Korwa Adivasi

            The Korawa Adivasi lives in the districts Palamu, Latehar, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Hazaribag and Santhal Pargana in Jharkhand State. They also inhabit in Surgija and Jaspur of present Chhatisgarh State. They belong to Proto-Australian racial group. Their dialect is Korawa which belongs to Austric linguistic family.

          The Korawa villages are situated on the top of a hill or an a mound covered with thick forest. The village consist of few isolated huts. The huts are erected with wood, bamboo, and plastered with mud. They are thatched with kher or straw. The huts are 10 to 12 ft. long and 8ft. high

Culture

The material culture of the Korawa presents the scene of simple technology. They have few earthen pots, aluminium utensils, iron knife and bronze lota. They do not have cots. Few baskets small, brooms, mat, winnowing tray etc. can also be seen in their houses. They have khanti or Ramba, Tanga, Phawra, Sickle and gorva as hunting, gathering and bowing implements. They males wear dhoti, gaji and have a gamchha. They wear kurta while going to another place. The females generally wear sari, saya and blouse. The children wear ganji, paint and shirt. They use plastic shoes and slippers. They wear ornaments of glass, thread, `steal, etc. which they purchase from the local weekly Haat.

Society   

The different forms of society in the Korawa are family, lineage, clan and the village. The family is the smallest form of the society. Several families descended from common ancestors constitute lineage. Several lineages having a common mythical ancestors form a clan. The village may be of one clan or several lineages having common mythical ancestors from a clan. The village may be of one clan or several clans. In the village, they live with other tribes like oraon, kissan, asur. They have marital and kinship relations with the Korawa of the neighbouring villages. The Korawa follow the social rules established by the community. Those who break social laws are ousted from the society. The society is patriarchal and patrilineal with patrilocal residence. The Korawa are divided in to three exogamous groups Dih Korawa, Danda Korawa and Pahari Korawa.

Family

The Korawa family is nuclear consisting of a couple and their unmarried children. The married children live in a separate house after marriage and establish a separate family is patrilneal. The authority lies in the hand of father. The father is the head of the household. But he does not take decision alone. He takes decision with the consent of the wife and young children. The role of wife is also not less in decision making in the family.

For the smooth and proper functioning of the family, the division of labour based on age and sex in pre-valent. For example cooking is female specific, while hunting and ploughing is male specific. The girl assists their mothers in household chores. The boys assist their fathers in forest and field. The boys assist their fathers in forest and field. The aged keeps watch upon the household property, kids, goats, chicks etc. when young men and women go to perform work. But the division of labour is not like water tight compartments. The females also do work in the forest and the field. They also work as Reja to get wages and increase family income. The males also know how to cook food. When the wife is ill or visits mayke, the husband cooks food. On the occasion of feast, it is the duty of the males to cook food. The family is the unit of production as consumption. Each family is the unit of production as well as consumption. Each family member takes part in the production and consume according to their needs.

Intra family relation is generally very sweet, cordial and cooperative. The husband and wife co-operate each other and make compromise and adjustment to run the family.  The conflict arises due to laziness and extra marital relation. The conflict is resolved with the help of Panchayat, children, relatives and neighbour. Divorce is permissible but in practise it takes place rarely.

The sibling relations is also very sweet. They live together, eat together and play together during childhood. They also have quarrel on many occasions but soon they become friends and being to play.

The parents love their children very much. They try to fulfil the desire of the children within their economic limit. The concept of reward and punishment is absent. Some times children are punished for doing wrong things. But beating and physical torture are rare. On many occasions children are praised for doing good things.

          The Korawa also have good relation with the lineage and clan groups. They maintain relation by reciprocal visits, exchange of goods, services, gifts and presentation on different social, ceremonial and festive occasions. They have food and water relation with the members of the own community. They do not accept food and water from the Asur. But they accept food and water from the Kissan, Oraon and Hindu castes. Their relation with other tribes and castes is good. The relation becomes strikeouts when instances of theft and extramarital relation come in to existence. The Korawa generally have good relation with the neighbouring villages. But relation becomes tensile due to the cases or theft, adultery premarital and extra marital relations.

Lineage is patrilineage. This group consists of the families of all sons descended from common known ancestors of four or five generations. The members of lineage group are related through blood and they follow lineage exogamic rule. It is a corporeal kin group. Its members exchange goods, service, gift, presentation and visit reciprocally.

The Korawa have clan system named after totemic plants and animals. They have mythical blood relation with the originator of the totemic clan. The members of the clan are related through blood. They follow the clan exogamy rule strictly. Those who violate these rules are punished. They are ousted from the tribe. They have to pay a fine in the form to feast only them they are included in the tribe. But now a day, they are in the way of forgetting their clan. They see that the boy and the girl to be married should not be related through blood. The clan is also a corporeal kin group. Its members have exchange of food, water, feast, goods, and services reciprocally on festive, ritualistic and ceremonial occasions. Each clan has its own panchayat to see that social codes are observed properly. Hulter, Titi, Kashi, Suiya, Khappo and Buchang are some clans of the Korawa.

Marriage

The Korawa follow the exogamic, endogamic, prohibitive and preferred rules at the time of marriage. They follow the clan exogamic rule, lineage exogamic rule, blood exogamic rule and village exogamic rule. Again they follow tribe endogamic rule cousin marriage are prohibited among them. But levirate, Sorarate, and widow remarriages are allowed. Although, they follow monogamy generally, but under certain circumstances bigamy and tri-gamy also come in to existences.

          The general way of acquiring marriage male in the Korawa is by bride price which is very nominal in cash, some clothes to bride and bride’s parents and rice to feed the Barat Party. If one is not able to pay even this little bride price, he has to take help of other means like service, elopement, and gloat for acquiring marriage mate. Generally marriages are arranged by the parents or guardians then the bride price is determined. The father or guardian of the boy goes to the father or guardian of the girl for the purpose of marriage. When the marriage is settled, news is communicated in the community by organising feast from bride’s father. The date of marriage is also decided. They Korawa settle the marriage of sons between the age of 15 to 25 years and of girls between 12 to 22 years. The occurrence of puberty is taken that the girl has attained marriageable age.

          On the day of marriage, the groom wears red Kurta, yellow Dhoti, red shoes; bead of red flowers with Kajan is eye. The male kins of the groom wear yellow Dhoti and white kurta with Red Gamachha. The female kins of the groom sprinkle water and sunfried rice on the groom and other members of the Barat Party. All kindered of the groom are invited to participate in the marriage ceremony. The Barat Party brings dresses of the bride, bride’s parents and bride’s brother and sister. They also bring ornaments of glass, thread, steel, brass, bronze, silver etc., for the bride one basket of sweets particularly ladder, gaja and lakatho is also brought rice, and pulse and vegetable are sent before the day of marriage. When the groom with Barat Party reaches in the village of the bride’s kins in the form of Sarat Party accord a grand welcome by offering water, sunfried rice and mango leaves on their heads and garlands of forest flowers. They are brought at a particular place to stay for the whole night. They are served gram and handia. The members of Barat party and Sarat party perform dance on mandar. Dresses, ornaments, sweets etc. are sent in the house of the bride then groom is invited in the courtyard where the female kins and companions of the bride take examination of the groom through jokes. After that the bride is brought before the groom. The female kins perform dance and singing. Companions make clapping and the groom puts vermillion in the forehead of the bride. This marks the end of marriage. After marriage the feast in given to the all members of the Barat and Sarat Party.

          In the next morning, the vidai of the groom bride and the members of the Barat Party is done. The groom is given new dresses; the bride wears the dresses brought by the groom. The kins of the bride give gift and presentation to the groom. Amidst tearful eyes, the kins of the bride makes her vidai along with the vidai of the groom. The members of the Barat party are given gram Lakatho, Handia and Mahua beer or Handia at the time of Vidai.

          On the day of marriage, a special kind of dance, singing and play is held in the house of the groom in which all female kins of the bride take part. The dance and play called Domkach continue for the whole night.

          When the bride is brought on the Palaki, the female kins of the groom accord a grand welcome. She is brought in the room where Kuldewata resides. The bride and groom greets to God, Goddesses and elders. Then sweet is distributed among all members present there. After two or three days the father of the bride comes to take her back in the Mayake. The groom is also invited to accompany the bride. The groom stays in the Sasuralaya for aweek and then comes back. After six months or a year, the second marriage is held. Now, the bride starts living with husband in a separate house and start leading a family life. When the couple is blessed the with children, the marriage is taken as successful.

Birth

The birth of a child brings happiness in the family. When the delivery pain starts, the female is brought in a room. The senior members of the community or Dai of the village community is called on to help the woman in delivery. When delivery takes placer, the navel is cut with the help of a bamboo knife. The placenta is buried in a sacred place. After birth, the pollution period starts for five days. During the period of pollution, no body except the Dai or senior member of the community is allowed to enter in the delivery room. In order to save the mother and child from, the attack of evil spirits, a thorny plant is placed at the gate, a knife is kept on the cot or by the side of the mother and child and fire is kept burning round the clock. On 6th day, the mother and child is allowed for a purificatory bath. The entire house is cleaned and washed with mud and water. After purificatory bath, the mother wears clean clothes. The child is also covered in clan clothes. They are brought before the Goodess of the Kul for blessings. Then the female members of the community are invited to bless the mother and the child. A black thread is tied in hand, feet and neck of the child to neutralise the effect of evil spirit. Name giving ceremony takes place after one month. The senior member of the community or Baiga Priest gives a suitable name to the child. Mundan takes place after one year. Ear boring ritual takes place after three years.

Death

The Korwa are aware of the fact of death. Natural death during old age is taken as good in the society of the Korwa. On the death, the person is buried in the village burial ground. Pollution period starts for nine days. On 10th day, the male kins of the dead have their head shaved. Then pollution period ends. The feast is given to the members of the community.

Kinship

The kinship system of the Korwa is based on the rules of consanguinity and affinity. In the society of Korwa the marriage between blood relations must not take place. Maternal kins, Paternal kins and cousins are treated as blood relatives. The members of the clan are also blood relatives. For marriage, the boy and the girl must not be relative either from father side up to three generations. The marriage mates are acquired from within the tribe bust ort side the lineage, clan, maternal kin, paternal kin, cousin etc. Through the marriage, not only boy and girl are attached as husband and wife and are included in blood relatives but, entire family members of the bride and the groom come under the net work of kinship relation. They are called by kinship terminology and be have following the rules of kinship usages. Kinship system continues generation. In each generation each individual is married and he or she reproduces children. In this way, married relatives and blood relatives are created in each generation.

          The Korwa use classificatory and descriptive kinship terminology for naming their various categories of relatives.

           The kinship usages of joking and avoidance are followed. In each generation, one finds joking and avoidance are followed. The Bhabhi-Nanad, Bhabhi-Devr, Jija-Sali, Younger brother and Bhabhi’sister, Sala and Jija’s sister are joking relatives. They make funny behaviour when they assemble on the occasion ceremonies and festivals. Sas, Putoh. Sas-Damad, Sasur-Damad, Bhawah-Bhainsur, Jethani- Jita etc. behave observing the avoidance rule when ever they meet each other. The kinship usage of falsenonymy is also prevalent. Husband-wife, Bhawah-Bhainsur, Sas-Putoh, Sasur—Putoh, Sas-Damad, Sasur-Damad, Jethali-Jeta so not take name of each other. They take the reference of sons or daughter for indirect communication.

          The inheritance of property and succession is patrilineal. The property of the father is inherited by the sons only. Daughters do not inherit the property of the father. She gets maintenance till the marriage. After marriage she becomes the member of husband’s family. The brother and sister maintain relationship through exchange of visits, service, goods, invitation presentation etc. The property is distributed equally after the death of the father. All are invited on the occasion of marriage and death. They exchange services, goods, gift and invitation on these occasions reciprocally.

Economy

The Korwa economy presents mixture of hunting, gathering shifting cultivation, domestication of animals, craft making and wage earning. The Korwa are hunters since time immemorial. Now- days hunting has been prohibited strictly. But they trap rat, rabbits, snakes, turtle, fishes, birds etc. for the purpose of eating. They do the  collection of minor forest produce like leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, honey, wax chop fibres, grasses, bamboo etc. for eating, craft-making and selling them in the local market. The collection of forest produce is done in different seasons round the year. The Korwa men, women and children know very well in which season what type of forest produce will be available. Forest produce collection is an integral part of socialization of the Korwa children. They collect honey and wax for selling in the market. They also collect bamboo for making mats, baskets, brooms etc for use in houses and also for marketing. They collect chop fibres and grasses for the preparation of rope and rope made articles which are also sold in the market.

          Previously, the Korwa were shifting cultivators. They use to cultivate maize, millet, oat, etc. by changing the cultivation site each year and also by clearing the patches of the forest. But now- days Kallu or Korwa cultivation has been banned by the Government. They do cultivation on already cleared land. They do cultivation with the help of Rambo or Khanti, spade, axe etc. Generally crops like Maize, Marua, Bajara, Oat, Arahar, Kurthi, Til etc. are cultivated. Each Korwa family has own housestead land where they have their houses and Bari land. In Bari land, they cultivate vegetables during rainy season.

          They so the domestication of animals like goat, cow, calves, chicks, ducks, etc. to supplement their family income. But all families are not involved in the domestication of animals. They lack proper training in domestication of animals.

          Now-days, earning wages has become important occupation of the Korwa. Korwa male and women earn wages by working in field, forest, road, building, and house construction. They also migrate in search of work temporarily. If get work regularly, they consider themselves as lucky. But such situation is not always possible. They remain unemployed for months.

          The concept of credit and loan is also prevalent among them. They take loan from the local Mahajan on interest. They repay loan and interest on getting wages. In getting wages, they are exploited. They do not get wages as per Minimum Wages Act fixed by the Government tome-to-time. The Mahajan gives them loan at an exorbitant rate of interest. They do not take loan from the Government institutions and cooperative societies because they do not provide loan for consumption purpose. Getting loans from these institutions is also a troublesome job.

          They economy of the Korwa presents a gloomy picture. They are still backward and below the line of poverty. They are still struggling hard to maintain their existence.

          The concept of property is prevalent among the Korwa. They have individual property and common property. Each family has homestead land, some cultivable land, are some are landless also, cow, goat, chick, duck, agricultural implements, houses, ornaments and household articles. These are the property of the individual families. These are inherited by the sons. On the other hand, the Korwa have burial ground, Akhara, forest, river, tank, mountain, grazing ground, play ground, school ground etc. which are treated as common property of the entire community.

          The Korwa visit the weekly Haat with great eager. They go there to sell as well as buy the commodities. Men, women, children and aged all visit the weekly market for marketing and selling commodities. In the market, they sell forest produce, rope and rope made articles, fuel wood, mahua, etc. They buy ration, oil, spices, salt, cloths, etc. from the market. In the market, the medium of exchange is money. Barter exchange also takes place for forest produce and ration. The traders and shopkeepers know the Korwa by name, face and village. They provide commodities to Korwa on credit also. They charge interest. The Korwa return the money with interest after getting wages or selling forest produce. The weekly market is also the centre of political and religious activities of the Korwa and other Adivasi communities.

Religion

Religion of the Korwa presents a mixture of animism, animatism or manaism, bongaism, naturalism, spiritsm and sharnanism. The Korwa believe in a number of Gods and Goddesses who inhabit in and around their habitat. They believe that all living and non-living things have souls. Souls are superhuman and supernatural power. They believe that after death souls resides in river, tank, stream, mud hill, hill, mountain, root of the tree, leaves of the tree, dry tree etc. They believe that sun, moon, stars, tiger, snake, lion etc. are possessed by super human power.

          They believe in different Gods and Goddess like Singbonga, Dharati Mata, Kali mai, Gram Devata, Kul Devata, Raxel, Darha, Chandi, Sokha, Gorega and Satbahini. These Gods and Goddesses are worshipped for good rain, harvest, cattle, wealth, village welfare and family welfare.

          The Korwa also believe in ancestral worship. Their ancestors reside in Sarana grove. They offer worship to ancestors on the occasion of birth, marriage and death.

          On the occasion of worship, of oat, chicks, pigeon, duck etc are made in the name of deities. The sacrifice is performed with the help of Baiga Priest who belongs to the same community. The Baiga priest may be of another tribal community also. Besides benevolent spirits, there are many malevolent spirits such as Paia, Baimat, Bal Kunwar, Bhut- Preta. Witch crafts are suppossed to possess malevolent spirits. The paiga priest removes the malevolent spirits with the help of Kotwar, on assistant of the Baiga priest.

          The Korwa celebrate festivals like Chait Nawami, Sarhul Puja, Karma puja and Phagu festival.

          On the occasion of festival and worship, meat is consumed with Handia and the members of the community belonging to both sexes perform dance in the Akhara with Mandar and clappings.

Political Organisation

In order to solve the various problems of the community, the Korwa have their own traditional village Panchayat system. The head of the village Panchayat is called Mukhia. The mukhia is selected by the community members skills, managing ability, courageous and knowledge of various thing are considered at the time of the selection of the Mukhia is held unanimous. The Mukhia is assisted by the heads of the families, who constitute the council of elders. The Panchayat settles cases related to husband-wife conflict, divorce, adultery, extra marital relation, sagotra vivah, inter- tribe marriage, property division, witchcraft and sorary. The Mukhia does not take any decision alone. He with the help of other calls on the members of the Panchayat on a particular date and time to hear the cases referred to the Panchayat. Any decision is taken on consensus basis. In case of differences of opinion, the opinions of the majority are taken in the consideration. The decision of the Panchayat is obeyed by both parties. If any one does not obey the decision, he is ousted from the community till he does not obey. 

          Inter-village disputes related to theft, adultery, premarital and extra marital relations are settled with the help of Panachyat of both villages. The Mukhia play significant role not only in settling the disputes of various kind, but also on the occasion of worship and social ceremonies.

          Besides, village and inter-village Panchayats, the Korwa have their clan Panchayat where matters related only clan members are settled.

© Jharkhand Org