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AMERICAN RESEARCH THOUGHTS
Volume 1 │ Issue 6 │ April 2015
ISSN: 2392 – 876X
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ROLE AND PRESENCE OF WOMEN IN TRIBAL
FESTIVALS: A CASE STUDY OF ODISHA
Swadhin Shaktiprasad
Press Information Bureau, M/o Information & Broadcasting
Government of India, Old secretariat Building, Cuttack 753001, India
Abstract: Women are an indispensable part of our society. They should earn equal respect and
dignity like men and share equal space in the society. Hence their presence and active participation in
all the socio- cultural activities should be felt. This will indicate their role and importance in a society.
The present study aims to find out the role and presence of women in tribal festivals of Odisha.
Festivals constitute an integral part of tribal life and society. Hence the study tries to establish the
importance of women in tribal society by analyzing their role, participation and involvement in major
festivals.
Key Words: women, socio-cultural, tribal, festivals, participation.
1.
INTRODUCTION
‘Tribal’ is the word used in India to refer to inhabitants known elsewhere as
‘indigenous’. They are considered as the aboriginal population of India. They comprise
a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India. Article 366 (25) of the
constitution of India refers to Scheduled Tribes as those communities, who are
scheduled in accordance with Article 342 of the constitution. This article says that only
those communities who have been declared as such by the President through an initial
public notification or through a subsequent amending act of Parliament will be
considered to be Scheduled tribes.
The essential characteristics, first laid down by the Lokur committee, for a
community to be identified as Scheduled tribe are:

Indications of primitive traits
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
Distinctive culture

Shyness of contact with the community at large.

Geographical isolation.

Backwardness.
BRIEF PROFILE OF TRIBALS IN INDIA
The tribal population of the country as per census 2011 is 10.43 crore, constituting 8.6%
of the total population. The population of tribes had grown at the rate of 23.66% during
the period 2001-2011. Scheduled tribe communities live in about 15% of the country’s
areas in various ecological and geo-climatic conditions ranging from plains and forests
to hills and inaccessible areas. Tribal groups are at different stages of social, economic
and educational development. While some tribal communities have adopted a
mainstream way of life, at the other end of the spectrum there are certain Scheduled
tribes, 75 in number known as particularly Vulnerable Tribal groups. There are 700
Scheduled tribes notified under Article 342 of the constitution of India, spread over
different states and Union territories of the country.
Tribals are known for their unique indigenous culture. Tribal culture truly
justifies the diversity of Indian culture. Festivals are one of the most important part of
trial life and culture. In fact the tribal life revolves around their festivals in which all of
them participate equally by removing all forms of discrimination.
TRIBALS OF ODISHA: AN OVERVIEW
In India there is an amalgamation of 700 scheduled tribes notified under Article 342 of
the Indian Constitution spread over different states and Union territories of the country.
The largest variety of scheduled tribes, are in the state of Odisha, i.e 62. As per the
census, 2011, in Odisha the total population is 4,19,74,218 whereas the total tribal
population of the state is 95,90,756. The tribal population of the state is around 22.85%
of the state population and 9.20% of country’s tribal population. The population growth
rate of the state between 2001 - 2011 is 14.05, whereas growth rate of tribal population is
17.75.
Linguistically the tribes are broadly classified in into four categories, namely
1.
Indo Aryan speakers
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2.
Dravidian speakers
3.
Tibeto-Burmese speakers
4.
Austric speakers
In Odisha the speakers of Tibeto Burmese language are absent and therefore odishan
tribes belong to the other three language families. The indo Aryan family in odisha
includes Dhelki-odia, Matia, Haleba, Jharia, Saunti, Laria and odia (spoken by Bathudi
and acculturated sections of Bhuyans, Juanga, savara, Kondh and Raj Gond etc).The
austric language family includes 18 tribal languages namely Birija, Parenga, Kisan,
Bhumiji, Koda, Mahili Bhumiji, Mirdha Kharia, Ollar Gadaba, Juanga, Bondo, Didayee,
Karmali, Kharia, Munda, Ho, Mundari and Savara and within the Dravidian language
family there are nine languages in Odisha, namely Pengo, Gondi, Kisan, Konda, Koya,
Parji, Kui, Kuvi, and Kurukh or Oran.
The tribes of Odisha though belong to three language families yet they have lots
of socio cultural similarities between them. These commonalities signify homogeneity
of their cultures and together they characterise the notion or concept of tribalism. Tribal
societies share certain common characteristics and by these they are distinguished from
complex or advanced societies. In India tribal societies had apparently been outside the
main historical current of the development of Indian civilisation for centuries. Hence
tribal societies manifest such cultural features which signify a primitive level in socio
cultural parameter.
METHODOLOGY
The study is descriptive and qualitative in nature. It tries to find out the degree of
participation of women in tribal festivals by analysing their major festivals thoroughly.
These festivals have been analysed with respect to the participation of women. In India,
Odisha is the state where largest number of tribal communities is found (i.e 62). So it is
chosen for this case study as it exhibits the true cultural diversity of tribal community in
India. In this study the researcher has studied the customs and rituals of all major
festivals of prominent tribes residing in Odisha. Both primary and secondary data have
been used. The primary data has been collected through unstructured interviews and
interactions with tribal people of some of the remotest village of Rayagada, Keonjhar
and Koraput districts of Odisha, while the secondary data has been collected from
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ODISHA
many reports, journals, magazines, books and websites. A thorough descriptive analysis
has been done to establish the result.
INTRODUCTION TO TRIBAL FESTIVALS AND RITUALS IN ODISHA
The festivals of tribe constitute an integral part of their life and relate to their strong
beliefs in the power of supernatural elements and community togetherness. Their
traditions can be best captured at the festivals and fairs. Tribals are able to remain in
forefront due to the festival and preserve their culture to the fullest. Most festivals are
occasions that mark the change of season relating to harvest of crops and some are
religious events commemorating a local deity.
Among the tribesmen, festivities connected with sowing, harvesting and
consumption of first fruits and among shifting cultivations, the feeling of the jungle and
burning it down for reduction to ash manure are important ones. Interestingly, enough
success in ceremonial collective hunting in April-May often is believed to contribute to
the success of their agricultural efforts. Moreover the collective festivities foster a sense
of solidarity of the village and fortify one’s confidence in undertaking major activities in
economic and social life as possible. The religion of the tribals of Odisha is natureworship, shamanism, anthropomorphism, fetishism and ancestor worship. The annual
cycle of rituals commence right from the initiation of agricultural operation, for
instance, among the Juang, Bhuyan, Kondh, Saora, Gadaba, Jharia, Didayee, Koya and
Bondo, who practise shifting cultivation, religious beliefs and practices aim at ensuring
personal security and happiness as well as community wellbeing and group solidarity.
Their religious performances include life-crisis rites, cyclic community rites,
ancestor and totemic rites and observance of taboos. Besides these, the tribals also resort
to various types of occult practices. In order to tide over both a personal or group crisis
the tribals begin with occult practices and if it does not yield any positive result the next
recourse is supplication of supernatural force. All the rituals and festivals are observed
by the members of a village on a common date which is fixed by the village head-man
in consultation with the village priest.
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AN ANALYSIS OF MAJOR TRIBAL FESTIVALS OF ODISHA WITH RESPECT TO
WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION
1.
Chaiti Festival
Chaiti festival is the most popular festival among tribals. It is locally known as ‚Chaiti
Parba‛. This is observed during the month of Chaitra of odia calendar (March/April). In
this festival all the men of a tribal village go together for hunting and don’t return until
they get any animal or bird. When they return home after hunting the women welcome
them to the village. Then a feast and grand ceremony are organised in which all
participate in singing and dancing. But if they return with empty hand they face the
humiliation. The women pour water mixed with cow dung on them and make a
mockery of their failure. In this festival full liberty is given to all girls as well as women.
Boys and girls dance throughout the night and mix with each other to share their
emotions and feeling. It also helps them to choose their partner.
2.
Kado festival
Kado festival is locally known as ‚Kado Yatra‛or ‚Meru Yatra‛. This is mostly observed
by tribals of western Odisha. This is a festival related to agriculture .This is observed
during the month of Srabana of odia calendar i.e July or August .When the field
becomes ready for plantation , tribals pray mother-earth and then first the tribal women
enter into the field and start the work of plantation. Then the plantation work starts.
3.
Dalkhai
Tribals observe ‚Dalkhai‛ on durga astami in the month of October. On this day, the
tribal girls keep fasting for the wellbeing of their community. They pray ‚Dalkhai
Devi‛ (Goddess Mangala) and then start dancing on ‚Dalkhai song‛. It is also believed
that this festival was started by a tribal girl named ‚Railavati‛
4.
Karama
Karama is locally known as ‚Karama Parba‛ (Karama festival). It is celebrated in the
month of ‚Kartika‛ of odia calendar (Month of November). A date is decided by all the
village members much before the actual festival. It is mainly celebrated by ‚Bhuyan‛
tribe. Due to the involvement of ‚Karama tree‛ in this festival, it is named as Karama
festival. In this festival branches of two selected Karama tree, one termed as ‚Karama
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Raja‛(Karama King) and another ‚Karama Rani‛(Karama queen) marry with all sacred
rituals and prayer. The married tribal women actively participate in this marriage
ceremony. They welcome the newly married branches of Karama tree and establish
them in well decorated dice. They perform all the rituals for the newly married couple.
5.
Praying Salap Tree
Bonda tribes believe the root of the salap tree extends upto see. They treat ‘Salap tree’ as
their mother, because they use ‘salap juice’ as their food. While bringing small salap
plants to their village, they believe it is sacred if they see a breast feeding women. They
pay highest regard to mothers.
6.
Jhankari festival or Podha festival
Jhankari or Podha festival is a major festival of Kondha tribe. This festival starts from
first Tuesday of the Pusha masa of Odia calendar (December or January). Two pieces of
‘Mahula’ (Name of a tree) log are combined to form ‘Jhankari Devi’ (Jhankari goddess).
At the beginning of the festival, the tribal men go on a procession around the village by
wearing their traditional costume and playing music. During this time the females also
wear their traditional dress and sit at different places around the village and burn fire.
When the procession of Kondha men enters into the village, they welcome them. The
men also present different attractive gifts to females to woo them. As per the condition
tradition, the girl who receives the gift from a particular boy eventually marries her.
During this festival the young boys and girls get a chance to interact with each other
and to know each other better.
7.
“Harali” or “Hirel” festival
The festival is locally known as ‚Harali‛ or ‚Hirel Parba‛. It is celebrated by Kondha
tribe every year from ‚Phalguna Purnami‛ to ‚Chaitra Purnami‛ of Odia calendar
(from fullmoon day of February/March to fullmoon day of April). During this festival
all the Kondha men on a particular day go for hunting after finishing a special prayer
and other rituals. As per the tradition the hunting continues until they get any animal or
bird. While the men are in the forest the women go around different villages together
by singing songs. They collect rice and other cereals and store it in the ‚Jani Ghar‛
(Store room of the festival) of the village. When the men return they welcome them and
a mass feast is organised, where all the village people eat together, dance and enjoy.
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8.
Amba Taku festival
Amba Taku is locally known as ‚Amba Taku‛ parba. It is another major festival of
Kondha tribe. It starts in the month of ‚Jestha‛ of Odia calendar (May/June). On the first
Tuesday of this month, the women of the village gather at the ‚Jhankari‛ with turmeric
and Amba taku (seed within mango fruit). Rice, mandia (a type of cereal) and money
are collected from every household for this festival. Then a sacred moment is decided
for the festival. At that moment all the women churn the amba taku and prepare its
powder. Then they walk down towards the stream to wash the powder. Then they
prepare ‚Podapitha‛ (A delicious dish) by mixing the powder of amba taku, the flour of
rice and mandia.
9.
Nuakhai festival
The festival is locally known as ‚Nuakhai Parba‛and it is mainly celebrated by tribes of
western Odisha. This is the most important and the biggest festival of western Odisha.
This is observed in the month of ‚Bhadraba‛ of odia calendar (September). In this
festival the new crops are used to prepare dishes. Before this festival nobody uses new
crops. A particular date and time is fixed, when all the family members and friends sit
together to eat ‚Nabanna‛ (dish prepared from new crops). This is primarily an
agricultural festival. On the night before the festival, the ‚Jhankari‛ of the village
distributes new crops and cereals to each household. Women clean the house, decorate
the house and prepare various delicious dishes. Then everyone wears new dress, sit
together, offer prayer to God and their ancestors. Then they eat ‚Nabanna‛ prepared by
women with joy.
10.
“Bada Karma” by Binjhal tribe of Bolangir district
This festival is observed in a very unique manner by Binjhal tribe of Bolangir. Along
with the normal ‘Karma’ they also observe ‘Bada Karma’ festival once in every three
year. This is observed in a grand manner. Along with the customs followed in ‘Karma’
some more special customs are also performed. On the day when normal Karma puja is
finished, the females of the village form a group and visit five different villages. They
stay for one day in every village. The village where they stay welcome the females, does
all the arrangements for them. The women stay there have special food and drinks, then
engross in dance and merrymaking.
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11.
Chota Makar festival
It is celebrated by ‘Ho’ community. They mainly reside in Bolangir, Keonjhar and
Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha. On the festival day, the Dehuri (who offers prayer and
performs all sacred rituals) offers his prayer outside the village. After the prayer the
tribal boys pull special carts made up of Sal tree by producing sounds like bulls and
buffaloes. Then the villagers take these small boys to the house of village head.
The women accompany the ‘Dehuri’ from the puja place to his home on a big
procession. All the women sing and dance in it. During the festival women of the
village sing and men play various traditional musical instruments on those songs like
‘Flute’ and ‘Kendera’.
12.
Bhojani Puja or Prayer
‘Bhojani Puja’ is another major festival of ‘Ho’ tribe. On this festival, prayer is offered to
‘Balam Buli’ or ‘Pawan Dev’ (God of wind), because ‘Ho’s believe if they will not satisfy
the God of wind by prayer, then he may destroy their homes and village. Severe storm
and cyclone will come. During these festivals the men take all the broken equipment
and utensils and put them at the end of the village at night. On the morning they kill
goats and offer it to god. In the evening the women cook at the river side and feed the
children. Then they start singing and dancing at night.
13.
Chaiti Parba of Gadaba tribe
This festival is celebrated at the end of the year during the month of Chaitra ofodia
calendar (March/April). Much before the festival a discussion is held between people
and ‘Nayak’ (Village head) to fix a date and time for festival. On the day of ‘Chaitra
Punei’ (Full moon day of the month of Chaitra), a prayer is being held at ‘Hundi’ (The
village goddess) . In the prayer people offer fruits as well as animals like Chicken, goat,
sheep etc. All the village people wear new dress and join the mass feast. From this day
Gadabas also start the ‘Amba Khia Parba’ (Amba Khia festival). So on this day the tribal
women wear new sarees, bring water from pond in new pots. They prepare a room in
their house especially for this festival .There they cook the animal meet which were
previously being offered to village goddess. Then the family sits together and enjoy the
food. They sing and dance. Likewise the festival continues for fifteen days.
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14.
Balijatra: ‚Balijatra‛ is a festival of ‘Bhumia’ tribe. It is observed during March or
April. During this festival the ‘’Disari‛ sacrifies goat during fertility rites. At this time
young girls dance in trance and act as a medium for the spirit called ‘Debata’.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Presence of women and girls is well felt in all the above festivals. In fact they play an
unique role in exhibiting the customs and rituals in all those festivals. From the analysis
it is observed the tribal festivals also create an opportunity for marriage of young tribal
couples. Most importantly it gives a chance to girls to mix with boys to share their
emotional feelings, which is as such not possible during other days of the year .It gives
the girls full liberty to choose their life partners. It happens in the festivals like ‘Chaiti
festival’. In ‘Jhankari’ or ‘Podha’ festival boys present beautiful gifts to attract girls. The
girl who accepts gift from a boy eventually marries that boy. So here also the decision of
marriage is at girls disposal, which is a sign that even a traditional society like tribal’s
also respect the decision of girls.
Chaiti festival has also a tradition in which women make a mockery of men who
fails in hunting. It discards the male dominance in tribal society and offers an
opportunity to women to freely communicate their feelings and decision whatever it is.
It shows that the tribal women can also have a leading age over men when it is
required.
In the ‘Kado’ festival, this is observed to start the harvesting, women play an
important role. After performing the sacred rituals first the tribal women enter into the
field to start the plantation work. It is because the tribals think women are pious and
they respect them as mothers like they respect the mother earth. They have a strong
feeling the harvesting will yield good crops if the women start performs the initial
rituals. In the ‘Karama’ festival also the rituals are mostly performed by married tribal
women. Bonda tribes while observing ‘Praying of Salap tree’ festival take it as a sign of
blessings and good luck if they see a breast feeding mother during the festival. They
pay their highest regard to mothers.
In the ‘Chota Makar’ festival of the ‘Ho’ community, after the completion of
Dehuri’s prayer outside the village the women accompany him in a big procession and
bring him to the village. This shows how the women participate in the sacred rituals.
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In the ‘Bada Karma’ festival of Binjhal tribe, the women in a group visit five villages
where they are welcomed by all villagers, stay for a period to know them. People of that
village make all the best arrangements for that group of women. It shows how the
women enjoy utmost dignity and freedom in tribal society.
In the ‘Dalkhai’ festival the women fast and pray to the goddess for the
wellbeing of their community, which shows their dedication and sense of sacrifice for
society.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it is found that in all most all major tribal festivals of Odisha the
role and participation of women is vital and indispensable. A close analysis of all the
above festivals suggests that women not only play an important role in tribal festival or
culture, but also in larger aspect of tribal life and society. Women enjoy the due degree
of freedom, self-respect and dignity in the tribal societies of Odisha.
REFERENCE
1.
Nepak B., Odishara Adivasi Samaj, K.K. Mishra & Co, Cuttack, 1984
2.
Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Annual report, Govt. of India, New Delhi, 2014
3.
Census of India report 2011, censusindia.gov.in, Office of Registrar General of
India
4.
Seeland K. and Schmithusen F., Forest Tribes of Orissa: Juang V. 3 Lifestyle and
social conditions of selected Orissan tribes (Man & Forest), D.K. Print World Ltd, New
Delhi, 2007.
5.
Mohapatra Hitesh, Know Your State Odisha, Arihant, New Delhi, 2014
6.
http://www.otelp.org - website of ST & SC Development Department, Govt. of
Odisha.
7.
http://www.orissatourism.gov.in website of Department of Tourism, Govt. of
Odisha
8.
Patra Debashis, The Cultural History of tribals of Koraput region, page 46-49,
Orissa Review, December, 2011
9.
http://odishaadivasimela.com
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