Music and Non-Brahmin Priests of the Bora Sambar Region in Western Odisha

Abstract

This article discusses the crucial role of music played by non-Brahmin religious specialists in multi-ethnic and inter-communal interactions of local categories in the Bora Sambar region of Western Odisha, India. The particular ritual musical traditions display a local multi-ethnic pattern of ritual inter-communal communication as well as the crucial role of music and sound within the local indigenous ontologies of spiritual liberation especially visible in rituals of mourning, memory and healing. A local society is revealed through its musical patterns, concepts and diverse categories of musicians. In Bora Sambar musicians act as ritual specialists responsible for spiritual, social and cultural transformation processes.