Jatapu

Abstract

Their full name is Konda Jatapu Doralu i.e., the lords of the hills. When they resided inhills, they were fully totemistic but later when they came in contact with the culture of the plains they took to many non-totemistic surnames of the plains. They make the offerings of the first produce to ancestors at harvest festivals. Cross-cousin marriages, rules ofexogamy and incest, puberty ceremony for girls, a limited pantheon of gods and rituals, are their distinguishing socio-cultural characteristics. Many well-to-do families of the tribe were landlords in the plains between the 16th to 18th centuries. They are called Jatapus, who are also known as Jatapu Dora and Samanthulu. They are an offshoot of the great Kandha tribe. Their mother tongue is Kuvi- a Dravidian language spoken by the Kandhas of Koraput district. They are numerically a small tribe of Odisha hardly numbering 15 thousand persons as per 2011 Census. They live in the hilly terrain and foot hills of undivided Koraput and Ganjam districts of South Odisha and adjoining Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh. In their settlements, houses are arranged in a linear pattern in a parallel row leaving awide open street in between. The shrine of their village deity called Zankari Penu is installed under sacred trees at the village outskirts. This photographic documentation of their life style is a part of the series on the tribes of Odisha. It is hoped that it will be useful to all who are interested in the tribal culture of Odisha