Tribal Jewellery Of Odisha

Odisha is an abode to many tribes and their traditional art forms. They show excellent skill and mastery in using alluminium, brass, silver, wood and beads to make their ornamental jewellery. Their jewellery is associative of their ritualistic and religious belief. 

Some of the jewellery worn by tribal people of Orissa are:

• Bonda tribal women are nude, they wear only short skirts and cover their breasts with beads necklaces and wear brass and aluminium rings piled over one another around their neck. They also wear a coin necklace called Dabulubeida.
• Kondh women wear three rings in their nose and men wear two rings in their nose. Women adorn their hair with several hairpins called sipna made of copper, brass and silver. The sipna are in shape of scissors. It is put on the back of women’s head. 
• Ahali hara is a necklace made of coins (mostly 50 paise and 1 rupee) strung through holes punched in the coins. 
• Kiyu murmas are set of small silver or gold rings worn in the ear
• Gond tribal women of Nabarngpur district wear silver bangles with beautiful designs etched over them. Sometimes the design is made with spikes. It is to adorn their beauty as well as for their safety. These beautiful bangles are crafted by local smiths.
• Saura women wear big wooden discs in their ears. 
• Gadaba women are fond of wearing brass and aluminium jewellery. Gadaba males also wear rings in their fingers. Women wear big rings around their neck called Khagla which are heavy in weight. They also wear copper wire ear hoops.
• Santal tribal women wear silver wristlet.
• Kansari and Ghasi/Ghantara communities utilize brass, copper and white metal wires as raw materials. Beads are made out these wires by heating and hammering them incessantly. Once the beads are buffed various knotting techniques are employed to combine them with threads to make jewelry. Tools such as hammer, cutter, scissors and measuring tapes and a furnace are required for the process. The final step involved checking of the jewelry at Bhuban and Bhubaneshwar.