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🇧🇩 Bangladesh /Culture & Society

Oraon community in Bangladesh fights for survival of language and culture amid land loss

From Daily Star · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • The Oraon community in Bangladesh faces a dual struggle to preserve its language and culture amid economic hardship and disappearing farmland.
  • Many families have lost their land through division, disputes, or financial pressure, forcing them into agricultural labor and impacting their cultural practices.
  • Younger generations are increasingly unable to speak or understand Kurukh, their mother tongue, raising fears of its eventual disappearance along with their culture.

In Baro Paharpur Oraon village, life unfolds with the rhythm of dawn, as residents tend to fields, manage households, and prepare for school. Yet, beneath this daily routine lies a growing concern for the Oraon community in Bangladesh: the erosion of their language and culture.

We have lost our land. Gradually, we are losing our language and culture too. Kurukh is our mother tongue.

— Budhu KujurThe village's oldest resident laments the loss of ancestral land and the decline of the Kurukh language.

Once a community with ample farmland, generations of inheritance divisions, land disputes, and financial pressures have left many families landless. Baro Paharpur, home to 152 people across 33 families, now sees only three families with significantly reduced landholdings. The village's oldest resident, 82-year-old Budhu Kujur, laments the loss of his ancestral land, which has dwindled from 30 bighas to a mere five decimals of homestead land. "We have lost our land. Gradually, we are losing our language and culture too. Kurukh is our mother tongue," he said, expressing a fear shared by many elders.

While Oraons over 40 still converse in Kurukh, the younger generation's fluency is declining. The increasing use of Bangla in education and daily life confines Kurukh to conversations among the elderly. Nirmal Kujur, 78, recalls a time when festivals, songs, and stories were all conducted in Kurukh. Now, many young men and women struggle to speak their own language fluently, a sentiment echoed by 20-year-old college student Subarna Kujur. Financial hardship also presents a significant obstacle to education, further complicating efforts to maintain cultural traditions.

After we are gone, perhaps both our language and culture will disappear.

— Budhu KujurThe elderly resident expresses deep concern about the future of Oraon heritage.

The Oraon ethnic minority in Bangladesh numbers 85,846, with a significant presence in the Rangpur region. Despite community efforts to preserve their heritage, the intertwined challenges of economic survival and cultural assimilation threaten the future of the Kurukh language and Oraon traditions.

Now many young men and women cannot even speak their own language fluently.

— Nirmal KujurAn elder from Badarganj upazila describes the fading fluency of the younger generation in the Kurukh language.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Daily Star in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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