The Didayi tribes Cultural Contours and Heritage

The book covers the significant aspects of the Didayi tribal society, Socio-cultural systems and development. The Didayi tribal are a typical tribe found only in the Konda Kamberu Hill ranges of Eastern Ghat in the Malkangiri district. They are constitutes an ethno cultural group of Odisha. They are only found in Odisha State and nowhere else in our Country. The Didayi remains isolated in their remote mountains abode. Didayi are peace loving, hospitable, rational and gentle in nature. They maintain their inter-ethnic amity because of their conscientious attitude and sobriety.They are a wild tribe and the stratum of primitive semi nomadic shifting cultivators. The name by which the Didayi know themselves as Gatre, meaning 1 man 1 and the name Didayi meaning Wild People. The Gata/Bundak/Didayi is one among the many tribal communities in Odisha, concentrated mostly in the Malkangiri district. The language of the Didayi tribe is called the Gitasa/Gatasa or Didayi-sa.Their economy is subsistence oriented. Agriculture is the main occupation of the Gata/Bundak/Didayi. They are a hard working community, cultivating the slopes of the mountains they live on. They also collect fruit and wood from the jungle and sell it in nearby markets. Their traditional social organization is simple and kinship plays a vital role in integrating their society. Traditionally Didayi have own mechanism of social control. There is seen a unique traditional socio-cultural, socio- political and socio- economical organization in the Didayi society. The Didayi have repository of splendid oral literature represented through myths, folktales, folk songs, proverbs and riddles. They sing and dance with musical accompaniments in festive occasions and life-cycle rituals and express their emotions. Drinking locally-made alcohol or home-brewed rice beer and dancing through the night are distinctive features of their cultural life. The generally timid Bundak/ Didayi take pleasure in hunting animals and bi