The Sora (alternative names and spellings include Saora, Saura, Savara and Sabara) are a Munda ethnic group from eastern India. They live in southern Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
The Soras mainly live in Gajapati, Rayagada and Bargarh districts of Odisha.[2] They are also present in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts. In the census, however, some Soras are classified under Shabar or Lodha, the name for another very different Munda tribe. They inhabit blocks of Gunupur, Padmapur and Gudari. Their highest concentration is found in the Puttasingi area, approximately 25km away from Gunupur NAC. Although, they are close to the assimilation process, yet some interior GPs like Rejingtal, Sagada and Puttasingi have Soras who still retain their traditional tribal customs and traditions.
They are known by various names such as Savara, Sabara, Sora, and Soura. They are concentrated in parts of Gunupur adjoining to the blocks of Gumma, Serango of Gajapati district. The Soras speak Sora, a Munda language. However, written language in Sora is not followed by all. They practice shifting cultivation, with a few gradually taking up settled agriculture.
They are of medium or short stature. The Savara villages consist of houses with mud walls and sedge grass roofs, usually situated in foothills. The adult males dress with a gavancha and the women with saris. They are also sometimes called Lanjia Souras due to their dress pattern of wearing a loin cloth hanging from behind and which could be mistakenly identified as a tail by a stranger.
They are endogamous and the clan, although absent, is related to Birinda, which is exogamous. Families are nuclear although joint or extended families are also found. Marriages are made by bride capture, elopement, and by negotiations.
The Sora people are a dwindling jungle tribe with a distinctive shamanic culture. According to an article in Natural History, "a shaman, usually a woman, serves as an intermediary between the two worlds [of the living and the dead]. During a trance, her soul is said to climb down terrifying precipices to the underworld, leaving her body for the dead to use as their vehicle for communication. One by one the spirits speak through her mouth. Mourners crowd around the shaman, arguing vehemently with the dead, laughing at their jokes, or weeping at their accusations."[3]
History
The Soras were already mentioned under the name of Savaras in Brāhmaṇas, who associate them with the Indo-Aryan Vaidarbhas and non-Indo-Aryan Pulindas. [4]
Graeco-Roman authors later mentioned the Soras, with Pliny calling them the "Suari" and Ptolemy calling them the "Sabarae."[4]
Culture
A Lanjia Saora couple
Instead of clan organization they have their extended families called Birinda, which consists of descendants from a common ancestors of four to five generations. The Soras' religion is very elaborate and deep rooted. They are animist and believe in large number of deities and ancestral spirits. Dance and music constitute part and parcel of their rich aesthetic life.
The Sora family is polygamous. The total household economy revolves around the woman member who is hardworking and who helps her husband in ploughing and harvesting crops in addition to attending household chores exclusively.
The Sora people are the most prevalent practitioners of the podu cultivation system in Srikakulam district. Living high in the hills, they have little level land available and so cannot usually plough. They slash-and-burn forested land, planting millet and pulses between the tree stumps that are left and which limit the effects of erosion. After a couple of years of use, they allow the land to recover by cultivating a different area; in due course, they return to the original plot. In addition to podu, the Sora also construct irrigated terraces where it is feasible and upon those, they grow rice.[5]
Oral Tradition:
The Sora community has a rich depository of oral tradition. Their singers are known as Kin Kin mar, and storytellers are known as Katabirmar. They play Ranai- a local fiddle to sing the song. Their priest Buyang spell the myths of Origin and narratives. Their folklore is enriched with local knowledge. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi has published a book on Saora Folk literature written by Dr. Mahendra Kumar Mishra, a noted folklorist of India. Cornelia Mallebrein, A German ethnographer has conducted research and study on Id- Tal, the traditional Sora ritual painting. Nowadays, Id-Tal Painting has highly popular esteem in the market across the world.
Education in Saora Language; Government of Odisha has introduced the Saora language in primary schools under Multilingual Education Programme from class I to class V. The eminent teachers from the Sora community have written Sora primers. Enam Gomanga, Philip Sabara, Ghasi Sabara, Injuram Sabara are the eminent writers of Sora Primer guided by Dr. MAhendra Kumar Mishra, Former State Coordinator, MLE program, Odisha Mangei Gomanga, the inventor of Sora script Sora - Sompen in Marichaguda has been used by the Sora people for their ethnic solidarity. Prof Khageswara Mahapatra, an eminent linguist of Odisha had promoted Sora script through his patronization.
Religion
The Soras are highly religious with each and every natural phenomenon attributed to the works of some Gods, deities or spirits of traditional belief. Therefore, the customary law, values, norms are highly respected by all members of the society for the fear of inviting personal or communal harms.
They believe that spirits guide their destiny, worshiping mainly the deities Sandhidemudu and Jakaradevatha. According to the legend, Lord Nrusimha was being worshipped at Neelagiri (Puri) along with Neelamadhaba. As mentioned earlier, Lord Nrushimha is being worshiped in a separate temple adjacent to Muktimandapa/ Muktamandapa. According to the legend, the image of Neelamadhaba was made of Neelakanta mani (emerald). However, the present image of the deity is made of neem wood. Legend further says that Lord Jagannath was originally worshiped by a Savara raja (an aboriginal tribal chieftain) named Viswabasu. Having heard about the glory of the deity, Raja Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest called Vidyapati to discover the exact location of the deity who was then secretly worshipped by Viswabasu inside the cave of a dense forest. Vidyapati tried his best, but could not locate the place of worship. Finally, he could manage to marry Lalita, the daughter of Viswabasu. At repeated request of Lalita, Viswabasu took his son-in-law blind-folded to a cave wherein Lord Neelamadhaba was being worshipped. Vidyapati was a very intelligent man. He dropped mustard seeds on the ground on his way. After a few days, the seeds germinated which helped Vidyapati to locate the cave wherein the deity was being worshiped in secret. On hearing from Vidyapati subsequently, Raja Indradyumna immediately rushed to Odra desa (Odisha) to have a darshan of the deity. The king was disappointed at the sudden disappearance of the deity. The deity was hidden in sand. Raja Indradyumna was determined not to return without having a darshan of the deity and observed fast onto death at Neelagiri. The deity was pleased with the king. Thereafter, the king performed a horse sacrifice and built a magnificent temple for the deity.
However, in the last many decades many of the traditional Sora beliefs have been superseded by Christianity that was introduced by missionaries.[6] In many areas the shamanic and animist beliefs are distant memories, and in some areas, particularly around Puttasingh the graveyards of the ancestors have been destroyed.
Social life
Lanjia Sora house at Odisha State Tribal fair, Bhubaneswar
The Sora have a traditional political organization at each village and region, having hereditary post of Gomango (or Gamong; secular head), Buyya (or Buya; religious head), Mondal, Raito, and Barik (messenger). The Soras have made history in pre-British and British period and post independence as a community known for their economic and political integrity.
They practice shifting cultivation and the men hunt. A weekly market, called shandies, is an important role in the society, in the economy and in culture exchanges with other tribes and Western culture.
The Gondi (Gōṇḍī) or Gond people, who refer to themselves as "Koitur", are an ethnolinguistic group in India. Their native language, Gondi, belongs to the Dravidian family. They are spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha. They are listed as a Scheduled Tribe for the purpose of India's system of reservation.
The folklore of India encompasses the folklore of the nation of India and the Indian subcontinent. India is an ethnically and religiously diverse country. Given this diversity, it is difficult to generalize the vast folklore of India as a unit.
Jagannatha is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India as part of a triad along with his (Krishna's) brother Balabhadra, and sister, Subhadra. Jagannath, within Odia Hinduism, is the supreme god, Purushottama, and the Para Brahman. To most Vaishnava Hindus, particularly the Krishnaites, Jagannath is an abstract representation of Krishna, sometimes as the avatar of Vishnu.
Rayagada district is a district in southern Odisha, a state in India, which became a separate district in October 1992. Its population consists mainly of tribes, primarily the Khonds and the Soras. In addition to Odia, Kui and Sora are spoken by the district's indigenous population. It was founded by Maharajah Biswanatha Deba Gajapati of the Surjyabansha dynasty of Jeypore.
Jharsuguda is a district in Odisha, India with Jharsuguda town as its headquarters. This region is rich in coal and other mineral reserves. Of late, many small and medium scale iron and steel units have been set up in the vicinity of Jharsuguda town, giving impetus to the industrial growth of the district.
The Jagannath Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Jagannath, a form of Vishnu in Hinduism. It is located in Puri in the state of Odisha, situated on the eastern coast of India. As per temple records, King Indradyumna of Avanti built the main temple of Jagannath at Puri. The present temple was rebuilt from the tenth century onwards, on the site of the pre-existing temples in the compound, but not the main Jagannath temple, and begun by Anantavarman Chodaganga, the first king of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. Many of the temple rituals are based on Oddiyana Tantras which are the refined versions of Mahayana Tantras as well as Shabari Tantras which are evolved from Tantric Buddhism and tribal beliefs respectively. The local legends link the idols with aboriginal tribes and the daitapatis (servitors) claim to be descendants of the aboriginals. The temple is one of the 108 Abhimana Kshethram of the Vaishnavite tradition.
Sora is a south Munda language of the Austroasiatic language of the Sora people, an ethnic group of eastern India, mainly in the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Sora contains very little formal literature but has an abundance of folk tales and traditions. Most of the knowledge passed down from generation to generation is transmitted orally. Like many languages in eastern India, Sora is listed as 'vulnerable to extinction' by UNESCO. Sora speakers are concentrated in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The language is endangered as per as International Mother Language Institute (IMLI).
The Ho people are an Austroasiatic Munda ethnic group of India. They are mostly concentrated in the Kolhan region of Jharkhand and northern Odisha where they constitute around 10.7% and 7.3% of the total Scheduled Tribe population respectively, as of 2011. With a population of approximately 700,000 in the state in 2001, the Ho are the fourth most numerous Scheduled tribe in Jharkhand after the Santals, Kurukhs, and Mundas. Ho also inhabit adjacent areas in the neighbouring states of Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar bringing the total to 806,921 as of 2001. They also live in Bangladesh and Nepal.
The Sabar people are one of the Adivasi of Munda ethnic group tribe who live mainly in Odisha and West Bengal. During the colonial period, they were classed as one of the 'criminal tribes' under Criminal Tribes Act 1871, and suffer from social stigma and ostracism in modern times.
Nuakhai is an agricultural festival mainly observed by people of Western Odisha in India. Nuakhai is observed to welcome the new rice of the season. According to the calendar it is observed on panchami tithi of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada or Bhadraba (August–September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. This is the most important social festival of Western Odisha and adjoining areas of Simdega in Jharkhand, where the culture of Western Odisha is much predominant.
Chik Baraik or Baraik are a tribal community originally from the Chota Nagpur plateau and neighbouring states of Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
Bhumij is a Munda ethnic group of India. They primarily live in the Indian states of West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Jharkhand, mostly in the old Singhbhum district and also in states like Bihar and Assam. There is also a sizeable population found in Bangladesh. Bhumijas speak the Bhumij language, an Austroasiatic language, and use Ol Onal script for writing.
Narasimha Temple is situated in Puri, Odisha, India, to the western side of Gundicha Temple and to the east of the Indradyumna tank.
Ghumura dance is a folk dance of Kalahandi district of the Indian state Odisha. It is classified as folk dance as the dress code of Ghumura resembles more like a tribal dance, but there are arguments about mudra and dance forms of Ghumura bearing more resemblance with other classical dance forms of India.
Nilachala, also rendered Niladri refers to a region corresponding to Puri, in the Indian state of Odisha.
Nilamadhava is a manifestation of Vishnu and Krishna featured in Hindu literature, with its origin in Odia tradition. According to traditional accounts, prior to his syncretism into Vaishnavism, this was the name of a deity made of sapphire that was venerated by the aboriginal Savara people, whose leader was known as Vishvavasu.
Mangei Gomango, popularly known as Pandita Sabara Mangei Gamango was an Indian language activist who is said to have devised the tribal language of Rayagada district. He has been awarded by Odisha Sahitya Academy.
Idital or Edital is a form of Indian painting from the state of Odisha. It is a kind of Saura painting that was invented and is practiced by the Sora people who mostly live in Rayagada, Gajapati and Koraput districts of Odisha. The artisans paint Idital as a symbol of devotion to the tribal deity "Idital" or "Edital". Each piece of Idital painting contains symbols and signs and each one of them convey a distinct meaning. "Jodisum" and "Jananglasum" are two known Idital styles.
The Bhoi dynasty or the Yaduvamsa dynasty were a medieval Hindu dynasty from the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Odisha that reigned from 1541 to 1560 CE. Govinda Vidyadhara had usurped the throne from the later weaker Suryavamsa Gajapati Empire rulers as the kingdom started weakening but had a short-lived reign as ruling chiefs of Odisha as the ensuing internal rivalries and constant threats of invasions rendered them weak and were eventually overthrown by Mukunda Deva of Chalukya dynasty in 1560.
References
Saora Tales and Songs, Edited by Dr Mahendra Kumar Mishra, Published by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. 2005, 2018
↑ Piers Vitebsky, Living Without the Dead: Loss and Redemption in a Jungle Cosmos, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2017 and Delhi: HarperCollins 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
India 
