Why do the ladies have tattoos on their faces, Pitku?” “In older times, stronger tribes would attack and take our women,” Pitku said.
The Kutia Kandha are a major section of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) Kandha that speak the Kui and kuvi Dravidian languages. They identify themselves as Kuienju and reside in the hills of southern Odisha. They are one of the most ancient indigenous PVTG that have retained their characteristic sociocultural features.
The name Kutia Kandha is derived from and refers to the practice of their house floor being about 2 feet below the level of the village road. This low-lying floor of the house is known as “Kutti”. This gave this indigenous tribal group the identity of being Kutti-dwellers, or Kutia Kandha.
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During a recce in Odisha, I chanced upon the Kandha tribal village while scouting for indigenous women to photograph for a jewellery campaign. Their faces tattooed with geometrical designs pulled me in.
The tradition of facial tattooing, while born out of the need to appear unappealing to enemies such as the stronger rival tribes and the British (pre-Independence), in time became an aspect of cultural and individual identity for the women of the Kutia Kandha indigenous people. Virtue is valued among the Kutia Kandhas, and it is considered a sin in this simplistic and shy society if a women gets pregnant before marriage.
The face would often swell up and the injuries would bleed a lot. Sometimes the girls would get infections on their faces, but the reapplication of the black colour again over a few days, which would make the tattoos permanent, was inevitable.
Around age 12-16, the girls get tattooed. Most of the time, it is a family member or friend who undertakes the task. Local herbs and plants from the neighbouring forests are collected to make the permanent inks, and specific wood and thorns are chiselled as tools for the tattooing. In later years, indelible black ink made from the char on the bottom of cooking utensils was used.
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Over the past three decades, this tradition, deeply rooted in identity and culture, has been abandoned. The rise of television, mobile technology, and the Internet culture has introduced new beauty standards, connecting this once-isolated indigenous tribe to neighbouring societies and external influences. Even the earthen utensils that were once used to prepare and store the inks have been replaced with brass and steel ones. Along with these customs, the indigenous knowledge and expertise about the forests is also nearly lost, as it rests in the hands of the few.
Udit Kulshrestha is the author of Darwaze, a photobook on his early years as a photographer. Based out of Agra and New Delhi, he is also the co-founder of Chitr Sanstha, a non-profit foundation for photography.
