Dongria Kondhs
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Languages | |
| Kui language | |
| Religion | |
| Traditional beliefs, Sarna belief | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mundas • Ho • Santals • other Mon-Khmer people |
The Dangaria Kandha or Dongria Kondh people are members of the Kondhs, of the Munda ethnic group. They are located in the Niyamgiri hills in the state of Odisha (formerly Orissa) in India. They sustain themselves from the resources of the Niyamgiri forests, practising horticulture and shifting cultivation. They have been at the centre of a dispute over mining rights in the area.
Niyamgiri is a hill range spread over 250 sq.km which falls under the Rayagada and Kalahandi District in south-west Odisha, India. It is an area containing densely forested hills, deep gorges and cascading streams. Its highest point is the mountain known as Niyamgiri or Niyam Dongar, at a height of 1,306m.
The Dongria Kondh community numbers approximately 8,000 people, inhabiting about 100 villages. The social structure among the community is adapted to the surroundings of Niyamgiri forested hill country, where they have lived for many generations.
The Dongria Kondh derive their name from dongar, meaning ‘agricultural land on hill slopes’, and the name for themselves is Jharnia – "protector of streams".
The people of Niyamgiri use Kui language. Kui language is not written, but it is spoken among the people of Kondh community.
The Dangaria Kandha worship Niyam Raja (Niyamraja), the supreme god of the Niyamgiri jungle, believing that Niyam Raja is the source of their essential resources. The deep reverence and respect that the Dongria have for their gods, hills and streams pervade every aspect of their lives. Even their art reflects the mountains, in the triangular designs found on village shrines to the many gods of the village, farm and forests and their leader, Niyam Raja.
The traditional Dongria Kondh society has always been based on a tightened family structure involving people from different generations and these were marked by geographically demarcated clans where each clan was identified by a male animal name. The identification of clan is further classified by surname basis where the surname of the eldest male member of the most powerful family of the clan is generally used to denote that particular clan. This system of classification of clans within the Dongria Kondh community is a process of clan division which is also similar to Native American society where there was a presence of dispersed clan distribution throughout the land.
According to anthropologist Robert H. Winthrop, these type of clan is formed without any kind of hierarchy where a complete egalitarian system is created by crosscutting any kind of social affiliation. This culture of clan division is undoubtedly an integrated system and primarily has its allegiance with the “Kondh Pradhan". The Kondh community in the Niyamgiri hills is organized into many clans from which thirty-six clans are clearly identifiable where each clan possess their own customary territories which is locally also known as padars (consisting several hills). The Dongria Kondh people have more than 300 settlements or hamlets within their clan territory which is also not a permanent establishment rather these communities abandon the other communities in search of new ones within their own habitat region. The reason behind abandoning their houses can be because of practising of slash and burn agriculture also locally known as podu in which they leave one piece of land and move to another for further agricultural purposes.
...
Wikipedia