Understanding the Entitlement Failures and Sciences of Primitive Tribes in the Light of Kutia Kandh of Kalahandi
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Introduction: Songs, dances, music, and food give an identity to any racial group. Their functions and festivals, indigenous knowledge, techniques, and medicines, along with their smiles and tears, depict their originality and identity. Their anthropology and tombs preserve their ethos, and that is the same with Kutia Kandha, who dwell in the dance forest and hill terrain of Kalahandi, Raigada, and Kandhamal districts with their own identity and test of primitive life styles since time immemorial. With their forests, streams, flora, and fauna, Kutia Kandha has no separate identity. Their name is their life, their religion, their economy, their physiology, and even their sociology. They themselves are an academic discipline, a philosophy, and an institution. And there is enough to be unpacked by champions and scholars of the humanities and physical sciences in the domain of academic disciplines at universities around the Globe to bring their hidden truth into the light.
The Private Vulnerable Tribal Group is named PVTG. This is to specifically identify those who are prone to extinction. They are distinguished from other tribal communities for their pre-agricultural forest-based economy. Though they have low levels of literacy and isolated habitations, they are socio-economically vulnerable and dependent on forest-based livelihoods, but they have better social cohesion and bonding among themselves and with nature.
Out of 635 tribal communities in India, 62 are found in Odisha. Among the STs, 13 are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) spread over 12 districts in the state, namely, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Sundargarh, Deoghar, Anugul, Mayurbhanj, Keunjhar, Malkangiri Rayagada, Kandhamal, Gajapati, and Ganjam. The scheduled tribe communities have distinct social, cultural, and occupational practices and traits. Tribals speak as many as 74 dialects. The Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group in Odisha includes Bonda, Chuktia, Bhunjia, Didayi, Gongria, Kandha, Juang, Hill Kharia, Kutia, Kandha, Lanjia, Saora, Lodha, Mankiridia, Pauudi, Bhuyan, and Saora. [1]
Strength of the community: Kutia Kandhas are different from other Kandhas in many respects. By language, they speak Kui [2], a Dravidian language. Language is a science of communication that gives information to act and react. They identify themselves as Kuienju. The climate of Kutia Kandha areas is cooler. Life is tuned to the climate. Their food, clothes, and shelter are designed according to the climate. Sal (Soria robusta) is the prime tree of their forests and is related to their socio-economic and religious lives. Mango, Mahul, Sagopalm, Kusum, Asan, and many others are also part of their life line. Shiali and Baboo are useful for their cottage and boundaries. Different edible roots and berries are added to their food. Animals like elephants, leopards, deer, bears, wild goats, boars, monkeys, deer, peacocks, wild fowl, snakes, mongooses, etc. are inevitable parts of their lives.
House: Kutia Kandh stays together with high social bonding and mutual cooperation. Their houses are constructed in two or more lines, with a courtyard in the middle and houses on both sides of the courtyard, where they get ample sun light.
Food: Generally, they eat three times a day: in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night. The foods they eat are maze, millet, ragi, and rice. In their food, green leaves, shoots, tubers, roots, stems, flowers, fruits, seeds, mango, kernels, etc. are common. Shifting cultivation is their prime agriculture. They get a lot of food from it. They grow pulses, millets, and miner's millets. Green leaves, vegetables, fish or dried fish, and meat are important components of their food. Revenue Acts and Forest Acts control their access to and independent use of land, on which they have belonged and depended for generations since time immemorial.
Language: They have their own Kutia dialect mixed with Kui. Kui is the dialect of other tribal groups in neighboring districts. Being in Odisha, they speak the Odia language, as transection of livelihood needs is done with them. Being exposed to government staff and the markets of the nearby towns, some of them know Hindi, and they know many English words. The OPELIP project has tried to collect the Kutia words in Odia scripts with their meanings. But there is much to do to establish and preserve the language. Their language holds their culture, values, ethos, and practices. The dance, drama, songs, and music live in their dialect.
Role in natural resource management: Kutia Kandha knows their soil, water, weather, and forest. They cultivate on slopes where water flows. That way, soil erosion is controlled. Tubers they eat, but while collecting, they do not destroy them for the continuation of their availability; they replant the tuber tops before leaving the field. They do not destroy growing trees. Like kendu, chahar, harida, bahada, oanla, mahula, panasha amba, khajuri, barakoli, lembu, kamala, kushuma, kanticoli, sapuri, salap, bamboo, tamarin, costard apple, khursha, shiali,
Seeds they eat: tamarin, Shaili seeds, Khursha
Flowers they eat: Neem, Kuler, Kanchan, Agasti, drumstick,
Leaves: Kuler, Gunjer, Bahal, Kobi, Sunia, Kalam, Kosla, Khada, Khapri, Leutia, Kauria, Leutia,
They don’t want to leave the forest, though the Act is dissociating them or forcing them to leave the forest because their faith revolves around the "Dharni Khuta," their God, which is there in different parts of the forest. Their God and the mountain are almost one. Separating from the forest is separating them from their God and from their religious faith. And around Dharani Khuta, their lives, language, culture, and values revolve.
Gender: It is looked at from the perspective of access and control to resources, activity profile, and role in day-to-day life, especially in the life cycle of birth, marriage, and death. As such, there is no gender difference relating to work, but the harder work is done by men and the lighter work is done by women. But mostly women find themselves busy around the clock. Women and men cultivate together. And while the equipment, like frames and settings, is made by the male, the rest of the work is done together. The frames of the houses are made by men. But plastering and flooring in mud and their beautification are done by women. Grinding and cooking are mostly done by women. Before farming and cultivation in each season, males take the lead in rituals and sacrifices to the spirits. Sacrificial meat and ceremonial food are neither cooked nor eaten by the female folk due to socio-religious prohibitions. The Kutia Kandha do not drink milk. Eating eggs and pork is strictly prohibited for women. The emerging youth of both sexes have given up eating beef. During pregnancy, a few food taboos are observed. Some men marry more than one wife but stay together and share all their belongings. Women with whom and barren are given diverse A woman goes for a purification ceremony after a child is born to her.
Technology and engineering: Art, craft, musical instruments, nets, ornaments, housing frames, and farm equipment show their skills and innovations. Their cloth garments and utensils in wooden, metal, and earthen materials show their expertise for living and surviving. The frame of the house, carpentry of furniture, lifting water against the slopes, and agriculture equipment manifest their engineering skill; their food preservation, use of forest leaves, tubers, herbs, and animal body parts during health issues manifest their Sense of medicine; and their Calculation of Days, weeks, Months, and years based on the solar and lunar calendars and climatic predictions shows their knowledge in astronomy. In spite of this, Kutia and the PVTG, due to their lack of knowledge of numbers and letters, are considered backward and are ignored in different walks of life.
Work and earning: Kutia Kandh engage themselves in cultivation, wood cutting, gathering forest products, road making, plantations, and selling their own cattle, crops, and forest products. They do not work with other ethnocultural groups.
Borrowing and mortgaging is done during food scarcity, marriage, festivals, bride prices, and court cases with land lords, middlemen, or shopkeepers. They are an opportunity for credible investment for a better return, as they are faithful borrowers.
Entitlement: The moment s/he takes birth, an individual is surrounded by land, but the pity is that not all have the right to it because of a lack of rights over the land. Like that, many Kutias have had no right over the land where they were born, dwell, and cultivate since their ancestors. The village where they reside has no record of their rights to show anyone.
Disability: It is seen that many of them are undernourished or malnourished. They don’t go for treatment or certification to avail themselves of government disability benefits. Due to working in forests and climbing trees, many of them get injured. They do the local indigenous treatment. Often, it does not bear fruit.
Leadership and Judiciary: leadership is both traditional and as per government by election. Traditional clan leaders are Mutha Majhi and Majhi, and religious leaders are Jani, who is a magico-religious leader who is also an astrologer and healer, and they continue to serve the community hereditably. Birth, death, and marriage are social functions led by leaders. Stealing, begging, and robbery are not found in Kutia Kandh.
Marriage, as diverse as premarital, extramarital, postmarital, and interclan marriage, exists, but it is not a regular practice. In this kind of situation, a financial fine is imposed on the culprits who are convicted. Punishment and restrictions are imposed. The pregnancy of unmarried girls is seriously considered. Marriage by love, capture, exchange, and intrusion is also practiced. Sororate and junior levirate are also practiced. Marriage by bridesmaid is done in an arranged marriage, and it is costly.
Festivals and merrymaking: Major festivals are Meriah sacrifice, Phush Puni, Nua Khaee, Dadbinere, Dasehera, Kandanga, Dakina, Basa Dakina, etc. The Meriah festival (Bia Katina Dakina) is the most significant and expensive occasion of Kutia Kandh.
Threat to the community: On the visit to Taldumer and Uper Dumer, it was seen that there is an accessible road to these interior villages after the Multinational Corporate House, Vedanta Township. After the township, the road became narrower. After it, there is a dance forest until one comes to these villages. There are many villages scattered in the forest and hills, even after Taldumer. People who are not fully clothed look slim. From their villages, the watershed streams flow down to the valleys of the district. The mountain Niyamgiri, which is the biggest bauxite store in Asia, seems to be going out of their control. [3] Deforestation due to industrialization and urbanization in Lanjigarh's head quarters is clearly visible. Topo spare in many areas is seen opened, looking red uncovered from the green coverings. People say the number of animals, timber, and forest coverage is decreasing at a very fast rate, though the number of forest staff is increasing. Vehicle movements and industrial products, both consumable and non-consumable, are increasing. There are Schools and staff like Anganwadi and Accredited Social Health activists, but kindergarten care and maternal care are at a crude stage.
Development is a concept taught in Schools and Universities with many sophisticated definitions and analyses with many parameters and indicators, but the human development Index, parameters, and indicators look paralyzed in villages like Taldumer and Uper Dumer. The present Chief Secretary of Odisha, who was a District Collector, Magistrate, and Project Director of the District Rural Development Agency, and who says Kalahandi is his Second Home District, may cry seeing this entitlement failure of Kutia Kandha, because now the district remembers when the Collector was touring in a Maruti Gypsy, and driving by self has given no result, though now the colorful Government Offices, Banks, panchayats, and Vedanta Almunia Setup look functional and active.
Conclusion: Over all, among the Kutia Kandh, there is gross entitlement. Failure: The Indian population can be broadly divided into tribals and non-tribals, as can the population of Kalahandi. Though there are different kinds of tribes, it is believed that the primitive tribes of Kalahandi are the original inhabitants of the district. Most of them are lagging behind in comparison to tribes in other parts of the world, the state, and the district. The Primitive Tribes are still in remote locations and are forest dwellers with their survival strategy. Their survival strategy has distinct science. Their language is a science; their agriculture, food, medicine, and food storage are sciences. Their irrigation, cottages, village, and set-up are engineering and science. Their days, months, and year calculations are a science. They manage their flora and fauna; their animals and birds are science. Though their goods and materials seem primitive, they are innovators and have been sustaining science since time immemorial, which is sustainable. Their interpersonal relations, group behavior, and concept of rules and disciplines are different from sociology, which has values and doctrines. They respect it, and the values and doctrines bind them together and give them a special identity in spite of modernism.
The non-tribes’ dwell mostly in plain areas, villages, towns, and cities. The socio-economic situation of tribes is relatively lagging behind. In education, health, and other parameters of development, that amounts to further backwardness. The reason is that their dreams and expectations are not so high. They are dependent on nature and forest products. They are not prone to migration. They are not exposed to higher education.
Apart from education, the availability of loans is their new issue. Now the government and the Forest Act say they have no authority in the forest where their God, in the form of Dharni Khuta, Jani Khuta, or Saru Penu (the Mountain God), is. It is a stump for the non-tribe, but it is their traditional God, not matching any other religion. So far as the different definitions of Entitlement failure are concerned, it is not having ownership of food, shelter, clothes, land, or water in spite of the exchange of capacity and capabilities with the state and society. Tribes in India, especially the primitive tribes, do not have land rights, though for generations they have been inhabitants of this land. But the issue is that with the failure of entitlement to the forest land, no one will take away their age-old scientific knowledge on land, water, forest, and their animals and society, but by departing from the forest land, the science they have in their dialect, interpersonal relations, and in their goods and belongings will be lost. The science of primitive tribes must be restored.
Dwit, David Philip
Leheri Thana,
Kantapar,
Bihar Sharif, Police Station,
Nalanda 803101 Mother’s Care School
Badpada
Bhawanipatna
Kalahandi, 766001
[1] Annual activity report of the OPELIP Annual Report of the Govt. of Odisha
[2] Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India
[3] Geological Survey of India
