An Ethnographic Manifestation of Religious Life of Gadaba Tribe in Its Changing Dimensions.

The captivating tribal communities living across the length and breadth of the state of Central India and mostly in Odisha have enriched the cultural heritage of the region by their cultural diversities. Gadaba's religious life reflected through their rich folk traditions of songs, dance, music, rituals and festivals celebrated round the year adds colourful dimensions to their very existence. The amazing conglomeration of traditions, beliefs, sorrows and philosophies that together constitute and vitalize the religion of tribes has descended from antiquity and has been preserved unimpaired to the present day. Every dimension of their life covering round the year activities is intimately connected with religion and the world view associated with it. It is these aspects of their culture that give meaning and depth to their lives and solidarity to their social structure. However, in recent days many changes have been taken place in traditional religious life of Gadaba tribe. Against this backdrop, this paper has tried to explore some of that core structure of Gadaba's religious life as well as the changing dimensions of their religious manifestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]