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Duruas take pride in their traditional costumes

KORAPUT: The aesthetic sense of the ‘Durua’ finds expression in their dress, ornaments, costumes, art, craft, song, music, interior decoration and almost in everything they do. Describing the tribe with these words of integral appreciation, Paresh Rath, a tribal researcher from the region and the author of ‘The Durua’, the first ever book being published on Durua tribe, says the tribal women in particular treat their costumes and tradition as their pride possession.

While the Durua male have wavy hair with a ponytail get dressed with a turban on their head, bow on their shoulder, a knife and a set of arrows in hand during the special occasions, women too love to be dressed with a number of ornaments.

They wear saree covering the knee with a styled knot on the left shoulder. They dress their hair with castor oil, make a clear partition of the hair on the scalp and put a number of hair clips, hand-made wooden comb and forest flowers.

However, the special features of the tribe are exhibited during festive occasions, marriages or while participating in their traditional dances where the Durua women wear a particular type of saree with white body and brown boarders. These special features of the tribal community and the rich flora and fauna of the reserve forest have been attracting tourists even from overseas to Siribeda, one of the Durua villages in this part of the district, Mangala Chelana, a tribal youth from the community in Siribeda, says.

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