Tribes of Nabarangpur District

            Nabarangpur district is endowed with a fascinating assortment of tribes and their colourful culture and tradition.  The district is one of the southernmost district in the State of Odisha and is the home to about 13 tribal communities.  Bhottoda, Gond, Paraja, Omanatya and Holva are some of the prominent tribal groups in the district.NABARANGPUR district Situated among lush green forests in the South-West of Orissa, Nabarangpur District is a very picturesque place. Its unique culture and history will fascinate all. Home to more than ten tribes, and with more than half the population being tribal, Nabarangpur has a vibrant life style. Nabarangpur is situated in the South-West Odisha. Rich Tribal cultural heritage and a traditional home for more than ten tribes, a few of them like Parjas, Kondhas, Gowas still lives the primitive life style. Its language, style of living, geography, Climate, Flora and faunas are enchanting. Its boundary stretches in the north to Kalahandi district West to Jagadalpur in Chatishgarh, east to Kalahandi and Rayagada and South to Koraput district with the river Indravati separating the two district. 

           The inhabitants here are mostly tribals, nomadic and almost aboriginal. Encounter with the civilized population in the township has changed their lifestyle to some extent by a few of them like Paraja, Kondhas, Gadava still live the primitive life style. They mostly depend on cultivation and forest products. Some speak Oriya in a corrupt form, difficult for the chaste Oriya speaking people to understand. They are an admixture of several words and phrases from aboriginal dialects. Boarder areas have a heavy dose of Chattishgarhi language in the west and  of Kalahandi dialect in the north.  The religion of the district is composite. There are Hindus, Christians and Muslims. The tribals worship the Hindu gods. The Mohammadans, though small in population are believed to be the descendents of soldiers from Golkonda who invaded the Jeypore. Some had settled down, married Paraja women and followed the Muslim festivals. The Christians are direct out-come of the Lutheren Mission Conversion. The American and German missionaries had a field day during the British Raj. They set up schools with boarding houses, dispensaries and built Churches. Protestants Catholic and other denomination of Christian are prevalent here. The Christian hospital of Nabarangpur town has been an attraction for patients from far-flung areas. It was a treat to see former Doctors of Germany, who once served here,at its Golden Jublee Celebration held recently. The other tribals living here are namely Bhumias, Dombs. The latter are wide spread through the district and enjoy status next to Kondhas. They are weavers and drummers by profession and enjoy great influence over others. The dombs are engaged in cattle trade. The Mirganis appear to be sub caste of dombs. They differ from the Oriya dombs by not killing cattle for food but theypartake of the beef of the animals that dies naturally. They claim to be superior to Oriya dombs. They earn their livelihood by cultivation and weaving.  In the upper rank of the social scale we come across Sankharies, who deal with lac and who make basket , chains  and dolls out of it. They are good artists, artisans and traders. Malis originally grow and collect flowers for temple worship. They now switched over to cultivation of Sugarcane, tobacco etc. on the banks of Indravati river. Sundhis are famous for distillation and selling of liquor. Tradition holds that they are the descendants of a Brahmin father and royal mother. They are usually rich and wealthy  in status.

Lets, Discuss here the Tribes of Nabarangpur District:

 BHOTRA 

          Bhotra synonymous with Bhottada are predominantly found in all blocks of Nabarangpur district except Raigarh and Chandahandi.  Out of 4.51 lakh population in the state 3.25 Bhatra population live in Nabarangpur district as per 2011 census.  Mr. Tylor has identified them with the Murias of Bastar and it is told that they are immigrants from Bastar.  “It seems that both Murias and Bhottodas are the sub-divisions of the great Gond Tribe”. (Gopinath Satapathy, 1964).  Mr. Bell has expressed his doubt about the origin of Bhatra. The Bhotras are one of the numerically major agricultural tribe of the district.  they speak Bhatri, a non-literacy dialect among themselves.  They speak a corrupt form of Odiya language known as Desia. Bhotras are very rich in culture.  They are naturally talented in the skill of their traditional folk dance, folk music and folk song.  They perform Cherechera dance during observance of Pus Parab and Daunidarnat dance during their weedings.  Indigenous musical instruments made by Dom musicians like Dhol, Ghumura, Tamak, Tudubudi, Baisi (Flute), Mairi (Mohuri), Dhapa (Circular Drum) and Gini. 

GOND  

          The Gond tribe is distributed all over India.  The Gonds of Odisha can be divided into two entirely different groups.  The Gonds of Western Odisha have been highly acculturated into Hindu society and have attained the status of a worrier caste.  The Gond of a part of Kalahandi and Koraput are a hill tribe having their distinctive dress, habits and customs.  The recent demographic history treats them as immigrants to Odisha.  As a petty business community their nativity is traced to Madhya Pradesh.  Their main occupation is agriculture or Agricultural labourer.  They also go for fishing and hunting for supplementing their income.            The population of Gond tribe in Nabarangpur district as per 2011 census is 1.67 lakh.  Next to Bhotra, they are an important tribe in the district found mostly in Chandahandi, Jhorigaon and Umerkote blocks. The Gond observe two major festivals.  ‘Keslapur Jathra’ is marked with worshipping the snake deity – Nagaba and Madai festival is celebrated to mark the occasion of meeting relatives settled in other parts of the country.           The dance performed by men with costumes decorated with peacock feathers on head along with cotton clothes around their waist and smeared ash body is known as ‘Gusadi’.  They enjoy the festivities with sharing drinks and playing with the rhythm of drum beats and blowing music throughout the night. 

PARAJA

              Parajas are one of the well known major tribes of Odisha.  The population of the tribe as per 2011 census in Nabarangpur district is 74,253.  Paraja tribe is found in Nabarangpur, Nandahandi, Tentulikhunti, Papadahandi, Dabugaon, and Jharigaon blocks of the district. The Parajas seem to have been inhabiting this country from about the 2^nd century of the Christian era.  (District Gazetteers, Koraput, 1966).  They say that their original home is ‘Bastaria’ as they have migrated from Bastar area of Madhya Pradesh (now Chatisgarh).  Paraja is conglomeration of various endogamous sections and is not a compact community.  Compared with other tribal communities, they show some cultural differences, especially in respect of their settlement pattern, dress and ornament, economic life, belief and worship, manners, customs and folk tradition. Their mother tongue Porji is a form of Gondi belonging to Dravidian family of languages which varies according to local tongues like Odia or Telugu. Parajas are generally hill cultivators.  But in Nabarangpur district settled cultivation is the main stay of their subsistence economy.  They are fond of cattle wealth.           The traditional dress of the tribe consists of loin cloth and napkin for men and coarse and cheap Sarees for women.  But because of external contact, they now use modern dresses like shirts, banians, blouses, coloured  sarees, ribbons etc. 

KANDHA  

          In Odisha, the Kandha is numerically the most populous tribe.  Their main concentration is in South Odisha.  The population of Kandha in Odisha is 16.27 lakh as per 2011 census.  In undivided Koraput district the population of Kandha is 6.58 lakh and in Nabarangpur district they number 55,257. They are mainly concentrated in Jharigam block of Nabarangpur district.   The word ‘Kandha’ is derived from the Telugu word Konda which means a small hill as well as the hill men.  On the basis of socio cultural characteristics, the Kandha may be divided into several sections such as Desia Kondha, Dongaria Kondha, Kutia Kondha, Sitha Kondha, Buda Kondha, Pengo Kondha, Malua Kondha and Nanguli Kondha. The Desia Kondhas of Nabarangpur district practice settled cultivation.  In addition to cultivation they heavily depend upon collection of forest products and food gathering for their living.  Kondhas are famous in history for their meriah sacrifice.   The two festivals, such as Chitra Parab observed before sowing Paddy and other millets and Meriah or Kedu festival observed in the month of February – March are the most important and are observed with much Pump and Ceremony.  Human sacrifice in the past was later substituted by buffalo and continues even now. 

OMANATYA  

Omanatya are odia speaking cultivating tribal people who live in the north of Jeypore and south of Nabarangpur.  It is said that their ancestor was a Minister (Amatya) of Sri Ram.  After Ram had gone to heaven there was no one to take care of them and hence they took to agriculture.  They are only found in the undivided Koraput district.  In Koraput district their population is 17,463 and in Nabarangpur district they number 10746.  In the other two districts they number 120 as per 2011 census.  Omanatya are largely found in Nandahandi block of Nabarangpur district. Omanatya are divided into two sections i.e. Bodo and Sano.  They are good agriculturists and practice wet cultivation. They sing and dance on various occasions like marriage, Pusa Punia and Chaita Parab etc.  Their dance are popularly known as Junia nach and Cherchera nach.  The musical instrument consist of Mardal, Gini and Thal. 

HALVA            

Holva tribe derives their name from the word ‘holo’ which means plough.  Holvas are largely found in Papadahandi, Raigarh and Jhorigaon blocks of Nabarangpur district.  According to 2011 census the population of Holva in Nabarabgpur district is 4858.  They are also found in Malkangiri district (5030), Koraput district (3061) and Rayagada district (747) in the Koraput Region.  Dialectically their mother tongue is Halbi, but now most of them are converse in Odiya only through acculturation.  Among the various local divisions, like Bastarha, Chhatisgarhia and Marethia, the Halvas of Nabarangpur belong to Bastarha division.  Agriculture is the mainstay of the livelihood of the Holvas.  Holvas have incorporated a number of Hindu Gods and Goddesses in to their pantheon, like Siva, Bishnu, Laxmi, Kali and Durga.  They observe new mango eating ceremony in Chaitra, Amus festival in Sruban, new rice eating ceremony in Bhadrab, Siva Puja in Magha. Holvas have established social relationship with the neighbouring tribals, like Gond, Koya, Kondha and non-tribals like Sundhi, Teli and Mali.