The Jhonds or Jhonda are aboriginal inhabitants of south eastern Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

 and Northern Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

. They are often referred to as adivasi’s. The Jhond language is Kui

Kui

Kui can refer to:* Kui , comes from Kazakh language*Kui 夔, a one-legged mountain demon, also legendary inventor of music and dance*Kui , a manga character*Kui, Hiroshima, a Japanese town...

 which is classified as a south central Dravidian language. The Jhonds comprise a minority population of the districts of Srikakulam

Srikakulam

Srikakulam is a town, municipality and headquarters of Srikakulam district in the north-eastern Andhra Pradesh, India. It is part of Srikakulam Assembly constituency and Srikakulam Parliament Constituency. Srikakulam was formerly called as Gulshanabad during Muslim rule and was headquarter of...

 and Vzianagaram in Andhra Pradesh.

History

The adivasi

Adivasi

Adivasi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India. They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India...

 is a broad term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India. The concept of the “original inhabitants” of India is a matter of contentious research. The Jhonds are thought of be mixtures of Austro-Asiatic Austroloid and Indo-Aryan even though the language they speak belongs to the South Central branch of the Dravidian Language.

Art and culture

The Jhonds are originally hunter gatherers who have now extensively adopted farming and raising animals although some still practice foraging. The Jhonds tend to have relatively non-heirarchial, egalitarian social structures. Mutual exchange and sharing of resources were important economic systems and this is codified in their folktales, songs and visual art. Jhond crafts consist of basket weaving and jewellery made out of shells. The women tend to decorate themselves with tattoos shaped in intricate geometric patterns on their face and arms. The Jhonds are also well known for their unusual practice of adopting the radio as an integral part of their folk songs.Their songs are currently being archived by Dr. Ghere, a student of Verrier Elwin

Verrier Elwin

Verrier Elwin was a self-trained anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist, who began his career in India as a Christian missionary...

.

Religion

Most Jhonds primarily practice animism mixed with Hinduisim. A minority of Jhonds have, in recent times, adopted Christianity.

Modern history

Aluminium or Bauxite mining has contributed in large scale to the displacement of the Jhonda social structure. The pollution from mining factories has rendered large areas uncultivable.