Rayagada: Forty members of a tribal woman’s family tonsured their heads as part of a purification ritual after she married a man from a different caste at Baiganaguda village under Gorakhpur panchayat of Kashipur block in Rayagada district on Thursday.
The ritual included the sacrifice of goats, chickens, and pigs before the local deity, reflecting traditional customs observed by the community.
According to reports, the woman, belonging to a Scheduled Tribe (ST), had recently married a man from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. Despite opposition from her family and villagers, the couple went ahead with the marriage, driven by mutual consent and love.
The inter-caste marriage sparked tensions within the village, prompting a community meeting that mandated the purification ritual to ‘atone’ for the perceived breach of social norms.
As part of this ritual, the woman’s extended family performed animal sacrifices and underwent the customary head-shaving (mundane) as an act of penance. The family was reportedly warned of potential social ostracism if they refused to comply.
The incident surfaced publicly after a video recording of the ritual circulated widely on social media. In response, the district administration ordered an investigation, tasking the Kashipur block development officer (BDO) with probing the matter.
BDO Bijay Soe stated that a team led by the block-level extension officer met with both families, who claimed the ritual was carried out voluntarily in accordance with local customs, without any external coercion.
