Gender Role in Handicraft Promotion: A Case Study among Dongria Kandha Women in Rayagada District, Odisha

Introduction

The craft made by the rural folk are typical in nature with a cultural and aesthetic life. Craft is the sign of creativity, innovativeness limited to certain groups who are blessed with magical hand. Odisha is famous for its natural scenery, cuisine, art, craft, traditional dance form, folk song and culture. More or less every part of Odisha retains some handicraft artefacts. Handicraft is most probably considered as craft made out of hand. The handicraft industry of India as well as Odisha is famous for its perfection, incredible craftsmanship. The mythological, religions, social world view artistic value, cultural value, historical elements attached to craft reflect the prestigious cultural heritage of Indian country [1]. Raghurajpur is famous for Pattachitra and palm leaf work, Pipili famous for Appliqué, Cuttack is famous for Silver filigree, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak for Wood carving, Kendrapara for Golden grass, Rayagada, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Nabarangpur, Dhenkanal for Dhokra, Puri and Bhubaneswar for Stone carving.

Investigation Paper

Ganjam for Brass fish, Dhenkanal and Rayagada for Tribal jewellery. Odisha is a homeland for 62 tribal groups who are distributed in different geographical regions. The tribal community have different from each group with unparallel cultural social identity. They have their own cultural beliefs, traditions, attires, ornaments, song, dance, folklore, rituals, indigenous skill, craft etc. They have a rich material culture with them which is transmitted generation after generation. The skill, the knowledge, the art which a tribe have is innate. The handicraft is not only an industry but also an identity and fulfilled the necessities of the people. The Odisha tribes are famous for their traditional skill like Juang are expert in wood carving, Bonda are expert in weaving of clothes and carpet, Lanjia Saora popular for painting, Lodha for sabai rope making, Chuktia Bhunjia and Didayi for bamboo basketry. The craft of tribal communities are the output of indigenous skill intertwined with the artistic imagination of the people. The craft created by them have distictive design, primitive technique of production, distinguish shape and colour. The handicraft produce by the tribal communities are basically utilitarian, decorative and religious valued objects. Some objects are used in day to day activities like textiles, baskets, hunting and musical instruments etc, decorative objects are jewellery and religious objects are like figurine of deity, items used during rituals. The art and craft made by the Soura tribe are related to various social-cultural life such as healing process, Child birth, deities, life situations etc [2]. Some of the craft has religious value such as either it has significance during festival or rituals. Appliqué craft is attached with religious ceremony. During Dola and rituals associated with lord Jagannath ,canopy chariots, flag are used which are made of appliqué [3]. The artefacts made out of Bena grass by its design, durability, beautifulness character has been popular by the user. It has also socio-religious significance like Brata Pedi, Puja Gua Pedi, Bhoga Pasara [4]. The Dhokra craft made by the craft man of Jhigidi village is very fond among Dongria Kandha. They purchase jewellery like ear ring, ring, necklace etc from the local market and also numbers of foreigner attracted to the Chatikana weekly market to purchase Dhokra items [5]. The flexible brass fish is a 300 years old craft originated in the Ganjam district once had popular in the international world is now in the stage of extinction. The skill is only limited to three descendant [6]. The art & craft of Odisha is a source of livelihood reflected the way of life. Sabai grass is a minor forest produce used for making rope. The rope is used for making sofa, chairs, baskets, tea poi. The rural family engaged in rope making for their livelihood. The female and children are basically involved in the rope making [7]. The handicraft and cottage industry of Odisha is the representative of the state’s heritage and culture. The preservation of this skill essential for both the artisan and for the state to maintain its value [8]. North eastern zone of India is popular for handloom. Women are the real weavers and predominant the handloom world but they are facing problem due to changing market system and strong competitor [9]. Handicraft sector of India suffered for several factors like illiteracy, unorganised, financial constraints, middleman, less knowledge regarding new technology, inefficient market system etc. [10].

Area & People

Scheduled Tribe constitutes 8.6 percent of total population of India. As per 2011 census 705 scheduled tribes are there in India; Odisha has contained 62 tribal communities and 13 are among them coming under particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs). The State of Odisha occupies third position in the country having a high concentration of Scheduled Tribe. As per the 2011 census Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes together constitute nearly 40% of the State’s total population (S.Ts 22.85% and S.Cs 17.13%). Kandha is numerically the most populous tribe in Odisha. Their main concentration is in South Odisha. The population of Kandha in Odisha is 16.27 lakh. The Niyamgiri hill range of Eastern Ghats is home for Dongria Kandha. They mainly confined to Bissam cuttack, Muniguda and Kalyanisinghpur block. They inhabit in 103 revenue village and hamlets since long period. The total population is 8924 out of which male is 3739 and female is 5189. Dongria mostly prefer nuclear family and patrilineal and patriarchal society. They are called as Dongria by the Hindu counterpart though they lived in the dongar. They love to settle in the high altitude to meet the necessities and economic demand.

Materials & Methods

Anthropological studies are characterized by holistic approach, first-hand information collected through fieldwork and cross cultural comparison. The Information collected through an intensive field survey conducted in the Kurli Gram Panchayat of Bissamcuttuck Block. The techniques used for this study were Scheduled, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), Observation, and in-depth Interview with Informants. Simple random sampling had taken to select the 40 informants including Dongria Kandha women and young girls.

Analysis & Discussion

The embroidered shawl (Kapdaganda) is one of the widely popular, colourful, attractive indigenous knowledge of Dongria Kandha. It is most admirable customary practices within their own community as well as in foreign country. The Dongria Kandha a section of numerically preponderant Kandha tribe is wearing off white coarse cotton cloth. The clothes they wear give them comfort while doing the daily activities. During festivals, ceremonies, fairs season they used to wear a shawl (locally known as Kapdaganda). The shawl is very fond at the time of special occasion by both male and female. This shawl is hand woven and basically made by young girls and women. The shawl which is made by Dongria is two types one is called Kapdaganda and the other one is Watangaganda. The white cloth is known as Ganda or Kapda. Earlier the only source of getting cloth was Domb but now Dongria Kandha Development Agency (DKDA) is providing the cloth. Sometimes the cloth is provided by the Domb people inhabited in the Jhigidi village and sometimes it is available in the local market.

The cloth for Kapdaganda is off white colour and made up by loom. The colour of thread used in the Kapadganda is generally four viz. brown, yellow, green and red. These colours have its own significance. They represent the worldview of Dongria Kandha peoples. The Dongria Kandha is very simple and their life confined to the nature. The red colour represents the blood, sacrifice, conflicts, feuds, war, jealously etc. The green represents the forest, vegetation, cultivation that grown by the Dongria Kandha community, happiness etc. The yellow colour represents the turmeric field, harmony, peace etc. The brown represents the hill and mountains, strongness, masculine power etc.

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Conclusion

Dongria Kandha women and men are very fashionable and showiness for ornaments that gives attractive and unique appearance. Like other tribal groups of Odisha Dongria Kandha also have traditional skill and they also create a unique place and identity for their heroic activities. women are the integral part of the Dongria society. They are not only contributed to large share in economy but also to preserve and continue the tradition, skill, craft and knowledge bestowed upon the shoulder of women. Beside embroidery shawl Dongria have also knowledge in wood carving, wall painting, comb making etc. The shawl represents their heritage and rich culture. This is the craft which is not limited to state, nation only it is widely popular in the foreign also. For this there is the chance to imitate the skill and misuse the knowledge and make profit by selling the duplicate textile of it by any agency. So there should be geographical indication (GI) tag for Dongria Kandha Kapdaganda.

Acknowledgment

Authors acknowledge the each and every member of the Dongria Kandha community for their cooperation and special thanks to Dongria Kandha women for giving complete information about Kapdaganda.