Lodha | |
---|---|
Regions with significant populations | |
West Bengal | 1,08,707 |
Odisha | 9,785 |
Languages | |
First language : Lodhi Second language : Sadri, Bengali, Odia | |
Religion | |
Hinduism, Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Munda, Lodha Muslims, Sabar |
Lodha people are one of Schedule Tribes and PVTGs of India, primarily living in West Bengal and Odisha. Lodhas of West Bengal mostly live the Paschim Medinipur and Jhargham districts. A section of the Lodha has converted to Islam, and formed a distinct community called the Lodha Muslims.
As per 2001 census, Lodhas numbered 84,966 and formed 1.9 per cent of the scheduled tribe population of West Bengal. They had a literacy rate of 34.8 per cent. [1] As per the 2011 census, the Lodhas population is 108,707 and 9,785 in West Bengal and Odisha respectively.
Census year | West Bengal | Odisha |
---|---|---|
1971 | 45,906 | 1,508 |
1981 | 53,718 | 5,100 |
1991 | 68,095 | 7,458 |
2001 | 84,966 | 8,905 |
2011 | 1,08,707 | 9,785 |
The Lodhas of Odisha are primarily found in Suliapada and Morada blocks of Baripada sub-division of Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. [2]
Lodha means piece of flesh named after their ancestor. Lodhas have been in the focus of anthropologists and social activists. [3] During the early period of their rule, the British government in India oppressed the tribal people of Jungle Mahals, who were traditionally dependent upon the forests for a living. They had revolted but were ruthlessly suppressed. Having been deprived of their livelihood and without any alternatives, they took to criminal ways of life and were subsequently branded a criminal tribe. They should properly be labelled as uprooted rebels. Lodha titles are Nayek, Mallick, Digar, Sardar, Bhokta, Kotal, Dandapat, Bhunya etc. These titles were also used by the Sabars. [4] One of the most important research on the Lodhas was done by a Calcutta University faculty, Prabodh Kumar Bhowmick. [5] [6] Much later, researchers from the Department of Anthropology at Vidyasagar University have done empirical studies on the development scenario of the Lodha tribe in Mendinpur district [7] [8] who were by that time declared as a 'Primitive Tribal Group' (PTG) by the Government of India.
Mayurbhanj district is one of the 30 districts in the Odisha state of eastern India. It holds the distinction of being the largest district in Odisha by area. The district's headquarters is located in Baripada, with other major towns including Rairangpur, Karanjia, and Bahalda. As of 2011, Mayurbhanj ranks as the third-most populous district in Odisha, following Ganjam and Cuttack.
The Kharia are an Austroasiatic tribal ethnic group from east-central India. They originally speak the Kharia language, which belong to Austroasiatic languages. They are sub-divided into three groups known as the Hill Kharia, Delki Kharia and the Dudh Kharia. Amongst them, the Dudh Kharia is the most educated community.
The Baiga are an ethnic group found in central India primarily in the state of Madhya Pradesh, and in smaller numbers in the surrounding states of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The largest number of Baiga is found in Baiga-chuk in Mandla district and Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. They have sub-castes: Bijhwar, Narotia, Bharotiya, Nahar, Rai maina and Kath maina. The name Baiga means "sorcerer-medicine man".
Chuni Kotal was a Dalit Adivasi of Lodha Shabar tribe, a Scheduled Tribes of India, who in 1985 became the first woman graduate among the Lodha Shabars.
The tribes of Jharkhand consist of 32 scheduled tribes inhabiting the Jharkhand state in India. In 1872, only 18 tribes were counted among the schedule tribes from which Banjara, Bhatudi, Chik Baraik and Mahli were marked as semi-Hindu aboriginal and Kora as proletariat Hindu. In the 1931 census, including the above four semi-Hindu aboriginal and Kora, a proletariat Hindu, the number was raised to 26 from 18. They were Birajia, Godait, Karmali and Paharia, but Kisan was excluded from the list. In 1941 census, Baga, Bedia and Lohra included again taking Kisan in the annexure and number came to 30 which prevailed till June 2003. Kanwar and Kol were added on 8 June 2003 in the annexure and the number of Schedule Tribes came to 32.
Paschim Medinipur district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the Partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur. On 4 April 2017, the Jhargram subdivision was converted into a district. GDP of West Midnapore district is 12 billion USD.
Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi was an Indian anthropologist.
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Biraja Sankar Guha was an Indian physical anthropologist, who classified Indian people into races around the early part of the 20th century and he was also a pioneer to popularize his scientific ideas in the vernacular. He was the first Director of the Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) (1945–1954).
Lodha is a name of various Indian communities and may refer to:
Surajit Chandra Sinha was an Indian anthropologist.
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Scheduled Tribes are specific indigenous peoples whose status is acknowledged to some formal degree by national legislation. Scheduled tribes of the Indian state of West Bengal, as recognized by the Constitution of the Indian Republic; a total of 40 distinct tribes. Among those 40 tribes 3 tribes are "Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups" (PTGs).
Bhumij is an Austroasiatic language belonging to the Munda subfamily, related to Ho, Mundari, and Santali, primarily spoken by Bhumij peoples in the Indian states Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. As per the 2011 census, only 27,506 people out of 9,11,349 Bhumij people spoke Bhumij as their mother tongue, as most Bhumijas have shifted to one of the regional dominant languages. Thus the language is considered an extremely endangered language.
Tarak Chandra Das (1898–1964) was an anthropologist of Calcutta University. He did his Masters' from Calcutta University in ‘Ancient Indian History and Culture’ and joined the then newly founded Department of Anthropology at Calcutta University in 1921 as a research scholar and then he became lecturer in 1923 and finally retired as a Reader from the Department in 1963. Das conducted extensive fieldworks in Chotanagpur in the then Bihar and in Assam.
Lakshminarayanapuram Ananthakrishna Krishna Iyer was an Indian anthropologist and a writer of several books on the subject. He was the head of the department of Anthropology at the University of Madras and was credited with studies on the tribal and scheduled caste people of Kerala, a work initiated by his father, L. K. Ananthakrishna Iyer, himself a noted anthropologist. Anthropology in India, Social History of Kerala, a two-volume historical study and The Travancore Tribes and Castes, a three-volume account of the tribal people of southern Kerala are some of his notable works. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1972, for his contributions to science. His sons, L.K. Ananthakrishnan,L. K. Balaratnam, is also a known anthropologist. Dr L.K. Ramachandran noted Scientist/ Bio-Chemist/> L.K. Padmanabhan His daughters, L.K. Lakshmi, L.K. Kamalam, L.K. Bhagirathy and L.K. Parvathy.
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