Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Khond people
Khonds (also spelt Kondha and Kandha; Odia: kôndhô, IPA: [kɔn̪d̪ʰɔ]) are an indigenous Dravidian tribal community in India. Traditionally, hunter-gatherers, they are divided into the hill-dwelling Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds for census purposes, but the Khonds themselves identify by their specific clans. Khonds usually hold large tracts of fertile land,[citation needed] but still practice hunting, gathering, and slash-and-burn agriculture in the forests as a symbol of their connection to, and as an assertion of their ownership of the forests wherein they dwell. Khonds speak the Kui language and write it in the Odia script.
The Khonds are the largest tribal group in the state of Odisha. They are known for their rich cultural heritage, valorous martial traditions,[citation needed] and indigenous values, which center on harmony with nature. The Kandhamal district in Odisha has a fifty-five per cent Khond population, and is named after the tribe they revolted against the Britishers in 1846 due to the fear of being annexed.
They have designated Scheduled Tribe status in eight states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, with a population of 1,743,406 in the 2011 census. Of these, 93.35% reside in Odisha, 5.92% in Andhra Pradesh, and around 10,000 in Chhattisgarh, while in other states, their numbers are below one thousand. In addition to these scheduled states, they are also found in northeastern India, particularly in Assam, where their population was estimated at 9,936 in the 1951 census, primarily working as tea garden workers. In Bangladesh, their population was 1,898 in the 2022 census.
The Khonds speak Kui and Kuvi as their native languages. They are most closely related to the Gondi language.[citation needed] Both are Dravidian languages and are written with the Odia script.
The Khonds are adept land dwellers of the forest and hill environment. However, due to development interventions in education, medical facilities, irrigation, plantation, they have adapted to the modern way of life in many ways. Their traditional lifestyle, language, food habits, customary traits of economy, political organisation, norms, values, and world view have been drastically changed in recent times.
The traditional Khond society is based on geographically demarcated clans, each consisting of a large group of related families identified by a Totem, usually of a male wild animal. Each clan usually has a common surname and is led by the eldest male member of the most powerful family of the clan. All the clans of the Khonds owe allegiance to the "Kondh Pradhan", who is usually the leader of the most powerful clan of the Khonds.
The Khond family is often nuclear, although extended joint families are also found. Female family members are on equal social footing with the male members in Khond society, and they can inherit, own, hold, and dispose of property without reference to their parents, husband or sons. Women have the right to choose their husbands, and to seek divorce. However, the family is patrilineal and patrilocal. Remarriage is common for divorced or widowed women and men. Children are never considered illegitimate in Khond society and inherit the clan name of their biological or adoptive fathers with all the rights accruing to natural born children.
The Kondhs have a dormitory for adolescent girls and boys which forms a part of their enculturation and education process. The girls and boys sleep at night in their respective dormitory and learn social taboos, myths, legends, stories, riddles, proverbs amidst singing and dancing the whole night, thus learning the way of the tribe. The girls are usually instructed in good housekeeping and in ways to bring up good children while the boys learn the art of hunting and the legends of their brave and martial ancestors.
Hub AI
Khond people AI simulator
(@Khond people_simulator)
Khond people
Khonds (also spelt Kondha and Kandha; Odia: kôndhô, IPA: [kɔn̪d̪ʰɔ]) are an indigenous Dravidian tribal community in India. Traditionally, hunter-gatherers, they are divided into the hill-dwelling Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds for census purposes, but the Khonds themselves identify by their specific clans. Khonds usually hold large tracts of fertile land,[citation needed] but still practice hunting, gathering, and slash-and-burn agriculture in the forests as a symbol of their connection to, and as an assertion of their ownership of the forests wherein they dwell. Khonds speak the Kui language and write it in the Odia script.
The Khonds are the largest tribal group in the state of Odisha. They are known for their rich cultural heritage, valorous martial traditions,[citation needed] and indigenous values, which center on harmony with nature. The Kandhamal district in Odisha has a fifty-five per cent Khond population, and is named after the tribe they revolted against the Britishers in 1846 due to the fear of being annexed.
They have designated Scheduled Tribe status in eight states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, with a population of 1,743,406 in the 2011 census. Of these, 93.35% reside in Odisha, 5.92% in Andhra Pradesh, and around 10,000 in Chhattisgarh, while in other states, their numbers are below one thousand. In addition to these scheduled states, they are also found in northeastern India, particularly in Assam, where their population was estimated at 9,936 in the 1951 census, primarily working as tea garden workers. In Bangladesh, their population was 1,898 in the 2022 census.
The Khonds speak Kui and Kuvi as their native languages. They are most closely related to the Gondi language.[citation needed] Both are Dravidian languages and are written with the Odia script.
The Khonds are adept land dwellers of the forest and hill environment. However, due to development interventions in education, medical facilities, irrigation, plantation, they have adapted to the modern way of life in many ways. Their traditional lifestyle, language, food habits, customary traits of economy, political organisation, norms, values, and world view have been drastically changed in recent times.
The traditional Khond society is based on geographically demarcated clans, each consisting of a large group of related families identified by a Totem, usually of a male wild animal. Each clan usually has a common surname and is led by the eldest male member of the most powerful family of the clan. All the clans of the Khonds owe allegiance to the "Kondh Pradhan", who is usually the leader of the most powerful clan of the Khonds.
The Khond family is often nuclear, although extended joint families are also found. Female family members are on equal social footing with the male members in Khond society, and they can inherit, own, hold, and dispose of property without reference to their parents, husband or sons. Women have the right to choose their husbands, and to seek divorce. However, the family is patrilineal and patrilocal. Remarriage is common for divorced or widowed women and men. Children are never considered illegitimate in Khond society and inherit the clan name of their biological or adoptive fathers with all the rights accruing to natural born children.
The Kondhs have a dormitory for adolescent girls and boys which forms a part of their enculturation and education process. The girls and boys sleep at night in their respective dormitory and learn social taboos, myths, legends, stories, riddles, proverbs amidst singing and dancing the whole night, thus learning the way of the tribe. The girls are usually instructed in good housekeeping and in ways to bring up good children while the boys learn the art of hunting and the legends of their brave and martial ancestors.