Kotia

Abstract

Kotia is a small hill tribe of Odisha. They live in Koraput, Malkangiri, Phulbani, and Kalahandi districts of southern Odisha and in the border areas of adjacent Andhra Pradesh. It is said that the ancestors of both Rana (a caste) and Kotia were sons of the same father but given birth to two separate mothers. Rana became superior to the Kotia, because Rana was employed as soldiers by the then king of the ex-State of Jeypore. Kotia speaks a regional Odia language called Desia and some of them know Telugu. They live in the plains surrounded by forests. They are an endogamous community divided into a number of exogamous totemistic clans (bansas) and are identified by their clans used as surnames. In the past, the Koita was a hunting and food gathering community. But now they are mainly settled and shifting cultivators who also depend on wage and seasonal forest collections for livelihood. Kotia professes Hinduism with an admixture of animism. They worship all Hindu Gods and Goddesses and observe some Hindu festivals. Mauli Munda is their supreme deity who is installed under a Kendu tree in the village outskirts. Betal Bhoirab is their family deity. They also have the cult of ancestor worship. Chaitiparab is their major festival, observed during the month of Chaitra (March-April). For enforcement of their customary rules and maintenance of social order, they have their own traditional tribal community council at the village level as well at the regional level.