2018-01-18 Thu

The Gonds tribes, who are also recognized as the Koytorias are widely dispersed throughout the state of Chhattisgarh. However, they mainly predominate the dense forests enclosed in southern Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district. The three principal sub-castes of the aboriginal Gonds are the Dorla, Maria and Muria races.

Dandami Maria, also known by other names like Bison Horn Maria and Khalpati Maria, is a tribal community of Chhattisgarh who has derived their name from their unique custom of wearing a distinctive head-gear, which resembles the horns of a wild bison. They generally wear that head-gear during ceremonies. The main distinct language spoken by this tribe of Chhattisgarh is Dandami Maria. Some of them speak Gondi dialects, which is an oral language of Dravidian origins.

The Bison Horn Maria men have got a distinct hairstyle of a long ponytail. Besides that, they carry a tobacco box and a special kind of comb. This comb remains attached to their loincloth. Women of Bison Horn tribal group generally dress in white skirts. They even use varied jewellery for adornment. The bison horn-shaped headdress worn by them are nowadays made of cattle horns because of the scarcity of bison horns. Those headdresses are placed on a frame of bamboo and decorated with feathers of peacock or chicken and hanging cowry shell strings. Such a headdress is passed on from one generation to another.

They live by agriculture, supplemented by hunting and fishing. Their ghotul (youth dormitory for unmarried boys and girls) is an important social institution. They permit divorce and widow remarriage.

The above shown 100 Paisa (1 Rupee) postage stamp was issued by Indian Postal Department on 30th May 1981 to honour this tribal group.