Pandemics And Adaptive Behaviour: Tribals of Odisha Show The Way

A virus far more dreadful than any other known so far by the world has arrived. One gets infected; the virus walks through, contacts others in a family, contaminates villagers and gradually spreads across habitations. It is a killer. The disease comes by touch and enters through the face. Animals do not spread it. It is spread by people. So, nobody is going out of their homes and habitations.

“We are also not celebrating Chaita Parab,” said Budura, a Paroja religious leader when asked why the festivities are so dull this year in his village. He added that nearly three years back, a similar type of disease came to their area from Japan, and this time it is from China. To prevent the spread of the disease, they conducted worships at ‘Hundi’ requesting gods and goddesses to save their people. Now, with the threat of coronavirus looming large, they have closed the village from all points, preventing entry of outsiders. They have also abstained from conducting community events and group activities. Precisely, this is the way tribals in remote areas of Koraput in Odisha have understood the pandemic, corona (COVID-19).

With 22.85% of its population being tribal, Odisha assumes a significant position in the country. Largely unaware of the causes and the consequences of the pandemic, tribals follow innocuous cultural practices and observe social restraints to prevent its entry to their villages and to their people. The culturally-bound tribals are at the far end to access the means and ways for prevention and treatment of the virus but have promptly responded to the challenges through their own docile ways, followed the advisory of the state brought to them by the local Anganwadi worker and other situation leaders through their diverse ways of understanding but uniform ways of preventing its spread.

The pandemic struck in the run-up to Chaita Parab, a festival celebrated by almost all ethnic groups of the state. It is the time when villagers who had migrated out in search of wages and fortunes return to their families and villages. For nearly a month, tribals are in a festive mood. They take time out from their regular routine life that they lead in their place of work. This year it is the pandemic
which has badly hit Chaita Parab celebrations. Migrant tribals are stranded at different places and are in camps, with transport services disrupted. Worries are everywhere, both in the camps and in the villages. Anyone who could manage to escape the barrier and the borders, and took the hill tracts to reach the village was surprised to find his village closed for him. Awful moment! Frustration mounted when the ‘migrant’ was forced to a quarantine camp nearby. The consolation: his isolation will protect his family, kith and kin from the virus and for this, he has to respect the system and to its prescriptions.

Coincidentally, there are certain system inbuilt protections available during Chaita Parab celebrations, especially in southern Odisha, which are akin and compliant to COVID advisories. During the festival, temporary blockades are usually put up at village entry points, groups of tribal women congregate there and ask for small monetary favours from passersby and strangers who visit their village. Some plead to not having a dime to pay for and are allowed to go generously. This the time it was adopted in preventing the corona spread, the entry of outsiders and passers-by was prohibited and the Chaita Parab blockade assumed the form of a corona blockade for the tribal villages.

Chaita Parab spans for about a month, keeps people in good humour during which they do not work and enjoy being together, cooking food and delicacies at home. Migrant workers take leave, visit their kith and kin in other villages, fowls purchased out of the barricade funds are happily consumed in group feasts. Every household secures foodstuff for this festival, months in advance. This year it had to be otherwise. The food at home was 3 months ration in advance given to each family through the government’s public distribution system as everyone had to stay at home for corona. Local Anganwadi didi was very particular in ensuring all entitlements to women and children, the old and disabled were content with the care and affection are given to them every day by family members. The youth, who were crazy always to rush to towns for upload romantic film songs on their mobile phones, had to remain content with traditional avenues available in the village. The village life looked as usual except for the fact that whiling away around was not allowed. Here the police had least to enforce as community policing proved strong enough in the tribal communities.

Anganwadi and ASHA didis were frequently talking to them about handwashing, hand sanitization, house sanitization, maintaining social distance and covering faces with a clean towel, saree or mask. For the tribal villagers, certain things were new and certain things already ingrained in their community behaviour. During Chaitra Parab road blockades, turmeric water was sprinkled over passersby. It was a kind of ritual for them. At some places, turmeric water was mixed with paste of neem leaves. On days when there was hardly any passerby, women at the blockade threw it on each other, sprinkled the water on village streets, around the premises and inside the houses. This festive
community call for village sanitization, keeping premises of the houses and village disinfected was resorted to during the pandemic by the tribals.

Customarily, tribal women cover their faces with saree veils as a gesture of shyness, thus the advisory on the use of masks was welcome for them. The young boys tied kerchiefs on their faces in style while going out, easily adapting to the use of masks. All others emulated it. Some practices of social distancing in the community were also in place earlier. During regular working days, women used to rush to water sources to fetch water in groups. Now when they were asked to staying at home, they do not rush to the water source and do it leisurely one after another, while bathing or fetching water for cooking, maintaining a good time gap. Thus, social distancing is not a challenge for them. Instead of frequenting to the water source to wash utensils, the leaf plates and cups were now picked up as the best alternatives. Once the Anganwadi didi put hand washing facility at the village entrance, children had enough fun infrequent handwashing with soap, neem paste or turmeric paste and elders followed suit. It did never seem as if corona restrictions threw life out of gear in tribal villages.

The traditional tribal economy rests entirely on agriculture being done on slopes and plains, micro-units of animal husbandry, collection of forest produce and wage-earning. Usually, during summer, they experience relatively low wage-earning opportunities except for a bit in the construction sector. Apart from harvesting of rabi crops, they have to do very little agricultural activity. But field preparation for Kharif crop is a must during this time of the year. Usually, it is within the family and the cooperative labour system does not apply here. Thus, it did not need any enforcement of social distancing norms. Livestock is usually set free during this time after harvesting of rabi crops, so no challenge of stall feeding or cut-and-carry of fodder was found. One who has seen the tribals while gathering forest produce must have realized that here social distancing is maintained by default. They gather wild edibles and other consumables individually without any problem in the forests. The occupational groups like terracotta potters, artisans now had ample time to make quality products ready for post-lockdown markets. The most remarkable has been the role of traditional religious and socio-political institutions in the village. Special rituals were undertaken at the village entry point, to evade the evil effects of the pandemic by appeasing tribal gods and goddesses. ‘Hey disease-carrying evil spirit, don’t come this way, don’t come to our village’ were the prayers chanted. Going by the state advisories, the traditional socio-political system re-ratified their customary law of ex-communication if any violation was noticed. The traditional leaders saw quarantining as a form and example of ex-communication and warned the villagers accordingly.

The state had to strive hard to contain the spread of the virus through the adaptive behaviour of all communities. While most of the tribal communities are residing in remote pockets and are relatively unaware of the technicalities of managing the pandemic, something is certainly at work as these areas have not shown the substantial spread of the virus. The tribal people have variously understood the state’s advisories. It seems they could easily step into the adaptive behaviour just for two things; first, they were asked to stay at home and secondly, if violated, they might be quarantined in the same manner as their stranded relatives. They acknowledge that the state has made them food secure, cared for the old and the needy with pensions and compassions, but are worried most now on their emotional needs with stranded relatives. Mothers no more wish to send their sons away for earning, spouses would like to hold back their counterparts near their home and stranded labourers have now started to believe their emotional bonding with family is more important than going out for economic activity.

The tribal people by and large have now started depending on their traditional economies, land-based livelihoods, supplementary income from forest and livestock, and wage-earning opportunities nearby. They wish someone could read their needs and provide them with meaningful ways near their homes and hearths once the threat of the pandemic is over!