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ORAONS

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 161 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ORAONS , an aboriginal See also:

people of See also:Bengal. They See also:call themselves Kurukh, and are sometimes also known as Dhangars. Their See also:home is in See also:Ranchi See also:district and there are communities in the See also:Chota See also:Nagpur states and See also:Palamau, while elsewhere they have scattered settlements, e.g. in See also:Jalpaiguri and the See also:Darjeeling Terai, whither they have gone to See also:work in the See also:tea-gardens. They number upwards of three quarters of a million. According to their traditions the tribe migrated from the See also:west See also:coast of See also:India. The Oraons are a small See also:race (See also:average 5 ft. 2 in.); the usual See also:colour is dark See also:brown, but some are as See also:light as See also:Hindus. They are heavy-jawed, with large mouths, thick lips and projecting See also:teeth. They reverence the See also:sun, and acknowledge a supreme See also:god, Dharmi or Dharmest, the See also:holy one, who is perfectly pure, but whose beneficent designs are thwarted by evil See also:spirits. They See also:burn their dead, and the See also:urn with the ashes is suspended outside the deceased's hut to await the See also:period of the See also:year especially set apart for burials. The See also:language is harsh and guttural, having much connexion with Tamil. In 1901 the See also:total number of speakers of Kurukh or Oraon in all India was nearly 600,000.

See E. T. See also:

Dalton, Descriptive See also:Ethnology of Bengal (See also:Calcutta, 1872), and his See also:article " The See also:Kols of Chota-Nagpore," in Supplement to Journ. of See also:Asiatic See also:Soc. of Bengal, vol. See also:xxxv. (1887), See also:part ii. p. 154; Batsch, ' Notes on the Oraon Language " in Journ. See also:Roy. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal for 1866; F. B. See also:Bradley Birt, The See also:Story of an See also:Indian Upland (1905).

End of Article: ORAONS

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