BHUBANESWAR: Encyclopedia of Tribes in Odisha - an exhaustive work on the various aspects of life, culture and development of 62 Scheduled Tribes and 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of Odisha - was released by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the SCSTRTI & Tribal Museum Complex in the city on Monday.
Comprising five edited volumes with 3,800 pages, the encyclopedia has 418 research articles covering all ST communities and PVTGs which had been published in the ‘Adivasi’ journal and other publications over the last six decades. Besides the papers contributed by SCSTRTI’s own research personnel, the articles of other research scholars and eminent anthropologists on different aspects of the tribes in Odisha and other states had also found place in this journal.
The articles have been edited, compiled and republished over a period of last four years by Director of SCSTRTI Prof Akhila Bihari Ota and SC Mohanty, consultant of SCSTRTI. Applauding Prof Ota for such a rare and impressive publication, the Chief Miniter said ‘Encyclopedia of Tribes in Odisha’ will be used as a repository for reference by a wide range of readers. “It will certainly be a great treasure and repository for all the academicians, researchers, policy makers and those interested to know about the tribal communities of the State and their rich culture,” Naveen said.
Odisha happens to be the only State to publish such an encyclopedia. As per 2011 census, tribals account for 22.85 percent of the State’s total population. The uniqueness of this segment of population is that different tribal communities are at different levels of socio-economic development.
But as a matter of fact, the age-old culture and way of living of these tribal communities are changing fast and their cultural identity is disintegrating. Before it gets entirely vanished, systematic documentation needs to be done on an urgent basis which is what the book attempts to capture. Each of the volumes is a fine repository of ethnographic knowledge as well as excellent exposition of pristine tribal culture with its specificity and variety.
Prof Ota said the five volumes on the Odishan tribes are unique in their perspective and presentation as a modest attempt has been made to accumulate and present the published and unpublished data regarding their ethnography and development with the objective appraisal of the old and the new; the past and the present. He, has in the past, also authored a number of books on various tribes of the State.
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