View source for Oraon, Uraon Kunokh, Kunrukh

== Religion==
"The religion of the Onions," says Colonel Dalton, "is of 
a composite order. They have, no doubt, 
retained some portion of the belief that they broul2"ht with them to Chota Nagpur; but, coalescing with the Mundas and joining in their festivals and acts of public worship, they have to a certain extent adopted their ideas on religion and blended them with their own. There is, however, a material distinction between the religious systems of the two people. The Mundas have no symbols and make no representations of their gods; the Oraons, and all the cognates whom I have met with, have always some visible object of worship, though it may be but a stone or a wooden post, or a lump of earth. Like the Mundas, they acknowledge a Supreme God, adored as Dharmi or Dharmesh, the Holy One, who is manifest in the sun; and they regard Dharmesh as a perfectly pure, beneficent being, who created us, and would in his goodness and mercy preserve us, but that his benevolent designs are thwarted by malignant spirits whom mortals must propitiate, as Dharmesh oannot or does not interfere if the spirit of evil once fastens upon us. It is therefore of no use to pray to Dharmesh or to offer sacrifices to him; so though acknowledged, recognized, and reverenced, he is neglected, whilst the malignant spirits are adored. 
"I do not think that the Oraons have an idea that their sins are visited on them, either in this world or in a world to Gome. It is not because they are wicked that their children or their cattle die, or their crops fail, or they suffer in body; it is only because some malignant demon has a spite against them, or is desirous of harming them. Their ideas of sin are limited. Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, is about as much of the Decalogue as they would sub¬scribe to. It is doubtful if they see any moral guilt in murder, 
though hundreds of them have suffered the ex~reme penalty of the law for this crime. They are ready to take life on very slight provo¬cation, and in the gratification of their revenge an innocent child is as likely to suffer as the actual offender. There is one canon of the Mosaicallaw that thbY in former years rigorously enforced¬'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.' I have dwelt on this subject in treating of the Mundas. If left to themselves, the life of elderly females would be very insecure. As it is, a suspected old woman (and sometimes a young one, especially if she be the daughter of a suspected old one) is occasionally condemned, well drubbed and turned out of the village; and she does not always survive the treat¬ment she is subjected to. If we analyse the views of most of the Oraon converts to Christianity, we shall, I think, be able to discern the influence of their pagan doctrines and superstitions in the motives that first led them to become catechumens. The Supreme Being who does not proteot them from the spite of malevolent spirits has, they are assured, the Christians under His special care. They consider that, in consequence of this guardianship, the witohes and bhuts have no power over Christians; and it is, therefore, good for them to join that body. They are taught that for the salvation of Christians one great sacrifice has been made, and they see that those who are baptized do not in faot reduce their live-stock to propitiate the evil spirits. They grasp at this notion; and long after¬wards, when they understand it better, the atonement, the mystioal washing away of sin by the blood of Christ, is the doctrine on which their simple minds most dwell. I have not found amongst the pagan Oraons a trace of the high moral code that their cousins of the H.ajmaMl hills are said to have accepted. I consider that they have no belief whatever in a future state, whilst to the RajmahaHs is attri¬buted a profound system of metempsychosis. 

The Oraons carry that doctrine no further than to suppose that men who are killed by tigers becoms tigers, but for other people death means annihilation. As the sole object of their religious ceremonies is the propitiation of the demons, who are ever thwarting the benevolent intentions of Dharmesh, they have no notion of a service of thanks¬giving; and so far we may regard the l'eligion of the Mundas as of a higher order than theirs. When suffering or misfortune befall a man, he consults an augw:, or oilui, as to the cause of his afllic-tion, and acts according to the advice given. The ojlui has it in his power to denounce a mortal or a partioular devil. The method employed has been desoribed in the account of tho Mundas, and the result is the same. If a fellow-being is denounced, it is said that he has caused his familiar to possess and aflliot the sufferer; and the person denounced is seized and tortured, or beaten, to force himto effect the expulsion of the evil spirit. But the family or village bMt may be accused. The ojlui, under inspiration, of course, deoides what is to be sacrificed, and :frequently ruins, if he does not cure, the patient consulting him. In the process of propitiation, the fetish natUl'e of the Oraon belief is shown. '1'he sorcerer produces a mall image of mud, and on it sprinkles a few grains of rice. If fowls are to be the victims, they are placed in front of this image; and if they peck 
at the rice, it iudicates that the particular devil is satisfied with the intention of his votaries, and the sacrifice proceeds. The flesh of the animals killed is appropriated by the sorcerer, so it is his interest to have a hecatomb if possible. In regard to the names and attri¬butes of the devils, the Oraon s who live with Mundas sacrifice to Marang Buru and all the Munda Bongas. The Oraons on the western portion of the plateau, where there are few Mundas, ignore the Bongas and pay their devotion to Darha, the Sarna Burhi (Lady of the Grove), and the village Mitts, who have various names. 

Chanda or Chandt is the god or goddess of the ohase, and is always invoked preparatory to starting on great hunting expeditions. Any bit of rock, or stone, or exoresoenoe on a rook, serves to represent this deity. The hill near Lodhma, known to the Mundas as MarangBuru, is held in great reverenoe by the Oraons. To the spirit of the hill, whom they oall Baranda, they give bullocks and buffaloes, espe-oially propitiating him as the Mid, who, when malignantly inclined, frustrates God's designs of sending rain in due season to fertilise the earth. In some parts of the oountry Darha is almost the only spirit they propitiate. If fowls are offered to him, they must be of divers colours, but once in three years he should have a sheep from his votaries; and onoe in the same period a buffalo, of which the oJM or pahn gets a quarter. The Oraon must always have something material to worship, renewed every three years. Besides this superstitious dread of the spirits above namen, the Orion's imagin¬ation tremblingly wanders in a world of ghosts. Every rock, road, river, and grove is haunted. He believes that women who die in childbirth become ghosts, oalled c/tol"ail; and suoh ghosts are fre-quently met hovering about the tombstones, always clad in robes of white, their faoes fair and lovely, but with baoks black as charcoal, and inverted feet, that is, they walk with their heels in front. 'l'hey lay hold of passers-by and wrestle with them, and tickle them; and he is lucky, indeed, who, thus caught, escapes without permanent injuries." Women who die within fifteen days of their confiuement are believed to be likely to beoome c/~01'ails; but thi danger may be averted by offeriug sacrifices for the repose of their spirits.