Banjara Tribe of Kalahandi- Culture, Rituals and Religion

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About the Book The Banjaras Odisha believed have migrated Madhya Pradesh and Bihar evident from their "Banjari" dialect established different parts of Western Odisha. This book is super collection of different facts regarding their religion, Koksara of Kalahandi district Odisha.

About the Author Geetanjali Panda has her M.Phil degree in 2004 cleared UGC She is awarded with doctorate degree 2015. PhD thesis titled "Micro-Perspectives Coastline Culture: Study Living Chilka Lake, Odisha" praise worthy. She started her carrier Research Assistant in Academy Tribal Dialect Culture (ATDC). She as Project co-coordinator in Lutheran World Service (LWSI). In 2014 she was teaching Guest Faculty Ranchi University. Then she was joined as faculty member DD College Keonjhar in year 2016. Later joined in (auto) College the Dept. Apart from teaching experiences graduate, graduate level, she of publications. She published numbers research paper in different State, National, International journals.

Preface Religion is always based upon beliefs and rituals. For both primitive and modern people, religious activities are usually based on clan based beliefs and rituals. This book focuses on major variables of religion. The book presents an interpretation of the data collected on the topic of Banjara Tribe of Kalahandi: Culture, Rituals and Religion.

The first chapter has been dedicated to an introduction to the problem of study, theoretical background, and methods and techniques of data collection. The second chapter has been dedicated to people and area, geographical distribution, flora and fauna, road communication, census analysis and Banjara culture of the people at a glance.

The third chapter discusses the Banjara Gods and Spirits.

The fourth chapter discusses the annual cycle of festivals and rituals, their importance and functions among Banjara people.

In the fifth chapter, basic spheres of a human life-cycle among the Banjara people like birth, marriage and death and the ritual for such occasions have been discussed.

Introduction "Religion is the virtue by which men show God due worship and reverence" -Thomas Aquinasi

The word 'Religion' has been derived from the Latin root word "Religio" which means, "to bind". It may be interpreted as to bind man and supernatural beings together. Tylor has presented the most minimum definition of religion as "the belief in supernatural beings". He mentioned animism as the central theme of it, which is the basis of all religions. In former sense, the implication is the belief in and observation of sign of divine communication. In latter sense, the implication is the performance of necessary action, which may bind to get man and supernatural elements together. Both the implications and their relevance reveal that beliefs and rituals have been found to be the main components or parts of all religions everywhere.

The religious institutions in non western societies are more closely interrelated with the rest of the lives of the westerners, than they are in our own society, making it difficult, if not impossible, to study any aspect of their life without touching upon their religious behavior.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages