‘Dongr’ means ‘field on mountains’. Unwed Dongria girls sit at ‘Dongr’ embroidering beautiful geometric patterns on plain handwoven shawls, for their to-be-husband. Work of love takes over a month for a single shawl. Triangles represent Niyamgiri Hills- the home of the primitive tribal group of Dongria Kondhs.
Later, Nuapatna and Sambalpuri weavers incorporated this into full length sarees in both cotton and silk, and we call them 'Dongria Sarees'. The weavers painstakingly make geometric shapes on anchal and borders by dobby, jaala and buti (hand work).
