Key Facts about Saora Tribe

About Saora Tribe:

• Saora is one of the ancient tribes of Odisha, which is also mentioned in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.
• They are called by various terms such as Savaras, Sabaras, Saura, Sora, etc.
• Though Odisha is the mainland for the tribe, a small number of people are also found in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Assam.
• Language: They have their own native language called Sora, which is a Munda language, and they are one of the very few tribes of India that have a script for the language, Sorang Sompeng.
• The Saoras show their racial affinity to the Proto Australoid physical characters, which are dominant among the aborigines of Central and Southern India. 
• Religion: Saoras follow an ingrained and intricate religion, having faith in and worshipping a number of gods and spirits, who they believe are the supreme controllers of their regular lives.
• They have unique art practices, religious customs, as well as a dying tattooing tradition called ‘Tantangbo’.
• The Saoras can be divided broadly into two economic classes:
  • The Saoras of the plains (Sudha Saora) depending on their wet cultivation or wage earning and selling firewood.
  • The Hill Saoras (Lanjia Saora) practice shifting and terraced cultivation on the hill slopes.
• Settlement:
  • Saora villages do not conform to any particular type of settlement pattern.
  • Houses are scattered and megaliths erected to commemorate dead kin are located close by.
  • Village guardian deities like Kitungsum are installed at the entrance of the settlement.
  • A typical house is a one-roomed thatched rectangular dwelling having stone and mud walls with a low roof and a high plinth front verandah. The walls are coloured with red earth.