The Kora (also known as Kuda, Kura, Kaora, Dhangar and Dhanger) are an ethnic group found in the Indian states of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

and

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

and the Bangladeshi division of

Rajshahi Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi District ...

. The 2011 census showed their population to be around 260,000. They are classified as a

Scheduled Tribe The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

by the Indian government.

Etymology

The tribe's name ''Kora'' and its alternate spellings are possibly originated from Mundari word for earthworks "Koda" .

History

It is speculated that they are an off shoot of Munda tribe. Risley (1894) classified them as a "Hinduised" caste. The Kora are noted for their traditional skills and primary occupation in various earth works such as cutting soil and digging tanks. In course of time they also been engaged in

Catechu ( or ) is an extract of acacia trees used variously as a food additive, astringent, tannin, and dye. It is extracted from several species of ''Acacia'', but especially ''Senegalia catechu'' (''Acacia catechu''), by boiling the wood in wate ...

-making as a professions. This is one of the origins of their alternative names ''Khaira'' or ''Khayra''. Now most of them are in farming.

Subdivisions

The tribe is divided into several endogamous groups. The Kora of Odisha claim that they belong to the Suryavansi group while Koras of Santhal Parganas claim to be Nagwanshi. They are further sub-divided into a number of exogamous septs called ''

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra fo ...

''s such as Kaich, Mankad, Khapur, Dhan, Nun, Adower, Nag, Maghi, Prodhan, Bagha, Bahera etc. These are further divided into patriarchal lineages.

Culture

The Kora mainly speak

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

in West Bengal and Jharkhand and

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

in Odisha. Only a small number still speak their original

Koda language Koda, also known as Kora, Kaora, Korali, Korati, Kore, Mudi, or Mudikora, is an endangered Munda language of India and Bangladesh spoken by the Kora. The Kora mainly live in West Bengal, in the districts of Paschim Medinipur and Bankura, with ...

, which belongs to the Munda family. Kora culture follows a "cline," where those who live further east follow more Hindu customs, while those further west follow more traditionally tribal customs. The Kora family structure is mostly nuclear. Marriage with same exogamous ''gotra'' is prohibited. They are

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

and

patrilocal In social anthropology, patrilocal residence or patrilocality, also known as virilocal residence or virilocality, are terms referring to the social system in which a married couple resides with or near the husband's parents. The concept of locat ...

. While

polygyny Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women. Incidence Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any o ...

is permissible in the Kora society, most marriages are monogamous. At the turn of the 20th century, most Koras in West Bengal practiced infant marriage and had strong taboos around premarital sex, while those of Chota Nagpur practiced adult marriage and had less stringent taboos. Those living in Bankura had a "transitional" set of marriage customs, where adult marriage was the norm but premarital sex was severely stigmatized. Marriage by negotiation is the most common type of marriage. However

cross-cousin marriage A cousin marriage is a marriage where the spouses are cousins (i.e. people with common grandparents or people who share other fairly recent ancestors). The practice was common in earlier times, and continues to be common in some societies toda ...

, junior

levirate Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage out ...

, junior sororate, marriage by elopement, by capture are also allowed. Divorce, remarriage of widows, widowers and divorcees are also permitted. The groom has to pay the bride price is cash. In Chota Nagpur, the tribe follows Munda customs, while in West Bengal they follow traditional Hindu customs. They cremate their dead in case of natural death and burial in cases of unnatural deaths. They have a traditional village council ''panchayat'' headed by Majhi who is assisted by Parmanik. It plays a central role in ensuring conformity to their social norms and traditions. The tribe overwhelmingly follow Hindu religion. Animist beliefs are also followed by the members. Other religions are followed by very small number of members.

References

{{Ethnic groups in Bangladesh Ethnic groups in Bangladesh Scheduled Tribes of India Social groups of Odisha Scheduled Tribes of Odisha Scheduled Tribes of Jharkhand Scheduled Tribes of West Bengal

Etymology

History

Subdivisions

Culture

See also

References