Bhubaneswar, Nov 13: ST&SC Development Department has taken up a virtual tour to Odisha State Tribal Museum on every Sunday. The visitors can visit the Paudi Bhuyan community on November 14 by opening the Facebook and Twitter pages @stscdev @scstrti.

The Paudi Bhuyan are a major section of the Bhuyan tribe which are found in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar. In Odisha the Paudi Bhuyan community lives in Sundargarh, Anugul, Deogarh (Northern Plateau Zone).

Their occupation are broom stick making, mat making, basketry, litchi cultivation, tussar rearing. They speak local odia-with a different accent. They practice slash and burn type rotation cultivation. They carry on food gathering and hunting in the forest.

The youth dormitory “Darbarghar” is built at the centre of the village for unmarried boys. The unmarried boys keep their changu hung on the walls and grain is kept on a raised platform in the corner of the dormitory.

Mostly 5 to 20 families constitute a village. The Paudis keep their houses neat and clean plastered with cow dung and red earth. Each family maintained a kitchen garden. The house is divided into three sections with the inner section being used to store grains, middle for cooking and sleeping. Paudi Bhuyan mainly uses earthen vessels, palm leaf mats and bamboo baskets. The patch under shifting cultivation is known as biringa, pulses, millets are grown in various years. After the land is left fallow it comes under the control of the village.

The livestock of the Paudi Bhuyan consists of cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, fowl etc. They are not good in trading, hence they exchange their agricultural and forest produce for their daily necessities. The Paudis consider Dharam Devta as supreme being and Basukimata as supreme deity who look after people in all respects. Some of the important festivals celebrated by the Paudi Bhuyan community are Am Nua, Kath Jatra, Akhani paridhi, Asadh.