are found in this belt, and the Kandhas are the dominant groups. Other tribal group includes the Gond, the Kutia the Saora and the Kandha - Gouda.

c) South-eastern sections: - This Section comprises of Rayagada (Gunpur, Bisamcuttack, Kashipur and Chandrapur) Parala Khemundi and Kalahandi (T.Rampur and Lanjigarh) district. The hilly area with an elevation above 1000 ft. are inhabited by as many as 42 tribal communities. Dominant tribal group being the Kandha and Saora.

d) South-weastern section Based on the elevation of this Section is divided into three plateaus (1)

3000 feet plateau

(2)

2000 feet plateau

(3)

1000 feet plateau

(1) 3000 Feet Plateau; - It covers Koraput and Pottangi area and is the house of as many as 33 tribal communities. Kondha, Paraja and the Godaba are most numerous recording populations above 20,000 while all others number 4000 below.

(2) 2000 Feet Plateau: - this area covers Nawarangpur district and Jeypore Subdivision. ‘Bhatra’s are major tribals i habiting in this area and populations of them one lakhs. There are 40 tribal communities living in this area.

32

(3) 1000 Feet Plateau: - It comprises the Malkangiri district. This area is also inhabited by many tribal communities but among them the Koya, the Bhumiya and the Bonda are the major groups. The Bonda high lander is considered to be very primitive tribes.

3) The Coastal region (21.2%): - The coastal plain situated along the eastern Sea board. The entire plain land is the product of six major rivers and their distributaries. The Coastal region covers 21.2% of the total land surface of the state. It stretches from the mouth of Rusikulya River in the South to the Subarnarekha River in the north. The coastal tract is the most fertile region in state. Due to its fertility it has been the home of prosperous peasants and fisher folks6.

There are 51 tribal communities presently inhabited this zone. Originally they migrated from North plateau and Eastern ghat region of Odisha. Most numerous are the Saora, the Shabar, the Santal, the Kondha, the Bhunia the Kalha and the Munda. The tribes of coastal belts are in close contact with their Hindu neighbors are in various stages of sanskritization. They sustain their livelihood on daily wages of construction and road work, earth work, rickshaw pulling and as industrial labour.

Distribution of tribal population in the district level is uneven. Their number has always been more in inland districts like Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, and Phulbani, then in coastal plains consisting of Balasore, Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam.

The Koraput district (undivided) alone has more than one-fifth of the tribal population of the state. Undivided Mayurbhanj has slightly less than one-sixth, undivided Sambalpur and undivided Sundargarh constitute more than one-tenth of each.

33

The Tribal Language in Odisha:-

The multi-linguistic situation of tribal in Odisha create a major problem for communication in inter tribal, as well as tribal and non tribal population. Although bilingualism prevails, the degree of linguistic adoption to the dominant of Odiya language as the regional state language is not uniform. The peculiarities connected with the multilingual situation act as barrier for planned development intervention, because of conspicuous hiatus between the stake holders and the development practitioners. Therefore there is a need for further research in the field of ethno linguistic / demo linguistic context which believe in Unity amidst myriad fold of diversities and can pave the path for sustainable Socio economic development of tribal.

The tribes of Odisha have their distinct ethnic identity which is overtly marked in their languages besides many other traits and traditions. They are ethno linguistically classifiable into three groups (i) Munda (Austro - Asiatic) (ii) Dravidian (iii) Indo-Aryan7.

A group: - wise tentative inventory of the tribal languages and dilects are drawn up as follow:Munda groups (Austro - Dravidian groups

Indo Argan groups

Asiatis) Tribes, (Dilects) -

Didayi (Gota)

Duma (Parji)

Desia (Southern Odiya)

-

Godba (Gatab)

Koya

Bhuyan (Southern Odiya)

-

Juanga

Kandha (Kui)

Jhadia (Southern Odiya)

Koya

(Dongaria / Kutia)

Matia (Southern Odiya)

-

Mankidia (Birhor)

Konda Dora (Konda / Kondhan (Western Odisa)

-

Munda (Mundari)

Kabi)

Laria (Western Odisa)

Santa li

Godba (01 lari)

Bhulia (Western Odisa)

-

Saora (Sora)

Oraon (Kurukh)

Aghria (Western Odisa)

-

Paranga (Goram)

Gond (Gondi)

Kurmi (Northern Odiya

34

Bonda (Remo) Kharia

(Kharia

Mirdha)

Pengo Kondha(Penga) / Jatapu Kondha (Kuri) Kissan

S.W. Bengal) Sounti (Northern Odiya S.W. Bengal)

Korwa

Bathudi (Northern Odiya

Bhunija

S.W. Bengal)

Ho (Ho / Kollha)

Sadri (Hindi / Oriya)

Mahali (Mahali)

Binjhia

(Chatishgarhi

/

Hindi) Banjara (Hindi dilect) Baiga (Chatishgarhi) Bhanjia (Marathi) Halabi

(Odiya-marathi-

Chatrisgarhi)

The language of each groups are inter related both genetically and structurally. They have common source, common ancestry and cultural heritage.

Some

language have definite tribal identity (e.g. Santali, Bonda, Oraon etc) and some have no particular community affiliation but function at inter community level as lingua franca (e.g. Desia, Sadri etc.)

Some of the tribes such as Lodha, Mirdha, Bhumia, Jatapu, Bugata, Pentia, and Section of Gonds etc. do not have distinctive linguistic identity. Whereas some of the tribes like Santali, Kondha, Kishan etc have only dialectical distinction from autonomous language like: Santali, Kui-Kuri and Kurukh.

Some of the tribes have scattered settlement in different region of tribal dominated tracts. Within some tribes name are use in different language (e.g., Kondha, Saora etc living elsewhere outside of Koraput, Ganjam and Phulbani district were use odiya dialects). In some cases the name of the tribe and name of their language are different (e.g. Darua Speak “Parji”, Kalha speak "Ho". Godaba speak Gutab / Ollari, and kandha Speak Kui, Kuri and Konda)

35

Larger tribes like Kondha, Saora etc have several subgroups as there are Desia, Kutia, Dongoria, Pengo and Jatapu Kondhas, and the Saura are like Lanjia / Juary, Arsi, Sudha Saora and each of these Subgroups speak a distinct dialect of the language.

In general the tribal languages do not have script. The languages began appear in written from only in last century. Initially the Christian missionaries produced written and printed texts in Roman Scripts. Subsequently attempt were made for using the Scripts of the regional languages (Odiya, Telugu, Bengali and Hindi etc) However the recent past between 1935 to 1980 at least four scripts have been devised for the languages like “Santali”, “Ho”, “Soara” and “Kui”.

(a) The Santali language has been included “8Ih"scheduIed of our constitution and they divised their script “Ol-Chikf' by Prandit Raghunath Murmu. (b) The Saora language also divised their script in the name of “Saora Sompen” by Guru Mango i Gomango. (c) The Ho tribes also have the language and scripts known as “Warranga Chilkf' (d) The Kandha also have Kui language and script are known as “Kuilipi varmmala"

The above languages written scripts are also included and created to numerical symbol from 1 to 9 and Zero8.

The tribal languages of Odisha were unknown to the world till recent past. It is only during last few decades there have been considerable reconnaissance work due to the initiative taken by scholar like. T Burrow and Norman H. Zide, with their collaborators have done most commendable work in bringing to limelight the Dravidian and Munda /anguage of Odisha respectively.

The tribes of Odisha represent the micro linguistic area as we find here three different ethnic and linguistic communities divided into sixty-two separate tribes live together and use one language at inter-tribe level and another at intra-tribe level, or at

36

both the levels. Therefore, there is need for ftirther research in the field of ethno linguistic /demo linguistic context which believes in unity amidst myriad fold of diversities and can pave the path for sustainable socio economic development.

Thus the tribal languages are clearly indentified and properly classified into cognate groups, due attention can be given for their Study, preservation and promotion at administrative academic and socio-cultural spheres.

Odishan tribal traditions, religions, rituals and festivals

The diverse tribal communities inhabiting Odisha has enriched the cultural heritage of the state by their cultural diversities. Their rich folk traditions of song, dance, music, religion, rituals and festivals are celebrated round the year add colorful dimensions to their very existence as well as their cultural man-nature-sprite complex. Every dimensions of their life covering round the year activities are intimately connected with religion and beliefs and practices associated with it.

. Their

unquestionable belief in super natural which regulate human existence in the world is the basic observation of many festival and rituals.

Religion in the broadest sense determines a society’s world view. This world view determines the attitude to the natural and supernatural world. The human personality and its basic traits, the relationship between man in society and social moral values systems on which such relationship is built. Within the tribal society there are three inter linked world of gods and spirits and the world of ancestors.

The tribal religion in Odisha

is an admixture of animism, animalisms,

anthropomorphism and ancients worship. Religious beliefs and practices aim at ensuring personal happiness as well as community well being and group solidarity. Their religious performances include life- crises rites, community rites, ancestor cult and totemic rites and observance of taboos. Beside these the tribal also resort to various types of magical and occult practices.

37

in every tribal society, there is a fixed calendar of annual rituals which are mostly linked with their economic activities. Most of the rituals are observed collectively at the village level to ensure safety and well being of the member and to bring economic prosperity. Offering of blood of cows, pig, buffalo and traditional alcoholic drink prepared by them like, mohua liquor, grain beer and sago- plam juice etc are common in their warships. Other material also include like vermilion, turmeric powder ,

ragi

powder, unboiled rice and flower etc. these ritual occasions are celebrated communal feast,singing, dancing and merry making. Their rituals concerning agricultural operation first fruit eating, live stock and crops welfare are observed by member of their village and society. On an appointed date which is fixed by the village headman in consultation with the village priest9.

The tribal festivals are celebrated at three horizontal levels; - family, village and region. These are observed for specific purpose such as: for good rains, good harvest, first eating or consumption of seasonal crops, fruit roof, flowers and leaves tubers etc. protection from the dreadful calamities epidemics and attack of wild animals; safety security and sound health of human and live stock and the like for which the blessing of super natural beings and ancestors are indispensibie. Therefore the God and Goddess, for fathers, malevolent and benevolent, ghost and spirits are worshiped with equal aye and respect and kept in good honor. Every festival has two sides: (a) Sacred (b) Secular10.

According to their belief system the supernatural power constantly watch over the doing of man and woman and punish the evildoers with diseases and death and brought about drought, famine and other-calamities to the community. Amongst all most all tribes there is set of specialist to communicate with supernatural powers and appease them by offering and sacrifice from time to time for safety and prosperity of the people.

Most of the tribes believe in rebirth of an individual after death. Their ancestral

oo

spirits having their abode in and around the habitation constantly keep watch on activities

of living generation. Among many tribes the name giving ceremony of a newly bom baby confirms presence of the ancestor. On religious and socio-religious occasions they worship the ancestral spirits at the household lineage or clan level. Now the tribal religion has been under the influence of Hinduism and spread of the Christianity in the tribal area. Thus there are to be constantly appeared and remembered with appropriate rites and sacrifice of regular interval or whenever needed for their blessing to ensure the welfare and wellbeing of the living generations.

The art and crafts of Odishan tribes

The tribal art and craft are a class by themselves it symbolizes the co-existence of utility and beauty. All the sixty two tribal groups making the ethnic noise of the state have their respective art and craft tradition. The art and craft provide them the apt medium for its translation vies-avis the utilitarian motive which is so interacting with the terrestrial plane.

Out of the total 56 extant craft skills found in Odisha among them twenty crafts skills are traced back to tribal people and basic culture. The other skills are clones of the tribal craft skill refined are made to serve the changing tastes of contemporary end-users choice. Tribal crafts taking its variety into consideration may be classified into three broad categories.

(1) Tribal metal jewelries relate to ornament (2) craft meant for daily mundane chores and (3) verities of musical instruments tribal text etc. At far the tribal art drawing are concerned they are the creative rendering of wide ranging nebulous impression that find its live representation in lines and stokes Even if these are conceived aesthetically, get tribal artist leave the impression of utilitarian motive in the work of art.

39

Of course the utility is either a votive offering, one in the case “Soura” tribes in undivided Koraput district their painting “IditaF' in the inner Sanctum of their house, that drawn esoterically to please their for father or to word of evil spirit thinking ill of the Saura Communities or it is the biodiversity filled flora and Soura painting drawn artistically by the Santala and Gond communities. The purpose of here is decorative that odds colour and beauty to the home steeds of the tribal people.

The tribal art and craft traditions connect into the evolution of tribal material culture which has intimate interface with making of culture base. The ethnic culture base is essentially reflecting the simplicity in their pursuit of livelihood. The craft come as simple tool or mechanism to relive the man from its hardship.

The textile craft of tribal are one of the most important craft that draw the dividing line between indigenous people in the state of wild life and the people in the state of stepping into civilized life. The tribes of undivided Koraput district like the Bonda, the Godba, the Duma, Koya and Kondha have had the tradition of textile waving. They have their shifting looms and raw material stacked in the sprawling base of the nature. They wave their respective textiles for their own use for their weaving traditions popularly they are known as weavers tribes in the state. The Dongaria Kondha of Niyamgiri hill ranges are practices the needle craft for making beautiful embroidered clothes.

Metal jewelry is another emerging craft of the tribals. That captures both tribal and non-tribal market segments. The necklace, the pendant, ear ring, payals are crafted by the tribal and non-tribal ornament pass simply the boundary of the state.

The tribes of Odisha are also shows great interest on earthenware. Most of their house hold utensils are made clay. Even spoon lamps togs are made of clay. The terracotta works of some tribal area in Odisha like Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh and Koraput district are popularly present11.

40

The beautiful handicraft made from sisal fibers, bamboo works etc. have gained prominence in recent times. All the art and craft properly developed manufactured propagated and marketed can earn good revenue for the level tribal and other community of Odisha.

They are manufactured following art and craft object of the tribes:-

STs/PTGs

Manufacturing of Art and Craft

Birhor./ Mankiridia

Basket, rope making out of siali fiber, Sabai grass and Jute fiber. Weaving handlooms cloth carpet weaving,

Bondo

bead neck less making & boom stick making. Didayi

Bambo basketry, boom stick making and waving handloom of cloth.

Dongoria Kondha

Embroidery, wood carving and decorating comb making and wall painting.

Hill Khoria

Collection and processing of honey, resine, arrowroot, boom stick and mat makin, khali stiching.

Juango

Wood carving and comb making.

Kutia Kandha

Wood carving and boom stick making

Paudi Bhuyan

Boom sticks making, mate making and basketary.

Lanjia Saora

Icon wall painting (Idiatal) and wood carving and carpet making Wall painting wood carving cloth making

Saora

and carpet painting Sabai rope making and herbal medicine

Lodha

prospering.

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The Socio-economical life of Odishan tribes The economy systems of tribals are the rural economy. As per the 2011 census 91.7% of tribals in our country lived in rural areas. Odisha has the third largest concentrated of the tribal people in India. According to 2011 census about 87% of tribal populations are still dependant on agriculture, while the remaining 13% of tribal are engaged in occupations such as hunting-gathering, pastoral life, trade and business service and industrial works.

For the point of view the tribal economy of Odisha can be divided in following six categories: I .Hunter-gather, 2. Shifting cultivator, 3. Plain area settled cultivator. 4. Cattle-bearers, 5. Industrial and mining workers also 6. Crafts man.

Sometimes the economic pursuit is combined. For example settled cultivators could also cultivate some on shifting basis on the slope of hills. Similarly cultivator can also be part time food gatherer or wage-earner of crafts mans.

According to the latest statistics 87% tribals are engaged in agriculture. And large sections of the non tribal are grabbing the land of the tribals. By manipulation the non tribals are appropriating huge chunk of land on lease in the tribal area.

The tribes who live in forest exclusively dependant on the forest for their livelihood by practicing of hunting-gathering and food collecting etc. All most all tribal of Odisha have this profession but among them, the Birhor, the Chenchu, the Mullar, the Korwa the Bonda and the hill Kharia are mostly included in these groups.

The cattle-rearers or pastoral People are known among the tribals of Odisha like the Koya tribes of Malkanagiri and Koraput region in Odisha. In additional they have kept up great interest in cattle breading and animal husbanding.

42

The shifting cultivation is another part of economic condition of the Odishan tribes. This type’s economy is varying on ecology. The Odishan tribes are may broadly be placed under two categories, (i) Those are live in the interior hills and (ii) Those are live in plateau and plain. The tribe who live in the inter hill and cover the forest area, where they mainly practice the shifting cultivation. A large number of tribe who dwells in the top of hills and in the forests practiced shifting cultivation along with food gathering and hunting. These categories of economy we found among the tribes of South Odisha and Juanga and Bhuiyan of Central Odisha. In society it is known as the name of “Buged” of “Baran” by Saura and Bonda “ Poda” and “Kara” among the Kondha, “ Tolia” by Juang and “Roman” among the Bhuiyan.

The shifting cultivation is a crucial problem confronted by the tribal usually after a couple of years of cultivation, the place deserted and the tribal are traditionally used to come back to the same place after a gap of 6 to 10 years. But with the increase in tribal population and consequent pressure on land, this gap has almost reduced to zero. The tribals have stated again on a regular basis of farming on such land. This put an adverse effect on neighbouring forest and causing large scale of damage to the forest growth.

With promulgation of the strong forest law, shifting cultivation as well as the entry of the tribal to the forest has been restricted. So the return from shifting cultivation very low in nature, they supplement their subsistence economy by collecting roots leaves fruits other miner produces or non timber forest produces.

The plain cultivators: - The tribal agriculture is characterized by unproductive and uneconomic holding, land alienation and indebtedness, lack of irrigation in the undulated terrain and primitive methods of cultivation. Invariably tribal agriculturist grows one crop during the monsoon and has to supplement their economy by subsidiary economy pursuit. All most all groups of tribes are included in these categories.

The mining and Industries are established on the heart of the tribal areas in Odisha. It may be the Nalco, Balco, Rourkela Steel Plant Rajgangpur Cement Plant, Jindal Steel

43

Plant or Vedant Still Plant. New industrial and mining establishment have come up in the tribal areas. It has resulted in displacement of local inhabitant including the tribal and the infiltration of outsider for employment purposes.

Handicrafts, cottage industries and house hold industrial economy of tribal are now already lost due to piracy adopted by the non-tribal groups with modern technology. Now the Government has initiated such as MGENRGAS and earlier known as NFFW are providing the wage earning employment to the needy. But this still needs sincere and honest implementation in tribes’ areas. The formation of SHG groups in rural tribal areas has opened the scope for the tribal to develop their economy.

The Socio- political systems of Odishan tribes

The tribes of Odisha are known for their well organized political system. In the recent past for maintenance of piece, harmony, solidarity, well being of their society and providing security against external interference. Every tribal society in general has tradition and customs governing various aspects of life; such as social, economical. Political and religious, organisation norms for proper conducting and ordering of human behavior and social sanctions for regulating social solidarity and use of resources. In order to administrate the above provisions and to ensure observance by member of the society, there are separate sets of fiinctionaries of different levels starting for family to lineage/clan/ group, inter-village territorial units and finally the apex body of the whole tribes. Tribals political organization has three components namely (i)

Contemporary laws, social sanctions and norms

(ii)

Functionaries

(iii)

Territorial Jurisdiction

Tribals administration start from the family level, in family the father or in his absence the eldest male member acts as its head, officiate, as priest in house hold rituals, represents the family in the meeting of the village panchayat. Above the family the eldest

44

male member of the Clan/Kutumba or groups in the village acts as the head officiates in collective rituals of the groups.

In past the village society had powerful traditional village panchayat. This institution as a democratic corporate body looks after all matter at the village levels. The village panchayat is headed by a headman who discharges his duties in association with the village priest. In variably messenger or a Chowkidar are nominated from among the tribesmen to assist these functionaries. The post of the headmen and the priest are normally hereditary and some time based on section. The village headman was given recognition by the local administration during pre-independence period and empowered with duties (power to exercise on behalf) at the village level. He was responsible for maintenance of law and order. Watching movement of infiltrators, collection of land revenue and taxes, assisting the visiting officials and carrying out other duties assigned to him by the administration from time to time.

The village head is named differently among different tribes, knowns as “Majhi”, “Pradhan, Pakan, Munda, Gomango, Badrik, Naik and Manjils” among the sandals, Jungo, and Bhuyan. The village priest is named as in different tribes in different names Dehuty - Bhuyan Botia - Juango Naega - Oraon Buya - Lanjia Saora Bajia - Kondha Jani/ Sisa/ Pujari - Godba, Bonda, Jhodia

Generally the village Priest is officiates in all communal worships of the village and in rites connected with birth, marriage and death of individuals. In all these occasions, the village panchayat takes his advice. Among some tribes, the priest is assisted by the traditional astrologer in fixing the date and time of performing different rites.

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Beyond the village, there is inter-village political organization on covering a group of neighbouring villages. The formation of territorial units was greatly influenced by the local administration. The jurisdictions of such territorial units were usually coterminous with the divisions of the local resources administration bearing similar roman culture. In Mayurbhanj district where Santal, Ho, Bathudi; and Bhmija tribes live the Inter village territorial Units known as “Pragana" and its head is called as Praganas”,. In Keonjhar district where “Juanga ” and “Bhuyans” territorial units are called as “Pirha" and its head is called as “Sardar”.

In South Odisha where tribes like Kandha, Gadba, Saora, Porja, Koya etc. inhabit, the inter-village territorial unit is called as “Mutha” with “Muthadar” as its head. In Kondha village and other tribal villages the inter-village territorial units are called as “Kutumba” or “Kutum ” and it head is called as “Samta”, or “NaikDisari is known as the astrologer, and "Jani /Pujari /Sisa, is known as priest and worshiper of the village.

The head of these organization were in variably selected by the local administration from among the dominant tribal groups in the area and assigned with duties supervising the works of the village with the village heads adjudicate the inter village disputes.

With the introduction of Panchayati Raj system in the post independence era, the traditional political organizations have started weakening. The Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) like Gram Panchayat for a group of villages. Panchayat Samiti at block level and Zilla Parisada at district level, are in the meantime became very effective and powerful in many sphere of local administration in general and development matter in particular.

The 73rd amendment to the constitution, promulgation of PESA act, reservation seat for women etc are some of the new facts in the process of democratic devolution of power.

After independence there was a gradual decline in the power and functions of the traditional political organization. The traditional functionaries at family, lineage/clean and village level organization are still effective in dealing with socio- cultural matter of their

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respective groups. Where there is cooperation among the traditional leaders and new leaders under the Panchayati Raj Institution system development programs are being smoothly implemented.

The tribal displacement and rehabilitation

After independence a large number of development projects ware taken up by the government of India to usher in speedy economy growth and development. Odisha was identified as one of the resource rich states. Various development taken up so far in the Odisha include irrigation, water resource, industrial, mining, urban, infrastructure, wild life sanctuaries, defense related projects, linear projects like road and railways. Land has been acquired for such projects and large numbers of families have' been consequently affected in varying degrees on account of acquisition of land for such development projects. Out of the affected and displaced persons of the complete projects, in between 1947 to 2000 about 35%, are belonging form scheduled tribals categories.

But after 2001, promulgation of the Industrial promotion resolution 2001 by the Govt, of Odisha, as many as more than 53 companies have signed MOU with the State government so far between 2001 and 2008. It is observed that 80% are in industrial and mining sectors, 10% are in irrigation.

The Industrial irony of fate and mineral are such that then 90% reserves the state are lying in the thickly concentrated at tribal pocket area. When the govt, of Odisha taken up an industrial and mining projects, more than 90% affected persons are alone from tribal community. In this back drop, it need to be pointed out that there has been trend change in respect of the development projects and tribal displacement in the state of Odisha after 2001 and the share of tribal among the displace as well as affected persons on development projects in the state in the post -2001 phase will be around 70%.

In here we found the notable completed projects from where tribal in large number have been from Upper Kolab, Machkund, Balimela, Damanjodi, Hal Sunabeda,

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Utkal Aiunimium at Kasipur, Upper Indiravati, Rourkella Still plant, Vedanta Jharsuguda, Subernarekha, Kansbahl, Hirokud Hartabhangi, Badanala, Jindal Jajpur and NTPC Talcher etc. In case of the ongoing pipeline project which are either in process of their execution and from where large number of tribal family will be affected/ displaced from the area of Koraput, Rayagada, Sundargada, Jharsuguda, Angul, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur district of Odisha.

The major problem is that, the affected as well as displaced tribal families of development projects in the past have been facing the customary land rights of the tribals and title over the tribal land.

Empirical studies have revealed that majority of the displacement tribal families have failed to restore and regain their pre-displaced living standards in the post­ displacement period. In fact, majority of them have even stippled below the threshold of poverty and have landed up as development refugee migrating to different places in search of their livelihood.

There are various improvement that have been identified which have caused the impoverishment and loss of livelihood of the displaced tribal in case of induced development projects I the state and some of them are jobless, land less, homeless, loss of access to common property resources marginalization increased morbidity social disarticulation lack of employment opportunity.

In the past there was no rehabilitation policy whatever for the displaced persons. The displaced persons were only paid compensation for the land and property coming under acquisition at Government rate which is far less than the market value or replacement value and the displaced persons were making their own resettlement and rehabilitation with the merge compensation amount.

Only with the protest of displaced persons of “Rengali Dam” project as early as 1973 saw the reconstruction and rehabilitation packaged for the displaced families on the

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top of the computation amount. Again in 1994 the State comes up with very liberal and pro-people reconstruction and rehabilitation policy for water resources. And under the 1994 R& R policy ; Provision of rehabilitation assistance was kept for all kind of projects effected persons including both displace as well as land losing affected persons. By this policies a large number of projects policies are formulated by different corporate houses, but none three policies had kept any special provision for displaced tribals.

But for the first time, the State Government of Odisha on-behalf of UNDP and DFID came up with comprehensive and progressive and R.R. Policy in the year 2006 looking at the gap in existing in vogue and addressing the critical livelihood issues of the affected person of development projects.

“The 2006 SLR. Policies are like:-

•

Customary land right of tribal has been recognized for the purpose of compensations.

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Preference to the tribal displaced families for land based rehabilitation.

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Efforts for resettlement of the displaced tribal families are as close to the affected villages as possible.

•

Additional R&R package to the displaced tribals.

The 2006 R & R is hoped that the misery of the tribal will be addressed to a large extent and them not only able to restore their pre-displaced status of livelihood, but they will be better than before and can become beneficiaries of the projects.

The civil Rights Movements & Extremist Activity in Tribal Area of Odisha

The inaccessible hill terrains, dense forest, lack of adequate development inputs, grievances of the tribal coupled with lack of responsive administration etc. have become conducing to the spread of extremist activities in Odisha. The seriousness of the problem is

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underlined and evident by number of co-ordinate extremist activities in Southern Odissa in recent times.

The extremist movement in Odisha emerged in the early 1960 as peasant movement in Gunpur subdivision of Rayagada district or undivided Koraput district, now it has influence over 18 districts of the state out of 30 districts.

In the early years the extremist had concentrated on tribal area. Whom they used as couriers and foot soldiers, while this served the immediate purpose of the rebels; the impact on the lives of tribals was minimal. There have been clearly major changes in the strategy and even ideology in recent times as their influence has spread to new areas in the state.

The extremist cling faithfully of relying on the force of the popular masses. The support of the masses offered them great advantage as regards offer assistance to wounded intelligence, disruption of the enemy position etc. The continuity of the extremist threat has often been explained in terms of persistence and exacerbation of the basic causes that lead to its birth-feudal exploitation and oppression of the rural poor who constitute the majority of the people in Odisha by the wealth few. Among the poor were of the tribal people, who are deprived of their right to earn a livelihood by selling minor forest produce are exploited by land lords, contractor and money lenders.

The reduction in public spending to bring down the fiscal deficit has also compounded the woes of the people. There is no doubt that the extremist are taking advantage of prevailing socio-economic problems of the tribals in southern Odisha Particularly those who living in the forest areas.

Moreover, inequality or non-egalitarianism disparity in development performance, regional imbalance etc. are regarded as root causes of social maladjustment. It is observed that people in backward regions of Odisha, take adequate economic opportunity. They are relatively deprived of the fruits of development efforts. People in the Socio-economically back-word regions often carry a deep sense of frustration and discrimination against their

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batter of neighbors. Poor and dissatisfied people are often easily manipulated by antisocial persons with powerful vested interests. These pockets of poverty breed serious Socio­ economic problem.

Odisha is one of the poorest states in India, with 47. 15 % of its people are in BPL groups, as against a national figure of 26.10%. Per-capita income of the State is alarming increasing from Rs.2. 90/- during - 1993-1994

j

Rs.5.67/- during 2000-2001 Rs. 5.80/- during 2011 -2012 In comparison to coastal region, the incidence of poverty has adversely affected the propulsion of development mechanism there by hindering the progress of the area and the people.

The extremist movements spread to tribal pockets in this 18 district of Odisha, resulting in protest against discrimination in access to non-timber forest produce and alienation of tribal land. In 1962 the left party had succeed in mobilizing the tribals to forming their own association and projects as “food liberation”, at Gunpur subdivision in Rayagada district. Initially, the movement was confined to Gunpur, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Nayagarh, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Koraput, Nowarangpur, Rayagada, Malkanagiri, Sundargarh and borders ofOdissa and Chhitishgarh, Odisha- Andhra, OdishaJharkhand and Odisha-Bengal etc.

Spread of Education in Odishan Tribal:The tribals had almost no access to modem school education as late as the twentieth century. This is partly because of their high ethnocentric attitude and partly the contemporary administrative mechanism to have effective access to their habitat for certain inherent reasons. After independence, as a welfare state, India ensured the “education for all” including the tribal.

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Article 45 of the Indian constitution proclaimed upon the state to promote with special care the educational and other interest of the weaker sections of whole populace and particularly that of the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Cast.

Usual initiatives were taken to spread education uniformly throughout the country with the establishment of educational institution at grass root levels under the ministry of HRD (Human Resource Development) and MTA (Ministry of Tribal Affairs). Socio-economically a nation is more advance if its people are more literate and educated then other nation. Education in another sense the principle components and keystone of human development and as such it has greater bearing on the sectoral development, therefore it leads the whole way to development.

The Government of India considering the importance of literacy in fostering economic development, social wellbeing and social stability. Hence, forecasting on spread of literacy and elementary education programs right from its independence and by this time a number of such programs have already been implemented at the grass root levels of the weaker section of India. Article 46th of Indian constitution enjoins upon the state to promote with special care the educational and economic interest of the weaker suctions of the people and in particularly that of the ST and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation and with a view to full fill these constitutional commitments. Several commissions and committees have been appointed and several programs and policies have also been formulated and implemented for the spread of primary education depending upon the recommendation of these commissions and committees. The major educational program are like Sarva Sikhya Abhijana (SSA), District Primary Education Program (DDEP), National Program for Education of Girls at elementary level (NPEGEL), Prarambik Sikhya Kosh (PSK), National Institute of Open School (NIOS), Kasturiba Gandhi Vidyalaya Parishad (KGVP), National Programs of Nutritional Support to primary education and some other schemes which accord priority the area of concentration of SC and ST. Apart from that the ministry of tribal affair (MTA) also runs various schemes for the educational development ST students, like

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Book bank

Scheme, Tribal welfare hostel for both boys and girls, educational complex in low literacy pockets for development of woman literacy in tribal area and Pre-metric and Post-metric Scholarship for SC and ST students.

Thus, the government of India and the government of Odisha has been taking its utmost care for the spread of primary education both among the general and mass as well as ST in since long past, but not much has yet been achieved. Even through the literacy rate has tremendously increased from 18.33% in 1951 to 64.84% in 2001 for the general population and from merely 7.99% in 1961 to 47.10% in 2001 for the scheduled population of India, huge gender gaps in literacy in different census year. A similar trend is also observed to be there in the State of Odisha. The reasons of occurs are multifaceted, multidimensional and inter-dependant on various fact of lifestyle, culture, economy, environment and ecology, religion and administration of educational Institutions.

To sum up, the socio-economic sphere of tribal Odisha is altogether different from the mainstream of Odishan society. Their life style including the cultures, religion, language and costumes are different. Although the tribals inhabited the hinterland region but coastal area is also partly habited by the tribals. The economic pursuit of the tribals still based on rural occupations such as handicraft making, hunting-gathering and pastoral life. Industrialization in the tribal belt and subsequent growth of Industrial Township forcing the tribals to shift their economic pursuit to trade, business service and industrial works. So far as political setup is concerned the tribes of Odisha are known for their well organized political system. The post independence political development already downgraded the erstwhile powerful tribal political setup. In the present scenario there are few major problems engulfed the tribal societies. Most important problems include industrialization and consequent displacement from their forest dwellings, rising extremist activities and lack of modem amenities. All the problems are resulting from the improper implementation of administrative mechanisms and lack of awareness among the tribals.

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Reference: 1. Census of India; 2011, Government of India, 2. Behera K. S.: 1997, Tribal language and culture of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, pp.115. 3. Thapar, R.: 1977, Asoka and the Decline of the Mouryas, New Delhi, p.258. 4. Ota, A.B. 2010, Review of Tribal Sub-plan Approach in Odisha, Bhubaneswar, pp-1. 5.

Mahapatra. S.K, 1993, The Tanglad web (Tribal life and culture), OSA Bhubaneswar, pp-16-17.

6.

Ray.G.C, 2005, Geography of Odisha, Cuttack, pp.31 -48.

7. Ota A.B., 2010, Review of Tribal Sub-plan Aproach in Odisha, SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar pp-01. 8. Mahaptra, K. 1997, Tribal Language & Culture of Odisha P-02 ATDC, Bhubaneswar. 9. Mahapatra.Sitakanta, 1993, The Tanglad web (Tribal life and culture), 16-17, OSA Bhubaneswar. Pp. 100 10. Mohanty. K. K, Mahapatra. P. C. & Samal. J, 2006, The tribes of Koraput. COATS koraput, pp 12-13.. 11. Mohanty.B.B., Mohanty.S.C., 2009 Tribal Customs and Traditions SCSTRI, Bhubaneswar, pp 12. Dash, Harihara, 2009, Tribal art and craft: Beauty and Utility, Banaja (Journal), ATLCBhubaneswar, pp.68-70 13. Mohanty. K. K., Mahapatra. P. C. & Samal. J, 2006, The tribes of Koraput, COATS koraput. Pp. 17-18. 14. Mahapatra S. K., 1993, The Tangled Web, P-104, OSA Bhubaneswar, pp. 120123. 15. Samal. Jagabandhu. Dr., 2011, the - Korapur region: Its tribal people and their economy TEA (Souvenir) COATS, Koraput. Pp. 86-88. 16. Odisha reference manual - 2009 Govt of Odisha pp.74. 17. Ota. A.B. Prof, Mohanty K.K., 2010 Review of Tribal Sub-Plan Approach in Odisha Page 32-33 SCSTRTI Bhubaneswar.

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CHAPTER: HI CREATION-ORIGIN MYTHS AND RELIGION OF TRIBE S OF UNDIVIDED KORAPUT DISTRICT

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In this chapter the creation origin myth and religion of the following of undivided Koraput District are being explored.- a) Koya, b) Kondh, c) Dongria kondh, d) Didayi, e) Gond, f) Saora, g) Parenga, h) Gadaba, i) Bhottada, j) Bonda

KOYA The Koyas inhabit the hills and forests north of Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh and Malkangiri in undivided Koraput district of Odisha. The Koyas are a branch of the Gondispeaking people. Their mother tongue comes under the Dravidian group of languages. This dialect also differs among the two groups of Koya - the north and the south. There has been some incorporation of Telugu, Hindi and Odia words into the language of the southern and northern Koyas respectively. It is evident that linguistically the Koya of the two regions are more or less similar and their differences arise being from in the contact with Odia or Telugu speakers. The southerners have been much influenced in dress, ornaments and hair style by the Telugus, while the northerners have retained their primitiveness to a great extent. Koyas of older generation use very scanty clothes, men use only loin cloth. Older women wear narrow shorts covering the portions of body from waist to knee, and use another piece to cover the upper part of the body. Now-a-days women of younger generation wear saree, blouse and petticoat and young men wear dhoti, halfpant, lungi etc. Women wear several ornaments on their wrists, ankles, ears, nose and neck. The Koya villages are situated on the patches of clearings in the midst of forests surrounded by different trees like Mahul (Basia latifoliaj, and Salpa (Caryota urens). In each village, there is one structure called bijjagudi or 'House of God*. This is situated either inside the village, or near the village boundary or sometimes in front of the head man’s house. The sacred shrine of Gudimata the village Goddess is located in a group of Mahul trees inside or near the village. Each village has is a dormitory house. The youth dormitories of Koyas play a major role for promoting their culture and tradition. The dormitories are the institution for unmarried youths. The Koya boys and the girls spend their nights in separate rooms, which is used by the unmarried girls are called as Pikin Kudma of the village. It is using for sleeping and gossiping at night. But this practice is being extinct in these days. In the past the Koyas were mainly shifting cultivators. But nowadays they have taken to settled cultivation. They cultivate mainly

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paddy, maize, mandia (millet) and tobacco leaf. The agricultural yields do not suffice for a family to survive for the whole year and so the Koyas resort to other types of food quest, i.e. the collection of roots and fruits from the jungle and the growing of minor corps like suan, maize and pulses. According to the Koya traditional system of the Koyas, chom or wealth means cattle, because a Koya without cattle has no status in the society. They are skilled hunters. Even since the wild games have become scarce and hunting wild animals totally banned, Koyas rarely go out for hunting, especially during festive occasions.

The Koya tribe is dichotomized between two types of kin in groups, called kutumam or consanguineal kin and wiwalwand or affinal kin the consanguineal kin of a person belongs to the same phratry as that person. There are five such phratries present in the Koya society. These are (l) Kowasi (2) Odi or Sodi (3) Madkam (4) Modi (5) Padiam. A Kowasi can take a wife from any of the four remaining phratries other than his own. A person cannot marry a girl of the same phratry to which he belongs because all persons in that group are believed to be a blood relation. Among the society of Koyas, if anyone breaches their tribal customary rule, the village community takes corrective action by imposing penalities like fine upon the wrong doer and then worships the deities to avoid the calamities expected to follow because of the anger of the supernatural beings. On the other hand such beliefs and practices ensure social discipline and conformity. Functioning of traditional institutions of social control among the Koya reflects that both secular and sacerdotal leaders play a major role in the village through the traditional village council which effectively manages inter and inffavillage disputes and awards punishments and rewards. The traditional village council is headed by pedda, the village headman, and perma, the priest. The posts of pedda and perma are hereditary. The shaman, magician-cum-herbal medicine man is known as wade. The Kotwal, hailing from the Domb, a scheduled caste community also acts as their messenger.

The cultural life of Koya developed through the way of dance; the songs sung by different groups differ from each other. When they are inspired with happiness, they can coin a song immediately and sing it. When they see things of beauty and meet pleasantly,

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they express their pleasure and happiness by composing songs. One finds humours, jokes, romance, satires, criticisms, accusations and anger in this compassions. The songs that are song while performing pujas as observing festivals are quite different. Koya people have beautiful traditional costumes for the group dance. The male dancers hold a drum and they beat them while dancing. They wear huge head gears of bison horn which are richly decorated with peacocks feathers and cowries.

The girls adorn themselves in

ornaments, wearing flat brass band in their foreheads and holding sticks fitted with tinkling bells as they dance in circles striking the sticks during the dance in between the beats. As an offshoot of Duduma, Balimela, Upper Kolab Dam projects many Koya families were displaced. Besides, the influx of people of different cultures from outside, has affected the life and culture of the Koyas. At present the Koyas are struggling hard to survive vis-a-vis the resettles, who are far superior to them in their life styles1.

According to 2011 census, the total population of Koya tribe in Odisha is l 47 137 including 71 014 males and 76 123 females. Their sex ratio comes to 1072 females for 1000 males. The literacy among the Koyas is leveled at 29.87 percent (36.46 percent for male and 23.77percent for female). Their population has registered a negative growth rate of 20.08 per cent during the decade (2001 -2011).

CREATION-ORIGIN MYTHS Once a severe drought had set in affecting the entire earth, there was acute shortage of food and water. One fine day the hunter of Kowasi clan, who was said to be the primeval man, was eagerly waiting for his prey beside a water hole. A lovely deer finally came down to lick water, but before the hunter could shoot his arrow at, the deer started pleading for its life with a specific reason, the deer further disclosed that it would be an important message for the hunter. The hunter then refrained from killing the deer. In return the deer predicted a calamity would befall by impending devastation with a great flood to make the earth unsteady, and suggested that he (kowasi hunter) would prepare '"doda burka kia" or container out of the hides of seven buffalos to save his life.

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The hunter did, as he was advised to distribute buffalo meat among his villagers but refrained from divulging his plan to them. When the flood occurred, the kowasi hunter entered into the gourd-shaped container to hide himself along with a woman and some animals and birds. The devastating flood killed everybody on the earth while the “doda burka kia” floated on and on for days together, there was darkness all around, but finally sunlight appeared in the eastern horizon. The drifting container settled near a shore, the kowasi hunter sent out a crow to see whether the flood had receded and the earth had hardened up. It returned with the news that the sun had risen and the earth was fast drying up and becoming steady. The kowasi along with the primeval woman and the animal’s stepped out of the doda burka kia.

They built a hut and took hot water bath mixed with turmeric paste. They felt the urge of irrepressible sex and thus lived as man and woman (wife and husband). In course of time, the woman gave birth to four sons and two daughters. These four sons were named as “Modi, Madkami, Sodi and Padiami." Today the Koya Society is divided into five major exogamous Katta or clans namely kowasi, Sodi, Padiami, Madi and Madkami. Madi and Madkami married their two sisters (daughter of kowasi). Sodi and Padiami had to wait till daughters were bom to Madi and Madkami. and grew up. Sodi and Padianmi married them, who were their cross-nieces.

Thus all the five were arranged into three exogamous groups; Kowasi, Madi and Padiami. This Myth gives an account to how the clan system in Koya society was formed. It resembles the famous Biblical story of origin from of Adam and Eve. It is also largely similar to the Myths depicted in the Biblical Literature, which describes a great flood a large boat with animals. Noah was the great savior of the animals. A dove went out of the boat to investigate, while here it is a crow. It seems the occurrence of the flood was an universal phenomenon, different cultural backgrounds and distant land is not easily explicable. However the similarly is striking making one wonder if there was a flood during the pre-historic period2.

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RELIGION The Koya observe mainly four annual religious festivals such as Bijja Pcmdu, Kodta Pandu, Bimud Pandu and Idu or Ikk Pandu. Bijja Pandu is the most important agricultural festival held to worship the Earth Goddess to get a trouble free agricultural season and a good harvest. The Bijja Pandu is the sacred seed from which the festival takes its name. It is celebrated in the month of Chaitra (March-April), when the earth Goddess is worshipped with offerings of cocks, pigs, eggs and mangoes. At the approach of monsoon, Peda, the village chief fixes a date for the festival in consultation with his co-villagers. Paddy seeds are also placed before the Goddess, believing that those seeds will become productive by the divine touch. The priest requests the Goddess to render a good harvest. Mangoes are eaten ceremonially during this festival. Ceremonial hunting (bijja wata) follows this festival. Koya men go out for hunting and fishing in groups and return home before dark. The women enjoy by singing and dancing, waiting for their men to come. In the evenings all of them unite, feast, drink and dance together. They have special variety of dance for this festival. They dance in circles singing songs of love. Any kind of Work during this festival is a taboo. Bimud Pandu is held in the month of MaghPhalgun for worshipping the rain god. It is observed just after the completion of the harvest of all types of crops. Two small clay models of the rain god and his wife are made and kept under a Mahul tree, over a piece of stone on the festive day. The villagers, with the priest and the headman gather at the site with crops of all types. After worshipping the God, the priest fills the empty baskets with crops that is followed by the headman and the villagers. An unmarried girl is made to stand between the clay models and the priest. The villagers throw water over them and laugh, saying that the marriage of the rain god is over today (gajje bimudpendul nend tend). Then, the ceremonial dancing and singing begin. Ikk Pandu, the tamarind festival is observed during February-March to commence the collection of ripe tamarind which is an important food item of the Koyas. The village priest worships a tamarind tree inside the village offering the sacrifice of eggs and chickens. Similarly the Koyas observe Ikk Pandu to start collection of Mohul flowers. Tadi Pandu held in the month of March marks the beginning of collection of Tadi i.e the palm juice which is a favourite drink of the Koyas. In the month of Kani (Bhadrab-

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Aswin) Kurrum Pandu is observed when suan (it is a kind of rice which grows in tanks and swampy land. The rice in collected without cutting the slems and grows like it a plant. It is argued that suan, (painsum), an early variety played an important domestication of paddy crop is eaten ceremonially. The new rice eating ceremony is observed in the month of Dashara (Aswin- Kartik). Sikud Pandu or the new bean eating ceremony is celebrated in the month of Dewad (Kartik-Margasir). Karta Pandu, the new rice eating ceremony is held during September-October. Sikud Pandu or the new bean eating festival is observed in the month of February when the beans (sikud) ripens. In the month of Kandi (August-September) Kurum Pandu is observed when the Suan is eaten ceremonially. Marka Pandu, the new mango eating ceremony is performed in the month of June-July. In all these new eating festivals the village deity (Grama devata) and ancestral spirits in the households are worshipped by the village priest and household heads respectively. Animal sacrifices are made and the new crop, fruits and vegetables are offered to the deities after which the Koyas eat them. No Koya dares to eat new fruits or crops before observing the new eating ceremony in which the fruit or crop is ceremonially offered to the Gods, village deities and the ancestral spirits.

The Koyas also worship few other Gods and deities installed in other parts of the Koya area. The three Gods in Manyem konda temple are worshipped by the Koyas, other tribal communities and Hindu castes. The festival of worship is held in every three years and the devotees come from far and near sometimes spending couple of days on journey. On the day of the festival, the temple priest conducts the rituals in the temple and the animals offered by the devotees are sacrificed before the Gods.

In Koya society. Magic and religion are complementary to each other. The Koyas worship their Gods and appease them and get their blessings. When this worship fails to bring them any result they resort to magical practices with the help of Wade (the magico religious specialist). Wade is called upon to perform magical rites to cure diseases, effect smooth delivery of a child and ward off the calamities and epidemics.

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KONDHA

In Odisha, the Kondha is numerically the most populous tribe. Thus, it is a major tribe of the state as well as the country. Though their population is unevenly spread throughout the State, they are main concentrated is in south Odisha. They are mostly found their stronghold lies in the central and south western part of Eastern Ghat region in Odisha. The word Kondha is derived from the Telugu word Konda which means a small hill as well as the hill men. Originally, they were hill dwellers. Kondha a is the name the non-tribal people have given them and in course of time, the tribesmen have accepted the name. But they identify themselves as ‘Kui loku’ “Kui enju” or “Kuinga" because they speak Kui’ or Kuvi' language belonging to Drcnidian linguistic group. Kui’ and Kuvi' are two regional linguistic variations. While ‘Kuvi ’ is spoken by a majority of the Kondha of undivided Koraput, Kalahandi and Bolangir districts, Kuiis spoken by the Kondha of Phulbani district. Kuvi appears to have original structural composition while Kui, an acculturated and transformed form of Kuvi language. The Kondha may be divided into several sections such as; Desia Kondha, Dongoria Kondha, Kutia Kondha, Sitha Kondha, Buda Kondha. Pengo Kondha and Malua Kondha, etc. among them two groups like; Kutia Kondha and Dongoria Kondha have been identified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PTGs).

The dress pattern of the Desia Kondha is very simple. The women of the community used to wear two pieces of clothes {sinda), one around the waist up to the knees and another for the upper portion of the body. But now they prefer to wear one piece saree which is available in the local market, also the young women prefer long nightygown, soya blouse and the young man prefer jeans and T-shirts. They prefer to adorn themselves with various types of ornaments like coloured bead necklace (sursuria mali), silver bangle {bald), neckband igogla), nose flower (naka putuki), hairpin (pujupaka), ear ring (kichedka) etc. Traditionally Kondha women are very fond of making different tattoo (tikanguhpa) designs on the face. Now-a-days tattooing (tikanguhpa) is not preferred by the women of younger generation. The Kondha men wear dhoti (loin cloth) and ganji (banyan). On special occasions, a headgear is also worn.

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Generally, the Kondha villages are surrounded by mountains (saru). Their house settlement pattern is scattered throughout with large patches of land (keta) adjoining the homesteads.

A village consists of a number of hamlets, which are locally known as sahi or pada. The Kondhas cremate their dead body in the cremation ground (tunenji) which is situated in groves adjoining the village. In every village, there is an altar for the Earth Goddess (Darni perm) located at the side of the village.

Family is the smallest social unit in Kondha society. Nuclear family is common and joint family is rarely found. The members of the partilineage help their head of family during birth, marriage and death rituals etc. The Kondha use different mutha or clan like titles, such as Miiyaka, Mandinga, Saunta, Hikaka, Kulesika, Jambeka, Praska, Prepeka, Jani Huika, Sirika, Nachika and Majhi etc. As per the rule of exogamy, a man cannot marry within his own clan or mutha, because members of a mutha consider themselves as brothers and sisters. Marriage is one of the important social functions in the Kondha community. Marriages are conducted either by negotiation or service. The construction of a Kondha house (edu) is very simple. The walls of the house are made of planks of sal trees (jargi mrahanui) covered with mud and trellis made of bamboo splits and its roof is thatched with wild grass. The house is of very low height, not exceeding 10ft. and its entrance is at a height of about 4ft. from the ground level. A typical house consists of one or two rooms with a separate kitchen room (baja edu) and a cowshed (goheli) at its backside. A narrow verandah (pinduli) is found in the front as well as at the backside of the house. Currently, under the impact of modernization and development, the Kondha houses are constructed by bricks, cement and concrete under the Indira A was Yojana.

The Kondhas are agriculturists. They practice both shifting cultivation (dahi) on the hill tops and hill-slopes and plough cultivation (nela) in valleys and low lands. They cultivate on three types of lands namely dhipa -upper land (depa keta), Berena (Jodi keta)

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and Sarada (suruda keta) for paddy cultivation and they cultivate Kandula (kanga), Jununga (judungaga), Biri (masangaga) etc in their hilly areas. The Kondhas are also working as daily wage laborers and doing business to maintain their livelihood at present.

The Kondhas are very straight forward and they express their feeling before the people whom they trust. Their intimate relationships emerge from the core of their heart. They are kind, open hearted, honest, bold, trustworthy and ready to sacrifice life for their true friends. They are emotionally attached to nature and natural resources like land, deities, spirit, mountain, river, forest etc. which are precious for them. They believe in work and worship and never disregard or misbehave anybody unless they are very seriously hurt. They are very sympathetic and helpful at the time of crises. They give equal importance and respect to their women folk3.

The population of Kondha in Odishan context as per 2011 census, the total population of Kondha tribe in Odisha is 1627486 including 790559 males and 836927 females. Their sex ratio comes to females 1059 for 1000 males. The literacy among the

Kondhas is leveled at 46.95 percent (59.17 percent for male and 35.57 percent for female). Their population has registered a negative growth rate of 16.61 per cent during the decade (2001-2011)4.

CREATION-ORIGIN MYTHS OF KONDHA The Kondha believe that the earth did not exist at the time of creation. The Kondha believe strongly in the existence and impact of supernatural being or “Pennu” or

“Dharmu”. He who ‘ Talare dharti tayamane, up're dharmu dutha mane”. It means he who pressed the earth and lifted the sky above, otherwise both the sky and the earth would have dashed, so it is the God who made us possible to live on the earth.

The Kondha believe that the earth did not exist at the time of creation. There were no hills, forest and animal life or human beings. All these emerged from the bowels of the earth from which they found it difficult to come out. As per their myth, the original place of

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their birth was below “Sapcmgade" or the cosmic hole from where all life evolved. It is believed that ‘Jamarani’ the ancestral mother of kondhas, led them out.

There is a another fact to their creation-origin myth. Long back, the earth became heavily populated. Sacrifices and crises were the order of the day. For this reason the God planned to destroy the entire universe including every living creature on it. The God decided to create a new one in place of it. Here follows the story (puspuni) about how the Miniyaka or Kondha brother and sister started the new generation. Long back, all the villagers were ordered by the village council to go for hunting in the month of chaitra (March-April). This was known as the “Satrabeta” in the Kondha area. In obedience to the decision of the village council, the entire villager gathered and entered into the forest. They roamed around the forests covered hills like-dumba-adu, paridi Ada, pipdi Ada, Basu beti sua and Lodni sua. When they arrived at Lodni Sua hill, the sun was about to set in the west. While a hunter was passing through a river ghat, he saw an antelope drinking water from the stream. He took an arrow from his quiver aimed to shooting at the animal. When he was about to shoot he heard a scream. A voice requested him to spare the animal. He looked around but could see nobody. He suddenly realized that the voice was coming from the animal itself, the kid in her womb was talking to the hunter. He raised his bow and arrow in order to provoke the animal to speak the unborn kid then said; “Why do you want to kill my mother and myself? ” again the unborn kid said. ‘This creation of which you are a part will be destroyed soon.” The unborn kid continued. ‘’My mother and I have known it. After few days the crops, houses, sheds and people will thus be destroyed. This we have listened from the Dharma Devata.’ ’ the unborn kid added.

On hearing this, hunter trembled with fear. He asked the antelope whether there was any way to escape from the destruction. The kid replied “If you will not kill us; then listen-make a boat using the wood of Semili tree and hide.” The kids elaborated keep it a secret under all circumstances. The boat will float when the heavy flood comes. Take enough food and other necessaries with you to last for a longtime.” The kid stressed. The exact time of disaster also happened by the mentioned of the kid. The kondha hunter

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returned to home and narrated his experience to his sister. They searched for a big “Lekahd' or Bombox Cebia (locally known as semili tree) tree and constructed the boat and made required arrangements. After it, both the brother and sister stepped into the boat. They also took sufficient food items and other necessaries for them.

Then the disaster occurred on the destined Saturday night; heavy rain continued for seven days and seven nights

by Sarga Bhima, Patada Bhima, Mindi Bhima and Bada

Bhima (God of rain) were the cause of such rain. After heavy rain for seven days they leveled the earth like a com field and destroyed by flood. During this time God Bhima suffered from unknown disease and the sects fell from his wounds. The God bhima realised, this is due to his deeds and promised not to destroy and became decided to create again. The Rain god Bhima rushed to the God and prayed for rescue. Then after listening from Bhima the God tore some hair of his head and created a crow and give life to the crow and sent her to search of human beings. The crow flew far and wide and searched restlessly, and then it stopped the boat where the Kondha brother and sister are inside there and reported it to God.

God asked the crow to report what it saw, then the crow replied that one boat is flowing and it was closed from all angles and it becomes very difficult to know who were inside it.

Then the god created a fly and sent it with the crow; the fly made a hole in the

entrance of covering of the boat which were closed by the brother and sister with the leaves used for the lunch.

The crow took these leaves to God by its peak. By the order of God these leaves were burnt and its smoke rescued Bhima's son from the disease. God was happy when he found that human beings were alive and wished that more of them should live on earth. When God realized that they were relation with each other as brother and sister, so he planned to make them first man and woman in recreation.

God ordered "arth" ray to inflict measles in them, and both are them were disfigured and unable to recognize to each other. After that, they were sexually attracted to

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each other and stayed as couple they gave birth to twelve children of tribes. Among the twelve children they suffered from measles and small pox and they were also disfigured, some of them black complexioned and some are reddish in color. Then they produced new more couples and started to live together so God also changed their language for the mode of communication.

After that by the mercy of sun, all water dried-up and became cloud. Then the moon god created other creatures trees and plants. By the stool of the crow, grass and other grew-up here and there. Different couples with different colors and languages scattered all over the earth and as a result different communities are created. Likewise different communities with different colors of people led to procreation over generations. So the Miniyaka Kondha brother and sister became the first woman and man of the present civilization3.

RELIGION OF KONDHA The Kondha s are very religious and believe in animism. Their belief system centres around nature. They worship a number of gods, goddesses, spirits ipideri) and various natural objects. To appease Gods and spirits, they perform various magicoreligious practices which include sacrifice of different animals. In their settlements certain symbolic structures like wooden poles, stones with vermilion markings (baddi), leaf plate’s bamboo baskets (boga) etc. are found representing their ritual objects. Each spot has its own supernatural significance because it provides shelter to spirits and deities of certain special power. The Earth Goddess (Darni Penu) is their supreme deity. Other deities namely Sant Penu (mountain god) Suga Penu (stream god), Piju Penu (rain god), Natu Penu (village deity), Pideri Penu (ancestor god) Bela Penu (sun god), Pilanu Penu (hunting god), Jaheri Penu (sister of earth god), Jori Penu (river god), Burpi Penu (first fruit god), Ruju Juga Penu (calamity god), Sande Pern (border god) and the village deities like Maa Thakurani, Banjhareni devi, etc. are worshipped in different occasions and festivals. Every village has its own magico-religious specialists namely jani, jhankar, disari saunta who worship their deities. Jani (priest) worships only the Earth Goddess

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{darni pem). In his absence, jhankar worships the dharini Perm. In their magicoreligious practices, there are some taboos for women. They are not allowed to touch the sacrificial food and pregnant women are not allowed to eat that food. Their magico religious performance is associated with several types of sacrifices and observances. These are followed by dance, music and drinking. These occasions give an opportunity to enhance the unity and integrity of the village. During the observance of rituals necessary sacred articles like wine (kalu), arua rice (pranga), egg {tola), jhuna (tadali), turmeric {singa), gourd (loka), etc. are collected and kept by the villagers. Observance of Meria festival is considered as a symbol of Kondha cultural identity.

The Kondha recognize three principal gods, Dharma Permit, Sara Pennu and Tam Permit. Dharma Pennu is worshipped in the case of illness or at the birth of a first child; he may be described as the god of the family and of the tribe itself. Sam Pennu is the god of the hills, and is a jealous god, disliking tress passers on his domain, and the chief object of his worship, is to induce him to protect from the attacks of wild animals those whose business takes them among the forest clad hills, and also to procure a plentiful yield of forest produce which the Kahands use so largely for food. Tam Pennu, is the earth god.

The Kandhs observe a number of rituals in connection with birth, puberty, marriage and death, with specific folk dances and songs for each occasion. They believe in the existence of gods and spirits, both benevolent and malevolent. The song here is sung at the death of a person beseeching the spirit of the dead to stop troubling the living. It is based on the Kandhs belief that people love their homes so much that their souls are reluctant to leave the hearth even after death. These spirits, though generally kind, can become harmful at times since they are now unable to participate in earthly life. It is, therefore, customary to make generous offerings to the spirit. The song begins by saying that the dead spirit will be able to receive offerings only if the others in the family continue to live and prosper.

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They reveal their willingness to do anything to make the spirit happy but, in return, the spirit must also promise not to trouble them with its visits. The Kondhas are firm believers in witchcraft of the usual aboriginal type. They have a system of trial by ordeal of those who are suspected of the black art6.

THE DONGORIA KONDHA

In the remote mountainous wilderness of the Eastern Ghat region of South Odisha lives a fascinating Kuvi-Speaking tribe called the Dongoria Kondha, who are a primitive section of the Kondha numerically the most preponderant tribe of Odisha. They inhabit the lofty Nigamgiri Hill ranges in Raygada (Bisarmaluttaik) Mmiguda, and Chandrapur) District.

They stand apart from others for their famous Meria Festival, expertise in horticulture; separated by their colourful dress, adornments and life style and being the denizens of hills, forest and highlands (Dongaria). Their neighours names them Dongoria but they call them Selves Dongarian Kuan or Drili Kaun.

Dongaria man and woman are quite fashionable in their personal adornment that makes them attractive and distinguish them from other. Dongaria men put on a long and narrow piece of loin cloth in such a way that the two embroidered ends hang in the front and the back. This piece of cloth is termed "Drili ” Dongaria Women has two pieces of cloth "Kapda-Ganda” each 3-4 feet in length and one and half feet in width Dongaria man and Woman grow long hair to distinguish themselves from other section of Kondha, with a wooden comb (Kokuya) and Variety of hairpins and clips enhance the beauty to their unique hair style of man and Woman. They also decorate themselves with variety of ornaments like nose ring, (Murma), brass made pointed stick, neck ring, beads. And coin necklaces (Kekodika) finger ring. And in addition to that Woman wear bangles, anklets, to erring etc.

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The habitation of Dongaria Kondha in the lofty Nigamgiri hill ranges spans across, Bissau Cuttack, Kalingasingpur, Muniguda in Raygada District and also few parts of Kalahandi District in Odisha.

The Dongaria Kondha are claim themselves as a son of Niyamaraja or Niyamagiri hill. The son of nature Dongarials lowe to live in their natural abode for away from the madding crowds of civilization. Their settlement systems are located in the hill slopes hill top or valleys in a tangle of thick wooded hill ranges. The village habitation site is chosen upon the availability of sufficient land for shifting cultivation and perennial source of water. The village habitations are settled by the shining of village deity or “Jatrakudi Penu". It is settled in thatched shed outside of village and it walls were painted with beautiful colours. The village diety bless and shape to the people from evil eye in the middle of village street another shrine (Guddi) accommodates the EarthGoddess (Dharani Penu or Dharen Manda) or the supreme-me deity. And another important institute of Dongoria village is the girls dormitory (Da-sha-Hada or Hada Said) It is a preparatory home for the unmarried girls to learn about their life way before entering into the family life.

The fooding systems of Dongaria include both veg and non veg items. They also habituated in liquer drinks, made from Mahula (Irpikala) sagapalm Juice (mada - Kalu). Besides they also brew and drink - Banana liquor, (Kadli - Kala) Molassess - liquor (Guda-Kalu) and Rice Ragi Liquer (Chauli-Landa Kalu) The Liquer is used as medicine, as ritual offering to appease deities and ancestors, to entertain friends an relative. It is indispensable in many occasions and it is a part of their life.

The economy and livelihood of Dongaria Kondha in daily life starts from the early sun rise to sun set and they busy themselves busy in their work in Dongaria. They do not have any gender based division of work paucity Plain and wet lands and natural conditions have made them shifting cultivators. They are well skilled in horticulturist. Their subsistence activity of food gathering from the forest. The seasonal food collection is still an indispensable part of their economic life. The live stock and animal husbandry

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are well practiced by them. It is a part and parcel of their economic life. They kept the cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, dog and others. They do not draw milk from cow and buffalos. They belive it is meant for their claves. The animal are sheltered in their respective sheds. The Dongaria are the descendant of Niyam Raja of Niyamgiri hills, the wage earning is not a very respectable job. They prefer to work for the member of their own community either on nominal payment or on labor exchange basis. Among them there is on employer - employ felling and no-demand for payment of wages. They treat each other as equals.

The social life of Dongaria Family are and nuclear, monogamous and patrilireal consisting of parents and their unmarried children. When the son grows up and gets married, he sets up his own house and lives there with his wife and children. Their family acts as an economic unit in which the man does the hard work but the woman is hard working than the man. The woman besides their work of housekeeping and child care activates also take up subsistence activities of helping and cooperating with man.

Thus life of Dongaria Kondha Family is very peaceful. Husband and wife are partners in all work of life. They work together and have mutual respect for each other; Husband seeks his wife advice in all social and economic matters. The old age people are highly respected and children’s obey their parents and elders7.

CREATION-ORIGIN MYTH

Long time ago the earth was overpopulated. People were facing unavoidable problems for survival. There were scarcity of food, cloth and shelter for the people. There was not enough cultivable land for raising food grains and no suitable place for settlement. The people were suffering from incurables diseases. The situation got worse and people found it beyond their control. All the people assembled together and went to their king, the sun god, popularly known as Dharam Devata. The people put forth their grievances by bowing down their head before the Sun God and requested to save the people from ongoing crisis. The Dharma Deveta (Sun God) patiently heard the complaints of the people. He became very sad and called for his courtiers to convene an

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urgent meeting. After a thorough discussion on the problems of the people, the Dharma Devata and his courtiers decided to destroy the entire universe along with all the living beings. He planned to create a new universe having less number of populations and enough land for cultivation much more quantities of food grains to avoid food scarcity. The discussion was heard by a Kutra (four homed antelope) pregnant.

A brother and sister namely Duku and Dumbe existed. They were living on food gathering and hunting as they did not have land to cultivate. Once Duku was moving in a jungle with his bow and arrow. He was in search of an animal to hunt. He did not find anything and decided to return home. On his way back he found the above-mentioned Kutra drinking water at the bank of a perennial stream. Without delay Duku immediately took an arrow out of his quiver and aimed at the Kutra to shoot. Suddenly a sound of human voice came from somewhere, requesting Duku to spare the life of the antelope. Duku looked all around him but could not find anyone. After waiting for a while he had a feeling that the voice was coming from the antelope itself. In order to confirm that he aimed his bow and arrow towards the antelope again and heard the same sound clearly that was coming exactly from the womb of the antelope.

Further, the unborn kid inside the womb told Duku, “Do not kill my mother. The universe including all animals, birds, plants, insects, hills, mountains streams etc. will be destroyed soon. We have heard the discussion of Dharama Devata and his courtiers at close proximity and they are planning to destroy the present universe and create a new one. The Dharama Devata has decided not to leave anyone alive in the present universe.” On hearing the kid inside the womb of the Kutra. Duku trembled with fear and requested the kid to tell him how to get rid of this dangar of destruction. The Kutra kid inside the womb advised Duku to make a boat out of Semul tree (Leka Mara), which is very light and can easily float on water. “Hide in the boat. Catch hold of it tightly. Stay inside the boat so that any situation you will not be separated from it. Keep enough food for survival till the disaster is over.” The kid emphasized and informed the exact day and time of the catastrophe. Immediately Duku returned home and described the incident to his sister Dumbe. Dumbe was not convinced with the report of her brother. But she did

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not comment anything, as that would hurt her brother Duku. She just watched what her brother was doing further in this regard. Duku went with an axe in search of a

Leka

Mara (Simel) trunk that would be suitable to construct a strong but fairly light boat. However, he got a huge Simel tree (Laka mara) and cut a seasoned thick trunk portion to create a boat by making a tetragonal opening align the length of the opening. Duku made the opening comparatively larger so that he and his sister Dumbe could be accommodated there along with adequate quantity of foodstuff, stored for consumption and spare kitchen for laboratory. A cover befitting the opening was made by Duku to make the boat air tight. The finished boat along with the cover was taken by him to home to load sufficient foodstuff, firewood and lighted-fire. After loading the stuffs, he called his sister Dumbe to accompany him and both of them with all their requirements got into the boat and closed the cover tightly over them. After a very short period of their getting into the boat the disaster occurred. Duku remembered the forecasting of the kid inside the womb of antelope. Both the brother and sister showed their obligation to the kid.

The boat was floating on the water and air from ail sides dashed to the boat at the time of disaster. Since the boat was airtight no water or air could enter into the boat. Hence, both of them were safe. However, they were able to hear the cries of human beings, animals, bird and others. They also heard the sound of blast of hills and mountains, thud of falling trees and crashing rocks. Both of them were nervous and got frightened by it, however, they were safe inside the closed boat floating over the huge water source. “Bhima Penu', God of destruction tried its level best to destroy the boat by sending heavy tide and mighty wind. Somehow or other the brother and sister got rid of the danger aimed at them by Bhima Penu who is the God responsible for all destruction. Bhima Penu went to the Dharam Deota lSun God) and informed that the old universe is destroyed completely.

But Duku and Dumbe were alive inside the boat, floated over the huge water for days and nights. They had sufficient food stuff inside the boat, hence there was no problem for comfort living rather they were very happy and led a normal life inside the closed boat. A few days passed like this, the god and goddesses

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realized the

consequences of the destruction. They remained un-worshipped. They did not get offerings of animals and birds sacrifice, which were use to be performed by human beings. There was no ritual performance for them. All the gods and goddesses suffered from hunger and complained their of starving that was now unbearable for them. Hence, Dharma Devata may be kind enough to create a new universe, so that they (gods and goddesses) can get something to eat and drink. Edharma Devata was kind enough and planned to create a new universe. He took out some of his hair from his head and created crow first. Then he gave life to it so that crow can fly easily. Then he told the crow to move all over and search for human being, if there was any. The crow flew here and there and searched allover but did not find the existence of human being anywhere. The crow came back to Dharam Devata and told that he did not find existence of human being anywhere during his extensive journey. Dharam Devata was not satisfied with the answer of the crow. He again sent the crow to search for human being and told the crow not to return till human being is located somewhere. In response to the order of the Dharam Devata the crow flew in the sky and made a very tiresome journey. While flying in the sky suddenly the crow marked smoke coming from the surface of water. The crow flew to close proximity of the smoke and found a boat floating on the water from which smoke emanated. The crow presumed that people were inside the boat otherwise how smoke would come. Then the crow flew to the Devata and informed the incident. Dharam devata called his disciples and sent them with the crow to the spot where boat is floating on water and smoke in coming out of it. The disciples led by crow arrived at the boat and took out the cover with much difficulty and found Duku and Dumbe are inside. They both were told to accompany them as desired by Dharama Devata. Duku and Dumbe came out because they could not disobey Dharma Devata. They followed the disciples and the crow. They were asked to narrate how they could survive the destruction and devastation. Duku elaborated the whole story starting from the advice of the kid in the womb of the four homed antelope till their arrival at Dharam Devata. Listening to their escape God wanted to know about their identity and relationship. He told to Dharam Devata that they are brother and sister without parents; because of their poverty they were leading a very precarious life. They did not have land to cultivate hence were living on roots and green leaves. Dharam Devata. became very happy for if would be possible on his part to

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procreate human beings. Accordingly, he called for his courtiers and discussed the matter with them secretly. They decided that Duku and Dumbe can procreate, but they may not agree to their proposal, as they are brother and sister Dhamm Devata thought to separate them for a long period so that they will not recognize each other on reunion. Then only they may get married and procreate human beings. Accordingly, Duku was sent to one direction and Dumbe was told to move in opposite direction. Both of them got separated for years together. Thereafter, Dharma Devata sent his people to call them. After a pretty tong time they met each other and immediately recognized and became very happy.

Dharam Devata found his plan in vain. How Dharma Devata sat very quietly for some time. He finally called Aji Budha who is responsible for inflicting diseases like small pox, measles etc, Duku was inflicted with small pox and Dumbe was inflicted with measles and both of them were separated for some days. Duku suffered from small pox and got cured. But Duku had totally lost his memory to recognize himself and others. As a result treatment Duku's face got disfigured and whole body became blackish. Dumbe suffered from measles and after some days she got cured but her face was reddish. Now Dhraram Devata advised his people to bring both of them to his court. Both of them were brought to the court of Dharam Deveta. He observed that they were not able to recognize each other. Dharam Devata advised wisely both of them to get married. Since they did not recognize each other as brother and sister, because of the new faces, they agreed to the proposal of Dharam Devata. They got married and subsequently procreated number of children. All these children were divided into several groups, one group became the Dongaria Kondh and others became different as belonging to other caste people living in plains. According to this myth, the Dongaria Kondhs and other caste people are living in plains, are believed to be the sons and daughters of Duku and Dumbe. The Dongaria Kondhas believe that after emergence of people Dharam Devata created the earth followed by mountains, hills, plants, trees, animals, birds, and every living being and other requirements for survival of human beings. The myth is very popular among the Dongoria Kondh of Niyamgiri hill ranges and they feel very proud and derive pleasure while describing the myth8.

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RELIGION

The Dongoria Kondha have syncretism beliefs combining animism. Their pantheon has both the common Hindu gods and their own. The Gods and Goddesses are always attributed to various natural phenomena, objects, trees, animals, etc. They have a god or deity for everything. The Dongoria Kondha give highest importance to the Earth god (Dharani penu), and Nlyam penu (Niyamgiri Hill) who is held to be the creator and sustainer of the Dongoria. For instance, in a house, there is a deity for back and front street, kitchen, living room, implements and so on and so forth. In the Dongoria society, breach of any religious conduct by any member of the society invites the wrath of spirits in the form of lack of rain fall, soaking of streams, destruction of forest produce, and other natural calamities. Hence, the customary law, norms, taboos, and values are greatly adhered and enforced w ith fear of heavy punishments, depending up on the seriousness of the crimes committed. As with any culture, the ethical practices of the Dongoria reinforce the economic practices that define the people. Thus, the sacredness of the mountains perpetuates tribal socio-economic; whereas outside cultures neglect the sacredness of the land find no problem in committing deforestation, strip-mining etc. For social control in the village and at Mutt ha level (regional), there are hereditary religious leaders like Jani (religious head), Mondal (secular head), Bejuni (sorcerer), Barik (messenger) to co-ordinate, decide by holding a meeting where the punishment' is awarded along with appeasement procedure is followed with sacrifices of buffaloes and cocks. The punishment may be in cash or kind and may lead to ostracism from the community if not obeyed9.

DIDAYI

The Didayi belongs to the Proto-Australoid racial stock. They speak a language which has been included under Austro-asiatic language family. They may be litled as a humble people of the Eastern Ghats, is famous for its varied geomorphologic features amidst mountains, hills, forests, plateaus and valleys with frolicking hill streams against contrastive colorful sky blue and scenic greenery of the bountiful environment. The

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Didayi is a superimposed nomenclature on the original people, who called themselves as Gntare. The maximum population concentration of the Didayi is noticed in Malkangiri district of Orissa. The Didayi habitation is situated towards the western part of the Eastern Ghats mountain ranges. The winding course of the Machkund river drains the area. The Didayi habitations consist of three broad sub-areas, such as the hills, plains and the cut-off areas, consequent upon the emergence of the Balimela reservoir for the hydroelecterical p project. The Didayi do not live in isolation as they come in contact with other groups, such as the Bonda, Gadaba, Paroja, etc.; S.C. group, such as the Dom and other caste groups, such as the Kamar, Gauda, Rona, etc. They maintain symbiotic relationship with their neighbours in culture contact situations. The impact of outside world is gradually increasing day by day.

The Didayi settlement pattern is very much in consonance with the prevailing topographical features. The villages in plains sub-area are more or less nucleated whereas non-nucleated in hills and cut-off sub-areas. Their habitations do not follow any pattern; rather they are located in dispersed manner. The Didayi home has rectangular plinth with an area of 13.5 feet long and 10.5 feet wide and is raised 1-2 feet above the ground level with mud platform. The outer walls are usually constructed out of mud and the inner walls may be of wattle and daub. Currently, houses constructed by bricks, cement and concrete under the Indira A was Yojana are found in villages.

The social system Ddayi of consanguine clan groups are not inter marrying and they choose life partners from affined groups of clans. The clans are totemistic. A number of clans are found under each totem. The Anthropological Survey of India study (1970) reports five totems, such as Nkoo (tiger), Mala (cobra), Gbe (bear), Mosali (crocodile) and Goi (tortoise). Five totemic clans, as exogamous segments characterize the social structure of Didayi. In a clan there are agnatic lineages, brea. They acquire mates by negotiation, elopement, intrusion and service. Widow i.e.

marriage, levitate and

sororities are in practice. Adult marriage and monogamy is common. The custom of bride price is prevalent. The ancestor of the minimal lineage is usually genealogically traceable and it occupies a significant position in their social structure. Besides regulating marriage

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the minima! lineage plays crucial role in life-cycle ritual observations connected with child birth, puberty rites, marriage and mortuary rites. Didayi perform elaborate mortuary rites. Mourning is observed for ten days Dress and costumes of Didayi. In olden days, bark thread was used to prepare traditional cloth (Kisalu) to cover private parts of the body and for modesty. Currently, cotton cloths, purchases from weekly markets are used by both men and women. Young men are seen using trousers with full/half sleeve shirts and banians. Colorful dresses are preferred during fairs and festivals.

However, types of their dress are scanty. The Didayi women use necklace of aluminum, brass or silver along with colorful beads garlanded through strings. Other ornaments worn are aluminum anklets, brass rings in fingers and toes, brass nostril rings, nosegays, brass rings in ear helix and lower lobes, aluminum and glass bangles, etc. The Didayi are careful about their personal adornment and cleanliness. In order to enhance their personal appearance women comb their hair and put attractive knots at the bun. In ceremonial occasions, flowers, feathers, reed hair bands are used for beautification of the body.

The Didayi economy is precisely subsistence-oriented. Their subsistence economy is characterized by simple technological base, simple division of labour based on age and sex, rudimentary investment of capital, small production unit, householdoriented production decision, scanty or limited availability of cultivable plains land, etc. As majority of the Didayi people live in hills and forests, they regularly collect non­ timber forest produce to earn their livelihood. Hunting as a part of food gathering economy is also pursued by the Didayi. The Didayi also engage them in fishing in rivers, perennial streams and tanks. They use country boat, hand operated nets and different types of fishing traps and baskets for fishing. The Didayi pursue shifting fswidden) cultivation on hill slopes which are known to them as bri. It is also known in the area as podu chas.

They had their village councils (lepar) which were well organized and were looking after all activities concerning social, economic and religions spheres. The village

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head was known as the Naik who was assisted by the Chalan and the Barik. All household heads were members of village council. The secular head was the Naik who in consultation with the sacerdotal chief, the Palasi and elderly persons of the village was adjudicating cases for their judicious disposal.

The population of Didayi in Odishan context as per 2011 census; the total population of Didayi tribe in Odisha is 8890 including 4175 males and 4715 females. Their sex ratio comes to females 1129 for 1000 males. The literacy among the Didayi is leveled at 34.56 percent (43.85 percent for male and 26.62 percent for female). Their population has registered a negative growth rate of 20.61 per cent during the decade (2001-2011).

CREATION-ORIGIN MYTHS DIDAYI The following is a narration of Didayi about their origin. Didayi came from Jamunai. It’s the story of our Didayis ancestors’ time. There was no more land, no land at all. ‘Let’s go away, ‘said Sania Pada and Mangala Pada, to the Pujari [Priest]. Ho, priest, I have had a dream last night. I was told, “Don't stay in this place. I have cleared the way for you. I’ll lead the way and settle you in another place. Where? in Patna Panda, “’’■■With pots and baskets we went away to this new j; lace through Tentia, Bunti Mania, and Mangala. On the way they were advised in dreams. God again said, ‘Come quickly with your pots and baskets. I’ll be at the Gadmali Bheda. I’ll be staying in a house. Pay respect to me. Find some flowers and make a garland for me. There you will till the soil. Bhutia Palasi came and stayed in this Oringi. Other people also came and stayed here.

There was a king called Mania Raja [King Mania]. He sent his Minister. He called people from the whole country and settled them. This has now become your country, ‘he said, ‘no longer mine. I gift it away to you. Then there was a fight and heads rolled. Severed bodies fought on. Then the country became ours and we stayed here.

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In ancient times, our country remained like that. This Mania Raja was our king. He started improving the land. But then came high winds and water flooded the land. In a moment the whole country was submerged in water. All the people vanished.

At this time God made something. He killed a cow and with its hide he made a boat like a sack. Then God created a brother and sister. They were alone. There was no one else there. He put the brother and sister in that boat. God put them there, he gave them food and drink and he sewed up the sack boat. When the earth filled up with water, this sack floated with this brother and sister in it. They floated on wherever the wind and the waves carried them. Don’t big waves come in big rivers, sir? So they floated on. But they had food and water inside with them. This way, as time passed, they heated and subsequently the earth dried up. And the brother and sister got out. The sister said, 'Since we are brother and sister we should not stay together. You go in this direction and stay in that place. I shall go in the opposite direction and stay in another replace. This is what the girl said to the boy. They went away and grew up in course of time.

Later, when they met they lived together and bred children. Five or six children they had. Then they made clans, naming one Dom, the next Hadi, another Brahmin, the other Karan, or Katakia. Didayi, Paraja, Bonda etc. God is supposed to have said this.

THERE IS YET ANOTHER VERSION OF THE MYTH

Long ago, when the earth was covered with water, Rumrok (creation) hung a boar in a spider’s web up in the sky.

When Rumrok wanted to make a new world he was unable to find any earth. He searched everywhere without success and it was only when he went to the boar that he found a little earth sticking to its tail. He removed it and sprinkled it on the face of the water. After a while the earth grew large & expansive and soon there was mud everywhere and the water began to dry up. But the mud remained damp and dirty and to

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harden it Rumrok killed the boar and ground its bones into powder and spread it over the world. When the mud dried it was strong and steady.

Then Rumrok created animals and said to the boar, you may always lie in mud and you will be as strong as the earth itself11.

THERE IS YET ANOTHER STORY Bojai Didayi lived with his family in Jhariguda. This was before the days of gold and silver. Bojai had a cock and a hen which had never laid an egg.

Now, though the Didayi did not know it, there was gold and silver just under the surface of the earth behind his house. One day the cock and hen scratched some of it up; the metal was soft in those days and the fowls ate it. They did this daily and used to pass gold and silver in their droppings about the house. The girls of the family, not knowing what it was, used to sweep it up with the refuse throw it away. But one day the youngest girl noticed that it sparkled and shone in the sun and when she pointed this out to the others they began collecting it.

One day shortly afterwards a goldsmith had a dream telling him that there was gold and silver in Jhariguda and that he should make it into ornaments. He hastened to the place and when he arrived there he found no one but the youngest daughter at home. He asked her for the gold and silver, promising to make her ornaments, and she at once gave him what she had. He wandered about round the house and soon noticed where the fowls were scratching up the precious metals. He waited till night fall and then quietly dug up as much as he could carry, wrapped it in his bundle and ran away.

Silver and Gold were angry at being stolen in this way, and they became hard and sank deep into the earth, with the result that today they are rare as well as precious12.

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RELIGION OF DIDAYI The supernaturalism or belief in supernatural beings and connected to ritual practices find their explicit expression in the Didayi way of life. They differentiate between the sacred and profane. Both animism (concept of soul) and animalism (concept of life) are the principal components of the Didayi religion. Their religion helps maintenance of group solidarity, maintains moral values and determines value orientations in their community and fulfills their physical as well as social needs. In order to overcome mundane miseries, distress and hurdles in their perpetual struggle for existence, they surrender themselves before the invincible supernatural powers. Through religion, they maintain social integration, rationalize their roles, enforce social control and derive mental peace for survival. The supernaturalism precisely embraces religious beliefs and practices as well as magical beliefs and practices, which are but two antithetical approaches; the former subscribing to the act of surrendering whereas the latter to compulsion. Both are the two forms of cultural responses to the unseen and unknown. Didayi are polytheists and their theological pantheon includes a number of supernatural beings who are benevolent/ malevolent/ambivalent. The Didayi religion is anthropocentric. They believe in the Mother Earth and her concert the Ant-hill. They believe in a number of gods and goddesses as their consorts. The ASI study reports as many as 8 (male) gods with their respective consorts (females) or goddesses. They are Burn Bhairo and Nanangri, Bangur and Raskurku, Goa and Sendia, Rau and Aksia, Gond and Suni, Thakran and Burimata, Jainimata and Rekapaidu and Bok and Pa. Among the Didayi, Palasi acts as the sacerdotal chief. Other religious practioners who render necessary help to the Palasi in different rituals and ceremonies are the Kitang Pujari, Doecongre, Sihdarnare, Dumbare, Gharware, Gediare. etc. (Op. Cit. 152-53).

A number of festivals are celebrated by the Didayi throughout the year for different purposes and important festivals are Lendi Pande, Ghia Pande, Siboloye Hia, Jugulubar Hia, Ciangei Hia, Doase Hia, Goesendia Hia, Singuti Hia, Raskurku Hia, Dosra Hia or Bhairo Puja, Rokdia Hia, Osarke Pande and many more (cf. Guha et at, 1990). They worship deities and utter the name, Mapru (a corrupted term of

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The traditional costume of the Gond community is extremely noticeable, as attires of boys and girls reveal equal status. Both grow their hair long, fix combs on buns and use jewelleries, and adorned themselves with decorations. The boys often outshine the girls in decoration. They wear ornaments made from gold, silver and brass. During festivities they wear a brass neck band 'locally known as Paduka, Pahula (bangles), Foot ring is called 'Jhuntia', ear ring named as madhujhara, and plain rings on the helix and lobes of the ear, nose-ring called 'gum' and Jharadandi and septum and mullu in foot.

Besides, they typically mark tattoos as permanent decoration on their body surface. Tattooing is done before puberty else it is viewed as inauspicious.

In Gond society the family is mostly of nuclear type. It comprises of father, mother and unmarried children. The extended families are also found among them. Gond families are patriarchal and patrilineal. The Gond consanquneal kin groups include family, lineage, and clan. Their kinship indicates relationship through blood and marriage. It plays important role in the regulation of behavior and formation of the social groups. This village council organization is one of the important object of gond society. It is headed by 'Majhi' (headman). The other members of the village council are chosen by the villagers. Its officials are the village chief, priest, and watchman, four or five co-opted elderly members representing the lineages inhabiting the village. All sorts of disputes are discussed and resolved by the village council. Each Gond village has its own service giving "caste groups" such as the Ahir (cowherd), Agria (blacksmith), Dhulia (Drummers) and Pradhan (Bards and Singers).

Among the Gonds, clan/sub clan exogamy is regarded as the basic principle of marriage. The tribe has exogamous totemic clan divisions. The principle extends to clancluster exogamy. Cross cousin marriage and marriage by negotiation are common. Marriage by service is socially permitted. Marriage is celebrated with pomp and ceremony .The dancing, singing and drinking add to the joy of marriage. However, the groom has to pay bride-price to the father of the girl as a token of respect to woman. Then, on the day of marriage some rituals such as Dian Mangala,Pathatola, Baradhara

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etc., are performed by the a group of seven women of the village. The aged Gond is considered as inventory of knowledge and protector of traditions, customs, and practices. The existence of extended families indicates the cooperation of family members and value of parental cares in the old age among the Gonds. The Gond family bond symbolizes their obligation and duty towards caring the old parents till their death and aftermath by observing mortuary rites and rituals associated with the ancestral worship.

With the passage of time due to modernisation some of the cultural items are vanishing. The preservation of cultural items indicate the ecological adaptation of the community. Any Gond social groups have to be analysed from the interaction between ecology, population, echnology and organization of the community. In odishan context the population of Gond as per 2011 census, the total population of Didayi tribe in Odisha is 888581 including 43864 males and 449957 females. Their sex ratio comes to females 1026 for 1000 males. The literacy among the Gonds is leveled at 59.65 percent (71.64 percent for male and 48.03 percent for female). Their population has registered a negative growth rate of 13.61 per cent during the decade (2001-2011)13.

CREATION-ORIGIN MYTH GOND "At the beginning there was nothing but water. On its surface floated a lotus flower on which sat Mahadeo. When he saw nothing but water, he made a crow from the dirt of his body and sent it to find earth. The crow flew and flew till it came to rest on the claw of the great crab, Kakramal Kshattri. When the crow said ‘Kao’, the crab exclaimed, “At last after many days I have got something to eat.” The crow replied, “Uncle, my father has sent me to you.” The crab said. “Nephew, why have you come? Tell me quickly. ” The crow replied, ''My father has sent me to get earth to make the world. ’’

Then the two of them went to Singardip. Nal Raja and Nal Rani had the earth. After searching for a long time the aunt and uncle and asked for some earth as a loan. They promised to give it and said, “Take some food and then go your way.” Nal Rani

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prepared poison for the guests. When they had eaten, they became drunk and then unconscious. When they saw them safely asleep, Nal Raja and Nal Rani stole the earth and prepared to run away. But the crab awoke and caught them in its claws and squeezed the earth out of their mouths and gave it to the crow.

Then the crow took the earth to Mahadeo. Mahadeo made seven leaf-cups of lotus leaves and put a little earth in each. He stirred it up in each cup and called for Makramal Kshattri. He said to her, “Now spin your web over the face of the sea.’' The spider prepared her web and Mahadeo put the seven cups of earth upon it and fanned them with a lotus leaf. With the breeze of his fanning, the earth was carried over the web and the seven kinds of earth were prepared-the black earth, the red earth, the milk earth, the barren earth, the gravel earth, virgin earth and swampy.

When everything was ready, Mahadeo said to Bhimsen, “1 have made the earth, but I do not know whether it is solid or not.” Bhimsen was pleased and said, “I will come and look,” As he went, his feet sunk into the earth. But he lay down on the ground and rolled about, thus making the mountains.

Pradhan, bards of the Gonds, are great storytellers. About the origin of man they say that while the world was forming, setting like curds on the face of the water, the wind blew from the east and the world began to form towards the west. Then the wind changed and it formed to the east.

Then Mahadeo was bom. He sowed seven kinds of herb seed in seven seed-beds. The first was the sweet herb; the second was the herb that stays hunger; the third was the herb that makes one happy; the fourth was the herb that brings one all the news; the fifth was the herb that if one eats it and then rubs a little dirt from one’s body and makes something, that thing will live; the sixth was a sorrow-giving herb and the seventh herb gave children.

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After the herbs had been sown, the earth was still quaking and trembling. Mahadeo said to Parvati, “I am going to drive nails into the earth. You can eat all the herbs except the seventh; don’t eat that.” He took a gold adds with a sliver and went to Kajliban Pahar. There he cut a sandalwood tree, made nails of the wood and fixed the earth in place.

But Parvati thought and thought. Why did he tell me not to eat the herbs in the seventh seed? At last she could not suppress her desire and ate. She was pregnant at once. She knew that Mahadeo was in KajHiban driving nails of sandalwood into the earth. She wanted to call him, but could not. She ate the fifth kind of aromatic plant, made a tiger from the dirt of her body, and told it, “From today, you are king of the jungle. Go to Mahadeo; hide behind the trees and frighten him home.”

The tiger went to Mahadeo and he threw some of the shaving of his nails at it. They turned into wild dogs and drove it away. But Mahadeo went home to see what the matter was that Parvati is pregnant; he went to Bhagavan and said,"Why did you let her become pregnant?” Bhagavan said, “Unless she is pregnant how can we populate the world with human being?

Pdrbati gave birth to many children. She felt ashamed to be bearing so many children at once and buried the babies under different trees. The best of the boys she kept; Mahadeo saw him and was pleased. But he said, “What have you done with the others? So Parvati brought the others out. Mahadeo gave them names and divided them into tribes and clans, and arranged their marriages

At the time of the Rama-Raban war, a Gond and Gondin lived together in the thick jungle in the territory of Raban. Mahadeo cursed those Gonds and said."Until Rama comes to Lanka and you wash his feet and drink the water, you will have no children.”

So when Rama went to Lanka, he met that Gond and Godin and they washed his feet and drank the water. He gave them this blessing: “You will be Rawanbami Gond and

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you will have three sons whose names will be Alko, Talko and Korcho.” Then Rama killed all the demons.

Rama saved the Gonds who went over to his side. When Rama returned from Lanka he brought them to the other Gonds who were living in the thick jungle. These were Surajbansi Raj Gond and they had five sons, Partrti, Markam, Maravi, Dhurwa and

Bhagadiya. The Rabanbansi and the Surajbansi lived together as brothers.

Raban had lost his glory and his honour; he turned into Bara Deo. To Parted, he gave a dream, ’’Bara Deo will be bom from both Rabanbansi and Surajbansi. Make a platform of mud and erect a pillar for him.’’ Parted told the others his dream as they made a pillar. Then Bara Deo was bom.

They will agree that the youngest brother should have a "bana" and should worship Bara Deo, while the eldest should sit on the throne as Raja. Such was the order of Bara Deo. When the youngest boy, Bhagadiya, danced and played before Bara Deo.

Parted gave him many presents comparing of cattle, gold and silver. He said to him “Form today you will be our Parghania. We will give you Sukdan and when any of us die you will have your share14.

RELIGION OF GOND Mahadeo created earth after the deluge. Next he created nature, birds, animals and finally man. The Gonds are the first son of Mahadeo and Parvad. In the past, they were gatherers and hunters. It is believed that Gonds are heavy eaters and remain empty stomach hence Mahadeo could not provide them with sufficient food. So Parvad advised

Siva to instruct Gonds to start cultivating of paddy. They arranged bulls, made a plough, plough-share and sent Bhima to Kuvera (the god of wealth) for a demonstration for paddy cultivation. From Madadeo, the Gonds learnt the technique of farming. The Gonds believe that the forest and trees interact with men during day time and spirits during night. They honor trees for they provide shade, shelter and nourishment to all. When the

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night falls and visitors leave the forest, the spirits of the trees converse themselves. They believe that trees have ability to communicate their pains and pleasures like that of men and ancestral spirits.

They are animist. They believe that the hills, rivers, lakes and trees are the abodes of their ancestors. Sacrifice is the most important event of their religious activities. The Gonds of Odisha are Hinduised to a considerable extent. To a Gond, the mother Goddess (Devi) is a very crucial deity. The supreme deity is the Jangha. They believe that in the fight for owning the God, Hindus could take the upper portion and they got the lower portion from naval down to the feet of Lord Jagamath to which they worship as Jangha. The clan god and village deities are given equal importance. They worship all supernatural entities in all occasions to get rid of the diseases and pestilence, natural calamities and also to get blessings for good harvest and ample forest produce. Each Gond clan has its guardian spirit known as Persapen. This guards clan members from external injury and evil spirits. The Persapen is essentially benevolent spirit but can be also be dangerous and violent if disturbed, dishonored and shown no suitable reverence in festive occasions. The clan priest (Katord) manages and maintains the shrines and ritual objects of the Persapen. He is the custodian of the sacred spear point, often ritual tridents, and organizes the annual festival. He is the connecting link between kin and ancestors and helps the community to pass on the desire of the spirits and vice versa. At the outskirts of every village, there are wooden carved pillars stuck into the ground as memorials of their departed souls of past chieftains. The carvings reveal interesting life events of the ancestors and chiefs. The Kotara is empowered to explain the meaning symbolically engraved on such wooden poles. The Gonds believe that when a Pradhan (bard) plays his fiddle, the deity's fierce powers can be controlled. The style he eulogizes the brevity of deities is typical. They worship their village mother Goddess in all festivities who is propitiated as the village protector. They also worship their tutelary deity and guardian deity who protects cattle and cattle wealth on important social occasions. Deities, like Shitala Mata (the God of Smallpox), if venerated properly, help ward off the ailments. Certain deities, mostly the female, demand raw blood of chickens, goats and at times of he-buffalos. In an interval of nine or twelve years, the Gonds offer a

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pig to the God-Narayan Deo in a ceremony known as Laru Kas meaning pig's wedding. They perform rituals as a source of healing against ailment. The Gonds observe two major festivals, such as Keslapur Jathra and Mandai. While the celebration of 'Keslapur Jathra’ is marked with worshiping the Snake deity -Nagaba, the Madai festival is celebrated to mark the occasion of meeting relatives settled in other part of the country. The Chaitra festival held in month of March is very common for fruit eating ceremony and as well as sowing new crops.

Their festive life is always filled with animal sacrifices made by ritual head of the village Dehari. During the festivities the Good women wear colour glass bangles and necklaces made of small black beads and coins and silver.

The Gonds of plain areas are Hinduized due to acculturation. Most of them have adopted Hindu ways of life and a few began to live in closed Hindu multi caste villages. Yet, they maintained the identity of their own. Most of the Gonds living in the rural part of Odisha are dichotomized into the traditional group and the acculturated Hinduised groups. The Hinduised Gonds get the services of Brahmin priest, barber and washer man. The traditional section is being served by its own tribal priest. One observes the syncretism among the Gonds of plain. The Hinduised section observes death pollution for 10 days. They erect menhirs to commemorate the dead. They are polytheists. The Hinduised Gonds abstain from eating beef and drinking liquor15.

SAORA The ‘Saora” or “Savara" are a great ancient tribe. The saoras are also known as in the name of Lanjia Saora (Hill Saora). Because their peculiar traditional male dressstyle which the ends of the loin cloth hang like a tail at the back, therefore their neighbor call them Lambo Lanjia meaning having a tail. They are not only numerically important but also a historically and culturally significant tribal community of the State. They have been mentioned quite frequently in Hindu mythology and ancient classics, epics, purans and various other scriptures. Especially in Orissa, they have been very intimately

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associated with the cult of Lord Jagannath, who according to a legendary tradition originated as a tribal deity and was later brought to Puri under royal patronage. They are widely found all over the Central India comprising the Sates of Bihar, Orissa, Andra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. They speak an ancient Mundari dialect of their own called Sora ’. It be tongs to the Austric family of languages. Verrier Elwin says: ‘The Saora who give the impression of being rather matter of fact and prosaic are surprisingly picturesque and metaphorical in their speech’. Recently a script has been invented for this language. They have own script of writing called as saora sampan. The Saora are not strongly built like the Kondha, but they are better in body build in comparison to the tribes of north Orissa. The most remarkable point is their efficiency in climbing and walking on hills. Socio-Cultural Features: The Saora in major part are settled in Gunpur area in undivided Koraput district.

Their settlements are located in undulating terrain and houses remain scattered. Close to the settlements, megaliths are erected to commemorate the dead kins. An ordinary house is a one-roomed thatched rectangular dwelling having stone and mud walls with high plinth verandah. Sometimes a fowl pen and a shelter for the pigs are provided on the verandah. A cowshed is built on one side of the house. The guardian deity of the village is represented by two wooden posts, called Gasadasum or Kitungsum installed at the entrance of the settlement.

The Saora tribe depend, upon land and forest for their subsistence. Their livelihood rests primarily on slash-and burn agriculture i.e., shifting cultivation and importantly on terrace cultivation. They are, traditionally shifting cultivators and at the same time have expertise in terrace cultivation. They exhibit a high degree of indigenous skill, ingenuity and technological outfit for preparing the terraces with inbuilt water management system. Mainly they grow rice in terraced fields and a variety of minor millets, cereals, and pulses in the swiddens. The diminishing returns from agriculture, shifting cultivation and forestry they have found a dependable supplementary source in horticulture. They have started growing new horticultural crops introduced by themselves as well as the development agencies. Like the terrace cultivation, the horticulture

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programme, introduced as an alternative to swidden cultivation, has become popular .The cashew plantation drive has been very popular for its low maintenance and high profitability. They supplement their earnings by occasional hunting, fishing, wage earning and round the'year forest collections. They also rear animals like bullocks, buffaloes, cows, pigs, goats and poultry for agriculture, ritual and consumption purposes.

They are distinguished by their characteristic style of dressing especially the long ended loincloth of males about six feet long and about ten inches in breadth that hangs at the front and back-the rear end being longer than the front end. This may be plain or may be decorated with red tassels at the ends. The traditional dress of a Saora woman is a waist cloth with grey borders which hardly reaches the knees. The skirt is about three feet in length and about two feet in breadth. In chilly weather, a woman covers the upper part of the body with another piece of cloth. These cloths are woven by the Dorn weavers from the yam; hand spun by the Saora themselves. They wear a few necklaces of beads, round wooden plugs, spiral rings made of brass, bell-metal or aluminum in the fingers and toes, little rings in the aloe of the nose and metal anklets. Now men wear dhotis, shirts, banyans, pants and women wear sarees. blouses, petticoats etc.

The Saora society is divided into 25 subdivisions based on occupation, food habit, social status, customs and traditions. According to Thurston’s (1909) classification the Saora have been divided into two broad classes, that is, the Hill Saora and the low country Saora. The Saora social organization is distinguished by absence of exogamous totemic clans, phatries, and moieties unlike most tribal societies of the country. Without a clan they lack the complementary institutions of totemism and taboos in marriage relationships. The main exogamous unit is the extended family descended from a common male ancestor. There are a secular headman (Gomango/Naiko), a sacerdotal headman (Buya /Karji /Jani), headman’s subordinates- (Mandal / Dal Behera), messenger (Barik), astrologer (Disari) and Shaman (Kudan / Beju). By virtue of their knowledge, experience, service and specialization in their respective fields, they have been holding positions of respect and authority in the village. The offices of both Gomango and Buya are hereditary. Till the recent past, the village headman was yielding vast powers for the

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maintenance of law and order, peace and good governance in the village. The other leaders were guardians of the cultural, religious and economic norms for their traditional society. After the imposition of statutory democratic set up like election, and panchayat raj, the situation has changed a lot.

The family is mostly nuclear; patrilocal and patrilineal. The well to do family practises polygyny. Birinda, the extended family is characteristic of the Saora social f

organization. Women even after marriage continue to belong to the parental birinda. which is based on patrilineage. Marriage is prohibited within a birinda, whose members stand to each other as blood brothers and sisters. They participate in the guar and karja ceremonies with their contributions. The family is mostly nuclear and the well to do practise polygyny. Generally a family comprises parents and unmarried children.

Saora marriage is a simple affair. Out of the different forms of marriage prevalent in their society, viz. marriage by arrangement, capture, elopement or service, the Saora have accepted the first form as the rule and others as exceptions. Polygyny is widely prevalent. They also allowed to bride price for groom. Remarriage of widows, widowers and divorcees is permitted in their society. They also practise sorority and levirate forms of marriage, i.e., a man can marry his deceased wife's younger sister and woman can marry her deceased husband’s younger brother.

The Saora cremate their dead, except those dying of cholera and smallpox who are buried. The corpse is carried to the cremation ground accompanied by a musical band. On the next day, the family members of the deceased visit the cremation ground to examine the ashes and discover a sign of the cause of death. In the evening, a fowl is killed at the cremation ground and cooked with rice and bitter leaves and the meal is shared by the mourners of the village.

After a year or two the elaborate and expensive guar ceremony is observed. On this occasion menhirs are planted and a number of buffaloes are sacrificed. This is generally followed by three successive karja ceremonies every second or third year to

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commemorate and honour those who have died in that particular period. This ceremony is generally observed in the month of March or April when agricultural activities are over.

Their population as per 201lcensus was 534751, among them 264360 are male ami 270387 are female. Their decennial growth rate (2001-2011) was 13.00 percent and sex ratio, 1027 females per 1000 males in 2011 showing numerical superiority of their women over men. Educationally, they are backward with only 59.99 percent literacy in 2011 among them 66.81% are male and43.56%are female16.

CREATION-ORIGIN MYTHS OF SAORA: I

Saora’ s are one of the oldest and well known primitive tribes of Orissa. The Saoras were basically found from Gunpur subdivision, Rayagada district.

They are

identified with different name like Sawara, Sahara and Saora. They have their racial affinity to the Proto-Australoid physical feature which is dominant among the aborigines of South India.

According to their myth the first world was made of Laquex ( a liquid of a specific tree) and it lasted a long while. In a village there were five sundi (wine maker) brothers. They setup a liquor shop and also produced liquor. It was very fine liquor because. When it flowed, it burst out into flames and the house caught fire. This fire spread through the world and melted the Laquer and the world sank down below the water.

Kitung Mahaprabhu had the hens egg. He took it in his hand and made a hole in a ground. He crept in and shut the hole after him. Everything was also destroyed and water covered the world17.

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THE CREATION-ORIGIN MYTHS OF SAORA: 2 The Sabaras believed that it is Hara and Parabati who created the World. There was water everywhere and no ground. Iswara swam to Lanka (Sri Lanka) and brought soil in his mouth. He created the ‘ earth ” and the mountain

but there were no human

beings. Many part of earth were also not firm. On the advice of Parbati, Siva approached “Hansini and Kasmir”, the two sisters of Parbati to acquire knowledge of magical rites and procure weapons.

The two sister played prank with Iswara and Parbati again

advised him to search for firm ground and met Sad and Agni Kanya (daughter of fire). On the sight of Iswara, Sati went away and Iswara fell in love with Agnikanya. She became pregnant. When Iswar wanted to leave her for his wife, she wanted to join him. In order to satisfy her, Iswara created statues of a man and woman. Iswara by his magical power invested life in to these statues as demanded by Agni Kanya as part of her boon. This original couple- man and woman are slightly different from their off springs as they were not products of a sexual intercourse.

RELIGION OF SAORA There is no other tribe whose magico-religious domain is as elaborate and complex as that of the Saora. Without understanding their magico-religious beliefs and practices one cannot understand any other aspects of their life. There is no standard catalogue for their gods, for its composition keeps changing, as new ones are introduced and old ones forgotten. The Saora pantheon includes numerous Gods, deities and benevolent and malevolent sprits.

But in general the Saora pantheon includes numerous gods, deities and spiritsbenevolent and malevolent The Saora deities are generally called sonnum such as Labo Sum, Rude Sum and Karuni Sum, etc. All these gods and spirits make constant demands on the living. If their demands are not met they can cause harm. Malevolent spirits are therefore taken care of more than their benevolent counterparts. They are worshipped with fear and anxiety. People offer sacrifices for safety and wellbeing of the family

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members. The religious functionaries who cater to the spiritual needs of the Saora are

Buyya, who conducts agricultural festivals, Kudanand Kudanboi i.e., the male and female shamans who combine the functions of priest, prophet and medicine men. The position of the Buyya is ascribed, whereas for the Kudan and Kudanboi it is achieved. In the Saora society Kudan and Kudanboi play a great role in diagnosing and effecting remedies for all kinds of trouble and ailments. A shaman is a diviner-cum-medicine man who can establish direct communication with the unseen world in a trance and cure all types of illness caused by the wrath of evil spirits. Every shaman has a female tutelary and every

shamanin has a male tutelary. The relationship between the shaman and tutelary is the same as that between husband and wife. Most of the festivals revolve round agricultural cycle and lifecycle rituals. These are either celebrated by individual families or the whole community. The ceremonies and rites relating to the birth of a child, marriage and death are observed by individual families, whereas those relating to various agricultural operations and the biennial or triennial guar the secondary death rites are observed by the village community. After a year or two the elaborate and expensive guar ceremony is observed. On this occasion menhirs are planted and a number of buffaloes are sacrificed. This is generally followed by three successive karja ceremonies every second or third year to commemorate and honour those who have died in that particular period. This ceremony is generally observed in the month of March or April when agricultural activities are over.

In their society, the most potent factor for ensuring social conformity is the fear of religion, w hich forms an indispensable part of Saora life and acts as a powerful deterrent against violation of established customs. The aesthetic life of the Saora manifests through colourful dance, typical music and the wall paintings, anital, in particular. The icons are so skillfully dreamt and drawn that these have made them famous among the scholars and artists of the country ami aboard.

The Saora are very artistic people. Their artistic skills are not only revealed in their wall paintings but also in their dance and music. Every Saora is a musician who can coin a song and sing it as and when required. Both men and women cultivate the art of

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dancing and singing as a matter of natural habit. In their songs, one can find a great deal of humour, romance and melody in combination of the words18.

PARENGA Parengas constitute a distinct tribe of Koraput district. They are often regarded as a sub-division of Gadaba tribe. They are mainly concentrated in the Padwa area of Koraput sub-division. Their total population according to 1991 census was 5,843 in Orissa and in Koraput district, their population was 4,673. Parengas have their own language called Munda, which is comparable with the language spoken by Savaras of Gajapati district. They also speak Telugu. They are divided into two endogamous sections known as Kholei and Parenga. They have a number of exogamous septs as sun, bear, tiger etc. which are totemic in nature. Their villages act as independent socio-economic units. The festivals are observed in the village community. Parengas are expert hunters and all the villagers join hunting together. The secular headman of the tribe at the village level is called Naik. He is responsible for maintenance of law and order in the village. The Challan, a scheduled caste person, assists him in day to day affairs in the village. The regional head is called Bhata Naik. Previously they had dormitory houses separately for boys and girls. But now-a-days, these youth organizations are absent in most of the villages. Marriage within the same sept is forbidden. Marriages occur through negotiation and capture. Marriages formally take place in houses of the groom. Parengas dress themselves not so significantly. In olden times they used to prepare their own cloth called Kerang. Such practice has declined since long. Now they wear hand-woven and mill-made coarse dhotis and saris. Many of the males also wear shirts and banyans. The Paenga women wear ornaments made of brass and nickel. Some well-to-do among them also wear gold ornaments. They use silver Khadu, glass bangles and gendu. The male folks wear gold rings on their nose and ears and silver rings on their fingers. Some wear small beads on their neck. Agriculture is the mainstay of their livelihood. Most of them practise shifting cultivation. Wet or settled agriculture is limited to those having some suitable land. They also grow vegetables. The main festivals of the Parengas are Pusa Punei, Chaita Parab

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and Bandapana. They are great lovers of songs and dance. They use drums, tamaka, ghumra and flutes while performing dances. The Dhemsa dance is performed during the Chaita Parab and during Pusa Parab they perform Lathidudia. They also perform Gottar dance and Ghumura dance. In Gottar dance they use swords and sticks while dancing19.

CREATION-ORIGIN MYTH OF PARENGA TRIBE. There are two orphan a brother and a sister known as Tura (bro) and Turi (sis). They live on cultivation and forest foods for livelihood. Tura regularly goes to the forest to collect fire woods and foods. A fine day he surprisingly sees that a Mother squirrel takes her sons (little squirrels) to the branch of a tree to place them safe. During placing them all, a question comes from little squirrels for their mother. “Why are you keeping us on the tree.” All sons ask. “In a specific day there will be devastation in the world (MartyaPura)” mother squirrel replies. And further adds that Mother squirrel saves them in the tree. Mother squirrel clarifies and continues this talk for three days. “Nobody will be alive there when devastation befalls on the MartyaPura.” She continues. Again little squirrels doubt how they will live in the world during calamity. “There will be two persons alive and rest will die” Mother Squirrel clarifies specifically. She also continues that two remaining; a boy and a girl will obtain blessing from God and pray to be alive and rest remaining on the earth will no longer exist forever. A boy Tura patiently listens to squirrels talk under the tree. After the mother squirrel leaves the tree .The boy Tura looks at the little squirrels. “What was your mother saying?” The boy curiously asks. There after coming across the reply, the boy lets the squirrels know that “We are that two orphans brother and sister still alive in the world after devastation.” The boy Tura says to two little squirrels. Two little squirrels are questioned there by Tura that what was their mother statement about devastation?

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“Mother told us that brother and sister would chop down Haradi and Faradi trees to make a boat. They would make a big boat and keep all kinds of necessary foods for survival and domestic animals along with seeds and sprouts in the boat. And they would be inside the boat and separate the fire in a safe place.” The little squirrels vocalise. Little squirrels also give emphasis on their mother’s statement; that two trees would be collected from different areas of the forest. They would not collect from a single forest area. “Haradi tree would be collected from Bati Danger and Fardi tree from Ghati Danger for making a boat.( name of the two forests)” two little squirrels further continue. After listening to it the boy Tura confirms before the two little squirrels that they are two brothers and sisters remaining persons after devastation on the earth who pray to God to be alive by relating to the statement of the mother squirrel. Then and there two little squirrels say to Tura that he will make the boat with foods and necessary items for survival according to the statement of mother squirrel. “Yes! I will certainly do it.” The boy Tura confidently speaks. Later on the boy Tura searches for a smith to make iron axe to chop trees. Tura takes an axe and chops trees to make a boat. He finally makes a boat with a cover and puts two hooks in the front and back adage of the boat. Then the boy Tura recalls the other statements of the mother squirrel from two little squirrels that there will be heavy wind on Sunday, downpour on Monday, and complete devastation on Tuesday. “You will pray to God before it and keep necessary items in the boat and remember that ocean will flow from Southern direction” The two little squirrels instruct the boy Tura All the statements and predictions of the squirrels come true and there are ruins and the ocean covers the earth in water. After that the (Mahaprabhu) Lord, God has sent his messengers to see the consequences of devastation on the earth. When messengers see on the earth they find that there are only water everywhere. The massagers inform to God about it. Having heard it God sends a crow to inspect whether any human is alive. If the crow finds anybody alive will direct report to God

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God further adds that if any living creature is found in alive then crow will find out the place where they live. The crow follows the instructions of God. Then the crow flies to search for living creatures whether exist in the world. When the God asks to the crow about consequences of devastation and current condition on the earth, “There are living beings that eat flesh and rice in the world and still alive” the crow reports. There God gets confused on the statement of the crow that there is only water on earth but how come a living being is alive and survive on the earth. And God doubts on crow’s statement. To know the truth of the report represented by the crow, God sends a little sparrowfliti bird) to see the condition of the earth and report him whether there are still any living creatures survive. The little sparrow follows the instruction and flies to see the earth but does not find any living creatures. The sparrow sits on a piece of log to see the earth, after some times finds a big boat. Then the sparrow reports to the God that there is a boat. God after listening to her. He again sends the bird back to the place on earth to see carefully who are there inside the boat. After that God sends his massagers to the earth to see the boat. But the messengers can not find the way to reach near boat. But old spider) pat makadi) spreads the net and connects net to the tree from where the boy has copped down trees for making a boat. Old spider ties the net with tree and boat. The messengers follow the net to reach the boat. There they find brother and sister in the boat. “ who are you.” The messengers ask them. “We are humans in the boat.” The brother and sister reply. “How are you inside the boat.” Messengers further want to know. “Who are you and what are your relation between both of you.” They again raise the question continuously.

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“ we are brothers and sisters.” The brother and sister boldly state After that, the supremo almighty God instructs to the deity Maa Thakurani to eliminate their memories. “If they lose their memory then they can make a family.” The God continues. The deity Maa Thakurani inquires about them and after knowing their relation the deity MaaThakurani charms mantra to eliminate their memories where they can not recognise their relationship. The deity continues several times

to ask their relation after chanting but the deity

MaaThakurani receives same answer that they are brothers and sisters. On seven numbers of questions they both brother and sister forget their relation. The both brother and sister lose their memory to recognise each other when the God also questions them. They are unable to remember their relation and names. After that, God wants to see personally the result of devastation on earth and only water. God then throws a handful of soil and a Gada( weapon of God) on the ocean. When soil and Gada fall on the ocean. There the ocean is buried with soil and water goes inside the surface, and the boat comes on the surface. The God goes to untie the boat to save the human. At that time the boat sinks into the mud. And completely buries inside. After seeing it God calls the wild forest pig to rescue the boat and human. The pig picks up the buried boat. Then the eagle is instructed to open the door of a boat. God saves the brother and sister from the boat with the help of pig and eagle. As brother and sister literally forget their relation; God weds them and blesses the newly wedded couple. Since that incident they live together as a husband and wife and they are blessed with sons and daughters too. The couple then asks God how they will live in a family? Then the God calls a golden insect and instructs insect to fetch soil to build a house. The family live in the house and the God finally suggests them to live on cultivation. Then the God leaves the earth. After this happening, the human society and country built.

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Above myth clarifies that the role of the God has covertly connection with the human creation and civilisation. But there has no overtly connection with human creations and civilisation20.

GADABA Gadahas are one of the tribal communities of Orissa classified as speakers of Mundari or Kolarian language and inhabit 3000 ft. plateau of Koraput region. According to Mitchell, the word Godaba signifies a person who carries loads on his shoulders. The Gadahas were also employed as palanquin bearers in the hills. It is said that their ancestors emigrated from the banks of Godavari river and settled in Nandapur, the former capital of the Rajas of Jeypore. Gadaba population according to 1991 Census was 66,781. The community is divided into five main sections; (i) Bada Gadaba (ii) Parenga Gadaba (Hi) Sana Gadaba (iv) Ollar Gadaba and (v) Kapu Gadaba. The maximum concentration of the Gadahas is found in Lamtaput, Jeypore, Nandapur, Semiliguda, Sunabeda and Pottangi areas.

They have their own language known as Gutab or Gadaba language in which they have adopted certain Oriya terms. Gadahas build their houses in two rows facing each other with narrow street left between them. In the centre of the space between the rows of houses a platform is made, with stones under a tree.

This is the seat for the

leaders of the village to hold court to decide various disputes of their community. Separate dormitory houses both for boys and girls are found where they spend their nights.

The economy of Gadahas is agriculture-based which is supplemented by collection of minor forest produce, hunting, fishing and wage earning. Horticultural crops, like mangoes and jack-fruits are grown by them. They domesticate local varieties of cows, buffaloes, goats, pigs and poultry. The cows and buffaloes are used for ploughing. They generally do not milch cows.

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Gadabas use very scanty clothes. The men folk use a piece of loin cbth called ienguthi' with a flap which hangs down in front. The women folk wear long strip of cloth commonly known as 'Kerang' (prepared from Kerang fibre) tied round the waist and a second piece of cloth is worn across the breasts. The economically better off people coming in contact with outsiders have started using costly clothes. The Gadaba women are fond of wearing a number or ornaments generally made out of brass or aluminium. They use hair pins, ear rings, nose rings and finger rings. They use bangles which are made of brass.

Gadabas believe in many gods and goddesses; the chief of whom is called Thakurani. They have their clan gods who are worshipped in different occasions. The place of the Thakurani is called Hundi. She is represented by slabs of stone and worshipped by Disari. The important festivals are Bandapana Parab, Dasahara parab, Pusha Parab, and Chaita Parab. Gadabas celebrate these festivals with care, sincerity, devotion and fear.

Gadabas are fond of dance and music. They are famous for their Dhemsha dance - which is performed by women wearing their famous Kerang saris. The men folk play musical instruments while women dance. Their musical instruments consist of big drums, tal mudibaja, madal, flutes, tamak and mahuri. They compose their own songs befitting different occasions and sing these songs while dancing21.

CREATION MYTHS OF STAR BY “GODBA” There was a great Saora hunter named Sumro. He had neither wife nor child; he lived only for his bow and arrow. One day, he was going through the jungle to “Kurrai Dongoria ’ There two white cranes were sitting on a tree. Sumro shot at them and killed the male bird. He lit a fire under the tree and roasted it. The female sat above in the branches weeping Kalap-Kalap but when she smelt the smoke of her husband’s roasting, she fell from the tree into the flames and was burnt to death.

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When Sumro saw this, he was moved not to eat the flesh of such great lovers, and he took the two bodies in his hands and blessed them saying go to the sky and live there as twine star. There you will have multitudes of children. Her bodies were indeed white and clean but there you will shine even more brightly. The whole world will see you there and will admire you. This was how star came into the sky. The twin stars were first and all the rest their children. This belief came into existence and till date it has been in practice of thinking that stars are from two cranes appear in the sky twinkling at night22.

CREATION MYTHS OF SILVER AND GOLD BY GADABA Ispur Mahaprabhu had a son. One day Ispur made a cow out of mango wood. When it was ready he said to his son, Son, take this cow to the tank for water. The boy took it to the tank, but when the cow had drunk water it turned on him and attacked him. The boy lost his temper and cut office the cow’s head with his sword. When he returned to home Ispur Mahaprabhu said, where is the cow? It is asleep, answered the boy.

The next day Ispur Mahaprabhu made a she-buffalo out of saja wood. When it was ready he said to his son. Son, take this she-buffab to the tank for water. The boy took it to the tank, but when the she buffalo had drunk water it turned on him and attacked him. The boy lost his temper and cut off the she-buffalo head with his sword. When he returned home, Ispur Mahaprabhu said, where is the she-buffalo? it is asleep,’ answered the boy.

The next day Ispur Mahaprabhu made a sow out of jackfruit wood. When it was ready, he said to his son, Son take this sow to the tank for water. The boy took it lo the tank, but when the sow had drunk water, it turned on him and attacked him. The boy lost his temper and cut off the sow’s head with his sword. When he returned home, Ispur Mahaprabhu said. Where is the sow? It is asleep answered the boy.

The next day, Ispur Mahaprabhu made a she-goat out of Mahua wood, and the next day a sheep out of Kurai wood. And the next day he made a mare out of a plantain

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stalk and the next day next day an elephant out of bombax wood. Each day the boy took the animals to the tank for water. After that, they attacked to him and he cut off their heads. When he went to home he told his father that they were asleep.

Then Ispur Mahaprabhu said to himself, I have made many animals, but my son kills them as soon as they are ready. He felt very angry with the boy and killed him with his sword. He threw the boy into a pit and there the flesh turned into gold and the bones to silver.

CREATION OF GOLD AND SILVER GADABA BY-2

In a certain country was a golden tank. Ispur Mahaprabhu’s daughter Sonadai went daily to bathe there. This girl’s body shone like gold. When she bathed and rubbed dirt from her arms and legs, even the dirt was golden. After she had done this for a long time, then the banks of the tank were covered with golden dirt and that is why it was called the golden tank. To prevent the gold being stolen, Ispur put tigers Bears, Snakes and Asuras are to guard the tank. But one day a Raja heard about it .He made a tunnel underground to the tank, and through this tunnel he removed the gold. When he had it, he sold it to merchants and goldsmiths. In this way gold came to the world.

RELIGION OF GODABA

The amazing conglomeration of traditions, beliefs, sorrows, taboos and philosophies that together constitute the religion of Gadaba tribe. It has descended from antiquity and has been preserved unimpaired to the present day. Every fact of their life covering round the year activities is intimately connected with religion. The festivals, ceremonies at home and in the Gadaba village are a regular event followed by generations. The important festivals are Gutor Parab, Bandapam Parab, Dasahara

Parab, Pusha Parab, and Chaita Parab. Gadabas celebrate these festivals, with care, sincerity, devotion and fear. Before a fortnight of celebration of festivals, Gadabas under the leadership and guidance of headman (Naik), Priest (Pujari) and Astrologer (Dissari) decide the date of the festival so that all community members can make the necessary

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arrangements. They try to satisfy the mystical power in order to restore and increase the well-being of their village. Thus it can be said that they have the rituals related to land, man and God. They also performed rituals to liberate evil spirit (Dumas) of ancestor and seek their blessing and co- operation.

Gadabas celebrate many agricultural rituals which are calendared according to different agriculture operations and different crops and fruits available to them. The various operation of seeds, ceremonial germination of seeds of the village, ploughing, seed sowing, protection from

diseases, harvesting, thrashing and new crop

eating

ceremonies, new fruit eating are important.

Life destroying situations due to the activities of evil spirit (Duma) are tackled by Gadabas through various rituals. They also believe that due to man's malevolence will, through varieties of terms of witchcraft and sorcery with evil intent some people cause harm to others. They also believe in "Palata Bagha" phenomena where Gadabas think that some evil people due to their witchcraft can turn to tigers and kill and eat people and then change to original human form. To overcome this kind of evil sorcery is performed many rituals and animal sacrifices^.

BHOTTADAS The Bhottadas are one of the numerically major agricultural tribe of Odiaha. They are also known as Bhotara, Bhottada and Dhottada. The term “Bhottara” has been derived from bhu, meaning land and tara, meaning chase. They are sparsely distributed in Nawrangpur, Koraput and Kalahandi districts of Odisha. They are considered as the original settlers of Barthagada from where they migrated to Visakhapatnam and then to Bastar area of Madhya Pradesh and finally to the neighbouring undivided Koraput district of Odisha. Ethnographers believe that ethnically the Bhottadas are akin to the Murias of Bastar, both of whom are sub- divisions of the Gond tribe. Some other ethnographers opine that they are basically Hindus who have been influenced by prolonged contact with the aboriginals. They speak Bhatri, a semi autonomous and

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nonliterary language grouped under southern branch of dialect and Indo-Aryan family of languages. They are conversant in Odia language and use its script for inter group communication.

The dress and costumes of Bhottada attract their personality. In the past Bhottada men used to wear a short piece of loin cloth (langoti) only leaving the upper portion fully naked and the women folk used to wear a short piece of coarse cloth purchased from the local weavers which barely covered their body up to the knee. Children below seven years of age went naked. Tattooing was a fashion among women in the past which have been abandoned at present. At present due to their close culture contact with the Hindu neighbours, their dress pattern has been influenced. Now days, the Bhottada men wear pants, shirts, lungi, banian and women wear printed sarees and blouses purchased from the local market. Their women’s modem adornments consist of brass khadu and various types of armlets, glass bangles, nose ornaments such as noli and nose rings, necklace made of beads or brass, old coins or silver and varieties of ghagla, finger rings made of brass, aluminum or old coins and toe rings and pahud in their legs to look attractive and charming. Women of well-to-do families also wear golden ornaments.

The Bhottada habitat is generally located in undulating terrains with picturesque landscapes that stretch beyond the mountain ranges in the southern belt of Nawarangpur. Koraput, Malkangiri ,Kalahandi district of Odisha and its adjoining districts of Bastar. Some Bhottada settlements are too large and heterogeneous surrounded by agricultural fields. They have no community or dormitory house. The village deity is installed at one end of the village. Their houses are arranged in a linear pattern, leaving a narrow village street. Individual houses are built with low roofs thatched with piri grass and mud walls cleanly polished using white or red clay by their women folk. They construct a separate shed in the rear of the house to accommodate their livestock. They consult their traditional priest - Disari, who fixes an auspicious moment for construction of a new house.

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The Bhottadas are primarily settled agriculturists. As such cultivation is their major source of livelihood. They do not practise shifting cultivation. It is supplemented by allied pursuits like seasonal forest collections, animal husbandry, carpentry, bamboo basketry, fishing and wage earning both in private as well as industrial sectors. Few of them are also recruited in Government institutions. Paddy is their major crop which they raise in their wet lands. During lean season they also collect varieties of seasonal forest produce like roots, fruits, tubers viz, karadi, pita kanda, tarek kartda, sereng kanda as well as green leaves, mushrooms, medicinal herbs, fibers, timbers, fuel wood, bamboo kernel, fodders and wild grasses to thatch their roofs.

The Bhottadas are non-vegetarians. Rice and ragi are their staple food. They relish on fish and dry fish, meat, chicken and eggs etc but do not take beef or pork. They also consume alcoholic drinks like rice beer (pendum), sago palm juice (salap), country liquor (mohuli) and ragi beer (landa). During food scarcity, they manage with the gruel of dried and powdered mango kernel and tamarind seeds. Both men and women smoke hand rolled cigar - pika, bidi and chew tobacco paste too.

The social life of Bhottadas are an endogamous community which is divided into three endogamous divisions such as hada, madhya and sana. Among them the Bada group claims social superiority over other two for their purer descent. These divisions are further sub-divided into various exogamous and totemistic septs (bansa) such as kachchimo (tortrise), bhag (tiger), goyi (lizard), nag (cobra), kukur (dog), mankad (monkey), cheli (goat) andpandiki (pigeon) etc. They use majhi, chalan, nayak, randhari, bhotra, bhatra. pujari, bhandarkaria. panigirit, bhatnayak, padhani, choudhury, somaratha and khordia as their surname.

The Bhottaddi families are mostly nuclear and patrilineal in structure. The lineage members (kutumb) consider themselves as descendants of a common ancestor. The pathlineage breaks up after seven generations following the death of the eldest male member. Vertically and horizontally extended families are also found in few cases. Inheritance of ancestral property follows the rule of primogeniture in male line only. In families having

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no male successor, the daughters inherit the paternal property and the family having no issue may adopt a male child from the nearest patri-lweage who inherits the property. The Bhottada women play an important role in agricultural, religious, ritual and social activities in addition to performing their routine domestic chores.

Adult marriage and monogamy is the norm in the Bhottada society. Instances of polygyny are also seen where the first wife is barren or physically unfit for serious handicaps. Marriage is usually arranged through negotiation (magni) as the most ideal and prestigious way of acquiring a life partner. In their marriage, payment of bride price (jholla), both in cash and kind, is customary. The Bhottada society have different mode of marriages specially by capture, by service, by consent and by elopement. Cross-cousin marriage, junior levirate, junior sororate and remarriage of widows, widowers and divorces are also permitted in their society.

In the part Bhottadas death ritual systems included the burial of their dead. But at present they practice both burial and cremation. In case of unnatural or premature deaths if occurred during infancy or due to snake bite, tiger attack, accident, suicide, pregnancy or child birth, illness for diseases like cholera, smallpox, the corpses are buried in a distant jungle as they believe that the soul of the deceased might become an evil spirit and cause harm to the family as well as to the villagers. On the third day, the pitakhia rite is observed. On this day, they eat rice, nim, dried fish and brinjal. The nails are pared. The final purificatory rite (dassah) is observed on the tenth day presided over by their traditional priest (Disari). The eldest son is shaved, and everyone is given a cloth and a napkin. The barber does not serve them: instead the sister’s son does the work and gets the presents. On the eleventh day, the family hosts a non-vegetarian feast to kinsfolk, relatives and villagers. They believe in rebirth of the soul, but do not observe any annual Sradha rites. The Bhottadas societies possess their own traditional community council both at village and regional level to handle their customary affairs. Their village level council is headed by their secular head (naik), his assistant (chalari), the magico religious head (pujari) and a messenger (ganda). All these posts are hereditary except that of the messenger (ganda) who is appointed by nomination from the Dom community and is

no

paid some remuneration annually for his services in kinds of grains like paddy, ragi or minor millets by every individual family. These office bearers along with other elderly persons of the village constitute the traditional village council and adjudicate all cases in the village. Their regional community council called desh panchayat is constituted by a group of villages called desh. It is headed by a bhatnaik who is assisted by a panigrahi, and a messenger called desia ganda of Dom community. The complicated cases, which are not settled in the village council, are referred to the regional council (desh panchayat) for final decision. It also decides inter-village disputes, divorce cases and also mitigates intra-community and inter-community conflicts. The Bhatnaik watches the violation of taboos and expels offenders and also readmits the expelled offender to the society after a suitable purification ceremony. Gobadh (killing of cow) and Machiapatak (formation of maggots in the wounds) are two offences leading to ex communication of the offender, who is restored to the society by the Bhatnaik and Panigrahi. The Bhatnaik performs a ritual, gives him Mahaprasad and brings him back into the community. The Bhottadas honour the traditional leaders of their community council with great esteem. Change is a continuous process. With the advancement of science and technology, noticeable changes have occurred in Bhottada way of life during last few decades. Education and mass media play a great role in effecting such changes in their society. Besides, the Bhottadas have accepted many new cultural, social and religious elements from their neighbouring castes and tribes owing to their long association with them. It is true that the Bhottadas still maintain a colourful cultural life in their green surroundings. The core of their age old culture is less influenced by the external agencies24.

CREATION MYTHS OF MOON BY BHOTTADAS Bhottada's are one of the unique tribes of Koraput district. The Bhottadas have the unique able Myths about the creation and religion. It goes by; Kutti Majhi a Bhottada tribe lived in Barathgarh. There were only a few people and they did not have to do much work. They just sowed a few grains in the field for cultivation. A fine day Kutti Majhi went out to the jungle, made a garden and had sown maize seeds, he sent his son and daughter-in-law to keep watch at night. But the moon came and stole maize from the garden. In the morning Kutti Majhi came to know that what had happened and abused 111

provide the concert with the tune of indigenous musical instruments like dhol (double membrane drum), ghumura, tamak tudubudi, baisi (flute), tal(cymbal) mairi (mohuri),

dhapa (circular drum) andjhumka etc26.

THE BONDA

The Bondas are one the most vulnerable primitive tribal groups in undivided Koraput region. They inhabit the remote South Western tip of Malkangiri upland “Londakamberu” ranges of Eastem-ghat. This is popularly known as Bonda hill. The hereby highland and mountainous region is in the north-West of Machakund river. Their neighbors call them Bonda, but they identify themselves as “Remo” (The man), their unique style of personal getups distinguishers them from rest of the world.

They are divided into three group’s i.e. first is Upper Bonda or Bara Jangara Groups, Second is tower Bonda and third is Godaba-Bonda. At present the Bonda country comes under the Khairipat block of Malkangiri. (1) The typical Bonda villages are situated in hilltop is known as upper Bonda. Barring a few, most of the Bonda village are homogeneous in composition, and belong to Bonda who live admits other local communities like Godba, mali, Rana, Paika, and Dom. The Bonda villages are situated either on the hill top or the hill slopes. The house are arranged one above the other in the uneven terraces conforming to a pattern of shapeless cluster. The traditional Bonda but is of gabled shape and one roomed often partitioned into two with verandah on all sides. The roof is thatched with jungle grass and sloped on foreside. Within the village there are no regular street and the houses. The village meeting place “sindibor and the girl’s

dormitory” or selani Dingo” at the middle or the and of the village.

The dress and ornamental of Bonda like man wear a narrow strip of loin cloth

(gosi). It is the woman’s attire is also remarkable. A taboo backed by legends prevent woman against clothing themselves above the waist. They makeup this very patent deficiency by wearing mass or brass and bead reckless and by large heavy circular collars (meakring) of brass and aluminum. These ornament cover the breast and To the naval.

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The only short strip of lion cloth woman wear is called “Nadf' or Ringa. This is a striped and coarse colored cloth of tied to the waist thread or thrumming. It barely covers their lower parts. The Bonda woman weaves this cloth themselves during their spare time out of natural “Keranga" fiver applying vegetable dyes. Their traditional costume consist of a large mass of reckless of colour beads, coins and cowries which adorn their shaven heads and hang down from meek to the naval totally covering their upper parts. Besides they wear a variety of ornaments such as aluminum neck ring, ear ring, nose ring, finger ring and toe ring, bangles of beads27.

CREATION MYTHS OF WORLD BY BOND AS.

The Bondas are one of the primitive tribes of Orissa. The Bondas live in the hill area, located in the remote southern western tip of Malkanagiri district. The particular place is located Mudulipada and it is known as Bonda hill area. The tribes are divided in two groups {&) Upper Bonda, (b) Lower Bonda. The upper Bonda

live in slopes of the

hill and the lower Bonda live in under the foot hill. Remo an austro-asiatic language of Mudrani group is spoken by Bondas. The Bondas have their own myths and folk-lore culture as evident from different stories. The story goes like: Bati Muduli and Bati Sisa found an orphan little boy and they adopted him. Bali Sissas wife used to take him daily to bathe in a stream. This child had a penis, three-a-half cubit long and Bati Muduli used to keep it tied round his waist. One day Bati Sisa went hunting. In his absence Bati Sisa wife took the child to bathe as usual. While bathing, she left the boy for a while, the boy was alone, and he wounded his organ. The wife came back and the moment saw it, she thought in an erotic mood that it would be a great pleasure having copulation with him. She made the boy copulate with her but she died in the process. And the boy tied his penis again round her waist.

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When Bati Sisa returned he searched for the wife and found her dead. He asked the boy, how she died and the boy voiced sorrowfully that she fell ill and died. He noticed at dead body bleeding from the vulva and found blood also in boy’s penis. He mutely understood the truth of death and when he measured it, he also observed three and half-a-cubit long penis, then he killed the boy. Creation of followed from various parts of his body. Trees crept out from feet and hands, grass from hair, rocks from bone, red earth from blood and coconut from head were created28.

The Bonda tribe of Malkanagiri has the following myth. It is related to the Rama-Katha from Ramayan. While Rama was wandering in the forest with Lakashmana and Sita, the Bonda women laughed at them for two reasons: one was that there were two males with one female and the other that the female had clothes which were too thin to cover her sensitive parts. It hurt Sita. ‘’You Bonda women will never use cloth and even if you do, your body will never tolerate the heat of the cloth.” She cursed them.

Till today the Bonda women are half-clad. Similarly, the myth

collected from the Bonda villages by Verrier Elwin also explains why the Bonda women do not use cloth to cover their bodies. This myth is also associated with Rama. Lakshmana and Sita (Elwin 1950: 63-64). A water source named Sitakund is found in Bonda wills. In the above myths, the tribes have tried to project their ancestors as contemporaries of Rama. This shows the wide reach of Rama-katha among the autochthonous tribal of the different regions of India. The origin myths of the different castes and tribes of central India, especially of those who were known as the ruling dynasties, have accepted particular portions of the Ramayana myth as their own. The story come from banishment to Sita and the acceptance of Kusha and Lava by Rama.

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THE BONDA RELIGION

The religious system of Bonda Tribal are polytheist and profess animism. They believed in the existence of large number of benevolent and malevolent god and spirits who said to control and shape the course of human life. They worship monthly the deities of natural, like the Pata Khanda Maapuru (the creation of Universe), Hurdi or Bursang the mother Earth and the village Goddess, Kapur churn the deity of stream, Dhartari the deity of cow shed, Uga and Renmgbor the forest deities, Doliang the spirit of mango tree, Kaliarani - the spirit of law-land paddy fields and vending Sugar the Spirits of musical drums. They worship these deities and Spirits on number of occasion by offering sacrifices to remain safe from their iridous attentions. They believe that unless an seen supernormal powers are prop tad and satisfied, mishaps bound to fall on them.

The religious functionaries who to the spiritual need of the Bonda include sisa or Pujari, the Village priest and Disari the astrotager-cum medicine man. Sisa or priest being the religious head enjoys a very high States in society. He is responsible for worshiping the village deites and making sacrifices. Disari is specialized in fixing and communicating the date and time of observance of different festival ceremony marriage and social activities.

The Bonda observe various festivals in different season of the year. These are associated with their economic activities being ceremonial in first eating of food grains and fruits, annual hunting expedition and worship of deities. All such occasions are marked with fasts, feasts, dances, songs and various types of marry making and enjoyment. The important that are festivals celebrated by them are Chit-Purab. (Giagiga) in the month of March - April, for first eating of mango and annual hunting Bondapana Parab (Gerusugige) in the month of October. November for bumper Crop, Pusparab (Sumeglirak) in December - January for a better harvest and protection of crop from depredation of wild animal, Magh Parab (sasagige) in the month of January - February for the first ceremonial eating of new rice and for selection of village functionaries.

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Besides, there are many dreaded evil spirits. They are needed to be kept in good humors through ritual and sacrifices Generally the Shaman, detects the Spirit causing sickness and other troubles with the help of rice divination, communicates them in trance and appeases them by performing ritual and sacrifices.

The Bondas are also have a death ritual. They Practice both cremation and burial for disposal of the dead. Persons dying of cholera, small pox and snake bite etc. are buried as per the custom. Besides the dead body of small children are also buried. The survivor of the family a case of death in the family with deep sorrow. Immediately after the passing away of the person the family member burst into tears and their loud lamination cower this sad happening to other members of the village. Disposal of the dead is not an individual family affair, rather, it is performed jointly with the help of linage and other members of the village. The pal bearers, in company with the other mourners carry the corpse to the carination ground on bier. Om the third day following death they observe Bud ceremony to ascertain the cause of death. On the day another ceremony called “Kingdak” is observed to make them free from pollution. It is very expensive and elaborates which entails among other feature killing of animals for a sumptuous feast to be offered to the villagers, guests and relatives. Then again after three years of death “Gurom” stone or memorial stone slab is placed in honor of the deceased. It is very expensive, therefore most commonly practiced by the poor29. The myths have been collected b y the scholar during filed trip. However some of the myths have been recorded by others scholar the reference are to the secondary sources these are listed below.

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REFERENCE;

1.

K. K. Mohanti, P.C. Mohapatra,J.Samal; 2006, Tribes of Koraput, COATS Koraput, pp 77-79.

2.

Mohanty .K.K 2006, Reading in Social Anthopology Page No-293-297.

3.

Ota, A.B. 2006, The Kondhas of Odisha, SCSTRTl, Bhubaneswar pp. 22-48.

4.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 19th 2015 time 4.22pm).

5.

Rath. J,; Economical situation of Kondha tribes:Laxmipur, 2012 COATS KORAPUT. Pp. 76-79.

6.

www.scstrti.in fNov. 18th 2015 time 7.15pmi.

7.

Ota, A.B. 2006, The Kondha of Orissa, 2006 Sc STRTI, Bhubaneswar. Pp-6-22.

8.

Sahoo,A.C. 2012 Myths of Dongoria kondha, BONAJA, ATLC,Bhubaneswar pp. 106-108.

9.

A.B. Ota, S.C. Mohanty, 2008 Dongoria Kondha SCSTRTl, Bhubaneswar pp. 431,

10.

K. K. Mohanti, P.C. Mohapatra,J.Samal; 2006, Tribes of Koraput, COATS Koraput, pp 28-30.

11.

Elwin verrier:

1954,

Tribal myths

of Odisha,

revised by PRAFULLA,

of Odisha,

revised by PRAFULLA,

Jgatsinghpur Odisha 2006 pp. 60. 12.

Elwin verrier;

1954, Tribal myths

Jgatsinghpur Odisha 2006 pp.71. 13.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 18th 2015 time 4.28pm).

14.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 19th 2015 time 4.44pm).

15.

Naik, T. B, 1973, The Tribes of Central India,, MIBPD, New Delhi, pp. 138-141

16.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 19,h 2015 time 5.05pm).

17.

Elwin verrier:

1954,

Tribal myths

of Odisha,

revised by PRAFULLA,

Jgatsinghpur Odisha 2006 pp.66. 18.

ww w.scstrti.in (Oct. 19th 2015 time 4.20pm).

19.

K. K. Mohanti, P.C. Mohapatra,J.Samal; 2006, Tribes of Koraput, COATS Koraput, pp 36-39.

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20.

Bhoi, T. 2012 Myths of Parenga Jamjati re Srusti Myth, BONAJA, ATLC, Bhubaneswar (Odia) translated by Behera, P, and Garada. S. pp. 64-69.

21.

K. K. Mohanti, P.C. Mohapatra, J.Samal; 2006, Tribes of Koraput, COATS Koraput, pp 46-48.

22.

Elwin verrier: 1954,

Tribal myths of Odisha, revised

by PRAFULLA,

Jgatsinghpur Odisha 2006 pp.71-72. 23.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 19th 2015 time 4.37pm).

24.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 19th 2015 time 4.27pm).

25.

Elwin verrier: 1954,

Tribal myths of Odisha, revised

by PRAFULLA,

Jgatsinghpur Odisha 2006 pp.89. 26.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 19th 2015 time 4.27pm).

27.

Mohanty.B.B., Mohanty.S.C., 2009 Tribal Customs and Traditions SCSTRI, Bhubaneswar. Pp. 24-26.

28.

Mohanty.B.B., Mohanty.S.C., 2009 Tribal Customs and Traditions SCSTRI, Bhubaneswar. Pp. 48-52.

29.

www.scstrti.in (Oct. 19th 2015 time 4.27pm).

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INTER LINK BETWEEN TRIBAL CREATION-ORIGIN MYTHS AND RELIGION

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In this chapter attempt is made to explore, the link of Koraput-Tribal CreationOrigin Myths with the treatment of cosmology of major religions of the world and major civilizations of the world. Cosmology is defined as a theory about the origin and nature of the universe.

At the out set we propose to deal with the Judaism, Judaism-Christianity and Islam. As the three religions share the original Judaic tradition, our treatment would also overlap and can’t be segregated completely.

CREATION STORY IN THE HEBREW BIBLE The Hebrew Bible preserves two contrary stories of God’s relation to nature and humans’ place within it, with little editorial attempt to harmonize the stories. Genesis’ first creation account opens with God wrestling chaotic waters in utter darkness, the stormy conflict seemingly without beginning. God creates by pushing chaotic waters behind the barriers of firmament and Earth (Gen. 1:6, 9). Water is pushed to the periphery of this story, a constant threat to creation if the water ever broke through its limits (Gen. 7:11-12; Ps. 46:1-3). The story’s closing mandate exhorts humankind to mimic the divine repression of chaos in order to live within this creation, and life is lived under threat (Gen. 1 ;28). Water remains a continual danger to God’s chosen people, threatening God’s plan for his people’s survival at key points. Mass drowning during the flood makes the command to multiply and fill the Earth difficult (Gen. 9:1). Called out of Egypt, Israelites pause before the sea in terror, wishing to return, but God dries up the sea so that they can proceed (Ex. 14:16). God repeats this at the river.

Jordan so Israelites can cross into the Promised Land on dry ground (Josh. 3:1617). But God may have driven water too far from the land promised to Abraham, as its frequent famines attest (Gen. 12:10; 26:1; Ruth 1:1). Water is not the only natural threat

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to creature and Creator. Israelite religious reformers hack and hew Asherim - wooden pillars or trees at sacred sites that represent the goddess Asherah - to purify the cult (Ex. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3; Jer. 2:26-27). God may consider living trees a personal threat to Israel (Ezek. 20:46-47; Isa. 10:33-34; Jer. 7:20). And wilderness becomes hostile to human existence as well (Gen. 21:15-16; Ex. 23:28-30; Joshua 5:6). Genesis’ second creation story gives a contrary view. The story opens with creation thirsting for water to realize its potential (Gen. 2:4-5). God allies with rain, mixing with soil to make mud, into which he breathes divine breath. From this tripartite mix, human farmers are pulled to till the land as well as animals to alleviate human loneliness (Gen. 2:5). God mandates a vegetarian diet that protects this sibling relationship (Gen. 2:16-17, also 1:29-30). When humans transgress divine limits, this harmony turns adversarial and humans, animals, soil and water are estranged (Gen. 3:15-19). The hope of this story cycle is to a future return to this original harmony of God, soil, water and creature. Water is key to bringing exiled Jews back to a verdant Promised Land, God recasts the hostile desert landscape recreating it with springs, rivers and trees so that his people can freely eat and quench their thirst on their homeward journey (Is. 41:17-20; Ezek. 34).

Aspects of divinity are present in trees like the Tree of Life and the Temple Tree (Gen. 3:22; Ezek. 31; Isa. 55:12-13). God’s essential connection to trees compels Abraham to camp at the groves of sacred trees at Beersheba, Shechem and Hebron so as not to miss divine encounters. Ezekiel envisions God as a sacred tree with water springing from his base (Ezek. 34:25-30; 41:15-26; 47:1-12). Israel also is like a tree according to God (Jer. 11:16, 19; 17:7-8; Hos. 9:10). God’s presence at Mount Sinai is so strong that Moses must bring the people there to meet him (Ex. 19). Moses and Elijah venture into caves in Mount Sinai and experience intense personal encounters with God (Ex. 33:18-33; 1 Kings 19:8-13). Later God’s presence is integral to Mount Zion in Jerusalem (Ps. 48:1-2, 12-14; 132:13). Jacob, after visions of divinities shuttling between heaven and Earth, calls the mountain of Bethel a gate of heaven (Gen. 28:17). The wilderness is a place of divine restoration for Moses and Elijah (Ex. 3-4; 1 Kings 19:1-9).

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God so pervades the natural world that ancient Israel’s legal and wisdom traditions assert that God’s will and character are evident in natural phenomena, as well as in animal and human behavior. The law consecrates human and animal life equally before God (Ex. 22:29-30; 23:5).

Animals suffer their domesticity, fulfilling their potential far from human habitation (Job 39:5-30). The history of the covenant, the most legal of the Bible’s formal agreements, begins with God making a promise to Noah and every living creature as equals (Gen.9;9~12). That history ends on the Day of the Lord when God will reestablish a covenant between all life, human and animal (Hos. 2:18-19, Joel 1:14-20). In Hosea’s vision God establishes his final covenant by banishing violence to reconcile species (Hos. 2:20-23). Within this creation story prophets cannot imagine the restoration of the people of God without a concurrent restoration of animals and nature back to their beginnings.

In the words of Isaiah, “The Earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the Earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt” (Isa. 24:5-6). Human vigilance keeping nature’s chaotic elements in check is never relaxed in the worldview of the first story. Re-established harmony between humans, animals and land is the future hope of the second story. Although the two creation stories set out contrary roles for nature, the natural world in both is a medium of divine revelation and instruction - a role as significant as any historical event1.

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Genesis 1

I God created the heaven and the earth

A

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

A

And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters.

A

Then God said, Let there be light; And there was light.

A

And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

A

And God called the Light, Day, and the darkness he called Night. So the evening

V

and the morning were the first day. Again God said. Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.

A

Then God made the firmament, and separated the waters, which were under the

V

firmament, from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the Evening and the morning were the

V

second day. God said again, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place, and

V

let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land. Earth, and he called the gathering together of the

V

waters. Seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said. Let the earth bud forth the bud of the herb, that seedeth seed, the fruitful tree, which beareth fruit according to his kind, which hath his seed in itself upon the earth; and it was so.

A

And the earth brought forth the bud of the herb, that seedeth seed according to his kind, also the tree that beareth fruit, which hath his seed in itself according to his kind; and God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

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> And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years; > And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so. > God then made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made also the stars. > And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to shine upon the earth, > And to rule in the day, and in the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. > So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. > Afterward God said. Let the waters bring forth in abundance every creeping thing that hath life, and let the fowl fly upon the earth in the open firmament of the heaven. > Then God created the great whales, and everything living and moving, which the waters brought forth in abundance according to their kind, and every feathered fowl according to his kind; and God saw that it was good. > Then God blessed them, saying, Bring forth fruit and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. > So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. > Moreover God said. Let the earth bring forth the living thing according to his kind, cattle, and that which creepeth, and the beast of the earth according to his kind; and it was so. > And God made the beast of the earth according to his kind, and the cattle according to his kind, and every creeping thing of the earth according to his kind; and God saw that it was good. > Furthermore God said. Let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over everything that creepeth and moveth on the earth.

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> Thus God created the man in his image, in the image of God created he him; he created them male and female. > And God blessed them, and God said to them. Bring forth fruit, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over every beast that moveth upon the earth. > And God said. Behold, I have given unto you every herb bearing seed, which is upon all the earth, and every tree, wherein is the fruit of a tree bearing seed; that shall be to you for meat; > Likewise to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heaven, and to everything that moveth upon the earth, which hath life in itself, every green herb shall be for meat; and it was so. ♦

> And God saw all that he had made, and lo, it was very good. So the evening and •*»

the morning were the sixth day*.

God created out of void, saying there was nothing before God. Eve was created out of Adam. The story of forbidden fruit, the fall and Gods promise to rescue mankind follow in other Chapters.

Besides the above stories of Christianity also nurture the story of “Noah”, his boat and saving of mankind, form extortion from the original flood. This concept of original flood is quite common.

QUARANIC GENESIS

The Story of Adam and Eve is common to tradition of Judaism Christianity and Islam with significant differences. The Quran does not refer to the fall of Adam and Eve. God created Adam from soil taken from different parts of Earth and eventually breathed life into him, and he created Eve to give a companion to Adam. Adam and Eve are one living entity out which both were made. Both Adam and Eve were created to worship God. Yet Adam desired Eve as a mate. At the being seduced them ate the forbidden food and as a result of this they earned the displeasure of God and were sent to earth for a life

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of toil. Though the Christians believe in Original sin, Muslim do not believe in the Original sin. According to Quran God did not blame Eve. Muslims believe that man and woman will live in this Earth for an appointed period after which they will face the day of Judgment. In simple terms it is God who creates the world including man and woman. The differences between Judaism, Judaism-Christianity-Islam are in details not in essence. However the concept of Original sin treated Christianity and Judaism is quite different from Islam. In essence the Islamic cosmology makes God the creator. Islam also shares the concept of prophet with Christianity. In fact prophet Mohammad accepted Jesus. Quran also confirm that the heaven and the Earth was created in Six days and god took rest on the Seventh day. The Quran teaches “all-Awwal”, the first, before whom there is nothing, and “all-Akhir ” the last after whom there is nothing. God’ is of course free from evil. The Quran believe that the disorder is due to practices of injustice by man and woman, it believes that on appointed time in future the last day God will reclaim his creation.3

The cosmology in Islam is essentially derived from the Old Testament. It is God who created the Heaven and Earth in six days and took rest on the seventh day. It is also believed that God created man on the Sixth day. There is a strong suggestion that God had to separate the Heaven and Earth. The Quran reads, “Then He directed the Heaven when it was smoke, saying to it and the Earth, merge you willingly or unwillingly; they said we merge in willingly obedience” “do not the Unbeliever see that the Heaven and Earth were one mass, then we split them asunder and that we created every living thing from water will they them not believed?” “Then he ordained the seven Heaven in the periods and he assigned to each Heaven its duty and command, and we adorned the lower Heaven with lights and protection, such is the decree of the Exulted the mighty” (vide the verse 41-11 and 41-12). This verse form the Quran also suggest segregation of the Earth and Heaven to create favorable condition for life. The concept of Earth and Heaven in Crucial to cosmology. The tribal of Koraput do not have a concept of Heaven but they definitely have the concept of Earth and Sky. They also believed that gods segregated the

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earth and the Sky by pressing down the Earth and pushing up of the Sky. This was necessary to create favorable condition for life to grow on the Earth.

The concept of day in the old testament need not be equated with that of the present concept of day, sun rise to sun set and sun set to sun rise. In the Quran one god’s day is equated with one thousand human days, at times it is equated with 50,000 human days. It would not be out of place to note that the Hindu conceive the day time Brahma to be equal with the Four Yugas, that is the entire life span of Earth. The Tribal’s of Koraput do not have such long conception of time nor do they equate gods day with humans day.

It is suggested that the measurement time was different at the beginning. The Christian view endorses the description of the genesis of the Old Testament. The God under this, their religion was the first, had before him none, there was nothing. He has created the Earth and the Heaven, all living being including animals and plants, river, mountains and everything else. All of these would vanish the minute he withdraws his will.

THE EGYPTIAN CREATION MYTH Several explanations as to how the universe came into being survives from ancient Egypt. Each major centre of religious belief had its own version of the myth of creation, with a different main creator deity who was self engendered and who went on to generate the other gods and goddesses before creating humankind. The particular deities are mentioned in each of the stories relate to the geographical areas where the myths originated. It is impossible to say which of the myths was the most widely accepted at any one time.

Each major creator of religion in Egypt had its own creation - origin myth. Four Important traditions “Memphis,” Elephantine” HermopolisMagna and Heliopolis are noted below.

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Ptah was the self-engendered creator god who was referred to as the ‘father of the gods from whom all life emerged’. He brought the universe into being by conceiving all aspects of it in his heart, then speaking his thoughts out loud. First he created the other deities, and then towns with shrines in which to house them. He provided wood, clay and stone statues to act as bodies for the spirits or divine power (ka) of the deities, and offerings to be made to them forever. All things, including all people and animals, were brought into being by Ptah declaring their names.

The creator god of this cult centre was the ram-headed deity of the southern cataract region, Khnum. He created the universe by modeling the other gods, as well as humankind (both Egyptians and all those who spoke other languages), animals, birds, fish, reptiles and plants out of clay on his potter’s wheel. He paid particular attention to the moulding of the human body, getting the blood to flow over the bones and stretching the skin carefully over the body. He took special care with the installation of the respiratory and digestive systems, the vertebrae, and the reproductive organs. Afterwards, he ensured the continuation of the human race by watching over conception and labour.

This myth begins by concentrating on the elements that were necessary for creation to take place. The fundamental factors were arranged in four male - female pairs: primordial water (Nun and Naunet); air or hidden power (Amun and Amaunet); darkness (Kuk and Kaukel) and formlessness or infinity, otherwise interpreted as flood force (huh and Hauhet). These divine personification of the basic elements of the cosmos are referred to as the Ogdoad (Greek for ‘group of eight’; in Egyptian, khnum). The four male gods were all frogheaded, and the four goddesses were snake-headed. At some point the eight elements interacted to create a burst of energy, allow ing creation to take place.

There are two versions of the events that followed in this creation myth. In one version a primeval mound of earth described as the Isle of Flame rose up out of the primordial water. The god Thoth, in the form of an ibis, placed a cosmic egg on the mound of earth. The egg cracked, hatching the sun, which immediately rose up into the sky.

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According to the alternative version, a lotus flower (divinely personified as the deity Nefertem) was bobbing on the surface of the primordial waters when the petals opened and the sun rose out of it. On this occasion the sun was identified as Horus.

Before anything existed or creation had taken place, there was darkness and endless, lifeless water, divinely personified as Nun. A mound of fertile silt emerged from this watery chaos. The self-engendered solar creator god Atum (‘the AH’ or ‘the Complete One’) appeared upon the mound. By masturbating (or sneezing, according to other versions of the myth) he was able to spit out the deities Shu (the divine personification of air) and Tefnut (moisture). Now that a male-female pair existed, they were able to procreate more conventionally. The results of their sexual union were Geb (the earth) and Nut (the sky). These two were forcibly separated by their father Shu, who lifted Nut up to her place above the earth4.

The so-called Emead (Greek for ‘group of nine’; in Egyptian pesedjet)of Heliopolis includes these deities: Atum (‘the Bull of the Ennead’), Shu, Tefnut, Geb and Nut, and is completed by the offspring of the latter two gods - Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys.

The Memphis tradition in particular is possible the source of Biblical Tradition Hermopolismagna traditional speak of original element the cosmic egg, the Earth and the sur etc. These traditions of Egypt, have strong connection with the tribal myths. As Africa and India were one landmass, may be billions of years ago yet culture fossil survive.

A limitless Ocean featured in many creation myths as the primeval state of the world. A flood of global proportional was also a common theme, in which an inundation was sent to wipe out sinful human kind and thus restore the world to it’s pristine original state, so that it could be repopulated by noble race. The Egyptians believed that their creator God, Ra would one day tire of humanity and return the world to wateiy abyss of Nun before beginning a new cycle of creation. Stories of overwhelming flood reflected

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the ambiguous nature of humanity’s relationship with water which was vital to life but also carried the threat of violence and devastation. The Tigris and Euphrates, the two rivers on which the civilization of Mesopotamia depended flooded unpredictably and their fearsome nature is expressed in several version of the flood myth which was to find it way into the Hebraic tradition as the familiar story of Noah ark5.

GREECE AND ROME In the Greek and Roman myths, as in Egypt and Mesopotamia, we find the creation of order, cosmos, out of chaos. Our sources for Greek cosmogony include Homer, Hesiod, the Greek tragic poets, and later Roman poets such as Ovid (spanning a time frame from the eighth century B.C.E to the first century). In the Greco-Roman mythos. Earth and Heaven, Gaia and Uranos, are bom from out of Chaos, the primordial undifferentiated abyss. We also see water as the primordial element, personified as Ocean, who surrounds the cosmos. Like the Mesopotamian myths, the Greek myths told of generations of gods struggling against one another. These generational struggles culminate in the battle of Zeus (the Roman Jupiter) against his father, the Titan Cronus (Saturn). Eventually, the Olympian gods became supreme under the leadership of Zeus. Zeus then led the battle against those monstrous offspring of Earth who represented disorder. Once Zeus was triumphant, stmggle became understood as a struggle among the Olympian gods. As in other mythic traditions, each Greek god was associated with some natural feature or power.

The struggle among these gods was thus used to explain natural phenomena such as earthquakes and storms, the rising and setting of the sun, etc. One of the more important of these stories, which figured in the mysteries of Eleusis, was the story of Demeter and Persephone.

Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of grain and growing crops. Persephone was seized by Hades and carried to the underworld. In her agony over her lost daughter, Demeter stopped plants from growing until Zeus persuaded Hades to

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release Persephone. This story, which has obvious connections with the Egyptian stories of death and rebirth, explains the origin of the cycle of the seasons in terms of a struggle among the gods. The Titan Prometheus created human beings and animals. Prometheus’ scatter-brained brother, Epimetheus, who assisted in the creation, botched the job somewhat by giving animals all sorts of physical advantages over humans. Prometheus remedied this by giving human beings the use of fire and other crafts. Another creation story, one taken up by Plato in the Republic, finds the gods experimenting with different metals, beginning with gold and ending up with iron. The current race of men is supposed to be descended from the iron race, at the degenerate end of the historical scheme. In these stories we discover the Greek view of the relation between gods and human beings. The gods have no real concern for the human except to the extent that humans maintain rituals for them and make sacrifices to them. Indeed, in one story, similar to the story in Gilgamesh and in the Hebrew bible, Zeus supposedly floods the Earth to kill off the wicked iron men, leaving, finally, only a degenerate race of men made from stone. These stories of degeneration seem to indicate the Greek awareness of the presence of ancient traditions left over from the Minoan and Cretan civilizations, whose culture was contemporary with that of the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians. The point here is that the Greeks possessed a healthy respect for the destructive power of the gods and the destructive potential of their natural powers. Odysseus, for example, was punished by Poseidon for blinding Poseidon’s son, the Cyclops. As the god of the sea, Poseidon then buffeted Odysseus with storms and prevented him from returning home. Such stories were important for a people who lived and traded on the shores of the Mediterranean, subject to the whims of weather and sea.

Finally, in the literary development of the Greek and Roman mythos, in the Latin poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, we find the creative application of myth as explanation for a variety of natural phenomena. Ovid tells of various ways in which the gods meddle in human affairs for their own pleasure. He also tells us how certain plants and animals became the way they are by way of various metamorphoses of humans and gods. Here we find stories of natural transformations, which have become standard parts of Western culture: the stories of Narcissus and Echo, Lo and Europa. In this magical atmosphere,

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Ovid shows a syncretism tendency, using images and appealing to gods, which were part of foreign traditions, including the gods of Egypt.

The moral of the Greek tradition is thus similar to that of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian traditions. The natural world is created full of spiritual energies and divine beings. Human beings must be careful not to offend these natural deities and disrupt the order of the cosmos. And finally, the features of the natural landscape itself can be explained by way of divine conflict6.

HINDUISM The India and Hindu Mythology of creation origin are complex and manifold. Just as any other ancient civilization. Epic Stories are highly reflective met physique create on parallel Scenario in India. The Rig Veda is one of the earliest texts of Hinduism. The Purusha Sukta is a part of Rigveda One cosmogonic myth is the subject of an entire Rg Vedic hymn, which explains original creation as the result of a primeval sacrifice -- not a true blood sacrifice, but a dismemberment and distribution; not an actual creation of something out of nothing, but rather a rearrangement, another instance of order out of chaos. The primeval Man is not changed into the various forms of life; rather, he is those forms, always. It is worthy to note that creation produces not only the physical elements of the universe but also the social order, the basis of life in the Hindu view, as well as the seasons and the parts of the very sacrifice from which creation proceeds. The Man (Purusha) has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. He pervades the earth everywhere and extends beyond for ten fingers' breadth. The Man himself is all this, whatever has been and whatever is to be. He is the lord of immortality and also lord of that which grows on food. Such is his greatness, and the Man is yet greater than this. All creatures make up a quarter of him; three quarters are the immortal in heaven. With three quarters the Man has risen above, and one quarter of him still remains here, whence he spread out everywhere, pervading that which eats and that

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which does not eat. From him Virjwas bom, and from Virj came the Man, who, having been bom, ranged beyond the earth before and behind. When the gods spread the sacrifice, using the Man as the offering, spring was the clarified butter, summer the fuel, autumn the oblation. They anointed the Man, the sacrifice, bom at the beginning, upon the sacred grass. With him the gods, Sdhyas, and sages sacrificed. From that sacrifice in which everything was offered, the clarified butter was obtained, and they made it into those beasts who live in the air, in the forest, and in villages. From that sacrifice in which everything was offered, the verses and the chants the metres and the formulas were bora. And From it horses other animals which have a double set of incisors and cows it, and goats and sheep were bom. When they divided the Man, into how many parts did they disperse him? What became of his mouth, what of his arms, what were his two thighs and his two feet called? His mouth was the brahmin, his arms were made into the nobles, his two thighs were the populace, and from his feet the servants were born. The moon was born from his mind; the sun was tom from his eye. From his mouth came Indra- and Agni, and from his vital breath the wind (Vayu) was bora. From his navel the atmosphere was bom; from his head the heaven appeared. From his two feet came the earth, and the regions of the sky from his ear. Thus they fashioned the worlds. There were seven, enclosing fire-sticks for him, and thrice seven fire-sticks when the gods, spreading the sacrifice, bound down the Man as the sacrificial beast. With this sacrifice the gods sacrificed; these were the first dharmas. And these powers reached the dome of heaven where dwell the ancient Sdhyas and gods7. There was then neither what is nor what is not; there was no sky, nor the heaven which is beyond. What covered? Where was it, and in whose shelter? Was the water the deep abyss (in which it lay)?

There was no death, hence was there nothing immortal. There was no light (distinction) between night and day. That One breathed by itself without beath, other than it there has been nothing.

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Darkness there was, in the beginning all this was a without light; the germ that lay covered by the husk, that one was bom by the power of heat (tapas). Love overcame it in the beginning, which was the seed springing from mind, poets having searched in their heart found by. That ray, which was stretched across, was it below or was it above? There were power below and will above. Who then knows. Who has declared it here, from whence was bom this creation? The gods came later than this creation, who then knows whence it arose? He from whom this creation arose, whether he made it or did not make it, the highest seer in the highest haven, he forsooth knows, or does even he not know8?

This was written in India in the 700s or 600s B.C. The principal actor in this story can be taken to be Praja-pati, the Lord of Creation, or Brahma the Creator. Like the original, however, this story uses "he" as its subject, because "he" may taken more metaphorically as any sentient being who creates by his or her own thought.

In the beginning there was absolutely nothing, and what existed was covered by death and hunger. He thought, "Let me have a self, and he created the mind. As he moved about in worship, water was generated. Froth formed on the water, and the froth eventually solidified to become earth. He rested on the earth, and from his luminance came fire. After resting, he divided himself in three parts, and one is fire, one is the sun, and one is the air. Thus in the beginning the world was only his self, his being or essence, which then took the shape of a person. At first he was afraid, but realizing that he was alone and had nothing of which to be afraid, his fear ceased. However, he had no happiness because he was alone, and he longed for another. He grew as large as two persons embracing, and he caused his self to split into two matching parts, like two halves of a split pea, and from them arose husband and wife. They mated, and from their union arose the human beings of the earth. The female reflected on having mated with someone of whom she was once a part, and she

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resolved that she should hide so that it would not happen again. She changed to a cow to disguise herself, but he changed to a bull and mated with her, and from their union cows arose. She changed to the form of a mare, but he changed to that of a stallion and mated with her, and from that union came horses. She changed to the form of a donkey, but he did likewise, and from them arose the single-hoofed animals. She became a ewe, but he became a ram, and from their union came the sheep and goats. It continued thus, with her changing form to elude him but he finding her and mating with her, until they had created all the animals that live in pairs, from humans and horses to ants. After all this work, he reflected that he was indeed Creation personified, for he had created all this. Rubbing back and forth, he made Fire, the god of fire, from his hands, and from his semen he made Soma, the god of the moon. This was his highest creation because, although mortal himself, he had created immortal gods9.

BHAGABATA PURANA The Bhagabafa carries forward the essential Vedic tradition. Here Narayana not Brahma is the final creator. Once, Brahma himself answered your questions, which his son Narada asked him.

Narada sat with the Lotus-bom Grandsire of the worlds. It was the very beginning of days. And the wandering Muni asked the Creator, “Pitamaha, ancestor of all beings, I beg you tell me know the nature of the Atman. Tell me what it is that manifests itself as this world. What is its support, from where does it originate, into what is it withdrawn when the world subsides? You, Father, are master of the past, the present and the future. You know the universe like the plam of your hand. Who is your support? By whose power do you exist? Are you the fine Creator, who weaves the fabric of time, and the ages, as effortlessly as a spider does its web? Or is there another beyond you, upon whom you rest, on whom you depend?

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Brahma replied, “Gentle child, there is one beyond me, who is my source even as 1 am the source of all these worlds and creatures. The light I shed on creation is his light, Muni. Why, the light of the sun, the moon, the fire and all the stars is his reflected glory. All that exists, form the smallest particle to the greatest God, comes from Him. Narayana, who lies upon eternal waters,, is formless. But he has assumed attributes, the three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas, which create, sustain and destroy the world of appearances. The five elements, gyana and karma are founded on the three gunas. These bind the soul in a sheath of ignorance and illusion, a sheath of maya. When Vishnu, who was One and Formless, wanted to be many and to have forms, the balanced of the three gunas was disturbed, and what is called Mahat came to be. In this Mahat, permeated with sattva and rajas, another dimension grew, dominated by tamas. In that dimension, the gross, physical elements took form, the senses and their objects, and the gods of these. This realm, or Think, which evolved was called Ahamkara, the sense of self, of l-ness Ahamkara modified itself into three - sattvika, rajasika and tamasika. From tamasa ahamkara, called bhutadi, the source of the elements, akasa, the cosmic ethes, evolved. Its essence is shabda, sound which leads to the knowledge of the seer and the seen. Transforming, akasa became vayu, air. Its essence was touch, and also sound since it had evolved from akasa. Vayu is the cause of life, of the vitality of the senses, the mind and the body. In time, and because of adrishta karma, invisible karma, and its own innate disposition, vayu transformed. Now, tejas, fire, brilliance and heat, evolved from it. Tejas had colour and form. It was to become Agni, the element fire. When Tejas evolved, it emanated water. Having grown out of the elder elements, water possessed the qualities of sound, touch, colour and form. Its own special quality was taste.

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Out of water came the earth, visesha, whose particular attribute was smell. It inherited, sound, touch, form and taste, all these developed from the tamasic sense of self10.

The Bhagabatta also carries forward the Purusha - Sukta traditions it is interesting note how “Bramha” concludes his answer to Narada, I, Brahma, an the Creator of everything that exists. I am the incarnate Veda, The Truth, I am tapasya embodied, I am the first Prajapati; but I have not fathomed the One from whom I was bom. Why, just as the sky does not understand its own limits, He himself has hardly plumbed the infinity of his own Maya, his cosmic play. All the rest of us, deluded by his power, imagine we comprehend the universe. What could be more foolish? 1 worship Narayana, who lies upon eternal waters, the glorious One of whose incarnations we all sign! I swear none of us begin to know his essential nature. This is the first Purusha, the Un-bom One, who creates every kalpa out of himself. He is the Truth, perfect, whole, non-relative, without beginning, without end, without change, eternal and alone. When a Rishi's senses and his mind become quiet and pure, that Sage finds Narayana in his heart.

The thousand-headed Purusha is the first incarnation of the Brahman, the Supreme Spirit. He animates Prakriti, from whom all creation and karma flow, from which you and I have come, Narada, said Brahma to his son11.

BUDDHISM Buddha did not give any specification speech regarding origin of the universe or the life. The Origin of beings revolving in the “Sansara” being cloaked by “Avijja” (Ignorance) is undiscoverable is the totality is causation is key to understanding of Buddhas Philosophy. In the Ceaseless cycle cause and affect there is no cause which can be designated as the first cause. However, desire kama is the cause of continuation The Visuddhimagga summarises the process thus: “ Na h 'ettha devo brahma va samdrass 'atthi kdrako,

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Suddhadhammd pavattanti Hetusambhdrapaccayati ” “There is no god or Brahma who is the creator of this world. Empty phenomena roll on, all subject to causality12.”

Buddhas constantly refuse to answer to the question concerning the origin of the world or whether it was eternal or not eternal. Had He given an affirmative reply or a negative one to either question it would have been in a sense untrue. The Buddha’s reply, in effect, was that such questions were not conducive to release from rebirth; but the implication always remained that the true knowledge could be gained by oneself, through insight, though it could not be imparted to others. The Iddhi, or so-called “supernatural powers” gained by the Arahats were simply the knowledge of hidden laws of the universe and how to make use of them, but by Buddha they were regarded as only another and greater obstacle to the attainment of freedom and the quenching of desire.

The law of causality is like an iceberg; only one eighth of it or less is visible above the surface. We observe the effects while remaining ignorant of the causes, just as when we switch on the electric current and the light appears. The scientist Max Planck wrote: “What sense is there, then, it may be asked, in talking of definite causal relations in regard to causes where nobody in the world is capable of tracing their function? The answer to that question is simple. As has been said again and again, the concept of causality is something transcendental quite independent of the nature of the researches, and it would be valid if there were no perceiving subject at all.

We must distinguish between the validity of its [application] ? This means that even the scientist has to admit causes beyond his comprehension. The Buddha stated: “Whether Buddhas arise or do not arise (to perceive and reveal the Law) the law of causality, the principle of the dependence of this upon that, the causal sequence of events, remains a fixed and unalterable taw.”

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“The concept of causality is something transcendental.” This is a significant phrase indeed, coming from a scientist. It is just in this transcendental concept of the causal law that Buddhism establishes the moral principle of kamma. The materialist rejects the idea of God and Soul; and because he sees no evidence of a spiritual or other purpose in life, he rejects all belief in the moral order of the universe as well. Buddhism also is independent of a theistic creator and of a soul or ego principle, but Buddhism maintains the validity of the moral law. Buddhism admits the infinite multiplicity of worlds and the apparent insignificance of man yet man is the most significant of all beings, according to Buddhism, man is of more significance than the gods. Why is this? Because the gods are merely enjoying temporarily the results of good actions in the past, but man is the master of his own destiny on the battlefield of his own mind he can conquer the ten thousand world-systems and put mi end to samara, just as did the Buddha. But to do this he must understand the nature of kamma. The principle of that governs his internal and external world.

According to the Anguttaranikaya, to believe that the cause of happiness or misery is God, Chance or Fate, leads to inaction. Our spiritual evolution depends upon ourselves and ourselves alone. If there is any force behind the moral laws, any exercise of free-will in the choice between good and evil, right and wrong, it stands to reason that there must be the possibility of advancing or degenerating, evolution. If progress upwards were a mechanical process and a foregone conclusion, there would be no point in any freedom of choice in a world of opposites. This is Nirbana. From the foregoing account of the physical universe as it is viewed by Buddhism and modem science that is, as a cyclic process extending over unimaginable aeons we see that it is incorrect to equate the beginning of life with the beginning of the earth, the solar system or even this particular universe. The question still remains in what way did life originate, however far back in time its beginning may have been? Science does not provide any solution. It puts forward a tentative theory that sentient life appeared on this earth through a technical process combined with the action of cosmic rays and the heat of the sun. But this is only a theory, and may-well be

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modified, though it is interesting to note in passing that the Buddhist doctrine that living beings appeared through the action of tejo (kinetic energy) combined with: utu (utuja meaning arisen from seasonable circumstances and physical law of causation), offers a similar explanation so far as mundane life is concerned. This, in any case, only carries speculation back to the beginning of life on this planet, but the actual origin we seek is the beginning of life from a point where there was no preceding cause, and this cannot be found. Theistic religion also fails to answer the question. In ascribing the origin of living creatures to a Creator-god it still leaves unanswered the problem of how and why the god himself came into being. If a god can exist, though uncreated, there is no reason why the other phenomena of the universe should not exist without having been created also.

The actual truth is that the idea of the necessity for creation or, in other words, the search for a beginning of the causal process, springs from the limitations of the human mind, which can only conceive phenomenal things in their arising, decay and dissolution. In the circle of causal links there is no First Cause. The universe could not have been created out of nothingness. Because in a condition of void, empty of phenomena and events, there could be no pro-existence of time. As a concept, time can only exist in relation to physical bodies and their movements in space; this is the basis of Einstein’s “space-time continuum.” It is apparent; therefore, that time could not have existed prior to the existence of the physical universe on which it depends. But, for an act of creation to take place, there must be time already in existence because creation requires the three phases of time; i. e., past (before the thing created came into being), present (the phase of its momentary existence) and future (the time of its continued existence and ultimate cessation). Without the existence of time in these three phases there could not be any point at which a thing not existing previously could come into being. And without the physical universe there cannot be any concept of time unrelated to change, spatial movement or events.

All human reasoning ends in a paradox because it follows the periphery of a circle, the sphere embracing time, space and phenomena. AH that reason can do is to

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show that the process of samsara is without any discoverable beginning and that a first cause, in the sense in which we understand it, is not only unnecessary, but impossible. The truth can only be gained by Insight, in accordance with the teachings of the Exalted Buddha, which means rising above the realm of relative and conditioned factors. That point being gained, it will be found that there is no answer to the problem, but that the problem never existed, save as an illusory product of Ignorance (avijja)..

JAINISM Jainism is an ancient Indian religious system of the sramanic tradition, a tradition that perhaps has roots in the pre-Hindu religion of the Indus Valley. Jainism as we know it now took form in the sixth century B.C.E. The name Jain comes from the jinas (victors), 24 great teachers, the last of whom, Mahavira, was a contemporary of the Buddha. The teachers attempted to revive the ancient pre-Hindu tradition in which the goal of the individual is victory over worldly attachments. The victors soul is freed by strict ascetic practices rather than by prayer. Gods as such are of little importance to Jains. What might be called their non-creation creation myth is contained in the ninthcentury Mahapurana by the Jain teacher Jinasena.

Those who suppose that a creator made the world and mankind are misled. If God is the creator, where was He before creation, and how could a nonmaterial being make anything so material as this world? How could God have made the world with no materials to start with? Those who suggest that God made the material first and then the world are trapped in a chicken-or-egg question. Those who say raw materials came about naturally are just as trapped, because we might just as well say that the world could, therefore, have created itself and have come about naturally. If it is suggested that God created the world by a simple act of His will, one would have to ask how so perfect a being could have willed the creation of something else?

There are many arguments to support the idea that it is foolish to assert that the world was created by God. Why, for instance, would God kill his own creations, and if it is suggested that some of his creations are evil, one must ask why God would have

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created them in the first place, He being said to be perfect. The fact is; the world is as uncreated as time; it has no beginning and no end; it exists through its own being and is divided into Heaven, Earth, and Hell13. This myth is appropriate to Jainism, because it provides a reason (of sorts) for a philosophy and religion that is not focused on deities and that stresses the unimportance, the ultimately, uncreated%o aspect of the world.

According to Jain beliefs, the universe was never created, nor will it ever cease to exist. It is eternal but not unchangeable, because it passes through an endless series of cycles. Each of these upward or downward cycles is divided into six world ages (yugas). The present world age is the fifth age of one of these “cycles,” which is in a downward movement. These ages are known as Aaro, as in Pehelo Aaro (first age), Beejo Aaro (second age) and so on until the Chhatho Aaro (sixth age). All these ages have fixed time durations of thousands of years. When this cycle reaches its lowest level, even Jainism itself will be lost in its entirety. Then, in the course of the next upswing, the Jain religion will be rediscovered and reintroduced by new leaders called Tirthankaras (literally “Crossing Makers” or “Ford Finders"), only to be lost again at the end of the next downswing. In each of these enormously long alternations of time there are always twenty-four Tirthankaras. Jains believe that Lord Rishabha was the first human to receive the philosophy in the present cycle. The twenty-third Tirthankar was Parshva, an ascetic and teacher, whose traditional dates are 877-777 B.C.E., 250 years before the .passing of the last Tirthankar Lord Mahavira in 527 B.C.E. Jains regard him and all Tirthankars as a reformer who called for a return to beliefs and practices in line with the eternal universal philosophy upon which the faith is said to be based. The twenty-fourth and final Tirthankar of this age is known by his title, Mahavir, the Great Hero (599-527 B.C.E.). He too was a wandering ascetic teacher who attempted to recall the Jains to the rigorous practice of their ancient faith.

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Reference:

1. http://www.genevabible.org/files/Geneva Bible/Old Testament/Genesis.pdf 2. Clifford, Richard J. Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near East and in the Bible. Washington D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1994. 3. Ranna Bokhari and Mohammad Senddon; ISLAM, the complete illustrated guide; 2011 Hermes House, UAE pp - 122-123,126,127. 4. Lucia Gahilin; 2010, Gods, Rites, Rituals and Religion of Ancient Egypt, Herms House, London PP. 51-52. 5. Rached Strom, 2011, Legends and myths of India, Egypt, China and Japan Pp. 30. 6. Wiebe M. Creation’s Fate in the New Testament; Egypt - Ancient; Greco-Roman World; Greece Classical; Mesopotamia - Ancient to 2000B.C.E.; Ovid’s Metamorphoses; Roman Religion and Empire. 7. Doniger O.W. Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook translated from the Sanskrit, with an introduction by. London; Penguin Books, 1975. Pages 27-28. 8. Radhakrishnan. S. 1923, indianphilosophy, vol. 1, page. 100-101, OUP, Madras. 9. Radhakrishnan. S., (editor and translator), 1953, The Principal Upanisads: New York, Harper and Brothers Publishers, pp 958. 10. Menon. R. 2007, Bhagabata Purana, {Translated), pp 57-58 Rupa, New Delhi. ! 1. Menon. R. 2007, Bhagabata Purana, {Translated) pp. 62 Rupa, New Delhi. 12. The Threes, No. 61; translated in Artguttara Nikaya, An Anthology. Part I, (The Wheel No. 155/158), p.43. From Burma, Rangoon, Vol. Ill, No. 1; 1952. 13. Sproul, Barbara C. [1979] 1991 Primal Myths: Creation Myths around the World, Ex Nihilo Creation, Indian 4. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 192-19. & A A

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CHAPTER - V CONCLUSION

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In the concluding chapter an attempt is being made to recall the essential and reflect on them and also to analyses them. The thesis involve three major concepts; tribe, myth and creation origin. Odisha is home to 62 tribes out of which more than 52 tribal groups inhabit undivided Koraput district.

The undivided Koraput district is a living museum of the tribal life, belief and culture. Koraput district offers a unique opportunity to scholars for making in-depth study on any aspect of tribal life and culture.

The entire world was originally inhabituated with tribal or ethnic groups primarily engaged in food gathering and hunting. All the ethnic groups did not simultaneously evolve into food producing and treading communities. The cultured groups evolved further to build urban civilization marked by refinement and elitism. Those who were left behind were identified as tribes. They were not static. A continuous process of acculturation is on. A time will come not far from today when no ethnic group would remain food gatherers and hunters. Ethnic identity however may last few more centuries. In other words tribal life is not static and is ever dynamic. This dynamism is the real challenge for a scholar. This dynamism offers an opportunity to scholars of every generation to give a re-look to the problem identified for this research.

There are many aspects of the essential tribal nature and identity; it is not limited to backward agriculture and hunting alone. Forests and hill are invariably associated as their living space. Of course increasingly in the process of acculturation they are getting concentrated on the fool hills, on the Ghat road ways and one may even find urban slum conglomeration of tribal population. They are known variously as Atavikas, Adima Jati, Adivasi, Jamjati and Vanabasi etc. Today as they are listed in schedule of Indian constitution and hence they are called scheduled tribe. And the areas where they live are also called scheduled area.

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In the social structure of India the tribal people stand outside the caste structure and as such they are not to be confused with the schedule caste, the untouchable or the Harijam. Their interaction with the high caste Hindus was a very limited. They were not share croppers or agricultural laborer and that’s why the level of interaction was tow. They did not even provide any service to the caste Hindus. Of course in course of time they accepted the role of warriors and fought for king only as groups. There were occasions when the tribal chiefs either voluntarily or involuntarily accepted the suzerainty or vassal ship of kings who subdued them. The ethnic identity continues to be a essential identity. Socially the people of India may be divided otherwise that (i.e. not as tribal, caste Hindus and Harijan) as forest dwellers, rural population and urban population. This distinction can’t be also absolute. Even those who leave in the urban area were linked with agriculture either directly or indirectly. Even like peasant militia there are peasant Brahmins.

Elitism and intellectual tradition are not necessarily the monopoly of technologically advanced people. Among the tribal groups there is priestly class in India. Even among the Harijam there are priestly classes in India. The tribal groups hare there own myths, god and goddess, rituals and systems of faith etc. As whole including Koraput the tribals may not have a concept of trinity or concept of single God, all pervading and the single cause. Never the less ail groups have their own concept of sprit, god and goddess. And the pantheon may be even hierarchical. This aspect of tribal culture provides us an opportunity to study tribal creation origin myths.

Myths are well known stories which were made of in the past to explain natural event or to justify religious believe or social costumes. Though these are actually un true, people believe them. Creation origin myths are universal, common to all major civilization, tribal ethnic groups and highly developed people. It is in this context there is need for study of creation origin myths of selective tribes of undivided Koraput district.

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The study attempts to trace the creation origin myth of ten representative tribes namely a) Bonda, b) Bhotra, c) Gond, (d) Godaba, e) Dongoria kondh, f) Didayi g) Kondh h) koya, i) Soura and j) Parenga. Essentially the creation origin myths of the tribes focus on the origin of their own tribes and not necessarily on the cosmos. Never the less they are part of their cosmology. Cosmology is a theory about the origin and the nature of the universe. The Big Bang theory or the Genesis of Old Testament are two examples of cosmology. The scholar attempts to identity of myths relating to ten tribes of undivided Koraput as representative.

The Koyas, (Malkangiri), the Kondhs (Laxmipur) and the Dongoria Kandhas (Bissam Cuttack) share common myth with variation in details. A hunter and his sister are both unmarried and live together for various difficulties. The hunter brother is about to kill a pregnant deer. The calf inside mother soons request the hunter not kill. He informs the hunter that the destruction of the world by God is imminent. The Mahaparavu or the Dhama devata or the Sun God have decided to destroy this world for various regions, over population, drought or evil misdeeds of human beings. The unborn calf advises the hunter to make a boat of specified timber secure it properly, and escape or survive through the great flooding. The hunter follows this instruction along with his sister survive the flooding. The gods regret the destruction of mankind but he is pleasant by surprised to find that a brother and sister have survived. The god is caught in the moral wave of making the brother and sister copulate. He finally succeeds in making the brother and sister copulate out of Ignorance. They become the primordial couple. All the ethnic groups or the tribal group are to trace their origin to this couple. In details there may be difference but the three tribes share the essence. This myth beers striking resemblance to the Egyptian myths of flooding, the myth of Noah building a boat and shaving entire animal kind. The inter connection can hardly be historically re constructed. It can only be imagined. The stories of great flooding, common to numerous societies possibly reference to a common similar experience. It may not lead us to the argument that the events refer to a single flooding or to the argument that one society borrowed the story from another. The important conclusion in these the myths is that the world pre-existed, it

149

needed a correction, and it was corrected and a new beginning was made. In this sense god renews the world. The question of ethic and morality for the first couple remains.

The myths of Didays is slightly different and semis to the scholar to be of much later origin. In the scheme of event there is a king who allots territories to the tribal people. They fight among themselves and destroy each other, God killed a cow and made a boat, created a brother and sister and the usual stories follow. Interesting enough the primordial couple give birth to various clans; the Doms, the Hadi, the Brahmins, the Karans and even Kattakias. The Dom though untouchables were the ruling in parts of Koraput. Even today there is tension between Dom and tribal people. Dom have converted in large number in to Christianity and the tension though reduced continues. The Kahakias, are the people from costal district, the Karans are revenue collectors and the Brahmins reach Koraput in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The current myth of the Didayi assimilate the historical process right up to cotemporary time.

The creation origin myths of Gonds involved Mahadev, Parvati, Bhagwan, a tiger and even Mala Raja, Nala Rani, Rania and Ravan etc. possibly the stories of the great epic Ramayan and the stories of Siva Parvati had all reached Gonds in various form. Gond being great story weave tellers a web of creation origin myth using these character. Instead of Ganesh a tiger is created out of dirt of Parvatis body. Parvati is of course also Sopouse to the riding a lion and at times a tiger. Though Krishna does not figure directly in this myth, Bhimasena and Bhagawan figure, Krishna is dignify the Parama Bhagabatta. The Gond myths also link their stories with Jgannatha and Narayana. The creation origin myth of the gonds is definitely related to the Hindu Brahmanism myths and epics. This is a classic case of acculturations. The myth may not be very old.

The Saora myth involves lacquer the Sundi brother, Iswara, Prabati, Sati and Agni Konya and Shrilong and Srilanka. The Saoar myths reflect their immediate society. The wine maker or Sundi who do not belong to them ethnically live with them mostly in fringes of their villages. They are the money lender is and wine sellers. They are hated yet tribal cannot live without wine and them. Lord Siva as the Pasupati, can be traced

150

back right up to Indus Saraswati Civilization. Even today the Vishnu myths are associated with the tribal of Koraput. Such element of caste Hindu into their religion and myths.

The Parenga myth integrate Iswara, Mahaprabhu, Basumati, Bhima, Megha, Jama, Laxmi, Rama, Laxman, Sila characters in to their myths. These stories also refer to the Dorn and Godaba another tribal living in adjoining tracks. The stories of Ram, Laxman, Sita also pervade in the myths of various tribal’s including Bonda an endangered tribe. These trends also reflect attempt acculturation through adoption and synthecise layer of change with continuity can no longer unsheathed.

The Gadabas also involve Mahaprabhu, a cow and a boy. Interestingly enough God create several animals out of trees. There is also reference to gold and Mahaprabhu creating gold out of dirt of her body. The Bhottoda tribal involve the myth o f Sun and Moon. Involvement Sun and the Moon can be traced lo other civilization too. The Bonda creation myth is interwoven with stories of Rama, Laxman and Sita. This was definitely a part of acultrasiation adoption and synthesis. It is difficult to historically date these. Who adopted what and for whom can note be reconstructed. Mutual borrowing and influence can easily be conceded without much debate.

The conventional Brahmin Hindu myth of creation, origin is circular in nature. It involves aparlaya devastation a recreation the four youga Satya, Dawpara, Tretaya, Kali followed by another Pralaya. In essence it is the similar to tribal myths. Nothing is created out of void. World is periodically and psychologically re created by God.

Though the tribal creation origin myths may lack complex metaphysical explanation the essence not far offer from each other. The Rigvedic theme of Purushasuba may be highly Metaphysical but it essentially involves a sacrifice. Sacrifice of animal is inter oven with the tribal life religion-belief-system.

151

The Budhist and Jaina philosophy do not accept a concept of personal God. Both the systems at least in their origin had refused to answer the question of creation origin. However a Pantheon of god and goddess filtered their system of faith. Some in contrast hold that reverse was the process, i.e. the Pantheon of Budhist and Jaina god and Goddess flitted into Brahmins concepts. Koraput his fall of Jaina archaeological remains Jaina. Jainism must have influence the belief system of the tribal’s. The present work has not explored it. There indeed a scope for a farther study in linkages. As whole following broad conclusion can be drown. ❖ The creation origin myths of tribal of Koraput are dynamic. They have not only continuously changed they continue to change even today. ❖ The change is visible but can’t be reconstructed historically in the absences of written tradition. ❖ The tribal origin myths of undivided Koraput bear distinct resemblance to other civilization like Egypt, Greek Judaic. Christian and Islamic tradition. ❖ The tribal creation origin myths of Koraput district have clear link with Brahminic Hindu myths meta-physics, religion and the way of life. The living culture fossil establishes, the continuity, the interlink, mutual influence, synthesis and the carrying forward.

& & &

152

GLOSSARY Pahari

Hill dwellers

Adimajati

Original communities

Adivasi

Primitive people

Anusuchit janajati

Scheduled tribe

Vanyajati

Caste of forest

Vanvasi

Inhabitants of forest

Janastana

The abode of the tribal people

Ancient name of the tribes

(i) Nishadas, Sabaras, Bhils and Kolias (ii) Kiratas (iii) Dasas, Dasyus, (iv) Dravidas.

Poduchasa

Shifting Cultivation

Mandia

Finger millet -Ragi

Odra

Ancient name of the Odisha

Atavika

The forest dwellers

Kora-putti

Local name of the tree the hamlet of the nux-vomica

Vanina

The God of water

Sago- Plant juice

Local tribal liquor

Buged

A village of street by Saora tribes

Baran

A village of street by Bonda tribes

Hara

A village of street by Kondh tribes

Village Priest name of Odishan Tribe

Dehury

Bhuyan

Botia

Juango

Naega

Oraon

Buya

Lanjia Saora

Bajia

Kondha

Jani

Godba.

153

Sisa

Bonda .

Pujari

Jhodia.

Bijjagudi

House of God Koya.

Gudimata

Village Goddess Koya.

Pikin Kudma

Youth Dormitory of Koya.

Koya tribes Kowasi

Clans of Koya.

Odi or Sodi Madkami Madi Padiami Pedda,

The village headman of Koya.

Perma

Priest.

The Kotwal

The village messenger in other caste by Koya.

Doda burka kia

Them of creation myth by Koya.

Bijja Pandu

Festival for agriculture (seed sacred) by Koya.

Bijja wata

Ceremonial hunting by Koya.

Bimud Pandu

Festival of Rain God by Koya.

Ikk Pandu

Festival of tamarind by Koya.

Karta Pandu

The new rice eating ceremony is held during. September-October.

Kurum Pandu

Koya tribes observed when the Suan is eaten ceremonies.

Kuinga

The name of Kondh tribes

Sursuria mali

Silver Bead.

Bala

Bengel

Gogla,

Neckband.

Naka putuki

Nose flower.

Pujupaka

Hairpin.

Kichedka

Bear ring.

154

Tikanguhpa

Designs on the face by Kondh.

Saru

Mountains of Kondh.

Tunenji

Cremation ground of Kondh

Edu

Kandha house

Lekaha

Bombox Cebia tree

Arth

A messenger of god

Dami Penu

The supreme god or Earth God

Drili

The cloths of Dongria Kondh.

Kekodika

Coin necklaces.

Murma

Nose ring.

Dharen Manda

The place supreme-me deity in Kond Village.

Da-sha-Hada or Hada Sala

Unmarried girls dormitory.

Bhima Penu

God of destruction.

Lepar

The council of Didayi

Palasi

Elderly persons of Didayi

Chalan and the Barik

The village council messenger of Didayi

Rumrok

The creation God of Didayi

Madhujhara

The ear ring of Gond

Mahadeo

The supreme deity of Gond

Singardip

One of the place of Gond area.

Pradhan

the storytellers of Gond.

Kajiiiban

The forest of sandle wood.

Bara Deo

The creation deity of Gond

Jangha

Jagannath they believe that in the fight for owning the God, Hindus could take the upper portion and they got the lower portion from naval down to the feet of Lord Jagannath to which they worship as Jangha.

Persapen

Essentially benevolent spirit but can be also be

155

dangerous and violent if disturbed, dishonored and shown no suitable reverence in festive occasions Laru Kas

Pig’s wedding.

Gasadasum or Kitungsum

The Deity of village entrance.

Buyya

Soara agriculture festival conductor.

Shaman

Diviner-cum-medicine man of Soara

Gendu

The glass bangles of Parenga

Lathidudia

One kind of Dance of Parenga

Gottar

Death Ceremony

MartyaPura

The leaving place in world

Tal mudibaja

Musical instrument of Godba

Tamak

The round shape musical drum of Godba

Kurrai Dongoria

Name of mountain in Godba term

Ispur Mahaprabhu

The creation god of Godba

Asher im

Wooden pillars or trees at sacred sites

AH-Awwal

the first, before whom there is nothing, and the

All-Akhir

Last after whom there is nothing.

Ka

The sprit of body

Ogdoad

Greek for ‘group of eight’; in Egyptian,

khnum

Frogheaded

the four goddesses were snake-headed (Greek)

Shu

the divine personification of air

Ptah

Self-engendered creator god

Purusha

The man

Sdhyas

Sages sacrificed

Noah

A figure in religion believe to have built an ark (Egyptian God, to shape the family of god and all creation)

156

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Oath and ordeal in Kondh

Adibasi XXX March

society of Nineteenth century 20-23 Orissa

Ratha S.N.

1993

Forest and Tribal culture: An

Adibasi

overview of the Man-plantAnimal Relationship

Ratha S.N:

1970

Religious ceremonies ordeals Adibasi XI 4 (Jan) 76and

legend

about

origin

84

infiltration in Kondh hill

Swain. J.:

1968:

The kondha pantheon and their Adibasi X 3&4 Oct social significance

1968 Adibasi

Ulka Ramachandra:

1976;

Social life of Parala

Mohanty

1996:

Social control and traditional Adibasi

Sarat

Chandra:

Social-political system Lanjia Saora ofKoraput district.

Signature of Supervisor

Signature of Candidate

167

TRIBAL SCRIPTS Ho (Ho chiki) Devised by Kol Lake Bodra (Singhbhum), is being promoted by some Ho speakars of Bihar and Orissa and a few texts have been published in the script.

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