Bhog-Moksha Sambhava

Forests, a precious renewable resource, are habitats of many aborigines and treasure houses of a large number of flora and fauna. Any distortion to them imbalances the life of their inhabitants. Man and Forest series highlights the relevance of indigenous knowledge systems of various South Asian tribal communities in the sustainable management of local resources/forests. Here comes the importance of making a scientific enquiry into the application of indigenous tribal knowledge in rediscovering their methods of production, consumption and conservation, against the all-pervading impact of modernity and the ever-increasing demand for an unbridled use of natural resources.
This monograph — The Hill Bhuinya of Kendujhar — is the eighth in the Man and Forest series and fourth in the Forest Tribes of Orissa: Lifestyle and Social Conditions of Selected Orissan Tribes. It helps in understanding how the Bhuinya perceive their ecosystem; how their sociocultural life is interwoven with the forests and other elements of their ecosystem; their management systems for upkeeping it; and the role their indigenous knowledge plays in their production, consumption and conservation practices, against the backdrop of a considerable depletion of biodiversity during the latter part of the twentieth century.
This book is the result of a detailed study on the forest/hill-dwelling tribe of the Bhuinya of Bhuinyapirh in Banspal Block, Kendujhar District, Odisha since 1996 by a team of anthropologists, ethnosociologists, botanists and ethnobotanists. It was critically revised and analysed, using authentic methods due to changes in the state and central government policies, recently.

Bhuiyas, numbering around two million, are the aboriginal tribes of Central Hill Belt of India. These primitive Pauri or Hill Bhuiyas of Keonjhar, Bonai and Pal Lehera states, and the Hinduized Bhuiyas of Himgir and Nagra of Gangpur State of Orissa in British India are the subject of this study, delineating their various stages of cultural development over a period of time.
These Bhuiyas are comparatively more primitive in their customs and manners than the other sections of the tribe. But their contacts with the Hindu society and its culture have to a minimal extent modified their primitive culture. With the advent of cultural growth, some sections of these Bhuiyas have given up their honorific titles and adopted some Hinduized titles, to elevate themselves in the social hierarchy.
This book, a gold mine of socio-anthropological studies, offers much-needed details about the Pauri Bhuiyas’ affinities and population, habitat, physical and mental characteristics, economic life, social and kinship organizations, and customs of birth, childhood, puberty, marriage, inheritance and death. This volume also delves deep into their folklore, religious faith, superstitions and magic practices. It further discusses certain points of agreement and difference in the customs and beliefs of the Hill Bhuiyas and some other Munda-speaking tribes of the Central Hill Belt.