Kuttia Kond. The Forest as a Representation of the World

The origin of the ethnonym Kond has been much discussed in anthropology, but its meaning remains vague. The best hypothesis is that it derives from the Dravidian root kod (hill)/kondi (mountain), and, in fact, these indigenous communities have always mainly inhabited jungle hill tracts (Singh, 2001, 590). The Konds are a major Scheduled Tribe of Odisha. According to the latest census of India (2011), the total population exceeds 1,628,501 and has many subsections, some of which live in the neighboring states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. In the state of Odisha, only the Kuttia Kond and the Dongria Kond ethnic subgroups are listed as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). The Kuttia Kond minority is one of the smallest of these subgroups, amounting to a few thousand people concentrated in the jungles of the highlands near Phulbani (Khandamal district).