The Mela completed two weeks today. The popularity of the Mela has been increasing day by day as evident from the rush of visitors. People of capital city treat this Mela as distinguished from other events being organized in this season, in different parts of the city.

Men, women and children came in large numbers to have a feel of tribal Odisha – its rich heritage, diversity, simplicity and beauty. In the tribal societies, people live in a simple society with close and reciprocal kinship ties, subsistence economic activities for livelihood and worship of nature and ancestors based upon magico-religious beliefs and practices. The glimpses of their magico-religious life have been exhibited in their shrine crafts within the tribal village of the Mela. Their rich folk traditions of arts and crafts showing their ingenuity, creativity and innovativeness has been depicted in the tribal arts and crafts segment, the tribal village, the tribal hat and the dance programmes.

The tribal programmes staged in the evening were Gadaba dance of Koraput, Chukutia Bhunjia dance of Sunabeda, Kathi dance of Koraput. There were other dances performed by the tribal students of some educational institutions which entertained the spectators as these were a hybrid of tradition and modernity. While the traditional tribal dances retained its ethnicity, the modern dances reflected the change of attitude among the younger generation. However, the dances in their traditional and transitional forms were appreciated by the spectators.