Khonds

Kondh

A Kondh woman in Odisha.
Total population
ca. 430,000
Regions with significant populations
India
Languages
Kui, Kuvi
Related ethnic groups
santali

Khonds (also spelled Kondha, Kandha, Khondho etc.) are an ethnic indigenous tribal people of India. They are a designated Scheduled Tribe in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they are divided into the hill-dwelling Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds for census purposes; all the Khonds identify by their clan and usually hold large tracts of fertile land but still practise hunting, gathering and slash and burn agriculture in the forests as a symbol of their connection to and ownership of the forest. The Khonds speak the Kui language.

The Khonds came to the limelight during the British Raj for their Rebellion against the British intrusion into their territories for timber in 1836. The British sought to project their invasion of tribal territories as a civilizing mission to prevent for the practice of human sacrifice by the Kondhs. These sacrifices were known as Meriah and were considered to be essential for maintaining the fertility of the earth. It was incumbent on the Khonds to purchase their victims. Unless bought with a price, they were not deemed acceptable. They seldom sacrificed Khonds, though sometimes Khonds, out of piety, or promise to an ancestor spirit, did sell their children, often for a token amount, and they could then be purchased as Meriahs. Persons of any race, age or sex were acceptable if purchased. Many were bought and kept and well treated as full members of the community. The intended Meriah victims were encouraged to marry and start families.Meriah women were encouraged to become mothers. On the day of the sacrifice, the Meriah was bathed, anointed with oil and tumeric, dressed in new clothes, garlanded and led in a procession to the sacrificial altar, which usually was a carved timber planted in the ground. The victim usually was encultured to view his sacrifice as honourable, though during the actual ceremony the Meriah was heavily narcotised. The intoxicated victim was tied to the cross piece of the sacrificial altar and an tame elephant spun the cross piece around during which the entire community, men, women and children sing and dance till they entered a trance. The victim was dispatched usually by the Kondh Pradhan- the chieftain of all clans, or by the local Jani or priest by strangulation, after which flesh from the thighs was carved out, chopped into pieces and distributed among the members of the community. This piece of flesh was buried by each cultivator into the land he cultivated was supposed to ensure a good crop.