Koli

Abstract

Koli is numerically a small tribe notified as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) along with Malhar at serial number 36 of the ST list of the State of Odisha. Though notified together, the Koli and Malhar are ethnically two different tribes. While the Malhars are a forest-dwelling semi-nomadic tribe whose main occupation is the collection of honey, the Kolis are a class of cotton carders and weavers otherwise known as Kori, Tulabhina or Bhina. Koli being a highly Hinduised community, their social status is much higher than that of the other tribal communities in Odisha. The Kolis numbering 6423 persons along with the Malhars in 2011 census are largely concentrated in the districts of Ganjam, Dhenkanal and Jajpur. They do not have any tribal mother tongue but speak the local Odia language