Mundari

Abstract

Odisha occupies a unique position in the ethnographic map of India for being the home to 62 varieties of culturally vibrant Scheduled Tribes including the 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs). The Mundari is one among them.The Mundari belonging to the Munda language family is found in Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts of Odisha. They are a part of the larger Munda-Kol group and are settledagriculturalists. They have a hierarchy of clans and clusters of clans to maintain group solidarity andregulate marriage and socio-economic relationships. In some villages, dominant clans own land. The clanelders mediate in fixing marriage and bride price.Family is the smallest social unit in Mundari tribe. The Mundari society is patrilineal and the residence is predominantly patrilocal. Among them the common mode of acquiring a mate is through negotiation.Other approved modes of marriage are by mutual consent, elopement, service, intrusion and exchange.Interestingly, while in marriage by service, a poor boy unable to afford the expenses of a regular marriage along with the bride price freely serves the parents of his chosen bride for some time to acquire the bride in marriage at the end of her probation, it is the reverse in cases of marriage by intrusion. In this case the bride forcibly enters and stays in the family of the boy she wants to marry till the latter agrees toaccept her as his life partner. This shows the liberty enjoyed by tribal women in choosing their mates. Sing Bonga - the Sun God otherwise called dharma debta is their supreme god. Besides hinting at the socio-cultural identity of Mundari people, this hand book depicts theirsettlement and habitation, demographic perspective, social life, economy, social organisation, dress and ornaments and their development intervention andperception in a concise way which will be useful forstudents, academicians, inquisitive tourists, laymen and development functionaries. This photographic documentation of their life style is a part of the series on the tribes of Odisha. Hopefully, this work would be of immense help for the triballovers, tribal tourists, tribal researchers and general readers.