Bhubaneswar : ST & SC Development Department has taken up a virtual tour to Odisha State Tribal Museum on every Sunday. The visitors can visit the Siali Rope making and Basketry of Mankiridia this Sunday i.e. on 29th August by opening the Facebook and Twitter pages @stscdev, @scstrti, said Director SCSTRTI Prof. Dr. A. B. Ota.
The Mankiridia also known as Birhors, live in the Mayurbhanj, Deogarh, Balasore districts of Odisha. The community in the past lived in a semi-nomadic life of hunting and food gathering. The reason for calling them Mankidi or Mankiridia is that they are skilled in catching monkeys. They are a primitive tribe and nomadic in nature. Their settlements, called ‘Tanda’, are a collection of 20 to 30 leaf huts deep inside the Similipal forest. Today, some groups of the community live in permanent settlements, close to the forest. Thie community is divided into two divisions i.e. the Uthalu(Nomads) and Jagi (settlers). The Mankiridia are skilled rope makers. The Mankiridia depended on the collection of Siali creepers and the processing of these fibers into ropes and baskets for local sale; follow the community as they continue to engage in this traditional occupation.