Material Culture of the Orissan Tribals: An Illustrated Study of Kutia, Dongaria and Malia Kondhs

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The book contains the material culture of the three sub-groups of the Kondhs, a major tribal community of Orissa, situated in the districts of Koraput, Kalahandi and Phulbani. It examines the cultural life aspects of the Kutia Kondhs, the Dongaria Kondhs and the Kalia Kondhs which remarkably differs from one another even though there is much commonality in their social and cultural life. With numerous illustrations of their settlements, artifacts and art objects, items of material culture and plans of their houses, the book deals with similarities in socio-cultural, religious and aesthetic aspects of their life-varying occupations, habitats, ecosystems and housing types. It attempts to show that a study of their material culture reveals unity in diversity. For the purpose, it deals with their household objects, quest for good personal care, dress, adornments, religious objects and musical instruments. It describes each artefact/common items of use along with its name (local dialect) in the Kondh communities. Giving an ethnographic account of the different sub-sects as well, the analysis systematically finds out what aspects of their culture has changed over the time and what has seen the least change. The work, both interesting and enlightening, is an attempt to unravel the social and cultural aspects of one of the most ancient and rich tribal traditions of India. It will be an invaluable asset to scholars of a variety of disciplines, mainly anthropology and sociology.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nityananda Patnaik

Dr. Nityananda Patnaik, a reputed Anthropologist was born in 1927 and educated in Calcutta University. He has many publications in the form of books and papers all related to various aspects of Social Anthropology to his credit. His very recent published books are 1. Sacred Complex of Orissa and 2. Anthropological Studies on Indian Societies. Some of his forthcoming books are 1. The Santal Medicine (The Santal Worldview and Indigenous Health Practices and Herbal Medicine), 2. Torch Bearers of Vedic Traditioins: Brahmin Sasan Villages in Orissa, 3. Forest Tribes of Orissa-Vo.III, The Juang of Kendujhar and 4. Forest Tribes of Orissa-Vol.IV, The Bhuinya of Kendujhar, 5. Agricultural Practices among Tribal Communities of Orissa. He has been one of the teachers in Post-Graduate Department of Anthropology, Utkal University. Thereafter, he joined National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) as director of Anthropology. During his tenure at the NIRD, he received a fellowship from the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, where he concentrated his efforts and brought out a publication namely, Cultural Tradition in Puri. After serving for about 13 years at the NIRD he came back to Orissa to work as the Director of Tribal and Harijan Research-cum-Training Institute, Government of Orissa. After his retirement from the Government service he established his own research institute namely, Social Science and Development Research Institute (SSADRI) at Bhubaneswar which is engaged in social service, tribal development and also in research studies.