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Like many other
tribes major customs of Oraons, are connected with birth,
marriage and death. Their customs are closely connected with the
environment. For example, in marriage, there is the custom of men going to the forest to
bring firewood and women to bring sal leaves for preparing cups and
plates. The preparation of the marriage mat and marriage Kheta(baskets) of
various sizes are other customs. Setting up a marwa is, however,
the most important. Nine sal saplings with leaves on top are
planted in the courtyard in three rows. The middle one of the second row
differs in its height. Also planted are branches of bamboo, sidha,
bhelwa, mango and mahua. The mango suggests perpetuity of
descendants, the bamboo symbolizes progeny, the sidha fidelity of
husband and wife, the bhelwa protection from the evil eye and the
mahua, love between the couple. The marriage ritual would be
incomplete without this invocation of trees and plants. Like this custom
there are more customs prevail among Oroan Tribes, these are given in
detail as under :
1.Social Rules.
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The Oraons do not now
admit outsiders into the tribe. There is no offence for which a man is
permanently put out of caste, but a woman living with any man other than an
Oraon is expelled. Temporary expulsion is meted out for the usual offences. The
head of the caste panchayat is called Pannu, and when an offender is
reinstated, the Panna first drinks water from his hand, and takes upon himself
the burden of the erring one's transgression. For this he usually receives a fee
of five rupees, and in some States the appointment is in the hands of the Raja,
who exacts a fine of a hundred rupees or more from a new candidate. The Oraons
eat almost all kinds of food, including pork, fowls and crocodiles, but abstain
from beef. Their status is very low among the Hindus; they are usually made to
live in a separate corner of the village, and are sometimes not allowed to draw
water from the village well. As already stated, the dress of the men consists
only of a narrow wisp of cloth round the loins. Some of them say, like the
Gonds, that they are descended from the subjects of Rawan, demon king of Ceylon;
this ancestry having no doubt in the first instance been imputed to them by the
Hindus. And they explain that when Hanuman in the shape of a giant monkey came
to the assistance of Rama, their king Rawan tried to destroy Hanuman by taking
all the loin-cloths of his subjects and tying them soaked in oil to the monkey's
tail with view to setting them on fire and burning him to death. The device was
unsuccessful and Hanuman escaped, but since then the subjects of Rawan and their
descendants have never had a sufficient allowance of cloth to cover them
properly.
2.Social Customs
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But more often they
go on all night. Mr. Ball mentions their dance as follows: "The Oraon dance was
distinct from any I had seen by the Santals or other races. The girls, carefully
arranged in lines by sizes, with the tallest at one end and the smallest at the
other, firmly grasp one another's hands, and the whole movements are so
perfectly in concert that they spring about with us much agility as could a
single individual." Father Dehon gives the following interesting notice of their
social customs: "The Oraons are very sociable beings, and like to enjoy life
together. They are paying visits or pahis to one another nearly the whole
year round. In these the handia (beer-jar) always plays a great part. Any
man who would presume to receive visitors without offering them a handia
would be hooted and insulted by his guests, who would find a sympathising
echo from all the people of the village. One may say that from the time of the
new rice at the end of September to the end of the marriage feast or till March
there is a continual coming and going of visitors. For a marriage feast forty
handias are prepared by the groom's father, and all the people of the
village who can afford it supply one also. Each handia gives about three
gallons of rice-beer, so that in one day and a half, in a village of thirty
houses, about 200 gallons of rice-beer are despatched. The Oraons are famous for
their dances. They delight in spending the whole night from sunset till morning
in this most exciting amusement, and in the dancing season they go from village
to village. They get, as it were, intoxicated with the music, and there is never
any slackening of the pace. On the contrary, the evolutions seem to increase
till very early in the morning, and it sometimes happens that one of the dancers
shoots off rapidly from the gyrating group, and speeds away like a spent top,
and, whirlwind-like, disappears through paddy-fields and ditches till he falls
entirely exhausted. Of course it is the devil who has taken possession of him.
One can well imagine in what state the dancers are at the first crow of the
cock, and when she finds the girls straggling home one by one, dishevelled, too
tired even to enjoy the company of the boys, who remain
behind in small groups,
still sounding their tom-toms at intervals as if sorry that the performance was
so soon over. And, wonderful to say and incredible to witness, they will go
straight to the stalls, yoke their bullocks, and work the whole morning with the
same spirit and cheerfulness as if they had spent the whole night in refreshing
sleep. At eleven o'clock they come home, eat their meal, and stretched out in
the verandah sleep like logs until two, when poked and kicked about unmercifully
by the people of the house, they reluctantly get up with heavy eyes and weary
limbs to resume their work."
3.Subdivisions
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The Oraons have no
proper subcastes in the Central Provinces, but the Kudas and Kisans, having a
distinctive name and occupation, sometimes regard themselves as separate bodies
and decline intermarriage with other Oraons. In Bengal Sir H. Risley gives five
divisions, Barga, Dhanka, Kharia, Khendro of other tribes, and Dhanka may be a
variant for Dhangar. The names show that as usual with the tribes of this part
of the country the law of endogamy is by no means strict. The tribe have also a
large number of exogamous septs of the totemistic type, named after plants and
animals. Members of any sept commonly abstain from killing or eating their sept
totem. A man must not marry a member of his own sept nor a first cousin on the
mother's side.
4.Branding And Tattooing
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"When a
boy is six or seven years old it is time for him to become a member of the
Dhumkuria or common dormitory. The eldest boys catch hold of his left arm and,
with burning cloth, burn out five deep marks on the lower part of his arm. This
is done so that he may be recognised as an Oraon at his death when he goes into
the other world." The ceremony was probably the initiation to manhood on arrival
at puberty, and resembled those prevalent among the Australian tribes. With this
exception men are not tattooed, but this decoration is profusely resorted to by
women. They have three parallel vertical lines on the forehead which form a
distinctive mark, and other patterns on the arms, chest, knees and ankles. The
marks on the knees are considered to be steps by which the wearer will ascend to
heaven after
his death. If a baby cries much it is also tattooed on the nose and
chin.
5.Marriage.
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Marriage
rituals in the Oraon community are similar to those of Santals and Mundas.
Marriages are arranged by the guardians in the family, but the opinions of the
brides and bridegrooms are also respected. Child marriage is not recognised.
Divorce is allowed. Divorcees, as well as widows, can remarry. Both men and
women can marry more than once but men are not allowed a second marriage unless
they are widowed or are divorcees.
5.A) Pre-marriage
Licence.
Marriage is adult and
pre-nuptial unchastity appears to be tacitly recognised. Oraon villages have the
institution of the Dhumkuria or bachelors' dormitory, which Dalton describes as
follows: "In all the order Oraon villages when there is any conservation of
ancient customs, there is a house called the dhumkuria in which all the
bachelors of the village must sleep under penalty of a fine. The huts of the
Oraons have insufficient accommodation for a family so that separate quarters
for the young men are a necessity. The same remark applies to the young
unmarried women, and it is a fact that they do not sleep in the house with their
parents. They are generally frank enough when questioned about their habits, but
on this subject there is always a certain amount of reticence, and I have seen
girls quietly withdraw when it was mooted. I am told that in some villages a
separate building is provided for them like the Dhumkuria, in which they consort
under the guardianship of an elderly duenna, but I believe the more common
practice is to distribute them among the houses of the widows, and this is what
the girls themselves assert, if they answer at all when the question is asked;
but however billeted, it is well known that they often find their way to the
bachelor's hall, and in some villages actually sleep there. I not long ago saw a
Dhumkuria in a Sarguja village in which the boys and girls all slept every
night." Colonel Dalton considered it uncertain that the practice led to actual
immorality, but the fact can hardly be doubted. Sexual intercourse before
marriage, Sir H. Risley says, is tacitly recognised, and is so generally
practised that in the opinion of the best observers no Oraon girl is a virgin at
the time of her marriage. "To call this state of things immoral is to apply a
modern conception to primitive habits of life. Within the tribe, indeed, the
idea of sexual morality seems hardly to exist, and the unmarried Oraons are not
far removed from the condition of modified promiscuity which prevails among many
of the Australian tribes. Provided that the exogamous circle defined by the
totem is respected, an unmarried woman may bestow her favours on whom she will.
If, however, she becomes pregnant, arrangements are made to get her married
without delay, and she is then expected to lead a virtuous life." According to
Dalton, however, liaisons between boys and girls of the same village
seldom end in marriage, as it is considered more respectable to bring home a
bride from a distance. This appears to arise from the primitive rule of exogamy
that marriage should not be allowed between those who have been brought up
together. The young men can choose for themselves, and at dances, festivals and
other social gatherings they freely woo their sweethearts, giving them flowers
for the hair and presents of grilled field-mice, which the Oraons consider to be
the most delicate food. Father Dehon, however, states that matches are arranged
by the parents, and the bride and bridegroom have nothing to say in the matter.
Boys are usually married at sixteen and girls at fourteen or fifteen. The girls
thus have only about two years of preliminary flirtation or Dhumkuria life
before they are settled.
5.B)Betrothal
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The first ceremony
for a marriage is known as pan bandhi or the settling of the price; for
which the boy's father accompanied by some men of his village to represent the
panch or elders, goes to the girl's house. Father Dehon states that the
bride-price is five rupees and four maunds of grain. When this has been settled
the rejoicings begin. "All the people of the village are invited; two boys come
and anoint the visitors with oil. From every house of the village that can
afford it a handia or pot of rice-beer is brought, and they drink
together and make merry. All this time the girl has been kept inside, but now
she suddenly sallies forth carrying a handia on her head. A murmur of
admiration greets her when stepping through the crowd she comes and stands in
front of her future father-in-law, who at once takes the handia from her
head, embraces her, and gives her one rupee. From that time during the whole of
the feast the girl remains sitting at the feet of her father-in-law. The whole
party meanwhile continue drinking and talking; and voices rise so high that they
cannot hear one another. As a diversion the old women of the village all come
tumbling in, very drunk and wearing fantastic hats made of leaves; gesticulating
like devils and carrying a straw manikin representing the bridegroom. They all
look like old witches, and in their drunken state are very mischievous."
5.C) Preparation of Marwa, mat, leaf cup and firewood.
There are many customs preceding marriage with which the environment is very
closely connected. There is the custom of men going to the forest to fetch
firewood and women to fetch sal leaves for preparing cups and
plates. The preparation of the marriage mat and marriage baskets of
various sizes are other customs. Setting up a marwa is, however,
the most significant. Nine sal saplings with leaves on top are
planted in the courtyard in three rows. The middle one of the second row
differs in its height. Also planted are branches of bamboo, sidha,
bhelwa, mango and mahua. The mango suggests perpetuity of
descendants, the bamboo symbolises progeny, the sidha fidelity of
husband and wife, the bhelwa protection from the evil eye and the
mahua, love between the couple. The marriage ritual would be
incomplete without this invocation of trees and plants.
5.D)
Marriage Ceremony
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The marriage takes
place after about two years, visits being exchanged twice a year in the mean
time. When the day comes the bridegroom proceeds with a large party of his
friends, male and female, to the bride's house. Most of the males have warlike
weapons, real or sham, and as they approach the village of the bride's family
the young men from thence emerge, also armed, as if to repel the invasion, and a
mimic fight ensues, which like a dissolving view blends pleasantly into a dance.
In this the bride and bridegroom join, each riding on the hips of one of their
friends. After this they have a feast till late in the night. Next morning bread
cooked by the bride's mother is taken to the dari or village spring,
where all the women partake of it. When they have finished they bring a vessel
of water with some leaves of the mango tree in it. Meanwhile the bride and
bridegroom are in the house, being anointed with oil and turmeric by their
respective sisters. When everybody has gathered under the marriage-bower the boy
and girl are brought out of the house and a heap is made of a plough-yoke, a
bundle of thatching-grass and a curry-stone. The bride and bridegroom are made
to stand on the curry-stone, the boy touching the heels of the bride with his
toes, and a long piece of cloth is put round them to screen them from the
public. Only their heads and feet can be seen. A goblet full of vermilion is
presented to the boy, who dips his finger it and makes three lines on the
forehead of the girl; and the girl does the same to the boy, but as she has to
reach him over her shoulder and cannot see him, the boy gets it anywhere on his
face, which never fails to provoke hearty bursts of laughter. "When this is
complete," Dalton states, "a gun is fired and then by some arrangement vessels
full of water, placed over the bower, are upset, and the young couple and those
near them receive a drenching shower-bath, the women shouting, 'The marriage is
done, the marriage is done.'They now retire into an apartment prepared for them,
ostensibly to change their clothes, but they do not emerge for some time, and
when they do appear they are
saluted as man and wife."
5.E)
Special Customs
marriage
Top
Meanwhile the guests
sit round drinking handias or earthen pots full of rice-beer. The bride
and bridegroom come out and retire a second time and are called out for the
following rite. A vessel of beer is brought and the bride carries a cupful of it
to the bridegroom's brother, but instead of giving it into his hand she deposits
it on the ground in front of him. This is to seal of tacit agreement that from
that time the bridegroom's brother will not touch his sister-in-law, and was
probably instituted to mark the abolition of the former system of fraternal
polyandry, customs of an analogous nature being found among the Khonds and
Korkus."Then," Father Dehon continues, "comes the last ceremony, which is called
khiritengna handia or the handia of the story, and is considered
by the Oraons to be the true form of marriage which has been handed down to them
by their forefathers. The boy and girl sit together before the people and one of
the elder men present rises and addressing the boy says: 'If your wife goes to
fetch sag and falls from a tree and breaks her leg, do not say that she
is disfigured or crippled. You will have to keep and feed her.' Then turning to
the girl:'When your husband goes hunting, if his arm or leg is broken, do not
say, "He is a cripple, I won't live with him." Do not say that, for you have to
remain with him. If you prepare meat, give two shares to him and keep only one
for yourself. If you prepare vegetables, give him two parts and keep only one
part for yourself. If he gets sick and cannot go out, do not say that he is
dirty, but clean his mat and wash him.' A feast follows, and at night the girl
is brought to the boy by her mother, who says to him, 'Now this my child is
yours; I do not give her for a few days but for ever; take care of her and love
her well.' A companion of the bridegroom's then seizes the girl in his arms and
carries her inside the house."
5.E)
Widow-Remarriage And
Divorce
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It is
uncommon for a man to have two wives. Divorce is permitted, and is usually
effected by the boy or girl running away to the Duars or Assam. Widow-remarriage
is a regular practice. The first time a widow marries again, Father Dehon
states, the bridegroom must pay Rs. 3-8 for her; if successive husbands die her
price goes down by a rupee upon a fresh marriage, so that a fifth husband would
pay only eight annas. Cases of adultery are comparatively rare. When offenders
are caught a heavy fine is imposed if they are well-to-do, and if they are not,
a smaller fine and a beating.
6.
Customs At Birth
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"The Oraons," Father
Dehon continues, "are a very prolific race, and whenever they are allowed to
live without being too much oppressed they increase prodigiously. What strikes
you when you come to an Oraon village is the number of small dirty children
playing everywhere, while you can scarcely meet a woman that does not carry a
baby on her back. The women seem, to a great extent, to have been exempted from
the curse to our first mother:'Thou shalt bring forth, etc.' They seem to give
birth to their children with the greatest ease. There is no period of
uncleanness, and the very day after giving birth to a child, you will see the
mother with her baby tied up in a cloth on her back and a pitcher on her head
going, as if nothing had happened, to the village spring." This practice, it may
be remarked in parenthesis, may arise from the former observance of the couvade,
the peculiar custom prevailing among several primitive races, by which, when a
child is born, the father lies in the house and pretends to be ill, while the
mother gets up immediately and goes about her work. The custom has been reported
as existing among the Oraons by one observer from Bilaspur, but so far without
confirmation.
7.
Naming A Child
Top
"A child is named
eight or ten days after birth, and on this day some men of the village and the
members of the family assemble at the parents' house. Two leaf-cups are brought,
one full of water and the other of rice. After a preliminary formula grains of
rice are let fall into the cup, first in the name of the child and then
successively in those of his ancestors in the following order: paternal
grandfather, paternal great-grandfather, father, paternal uncle,maternal
grandfather, other relatives. When the grain dropped in the name of any relative
meets the first one dropped to represent the child, he is given the name of that
relative and is probably considered to be a reincarnation of him."
8.
Dormitory Discipline
Top
An important
characteristic
of the social life of a village have been found in Kurukhs is dhumkuria
(dormitory) life. It is the educational institution for bachelors, where they
stay together to get training about their culture, custom, religion and social
life. It is usually located on the outside of the village to prevent unnecessary
noise. There is a separate rooms for the females. Teacher of the institute are
old men or priest (naigas). When a boy is six or seven years
old it is time for him to become a member of the Dhumkuria or common dormitory.
The eldest boys catch hold of his left arm and, with burning cloth, burn out
five deep marks on the lower part of his arm. This is done so that he may be
recognised as an Kurukh at his death when he goes into
the other world."
Dalton
describes dhumkuria as follows: "The huts of the
Kurukhs have insufficient accommodation for a family
so that separate quarters for the young men are a necessity,
in which the boys and girls all slept every night."
Colonel Dalton considered it uncertain that the practice led
to actual immorality, but the fact can hardly be doubted.
Sir H. Risley says, "sexual
intercourse before marriage, is tacitly recognised, and is so generally
practised that in the opinion of the best observers no Kurukh
girl is a virgin at the time of her marriage. However any pairs are
practiced transgression,
they are punished by the several penalties and get marry each other. They can't
marry with another person.
In this way,
Dhumkuria life is a prosperous and
disciplined social life
among kurukhs. It is
admiration to Kurukhs, but modern Kurukhs do't
give importance of dhumkuria life. They have not enough time to stay on
dhumkuria. Most villages have not any dhumkuria. They should understand the
importance of dhumkuria and keep their
richest culture alive.
The Dhumkuria fraternity, Colonel Dalton
remarks, is under the severest penalties, bound down to secrecy in regard to all
that takes place in their dormitory; and even girls are punished if they dare to
tell tales. They are not allowed to join in the dances till the offence is
condoned. They have a regular system of fagging in this curious institution. The
small boys serve those of larger growth, shampoo their limbs, comb their hair,
and so on, and they are sometimes subjected to severe discipline to make men of
them.
9.
Disposal Of The Dead
Top
The Oraons either
bury or burn the dead. As the corpse is carried to the grave, beginning from the
first cross-roads, they sprinkle a line of rice as far as the grave or pyre.
This is done so that the soul of the deceased may find its way back to the
house. Before the burial or cremation cooked food and some small pieces of money
are placed in the mouth of the corpse. They are subsequently, however, removed
or recovered from the ashes and taken by the musicians as their fee. Some
clothes belonging to the deceased and a vessel with some rice are either burnt
with the corpse or placed in the grave.
Various shapes of branches cover the
bottom of the grave, lengthwise and crosswise. As the grave is being filled in they
place a stalk of orai grass
vertically on the head of the corpse and gradually draw it upwards as the earth
is piled on the grave. They say that this is done in order to leave a passage
for the air to pass to the nostrils of the deceased. This is the grass from
which reed pens are made, and the stalk is hard and hollow. Afterwards they
plant a root of the same grass where the stalk is standing over the head of the
corpse. On the tenth day they sacrifice a pig and fowl and bury the legs, tail,
ears and nose of the pig in a hole with seven balls of iron dross. They then
proceed to the grave scattering a little parched rice all the way along the
path. Cooked rice is offered at the grave. If the corpse has been burnt they
pick up the bones and place them in a pot, which is brought home and hung up
behind the dead man's house. At night-time a relative sits inside the house
watching a burning lamp, while some friends go outside the village and make a
miniature hut with sticks and grass and set fire to it. They then call out to
the dead man, 'Come, your house is being burnt,' and walk home striking a
mattock and sickle together. On coming to the house they kick down the matting
which covers the doorway; the man inside says, 'Who are you?' and they answer,
'It is we.' They watch the lamp and when the flame wavers they believe it to show
that the spirit of the deceased has followed them and has also entered the
house. Next day the bones are thrown into a river and the earthen pot broken
against a stone.
10.
Worship Of Ancestors
Top
The pitras or
ancestors are worshipped at every festival, and when the new rice is reaped a
hen is offered to them. They pray to their parents to accept the offering and
then place a few grains of rice before the hen. If she eats them, it is a sign
that the ancestors have accepted the offering and a man kills the hen by
crushing its head with his closed fist. This is probably, as remarked by Father
Dehon, in recollection of the method employed before the introduction of knives,
and the same explanation may be given of the barbaric method of the Baigas of
crushing a pig to death by a beam of wood used as a see-saw across its body, and
of the Gond bride and bridegroom killing a fowl by treading on it when they
first enter their house after the wedding.
11. Human Sacrifice
Top
"There is also Anna
Kuari or Mahadhani, who is in our estimation the most cruel and repulsive deity
of all, as she requires human sacrifice. Those savage people, who put good crops
above everything, look upon her in a different light. She can give good crops
and make a man rich, and this covers a multitude of sins. People may be
sceptical about it and say that it is impossible that in any part of India under
the British Government there should still be human sacrifices. Well, in spite of
all the vigilance of the authorities, there are still human sacrifices in Chota
Nagpur. As the vigilance of the authorities increases, so also does the
carefulness of the Urkas or Otongas increase. They choose for their victims poor
waifs or strangers, whose disappearance no one will notice. April and May are
the months in which the Urkas are at work. Doisa, Panari, Kukra and Sarguja have
a very bad reputation. During these months no strangers will go about the
country alone and during that time nowhere will boys and girls be allowed to go
to the jungle and graze the cattle for fear of the Urkas. When an Urka has found
a victim he cuts his throat and carries away the upper part of the ring finger
and the nose. Anna Kuari finds votaries not only among the Oraons, but
especially among the big zamindars and Rajas of the Native States. When a man
has offered a sacrifice to Anna Kuari she goes and lives in his house in the
form of a small child. From that time his fields yield double harvest, and when
he brings in his paddy he takes Anna Kuari and rolls her over the heap to double
its size. But she soon becomes restless and is only pacified by new human
sacrifices. At last after some years she cannot bear remaining in the same house
any more and kills everyone."
12.Others:
A.
Religion
B.
Godlings
C.
Festivals
D. Music/Dance/
Songs
Top
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