Bhubaneswar: ST & SC Development Department has taken up a virtual tour to Odisha State Tribal Museum on every Sunday. This Sunday visitors can visit the Indigenous knowledge system of Kutia Kandh Tribe (Traditional Medicinal Practices) by opening the Facebook and Twitter pages @stscdev, @scstrti, said Director SCSTRTI Prof. (Dr.) A. B. Ota.
Kutia Kandh live in the districts of Kalahandi, Kandhamal. Broom making, mat making, basketry are some of their main occupation. For the Kutia Kandh their very existence is linked with the environment and supernatural powers. They believe, disease is something that affects both body and soul and illness is a sort of disturbance in a person’s life-force caused by the supernatural powers and environmental factors.
The healing practices of the community thus rely on the medicinal efficacy of plants, animals and minerals administered by folk healers by direction of the divine. The film follows Kutia Kandh healers as they collect, process and prescribe their traditional medicines. In doing so it explores the Kutia Kandh understanding of illness-both natural and supernatural origin and how they are treated.
