ORAON, a tribe in the northern and western parts of Chutia Nagpur proper, in the eastern parts of Sirguja and Jashpur, and scattered in Singbhum, Zangpur, Bonai, and Hazaribagh, all in the Chutia Nagpur province, also in Sumbulpore of the Central Provinces. In the Lohardagga district, which includes the whole of Chutia Nagpur proper, they number 362,480 ; in Sirguja, about 20,000; in Jashpur, 25,000 ; and diffused through the other districts mentioned above, employed in the tea districts, and in British colonies, about as many more. They were for many generations settled on the Rhotas and adjoining hills, and in the Patna district, and they have a tradition that when driven from the Rhotas hills, they separated into two great divisions ; one of these moving to the S.E. formed a settlement in the Rajmahal Hills, and are now known as the Male or Rajmahali ; the other sought refuge to the south in the Palamow and wandered from valley to valley in those ranges, till they found themselves in Burwai, a hill-locked estate in Chutia Nagpur proper. From there they occu pied the highlands of Jashpur, and formed the settlements in the vicinity of Lohardagga, on the Chutia Nagpur plateau, where they still constitute the bulk of the population. This tradition is borne out by the evident affinity in language and similar ity in customs of the Oraon and Rajmahali ; and though the latter do not acknowledge the rela tionship, their common origin may be considered as established.
Tho Oraon are now a good deal interposed between the Kharawa and the Mundah ; but though the Kharawa and Omen arc in contact, they are very unlike in language, appearance, manners, and customs. Oraon settlements pre dominate in the western parts of Chutia Nagpur plateau, and each village group has its peculiar flag. The Oraon are known to the people of the plains as the Dhangar, but Khurnkh is the name by which they designate themselves.
The Oraon arc a very small race, but well pro portioned. The young men have light graceful figures, and are as active as monkeys. Those residing in isolated positions are generally black or dark and ill-favoured. They have (wide mouths, thick lips, projecting maxillary processes, nostrils' wide apart, no marked elevation of the'nose, and low foreheads, though not in general very reced ing. The Oraon who dwell in mixed communities have more varied features, and colours softer, fairer, and pleasing when young, and improve in appearance with civilisation. The Omen, accord
ing to Colonel Dalton, have more of the African type of feature, he has seen woolly heads amongst them; and the wild Oraon have almost an ape-like physiognomy, the Jashpur Omen being the ugliest of the race, with very low foreheads, flat noses, and projecting cheek-bones, and approach the Negro in physiognomy ; and in manner the Omon are more like bright-hearted Negroes, are fond of gaiety, decorating rather than clothing their person ; whether working or playing, always cheerful ; and young Omen boys and girls are intensely fond of decorating their persons with beads and brass ornaments, which they discard on becoming Christians. Oraon youths and maidens speedily acquire the songs and the dancing steps of the Mundah. The Oraon are more lively than the Mundah, quite as industrious, and the most active and nimble-footed of dancers. The Omen have small, ill-built, untidy huts, in which the family reside. But they have in each village of old stand ing, a Dhumkuria, or bachelor's hall, in which all boys and unmarried men of the tribe are obliged to sleep. Any absentee is fined. In the Dhum kuria, also, is placed all the flags, instruments used in their dancing and other festivals, and in front of it is a clear circular space for the dancing ground. In some Omen villages, also, the un married girls have a house to themselves, with an elderly woman to look after them ; she has always a stick in hand.
There is no similarity between the language of the Oraon and that of the Mundah and their cognates. The Mundah is soft and sonorous, while the Oraon is guttural and harsh, and the Oraon language of the Rajmalial Hills and the Tamil have a near connection. The Male and Oraon languages are mainly Dravidian ; and al though the Male are now confined to the N.E. extremity of the Vindhya, where the Ganges washes and bends round the chain, and are separated from the South Dravidian nations by the Kol, their language is more Dravidian than the Kol itself. The explanation is probably to be found in the circumstance of the Oraon and Male having originally formed an uninterrupted exten sion of the Gond tribes and dialects that extended from tho Godavery to the N. extremity of the Vindhya. In villages east of Ranchee, wholly inhabited by the Oraon, the Mundah, not the Oraon, is the language spoken.