Pano (caste)
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The Pano (
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 ...
:ପାଣ) (also known as Pan, Buna Pana, Desua Pana) are a Dalit community of
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 ...
. They are recognized as Scheduled Caste in
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
,
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 ...
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 ...
officially. They speak
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 ...
.


Demographics

The Buna Pano are a part of the Pano. According to the 2011 Census, 1,205,099 people in Odisha constituting 17.7% of the total SC population, were members of this caste. It was the most populous of the scheduled castes of Odisha. The Pano have the maximum population in Jajpur district, followed by
Kendujhar district Kendujhar District, is an administrative district of Odisha. The district is one of the fifth Scheduled Areas of Odisha. The town of Kendujhar (or Kendujhargarh) is the district headquarters. The district has 3 Sub-Divisions, Anandapur, Cham ...
and
Dhenkanal district Dhenkanal district is one of the 30 districts of the state of Odisha in Eastern India. Geography Dhenkanal district is one of the centrally located districts in Odisha. It lies between Longitude: 85° 58' to 86° 2' East and Latitude: 20° 29 ...
, but they constitute the highest proportion (77.9%) of the total SC population in
Kandhamal district Kandhamal district is a district in the state of Odisha, India. The district headquarters of the district is Phulbani. Kandhamal is famous for its local turmeric renowned as 'Kandhamal Haldi' which has earned the Geographical indication (GI) tag ...
. In Odisha, 14% of them have middle educational level, about 13% have more. 60.9% of their children in the 5–14 years group were at school. 16.8% of the Pano workers were cultivators, 54.3% agricultural labourers, 4.2% HHI workers and 24.7% other workers. 16.89% of the total population of Kandhamal district are members of a scheduled caste. Most of them are Pano (77.92%). Kendujhar district has 11.62% members of scheduled castes and among them the major caste groups are the Pano (58.77%). In 1891, those living in Sitra were called workers in metal, speaking Kui 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 ...
. Intermarriage to
Khonds Khonds (also spelt Kondha, Kandha etc.) are an indigenous Adivasi tribal community in India. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they are divided into the hill-dwelling Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds for census purposes; All the Khonds identify ...
and
Odias The Odia (), formerly spelled Oriya, is an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the Indian state of Odisha who speak Odia language. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state, with significant minority populations in neighboring An ...
was not permitted.


Subdivision

Panos have several sub-castes: the Odia, who claim a higher social status than the others, Buna, who are weavers, Betra or Raj, basketmakers, bamboo workers, and also perform watchman duties, Baistab, Panos who are Vaishnavites and perform their religious ceremonies, and Patraida, Panos who live alongside the Khondhs. This last subset is often simply referred to as the Khonda Panos, while the others are collectively referred to as Desa Panos. Colonial ethnographers, such as Herbert Hope Risley, theorized they were Dravidians who have been "Hinduized."


Culture

The Panos have a group of totemistic exogamous clans, traced down the father's line. However, this system of exogamy only considers ancestors only a few generations back and in the area, and so only excludes those of the clan in the area. This system of exogamy is followed by tribals throughout central and eastern India and is dubbed "local lines" by anthropologists. However, within this system, Panos ban marriage between someone and their first cousins and paternal uncle. Pano girls were only married when they became adults. The dowry provided near the turn of the 20th century was Rs. 2 cash, a mound and a half of husked rice, a goat and 2 saris: for the bride and for the mother-in-law. Widow remarriage is common and it is seen as correct for the bride to marry her husband's younger brother, but never the elder. Divorce is also recognized, and the divorced husband must provide for his wife for 6 months. Divorcees are allowed to remarry.


Religion

At the turn of the 20th century, the Panos, although nominally Vaishnavites, were practicing animism similar to neighbouring Dravidian tribes. They held in the belief of certain village deities who were to be propitiated to induce fertility or stave off ruin, primarily via animal sacrifice. Their main deity was ''Pauri Pahari'', the god who lived upon the highest of the local hills, and to him they would offer goat sacrifices. The Panos of southern Odisha maintain they were always animists like their Khond neighbours. Today, however, most the Panos are Catholics.


Recent status

Due to their knowledge of Odia, the Panos often acted as intermediaries between the Khond hill-tribes and the Odia-speaking caste Hindu society. For instance in the Meriah human sacrifices formerly practiced by the Khonds, the Panos would always provide the victims. Occasionally they would kidnap people from the plains and sell them to the Khonds (during which British authorities alleged they cheated the Khonds). When the British began to crack down on practice of the Meriah, the Panos developed a closer relationship with the Christian missionaries who began arriving in the area. Thus they converted to Christianity and became more prosperous than their Khond counterparts who remained animists. This led to Khond accusations of their being "traitors" to their original faith. This enmity between the two communities was fanned by alleged favouritism by NGOs in helping the Christian Panos in times of distress, and Hindutva organisations, especially those led by Laxmananda Saraswati of the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian right-wing Hindu organization based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "to ...
, leading "reconversion" drives. Due to a Presidential Order in 1950, Panos who converted to Christianity could no longer hold SC status. Pano organization Phulbani Kui Janakalyan Samiti, started in 2002, sought to give Panos Scheduled Tribe status due to their knowledge of Kui. This effort was opposed by the
Khonds Khonds (also spelt Kondha, Kandha etc.) are an indigenous Adivasi tribal community in India. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, they are divided into the hill-dwelling Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds for census purposes; All the Khonds identify ...
- the government soon denied Panos the ST status and hundreds of Pano government employees were fired for falsifying caste certificates. These tensions would culminate in the Kandhamal Riots, when, after the murder of Saraswati which was claimed to be done by Christians, mobs of tribals and non-tribals attacked Pano settlements and churches throughout Kandhamal. Many Panos were displaced and lost everything, and as of 2017 the situation between the two communities has not returned to normalcy.


Notes


References

{{Reflist Dalit communities Scheduled Castes of West Bengal Scheduled Castes of Bihar Scheduled Castes of Jharkhand Scheduled Castes of Odisha