Tribes Odisha: Culture is a way of life. It’s called as an overflowing process. Like the culture of other Communities, tribal people have also their own unique culture which is totally different from the non-tribals.
Tribal culture has various dimensions:
Dimensions of Tribal Culture
- Social dimension
- Political dimension
- Religious dimension
- Economic dimension
***Social dimension***
Social dimension refers to the social life of the Tribal people. Man is a social animal. As living within the Society they have so many aspects related to their life. These are
- Family Life
- Youth Dormitory
- Marriage Alliance
- Art & Craft Literature
Family life
There are four types of Family in Tribal culture:
- Simple family
- Joint family
- Patriarchal Family
- Matriarchal family
– Simple family: Simple family is called as the nucleus family. These types of family believes in Monogamy that means one husband-one wife principle.
– Joint family: Some types of tribal people practice polygamy. That means one husband-more wives or one wife-more husbands. We found that types of practice in Naga, Santal, Ho etc.
– Patriarchal family: In a patriarchal family Father is the breadwinner.
– Matriarchal family: It’s mother-dominated family where mother is the head of the household.
Youth dormitory
Youth dormitory or the Bachelor Hall of the Tribals called as “Gotul”. Bhuyans called it as Dhangra Bassa. It’s the centre of music, dance, learning. It’s a social & cultural Institution.
Surprising aspect of Tribal culture is Gotul where the senior girls teach the Junior boys about Sex relations. The young boy & girls are follow to stay & get training from that Institution. It’s a romantic & neurotic. It’s either monosexual or bi-sexual in nature.
Marriage Alliance
Marriage is a Social Institution of the Tribals. They practice so many types of marriage as
- Monogamy
- Polygamy
Monogamy is a marriage where one man can marry only one woman. Polygamy is a type of marriage where one husband or wife can marry more than one. They also practice other types of marriages as
- Marriage by capture
- Marriage by exchange
- marriage by purchase
- Marriage by mutual choice
- Marriage by probation
- Marriage by Intrusion
They also have a Divorce system. It’s common among the Tribals because marriage is mainly between young boys with an elder girl.
Lifestyle of Tribals: Every man has some needs. We can classify our needs in 3 categories because of living as
- Necessary
- Comfort
- Luxury
Comfort & Luxury are only for the rich & non tribal. But for the tribals, comfort & luxury are a dream. They have only necessities.
Art & Craft Literature
Generally Tribals are practice four types of Arts as plastic art, Graphic, art of dancing & oral literature.They are experts in making the Image of God, heads of Elephants, Tigers made up of clay, wood and stones. They paint their walls of their honourable dead persons, ancestral spirit, birds, trees and animals. They make hair pins, ornaments made up of Bamboo and stone, copper, straw & graphs. Tribal art is very simple and easy to understand. They perform various types of Dance, Songs and Music. They use the musical Instruments as Drums, Pipe, Flute, Parta and Mrudanga. They practice nonsense rhymes, epics, marriage and hunting songs.
Language: Mainly the Tribals are use two types of Languages – Ostrich and Dravidian.
***Political dimension***
The Tribals formulate their own political organization. They have simple political organization and customary laws.
Simple political organization: Tribals are formulating their own political organization which is very simple in nature. A village leader commands and promotes that organization and gives punishment or award to the villagers. All give respect to the aged and elder persons of the village.
Customary laws: Generally the Tribals don’t obey the constitutional laws, rules and regulation prescribed by our Constitution. They believe in their own customary laws. They govern by their own customs and traditions formulated by their community. They always challenge our system of jurisprudence and as a result, they suffer a lot.
***Religious Dimension***
Tribals have their own religion dominated by Sarsori, legend and magical power. Tribal religion can found in two forms as 1. Animism 2. Shamanism.
Animism: The Tribal people believe that all the natural calamities, diseases and human sufferings are due to the influence of ghostly spirit and super natural powers. Every man is surrounded by that spirits and ancestral powers.
Shamanism: The tribals have the blind belief that all diseases, calamities, deaths and epidemics are caused by the ancestral spirits who live in mountain, river and waterfalls.
***Economic dimensions***
Tribal people have simple economic habits. They are the producers and consumers. They earn income by perusing simple economic activities. Labour of the family has been distributed between the members of the family. Mainly they are engaged with farming, hunting, ethnically traders by cost, collectors of forest products and art and crafts.
