Kulta

Kuilta is a caste or community of the Hindus belonging to the Western Odisha region of India. This caste is categorised as a socially and economically backward community in both State and Centre (Oct 1994) list. The main occupation is agriculture.

Kuilta is a sub-branch of a major social group migrated from the Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh. Many similarities are found in the culture of Kullu Valley with that of the Kuiltas. For example, goddess Ramachandi who is the principal deity of the Kuiltas is also worshiped in Kullu Valley.

Due to geographical isolation and historical factors they have developed their own social identity. They have adopted some cultural elements from the local tribes. With the help of the local tribes, they have developed the agriculture of the area. They have the greatest role in increasing the cultivable area out of the forest cover of the region.

For their peace-loving nature some writers are of the opinion that Kuilta people might have followed Buddhism in the past.

It is said that the Kuiltas migrated from Ayodhya to Boudh. Their ancestors were employed by the king Dasharatha. They accompanied Rama, Lakshman and Sita in their exile and settled in Boudh. Sarsara and Jagati of Boudh are considered to be the main centres of the Kuiltas.

The area of Boudh is regarded as the original home of the Kuiltas in Odisha. From there they migrated and settled in different parts of Odisha. The writings of Cobden Ramsay about the Kuiltas substantiate this contention. He writes that the Kultas worship the goddess Ramachandi, whose principal shrine is situated at Sarsara near Boudh.

The Raja of Boudh sent a group of Kuiltas as agriculturists to help alleviate the agricultural situation and brought food relief to Patnagarh.

Some Kuiltas might have migrated from Patnagarh to Bargarh Gaisama area during the last phase of the reign of Raja Ajit Singh of Sambalpur (1725–1766). But, some of them migrated much earlier, in the first half of the sixteenth century AD during the reign of Raja Balaram Dev. There is a Kuilta dominated village named Kamgaon near Bargarh. This village is a very old one and is said to have been established by the Kuiltas, when they migrated to this part of Bargarh from Boudh in around the first part of the sixteenth century AD. There is a temple of Ramachandi in this village, which is held in great veneration by the Kuiltas. Their chief families, the Bhois and the Pradhans, are its priests.

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