Gadabas

A Gadaba woman in traditional attire
A traditional Gadaba hut

The Gadabas are a designated Scheduled Tribe in the Indian state of Odisha[1] and Andhra Pradesh[2]

There are approximately 67,000 Gadabas. They are involved in both slash and burn and plow cultivation. They live in permanent villages.

They are well known for their tribal dance, the Dhimsa.

They practice Shamanistic rituals and still erect menhirs (monoliths) as commemorative symbols for the deceased from the megalithic tradition .

The Gadabas speak Austroasiatic and Dravidian languages. (See Kondekor language.)

Since the early 1980s the Gadabas have largely been displaced from their villages by the building of hydro-electric dams and the resulting lakes.

Gadaba women traditionally wear neck rings which are about 500-700 grams each and can not be removed without the help of a Blacksmith. As a part of their tradition, it is only removed after their death. A Gadaba woman traditionally wears a two-piece dress which is very colorful, often striped in red, blue and white, which is woven by the women themselves. The ornaments they wear are not very different from those of other tribes.

The Gadabas have their own language, commonly known as Gutub.

References

  1. ↑ (PDF) http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2011/Feb-Mar/engpdf/67-73.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "List of notified Scheduled Tribes" (PDF). Census India. pp. 21–22. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
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