Reflections on the Tribal Region

Our excellent Indian guide, Pulak Mohanty.

 Dongoria women.

A Desia Kondh woman.

Bonda women.

Members of the largest tribe, the Kondha, performing the Dhemsa dance.

The area of Odisha Tribal Regions that we visited is rarely visited by tourists. We had an excellent guide in Pulak. He used to be an Intrepid guide in India. He is married to an Australian woman who was also an Intrepid guide in India. Together they have their own travel business, which is called Grass Roots Journeys. Some areas of the tribal region are visited by tourists, but having a local company Pulak knows of areas that people don’t go to, and as a matter of fact we never saw another western tourist in the villages we visited.  On the first day we visited a small village called Goudaguda in time to visit the Monday markets. Beautiful earthen pottery is skilfully produced in this area. The second day we had a full-day walk through the countryside around Goudaguda, visiting the neighbouring Mahali and Kondh tribal villages. The next day we drove to the Chatikona Market, a weekly highlight for the Dongria Kondh tribe, after which we drove through the hills to the village of Muniguda, where we stayed for the night.

The hinterlands of Odisha are home to more than 60 different tribal communities, all with their own distinct indigenous culture and traditions. Perhaps one of the most fascinating tribes are the 'Bondas', fiercely independent people of Tibeto-Burmese origin. The women of this tribe wear many silver necklaces from their shoulders up to their chin and prefer to take younger husbands, so that they will have someone to earn a livelihood for them in their old age.

The Paraja tribe are also particularly interesting because of the numerous deities that they worship, who are all said to live in the hills and forests. They also love dance and music, and their celebrations are also accompanied by a lot of singing and dancing. This is a remote region which is difficult to visit as a single traveller, and exactly the kind of place where overlanding comes into its own. 

Pulak gave me two videos of native dhemsa dancing that he took on previous trips that I took the stills from that you see here. 

I wish I could remember all of what Pulak told us about the tribes, but I do remember some important things:

The tribal region has always been very remote, but throughout history has been an important trading region because of the many navigable rivers and access to the sea. Various groups of travellers and traders would visit here and barter for what they needed, like fresh water and food. With the advent of trains and trucks that kind of trading has become less prevalent.

The government of India has called the Odisha area the ‘backward’ area. They promised to deliver good roads and electricity to everyone. Indeed, the roads we travelled were much better than I would have expected in this type of area. Many of the little roads in and around the villages were even paved. All of this sounds wonderful, but as always it has two sides. It is putting more pressure on the communities. It is providing more access to people from other areas and more mobility to the people. The roads allow peddlers on scooters to bring their wares to the villages. Electricity brings with it satellites and TV where they get to see what is out there beyond them. The young men are now able to ride scooters around and to other villages and have seen that there is life outside their community. Many of them are leaving the villages because they don’t want to be hard working farmers. This is why the rural to urban migration is happening all over the developing world. The is becoming a real generation gap. Unfortunately, many of them wind up in the slums of the big cities, because they are uneducated and unskilled people. One has to wonder which is the better life. I think that living in the natural rural environment is healthier and more appealing, but the perceived opportunities in the city are hard to resist.

The tribal peoples are mostly animists, meaning that they are nature worshippers. Their gods are represented by rocks and trees. They did not have temples per se, but rather a small fenced in holy natural place. But, now the Hindus are encroaching and bringing their religious beliefs to bear. The religious festival we saw at Leon’s place was based on these animist beliefs. They did not have priests, but rather shaman, who gave blessings, walked across hot coals and sacrificed animals. Nico our videographer witnessed, and has video proof, of one of these shaman sacrificing pigeons by biting off their heads. 

The government is also offering or supplying concrete housing to replace the traditional stick, mud and dung houses. In some areas they have provided cement outhouses to discourage people from defecating outside. However, many of the people prefer to do that and use the outhouses as storage sheds. In one village we saw there was a water tank that was supposed to provide water to flush the toilet, but it didn’t work particularly well and as Pulak pointed out, isn’t safe drinking water more important?

The people raise animals and they are everywhere, including in their houses. There are cows, buffalo, dogs, chickens and sheep. Most people are vegetarian but they do milk the cows. The abundant cow patties are collected by the women, who used to use them for house building or dry them to make fuel for cooking or composting them to make gas that they used to use, before the locals were able to bring in cylinders of gas on the scooters. 

There is a very strong sense of community in these villages. They all live very close together in extended families. They are all trying to survive by farming, with the problems that nature throws at them, with too much or too little rain. They have very little in the way of possessions but seem willing to share all with everyone. The women take pride in their appearance and their clothing, which is always very colourful. They wear their sarees everywhere. They adorn themselves with jewellery in their ears and noses, around their necks, wrists and ankles. Some of the men wear traditional clothing, while others, especially the young ones wear western clothes. Most people go barefoot, or very basic sandals.

The tribes visit their local markets where they can buy or barter for things that they need. It is also a social hub for the community, a chance to catch up with friends or meet new people outside the actually village.

So, life is changing and it remains to be seen if the tribes and their customs will be able to adapt to the modern world, or will they simply be swallowed up and disappear. This of course is the same story with every indigenous tribe that meets the modern world in whatever form it takes.