Time and again, the educated people and media, toss a question, whether the tribal communities in India, are Hindu or not. This question has divided the intellectuals; some are overzealous in establishing that the tribals are originally Hindus.. The Christianity, which arrived at India at a much later date, tried to expand their religion by converting the economically deprived tribal and similar communities into their fold. History informs us that the religious faiths did spread with active or passive backing of the rulers. Islamic faith received patronage in mediaeval period and Christianity got the similar support in colonial rule. The believers in the concept of Hindu Rashtra, when in power, obviously look forward to the expansion and protection of Hindu religion and make efforts to bring back the Christian tribals to the Hindu fold.

Anthropologically arguing, each tribal community believes in one Supreme Divine authority, termed variously in their own dialects. Legends and myths explain their origin. Besides the ‘Supreme’, they appease various gods and goddesses affiliated to streams, hills, forests, animals, celestial energies etc. In the Hindu religious belief and practices, nature worship is included and for each, a presiding deity is assigned. Lord Shiva is propitiated in the form of ‘linga’ or idol, ‘Laxmi’ as sheaves of corn or treasure pot of cowries and so on. During long long course of interaction between the ‘adivasi’ and the late ‘ incomers’ with Vedic rites, many ritual items have been exchanged. Human societies are not enclosed by impenetrable boundaries. Many sections of ‘adivasi’ amalgamated with the latecomers, and thus Indian subcontinent got her population of biological and cultural diversity. The Hindu religion is a way of life and it incorporates many faiths and rituals. Nobody needs to be converted or initiated to be Hindu. The tribal ryots of Hindu rulers joined Hindu festivals and at the same time performed worship of their own gods. But the Christian tribal people, once for all shun all traditional tribal rituals and follow church rule. This has created dichotomy in religious practices leading to social distinction in the tribal habitat, paving the way of the Hindu campaign.

The present Hindu society is heterogeneous in composition, as it absorbed many elements from the ancient societies existing in India and from those who arrived at later stage albeit prior to the advent of Christianity and Islam. It is wise to leave each community to live with their own traditional values and belief. Interference in their religious philosophy in the name of development or politics will amount to infringement on their liberty.

Ram Raja had seven wives. Rama Chandra was the only son of his father. Although he was the only son, he had seven wives. One he brought from a market, one he brought from the road, wherever from he wished, he brought. This way he had seven wives. Though he had seven wives, he had plenty of wealth and property. As time passed, one day the wives quarreled. When they quarreled, his father cursed him, ‘Rama Chandra, you lack nothing. Yet why should [your wives] quarrel every day? You had one wife, yet you brought seven from here and there. Since there is no lack of anything, why should you start quarrels? Since there is perpetual quarrel, you go away and spend fourteen years in the forest.’

When his father banished him to the forest, his mother said, ‘Hey, Rama Chandra, I had given birth to you as my only child and you will go away to the forest? No, you don’t go.’

The mother’s words may be disobeyed, but the father’s words cannot be. One had to go for fourteen years. When three days had passed like this, he told his wives, ‘Just as you had come with me out of your own wish, you may follow me like that. I shall not force anyone. If you want to come willingly, you may come.’ So, they went to the forest for fourteen years. They ate and drank and started on the third day.

Going on they reached the deep forest and stayed there. Breaking the branches of sala trees, they made a hut out of it on the bank of a river and stayed there.

When he had started out into the forest, his mother had said, ‘Rama Chandra, you are my only child, but now that you are leaving me, tell me where you will go, so that some time or other I may come to see you.’

So Rama Chandra said, ‘Okay mother, for you I shall break the branches of the trees on my path as I go. Where there will be no broken branches, there you call out to me thrice.’

Like this, when twelve years had passed, the old king and the queen started quarreling.

The old woman said, ‘Old man, I cannot serve you any longer. Bloody hell, I had given birth to only one son and you drove him out with his wives. If the daughters-in-law were here, you would be eating in comfort. How long shall I keep serving you? No, this time I shall go away to my son.’

When the old woman decided to go, she started putting together some rice, some pop rice etc. Rama Chandra used to be fond of eating podapitha [a type of baked cake], so she made one and went away with these.

(Q: Okay, what is the name of the old man and the old woman?)

I know, but shall not tell you.

So, like this the old woman went. Now, when Rama Chandra had left home, he had not taken anything. The clothes they wearing were all that they had. They had taken nothing else. They had gone and lived on the bank of that river. That night they had slept on empty stomach. When the morning came, Rama Chandra asked his wife, ‘What shall we eat?’ Then they went into the forest to bring fruits and dig up roots. That forest vegetable, "marsha," that we call "pittalu" [bitter potato], has a thread-like root. When it is pulled away it becomes marsha. Two of them went into the forest and dug up and brought that pittalu.

The others said, ‘Okay, you have brought it, but how shall we eat it?’

Rama Chandra said, ‘Pick out its eyes, then put a little water around it cover it with leaves and put it on fire.’

After two hours, when it was cooked, Rama Chandra would be served first, then the six co-wives would eat. The eldest wife ate last, having looked after the needs of the husband, massaging oil and smearing turmeric paste etc. But instead of oil she used to fetch a little water and instead of turmeric she used to apply brown clay. They lived like this.

The day twelve years were completed, that very day the old woman started the quarrel with the old man. In anger the old woman started out.

She came into the deep forest [as Rama Chandra had instructed her] and called out, ‘Rama Chandra, Rama Chandra,’ thrice. Her call fell in the ears of the eldest wife. At that time they were in the pit and Rama Chandra was digging for pittalu. At this time, the call fell in the ears of his wife.

‘Hey,’ she said, ‘today I seem to hear mother’s voice.’

Rama Chandra said, ‘For twelve years her voice was not heard. How can it be heard today?’

‘Yes, I can hear it. You come out of that pit.’

When he came out of the pit and listened, he could hear his mother’s voice. Then what Rama Chandra did was, he tied three pieces of dry wood he broke off and went forward holding them. And Rajani came behind him. Rajani was the name of his eldest wife. When Rajani saw her, she put down the basket of potatoes and they crawled from there to her. Rama Chandra came and kissed his mothers shoes. When the other six heard her call, they also came and sat down under the tree. Whatever the old woman had taken, she did not give to any one else. She came right up to the tree and first gave it to Rama Chandra and then gave it to all others. The seven daughters-in-law ate their bellies full. After they had eaten, the old woman gave the rice, pop rice etc. that she had brought.

Rajani said, ‘For twelve years now we have not got rice. How shall we eat it?’

‘How you will eat?’ the old woman said. ‘Okay, you finish eating. I’ll show you how.’ And she herself fed them the podapitha.

Then the old woman said, ‘Dig a pit.’ [When this was done] she said, ‘Go dig a shallow line from the river to this pit.’ [When this was done and water flowed into the pit], she told the eldest daughter-in-law, ‘Now, make a drain around the pit with your fingers. [Put firewood in it and light a fire].’ [When this was done], she poured rice into the pit. In two hours the rice started boiling.

At this time the eldest daughter-in-law said, ‘Mother, for twelve years now we have not tasted Mahalakhmi’s water. Today let us have a little "peja" [thick starchy water left after rice was boiled in it].

‘Okay, you want it? Then dig a line from here to there.’

She dug a line with her fingers. The peja flowed out through that. When the peja started flowing out, the old woman made arrangements for eating it. She asked them to go pluck siali [sal] leaves. They brought the leaves and spread it. Two leaves were given to Rama Chandra; one was given to the six daughters-in-law, one for the eldest daughter-in-law and one for the old woman.

When the old woman was being served, she said, ‘I shall not eat rice. Give me something of the fruits and vegetables you have brought from the forest.’ So, they gave two of those to the old woman. Then what the old woman did was that she ate one of those fruits and tied one in her cloth. When she was tying it, her eldest daughter-in-law saw this.

‘What are you doing, mother?’ she asked.

‘My girl, I lam keeping this to show to your father-in-law.’

‘No, no, I have kept for him.’

Then the old woman ate both the fruits. All the rest of them ate the rice. She again gave Rama Chandra that podapitha [baked cake]. He ate it. Everyone ate. After they had eaten, since they had not eaten these for twelve years, they fell deeply asleep like intoxicated. Rice was still full as it was. They had eaten but little rice each; they couldn’t eat any more. They ate as much as a could.

For twelve years they had had no clothes. They had worn only pieces of the leaves and bark of trees, for twelve years. They had no clothes. [The old woman saw all this]. Then she ate and fell asleep.

But Rajani had not slept. [When time passed and no one got up], she wondered what had happened, why no one was getting up. To find out if they were alive or dead she awakened Rama Chandra and said, ‘Get up, let’s see what has happened.’

‘What? What’s the matter?’

‘Nothing. Go to mother, she’d tell you.’

He went to his mother and said, ‘Mother, see how everyone is sleeping like drugged. No breath or nothing.’

Then his mother said, ‘You go and sleep. Eat and sleep. I’ll tell you the whole story later.’

The old woman said this. [They slept]. Then the night came to an end. When the next day came, the old woman started. When she started, they arranged everything for her. With those things she came back home. When she reached home, the old man asked, ‘Old woman, you had gone to your son’s house, why you couldn’t stay more than a day?’

‘Did I stay in my son’s house or what? The comfort with which my son and daughters-in-law are living, I’ll go away to them.’

‘Are they living in such misery there? We had only lone son, he is in such difficulty? Okay, I’ll go there tomorrow.’ This is what Dasaratha said. Then the old woman arranged everything for him as she had done for herself—the pop rice, rice, cake etc. Thus, the old man started. But he did not know the way. What to do? The old woman told him to follow the trail of broken branches. Where broken branches stop, he should call out to them.

When the old man reached that place, he called out the name of Rama Chandra thrice. Like before, the two had gone out to dig potatoes. Who? Rama Chandra and Rajani. The other six daughters-in-law had been left under a tree. Like before, Rajani heard the call and told Rama Chandra. Just like they had taken the old woman, they took the old man to their hut. When they arrived, they served food and drink for him. After eating, the old man surveyed everything, how they were staying and living.

Then he said to his son, ‘Rama Chandra, you come back home now.’

Rama Chandra said, ‘Fourteen years have not passed. I can’t go until fourteen years have been completed.’

‘No. Your fourteen years are complete. Now you come.’

‘If fourteen years have passed as you say, okay.’

He went back home. The old man returned with his son and seven daughters-in-law. When they arrived, the old man stopped them at the end of the village. He then called the washerman, barber, Brahmin, Baishnaba etc. Having trimmed, shaved and dressed them, made them civilized, he took them home.

Juang Food
Champak Kumar Sahu

INTRODUCTION

The Juang – one of the primitive tribes, among, 62 tribes of Orissa, exclusively noticed in Orissa, are traditional shifting cultivators. In past, they were known as Pattoas for wearing leaves. In their language, the word 'Juang' means "sons of Man". Linguistically they belong to the Mundari speaking group. According to the 1991 census there are 35665 Juangs living in Orissa of which 13782 are in Keonjhar. The literacy rate is very less among the Juang. According to 1981 census it was only 8 %. The Juangs are presently noticed in Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and undivided districts of Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Koraput, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Phulbani, Bolangir, Puri and Balasore of Orissa. Although the Juang are found in number of districts in Orissa, they originally inhabited in the hilly region of Keonjhor district and the neighboring areas of present Angul district and in later stage they have migrated to the other areas in search of food. Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Keonjhar, has made a survey in 1996 to know the details about the Juang. According to survey, there are 19362 Juang living in Keonjhar. They are distributed in 5 blocks mainly in Banspal, Telkoi, Harichandanpur, Ghatagaon and Keonjhar Sadar.

Data have been collected by participatory and interview methods.The research village covered under the study include Panasanasa, Gungi and Duarsuni and others. The first two are ethnically homogeneous while Duarsuni is heterogeneous in nature. The first village Panasnasa, located at the top of the hill is more of traditional nature in comparison to other villages. The second village Gungi is at the slope of the hill where as the third village Duarsuni is situated at the base of the hill.

FOOD

During the lean month (Tilai masa) that is Sraban & Bhadrava (July 15 to Sept 15 - October 15). The Juang take loan from the moneylender. According to S. Bose - "Juang pirh is a land of hungry nation. Though they require their square meals within a day yet they hardly get more than one proper full meal within a day and as such they fill their stomach with foodstuff other than rice and millets. In this land of hunger even the seeds of mango is also dried, then ground into powder and eaten by making pitha from that powder". (Bose 1967:108)

Arua: The rice is prepared only be husking the paddy. Finally winnowing separates rice.

1 boil Usuna: This rice is prepared by boiling the paddy in a pot for sometimes with small quantity of water. After water evaporates completely paddy are taken out and sun dried for 2/3 hours. Then the paddy are husked and winnowing separates rice.

2^nd boil Usuna: This rice is prepared by boiling the paddy in a pot for sometimes with full quantity of water. After water evaporates completely paddy are taken out and sun dried for 2/3 hours. Then the paddy are husked and winnowing separates rice.

"The juang are ominivorus. In regards to food they are not in the least particular,eating all kind of flesh, including mice, rat, monkey, tiger, bear, snake, frogs, and even offal and for them the jungle abound in spotaneously produceed vegetable. In quest of food they posses all the instinct of the animals discerning at a glance what is nutritive and never mistaking a noxious for an edible fungus or root". ( Dalton 1872:152)

There is no taboo in Juang culture against the consumption of beef. Some Juang profess not to eat beef, at least to outsider. (Mc.Douglas1963:14).

In recent years there are meetings of the Juanga Sradars of various pirhs to review their customary rules and practices. On 25 April 1998, in one of such meetings held at the village Upper Bali, they decided that the Juangs should not take beef. If any body violates this rule, it was decided in this meeing to impose on him a fine of Rs. 1000/-.Such decision, according to some villagers, was taken earlier in 1985 in a meeting at Gonasika but some of the villager did not obey this rules.

This is an example of their effort to raise their acceptability by the neighbouring Hindus.

Jungle Produce:

Basang : The Basang is collected from the jungle.House wives cut them into small round pieces and keep them in the boiled water for long time to wash away the bitter element. Then it is consumed after roasting. Mango carnel is also processed similarly and mixed with rice flour to prepare Cake (pitha).

Ajang : In order to acquire the Ajang tuber,the Juang use the bulug stick to dig a deep pit after locating these roots from the surface vegetation.

The fruits which are important for the Juang subsistance are, Jack fruit, mango. Papaya, Banana, Guana. The most important tree for Juang is Mahula tree. The Mahula flowers are consumed as food during lean period. This flower is also brewed to prepare liquor.The mahula fruit is also used in various ways like preparation of oil.

Karep (Mushroom) : During rainy season this is available in the forest. These are collected to be consumed in rainy season (Lean period).

The Juang consume careals such as Ragi, Jower, Maize, Kadu, Mandia, Guldi, Kangu in addition to the rice. The pulses like, Harada, Black gram, Gram, beans and sutri are consumed by them.

The rich Juang spent 60 to 70 percent of his income for food. The poor Juang spent 80 to 90 percent of his income for food.

Rice beer or handia is the most common alcoholic drink among the Juang. But they prepare handia only in special occasion. The Munda tribe of the nearby villagers prepare handia and sell in the village market. When the Juang goto weekly market they drink handia or mahuli.

To eat meat the Juang rear fowls, goats, sheep, pigs. Some time they hunt wild pig, deer, sambar, pecock during harvest season & summer season. In rainy season they collect masrooms and eat as a curry with rice. In rainy season the Juang catch fish, crab from the near by stream or from the agricultural field. In summer season they catch fish from the nearly pond with net. Red ant is collected from the forest and is eaten with rice. It is also taken with either Handia or mahuli as Chakhana.

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Jayadev Vihar
Bhubaneswar-751015
Orissa, India

Although the English term "tribe" (derived from Latin "tribus") designates a homogenous kind of social and political organization existing in the society, in the Indian context it refers to the indigenous ‘Janas'. They are commonly designated as ‘Adivasi’ (original settlers), ‘Girijan’ (hill-dwellers), ‘Vanyajati’ (forest community), ‘Adimjati’ (primitive communities), ‘Janjati’ (folk communities), etc. In Orissa the term Adivasi is commonly used for the tribes. All tribes are not mentioned in the Schedule. In common parlance the tribes enlisted as schedule are mentioned as ST.

Orissa occupies a unique position in the ethnographic map of India for having the largest variety of tribal communities. Although they are found in all the districts of the State, yet more than half of their total strength is found in the districts of Koraput, Rayagada, Naurangpur, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Nauapara, Kandhamal, Baudh, Kconjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj. In India there are 437 tribes, and in Orissa the number is sixty-two (62). According to 1991 Census, in Orissa, the total strength of tribal population is approximately seven million, which constitutes 22.21% of the total population of the State.

Linguistically the tribes of India are broadly classified into four categories, namely – (1) Indo-Aryan speakers, (2) Dravidian speakers, (3) Tibeto-Burmese speakers, and (4) Austric speakers. In Orissa, the tribal communities belong to Austric (Mundari) and Dravidian family of language. Many sections have adopted Oriya (the State language of Indo-Aryan family) and have become bilingual.

TRIBAL CULTURE

Manipulation of environment being the main concern of the tribals, all the ritual acts are directed towards stimulating natural processes. Illness or misfortune is attributed to displeasure and malicious act of the Gods or ancestors. The sacrifice of different kinds of livestock accompanied by all the rites and ceremonials of fetishism is considered appropriate appeasement. Moreover, their extremely superstitious nature prohibits the undertaking of any enterprise unless the Gods are first appeased and the omens, after being carefully considered, are adjudged to be propitious.

The artistic sense of the tribal people is manifested in their dance, music, dress and ornaments, wall paintings and woodcarvings. The beautiful wall paintings and floral designs of the Santals and the icons of the Saoras that depict geometric designs and stylistic figures of plants and animals are the best example of tribal art. The multicolored designs and relief figures of animals and human beings, which decorate the walls of Mandaghar in Juang society, are indeed works of very high order.