Rice culture and sacred siblingship

This article examines the ritual performances of Nua Khai and Bhai Jiuntia in western Odisha, arguing that these ceremonies, which are deeply embedded in the region’s rice culture, simultaneously reaffirm and momentarily unsettle the patrilineal structure. Based on eleven months of ethnographic research in Bargarh district, the study explores how rice cultivation is not merely an economic activity but a resource that sustains cross-siblingship as a cultural value. While Nua Khai and Bhai Jiuntia ritualize the sacred bond between brother and sister, their enactment reveals a gendered paradox: sisters are central to the moral and spiritual order of their natal homes, yet remain structurally marginalized within the patriline. By interrogating the interplay of kinship, gender and agrarian ritual, this analysis demonstrates how rice culture in western Odisha reproduces social worlds through the ideology of reciprocity, ambivalence and the transformative power of feminine energy or power (sakti).