A PVTG of Odisha.
Location : Sundargarh, Angul, Deogarh (Northern Plateau Zone)
Language: Indo-Aryan
Occupation: Broom stick making, Broom stick making, Mat making, Basketry, Litchi cultivation, Tussar rearing
Techno-Economic Stages: Shifting Cultivators
Socio-Cultural Features
The Paudi Bhuyan are a major section of the Bhuyan tribe which are found in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar. The Paudis mostly inhibit geographically isolated areas like thick forest and hill slopes. 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 center of the village for unmarried boys. The unmarried boys keep their Changu hung on the walls and grains are ept 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 maintains 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 Bhuyans mainly use earthen vessels, palm leaf mats and bamboo baskets. The patch unde 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.