13th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research

Presentation Abstracts

MISHRA, Mahendra Kumar

The Cultural Identity of the Saora Tribe of Orissa: tradition and transition

Mahendra Kumar Mishra is unable to attend the congress and present this paper.

The Saora are an indigenous tribe of eastern India belonging to the Austro-Asiatic language group. They are divided into the Lanjia Saora and the Suddha Saora, sharing a common language and natural resource.

The cultural discord between the Hinduized Saora and the transformed Saora is distinctly visible in their social life. The extinguishing of the traditional folklore of the Lanjia Saora (converted) reflects the transition in their lifestyle and the adoption of new cultural forms of expression. The Hinduized Saora revitalize their myths and religious practices to counteract the Lanjia Saora by utilizing their traditional folklore, mythology, and legends; this serves to regenerate their cultural unity. Similarly the Lanjia Saora create new cultural artefacts and myths familiar with the episodes of the Bible in their geo-political and socio-religious context. In both cases, the indigenous religion of the Saora is absent. But the decline of the Saora language has been halted due to evangelical literature and Bible in Saora. The indigenous rites and rituals of the Saora people have also been incorporated into Christian rites and rituals both in the domestic domain and public domain. The traditional agricultural rituals of the Saora have been reinterpreted with the Christian belief system. Ancestor worship and traditional myths, on the other hand, are in decline amongst the Lanjia Saora.

This has occurred in a wider context. The major transformation of land use, increased migration and the displacement of the Saora people has brought about a great cultural loss and an exploitation of the Saora socio-religious worldview and traditional culture.