ANGUL: When 23-year-old Sneha Jani gave birth to a baby girl last week, a wave of celebration swept the village of Majhipara.
The villagers gifted the new mother clothes, sweets, grains and blessed the child while outside her house, a feast continued throughout the day.
Today when many families even in urban areas celebrate the birth of a boy and consider a girl child unwelcome, the tradition of rejoicing a girl’s birth is unique to Majhipara, located within the dense forests of Satkosia in Angul. For the tribal inhabitants, a girl child is a blessing of God.
Majhipara is home to 320 tribal persons of which, 180 are female. And what adds to the uniqueness of the village? No person here asks for or takes dowry. Contrary to villages in the vicinity where a male child gets preference, there is no gender discrimination against a girl at Majhipara.
A woman leader of the village, Biraja Jani said whenever a girl is born, people exchange sweets and send the new parents goodies, the kind of celebration that is otherwise reserved for boys elsewhere.
“Because for us, it’s a happy occasion”, she said.
Since time immemorial, the village has been following the ‘no dowry’ tradition. No one, however, knows how the tradition shaped up and who started it.
According to villagers, they do not have to look for grooms for their daughters.
“A daughter’s wedding is never a burden for parents here. We do not have to search for a groom. When our daughters attain marriageable age, the groom’s family comes to our village and solemnizes the wedding”, said Biraja.
She added that prior to the marriage, the groom’s family offers 12 cows and goats and those who can’t, give Rs 12 to the bride’s family.
The only problem that the girls face is lack of higher education even as their unlettered parents want to educate them.
There is one tribal school that offers education up to Class V in the village. For further education, the students have to go to the residential upper primary school at Purunakote, 15 km away.
Normally, girls study up to matriculation at Purunakote school but none has opted for higher education in the absence of colleges nearby.
Villagers said several pleas by them to upgrade the school so far have not yielded any result.
“We do not distinguish between a boy and girl and raise them equally. We want our girls to get better education too and make it big in life with equal opportunities as the boys,” added Biraja.