In the mid of 20th century, when different schools of anthropological thoughts were flourished and mark their prominent place to understand the culture , few scholars were interested towards studying the way people understand or perceive their surroundings as well as the utterance and actions of the other members. This theoretical perspective underlies two distinct approaches: one is symbolic approach as pronounced by Victor W. Turner and the second is interpretive analysis as forwarded by Clifford Geertz. Turner’s approach was more focussed towards ritual symbolism and he tried to investigate symbols as operators in the social process. Symbolic interpretation provides an insight into socio-religious tradition of the tribes. The scope of such an interpretation is found among the Oraons of Jharkhand. During my field visit in Murma village, I observed an important ritual called Dandakatta (literally meaning splitting). This ritual, also known as Bhelwa phadi(specifically splitting of Bhelwa twig, the scientific name of Bhelwas is Semicarpus Anacardium) or Rongoli (Picture made by coloured powder) plays a very significant role in various occasions such as birth, house warming ritual, festivals; and at the core lies protection from evil eyes/spirits and invocation of blessings for peace, happiness and prosperity.The present paper has tried to interpret the symbols used in Dandakatta ritual with reference to people’s perception. It will also explore the significance of the ritual and meaning of symbols in relation to faith and belief of the Oraons in the present context. The paper is qualitative in nature, and is based on both primary and secondary data. Field work is the source of primary data.
