Negotiating Ancestral Rites and Modern Realities: Contemporary Shifts in Kutia Kandha Marriage Practices

Gagan Kumar Behera, Bikram Kumar Jena and Arun Kumar Acharya

Published: 2026/06/01

Abstract

This ethnographic study explores the dynamics of marriage practices among the Kutia Kandha, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Odisha, India, with a focus on how ancestral customs are being negotiated within contemporary realities. Employing participatory observation and interviews with cultural custodians such as the Janni (priest), Majhi (headman), Kutaka (shaman), alongside elders and youths, the research identifies four distinctive forms of marriage: negotiation, arranged through reciprocal gift exchange; capture, marked by a symbolic act of abduction; elopement, where couples cohabit prior to formal recognition; and service, in which the groom resides and labours within the bride’s household. These practices, deeply embedded in ritual, reciprocity and kinship networks, remain integral to community life but are simultaneously subject to gradual transformation. Pressures of modern education, state intervention, legal frameworks, and aspirations for upward mobility among younger generations are subtly reshaping these institutions. The findings reveal a process of cultural negotiation where the Kutia Kandha seek to safeguard their identity and ritual traditions while adapting to external influences, while reciprocity continues to function as the core organising principle.

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