Most of the Bosantiyas are Saivites, but a few follow the Paramartho form of Vaishnavism. They also worship various Tākurānis (village deities), such as Kotāru and Chondi.

In the Vizagapatam Manual (1869), Bosuntea is described as a caste of Paiks or fighting men in the Vizagapatam district (Jeypore).

Bottada.—The Bottadas are, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,[84] “a Class of Uriya cultivators and labourers, speaking Muria or Lucia, otherwise known as Basturia, a dialect of Uriya. Mr. Taylor says the caste is the same as Muria, which is shown separately in the tables, and in Mr. H. G. Turner’s notes in the Census Report of 1871. But, whether identical or distinct, it seems clear that both are sub-divisions of the great Gond tribe.”

For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. There is a current tradition that the caste originally dwelt at Barthagada, and emigrated to Vizagapatam long ago. It is vaguely mentioned that Barthagada was situated towards and beyond Bastar, near which place there are still to be found people of this caste, with whom those living in the Vizagapatam Agency intermarry. The caste is divided into three endogamous divisions, viz.:—

The following notes refer to the Bodo section, in which various exogamous septs, or bamsa, exist, of which the following are examples:—

Girls are married either before or after puberty. A man can claim his paternal aunt’s daughter in marriage. When a marriage is under contemplation, the prospective bridegroom’s parents take maddho (liquor) and chada (beaten rice) to the girl’s house, where they are accepted or refused, according as her parents agree to, or disapprove of the match. After a stated period, further presents of liquor, rice, black gram, dhāl, salt, chillies, and jaggery (crude sugar) are brought, and betel leaves and areca nuts given in exchange. Two days later the girl’s parents pay a return visit to those of the young man. After another interval, the marriage takes place. Nine days before its celebration, paddy (unhusked rice) and Rs. 2 are taken to the bride’s house as jholla tonka, and a feast is held. At the bridegroom’s house, a pandal, made of nine sorghi or sāl (Shorca robusta) posts, is erected, with a pot of turmeric water tied to the central post. The bride is conducted thither. At the marriage rites the Dēsāri officiates. The ends of the cloths of the contracting couple are tied together, and their little fingers are linked together, while they go, with pieces of turmeric and rice in their hands, seven times round the pandal. The sacred fire, or hōmam, is raised, and into it seven or nine different kinds of wood, ghī (clarified butter), milk, rice and jaggery are thrown. Turmeric-rice dots are put on the foreheads of the bride and bridegroom by the Dēsāri, parents, and relations. They are anointed with castor-oil, and bathed with the water contained in the pot tied to the post. New cloths are presented to them, and a caste feast is held.

Widow remarriage is permitted, and a younger brother often marries the widow of his elder brother. If, however, she marries any one else, her new husband has to pay rānd tonka, consisting of liquor, a sheep or goat, and rice, as a fine to the caste, or he may compound for payment of five rupees. Divorce is permitted, and, if a man divorces his wife, he usually gives her some paddy, a new cloth, and a rupee. If the woman divorces herself from her husband, and contracts an alliance with another man, the latter has to pay a fine of twenty rupees to the first husband, a portion of which is spent on a feast, at which the two husbands and the woman are present.