The Kurukh or Oraon, also spelt Uraon or Dhangad,[8] (Kurukh: Karḵẖ and Oṛāōn) are a Dravidian speaking ethnolinguistic group inhabiting Chhotanagpur Plateau and adjoining areas - mainly the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal.

[11][12] Traditionally, Oraons depended on the forest and farms for their ritual practices and livelihoods, but in recent times, they have become mainly settled agriculturalists.

Many Oraon migrated to tea gardens of Assam, West Bengal and Bangladesh as well as to countries like Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius during British rule, where they were known as Hill Coolies.

[14] According to Edward Tuite Dalton, "Oraon" is an exonym assigned by neighbouring Munda people, meaning "to roam".

[16] According to the Indian Anthropological Society, Konkan is said to be the original home of the Kurukh tribes from where they migrated to the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

According to Sarat Chandra Roy, Kurukh people might have migrated from Coorg in South India.

[19] According to the writings of Colonel Edward Tuite Dalton, Oraon claimed that they were settled in Gujarat, then they were expelled from there.

[10] The Kurukh celebrate all traditional festivals of the Chota Nagpur plateau: Sarhul, Karma, Dhanbuni, Harihari, Nawakhani, Khariyani etc.

[26] Since time immemorial The Oraon people have a rich range of folk songs, dances and tales,[27] as well as traditional musical instruments.

[28] At the turn of the 20th century, Kurukh men wore a loincloth tied around the hips, while women less influenced by other communities would wear a cloth reaching to just above the knee, covering the chest.

[28] Today, women traditionally a wear thick cotton sari with detailed stitched borders of purple or red thread.

Traditional tattoos include elaborate symmetrical patterns around their forearms, ankles, and chest.

Men wear a thick cloth with similar detailed borders as a dhoti or lungi.

At the turn of the 20th century however, due to the policies of the British colonial government, most of the tribe worked as agricultural labourers for the Zamindars on their own lands.

Additionally, there are smaller numbers of Muslims (7,459), Buddhists (1,904), Tana Bhagats (978), Oraons (770), Sikhs (423), and others, with 5,381 individuals returning some unclassified religion.

[citation needed] Most of population is Sarna, which is a religion that is indigenous to Adivasis in the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

Tana Bhagats opposed the taxes imposed on them by the British and staged a Satyagraha movement even before Mahatma Gandhi.

All Tana Bhagats perform puja to the Mahadeo and the tricolour with a chakra symbol on it, which is fixed at their courtyard.

[32] This article includes material from the 1995 public domain Library of Congress Country Study on India.