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ISBN: Vol.1:  9789380705828,  ISBN: Vol.2: 9789380705835, ISBN: Vol. 3:  9789380705842, ISBN Vol. 4: 9789380705859 ISBN: Vol. 5: 9789380705866

The 3800-page encyclopedia contains 418 research articles on 62 tribes including 13 PVTGs. Odisha has come up with an encyclopedia on tribes documenting their age-old and unique traditions before they get entirely vanished from the circulation.

Tribes, as per 2011 census, account for 22.85% of the Odisha’s total population.  Odisha is home to third largest tribal population of India, but it is the most diverse indigenous communities found in the country. The State has 62 tribes including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups.

Five edited volumes of ‘Encyclopedia of Tribes in Odisha’ published by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute and Odisha State Tribal Museum in the Museum complex was released by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Monday.

The 3800-page encyclopedia contains 418 research articles. Besides, papers contributed by its own research personnel, the articles of other research scholars and eminent anthropologists on different aspects of the tribes and other States have also found place in the encyclopedia.

It is hoped that these five edited volumes will serve as an all-time reference anthropological literature full of relevant and useful information on various aspects of the life, culture and development of the 62 Scheduled Tribes and 13 PVTGs of Odisha. 

As a matter of fact, the age-old culture and way of living of these tribal communities are changing fast and their cultural identity is disintegrating. Before it gets entirely vanished, systematic documentation needs to be done on an urgent basis,” said Prof Ota who along his consultant S. C. Mohanty, had undertaken painstaking task of editing, compilation and republication over a period of last 4 years.

Mr. Mohanty, volumes on the Odishan tribes are unique in their perspective and presentation since a modest attempt has been made to accumulate and present the published and unpublished data regarding their ethnography and development. Authors hope that it will be a fine repository of ethnographic knowledge as well as an excellent exposition of pristine tribal culture with its specificity and variety.