Bhubaneswar: As a 5T initiative of ST &SC Development Department, Odisha State Tribal Museum goes virtual. During the COVID-19 pandemic the virtual tour will enable the audience to visualise the exclusive tribal artifacts, habitats and unique aspects of Tribal Museum being at home.
One can visit the Facebook and Twitter pages @scstrti, @stscdev in every Sunday.
On 6th September visitors can take a virtual tour of the outdoor display of Gond House at Odisha State Tribal Museum. A single room dwelling the Gond House has covered verandah on three sides. The walls of the house are brightly painted with traditional Gond Art. One part of the covered verandah is the family hearth while the other is used to store fishing implements. Within the main living space, raised wooden platforms are made to place grain bins.
On the same day, one can visit traditional art & crafts i.e. Gond painting. They have a long tradition of the wall and floor painting, that in recent years has converted into an income-generating art form for the community.
The Gond is numerically the most dominant tribe of India. They call themselves Gond or Koitur. Culturally, the tribe is dichotomized into the primitive group and the acculturated and Hinduised Group. They live mainly in Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Gondi(Dravidian) and Odia (Indo-Aryan) are their languages. Their main occupations are cultivation, wage, and agricultural labour.