Dongria Kondhs are tribes that inhabit the Niyamgiri hills of Rayagada district and Kalahandi district in Odisha.
The Niyamgiri hill range in Odisha, is home to the Dongria Kondh tribe. Niyamgiri is an area of densely forested hills, deep gorges and cascading streams. To be a Dongria Kondh, is to farm the hills’ fertile slopes, harvest their produce, and worship the mountain god Niyam Raja and the hills he presides over, including the 4,000 mtr Mountain of the Law, Niyam Dongar.
Yet for a decade, the 8,000-plus Dongria Kondh population lived under the threat of mining by Vedanta Resources, which hoped to extract the estimated $2bn-worth of bauxite that lies under the surface of the hills.
The company planned to create an open-cast mine that would have violated Niyam Dongar, disrupted its rivers and spelt the end of the Dongria Kondh as a distinct people.
The deep reverence that the Dongria have for their gods, hills and streams pervades every aspect of their lives. Even their art reflects the mountains, in the triangular designs found on village shrines to the many gods of the village, farm and forests and their leader, Niyam Raja. They derive their name from Dongar, meaning ‘hill’ and the name for themselves is Jharnia: Protector of Streams.
Vedanta Resources wanted to mine the Bauxite from the top of the same mountain. The Dongria Kondh would lose their livelihood, their identity and the sanctity of their most religious site.
The bauxite-capped Niyamgiri hills soak up the monsoon’s rain, giving rise to more than a hundred perennial streams and rivers, including the Vamshadhara River. These streams provide the water that is vital for the communities who live in the hills, and provide critical drinking and irrigation water for those in the plains, where drought and starvation have made national news. The Vamshadhara provides drinking and irrigation water to millions of people in the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Over centuries, the Dongria have helped to maintain the rich biodiversity of their forests, where tigers, leopards, giant squirrels and sloth-bears roam.
The Dongria Kondh of India’s Niyamgiri Hills have won a heroic victory against mining giant Vedanta Resources to save their sacred hills. The Supreme Court told Vedanta in 2013 that the Dongria must decide whether to allow mining on the Mountain of the Law. The Dongria answered with an unequivocal NO.
"Niyam Raja is our God and we worship him"
"We are born of this earth, and this earth is ours. Niyamgiri belongs to us" — Laksa Majhi
"We’ll lose our soul. Niyamgiri is our soul"
"Where will our children go? How will we survive? No, we won’t give up our mountain!’
Strangely, mining company Vedanta says that this is ‘virgin land; no human interference has taken place’.
Resistance:
The Dongria protested against Vedanta locally, nationally and internationally. They held roadblocks, formed a human chain around the Mountain of Law and even set a Vedanta jeep alight when it was driven onto the mountain’s sacred plateau. But as long as the refinery sits at the foot of their hills, they do not feel their mountain is safe and will not give up their fight. Their determination, tenacity and success has won them international acclaim and inspired tribal peoples across the country and around the world.
Saris / Shawls woven by Dongria Kondhs have a unique emphasis on geometric dimensions. Kapadaganda (locally) is an ethnic embroidered shawl used by Dongria Kondh youth. This design has been incorporated into the Dongria Kondh tribal Saris.
Kapadaganda in their own Kuvi language means "Chief's Cloth".
Embroidery is mostly done by unmarried girls but any woman can do it. The girls embroider this shawl for their own use and for their brothers. This shawl is sometimes given as a token of love to her most intimate lover. In embroidery work, yarn of three colours is used - green, yellow and red. Each colour carries some implications manifested with socio-cultural values.
GREEN symbolizes hills and mountains, green crop fields, trees, plant species, etc., it is also the reflection of germination of seeds, its growth and spread of branches, prosperity and development of community.
YELLOW stands for peace, smile, togetherness, health and happiness, family, lineage, village, Mutha an administrative cum territorial boundary) and community as a whole. It is also regarded as a sign of auspiciousness (in relation to Haldi or Turmeric)
RED is the symbol of blood, energy, power, revenge, aggression. It also signifies appeasing of deities, gods, goddesses, spirits and ancestors by offering blood sacrifice of buffaloes, pigs, goats, fowls, pigeons etc.
