Ot Danum (also known as Dohoi, Malahoi, Uud Danum or Uut Danum) people are an ethnicity of the Dayak peoples (hence also referred as Dayak Ot Danum) dwelling at the upper reaches of south

Kapuas River The Kapuas River ( Old Indonesian spelling: Kapoeas River) is a river in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, at the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia. At in length, it is the longest river on the island of Borneo, the longest ri ...

, and along the Schwaner range, bordering

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...

and

Central Kalimantan Central Kalimantan () is a provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is one of five provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. It is the largest province in Indonesia by area since 2022, bordered by West Kalimantan to the west ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. They are the most important group of the upper Melawi River and culturally and linguistically the most distinct from the

Malay people Malays ( ; , Jawi: ) are an Austronesian ethnoreligious group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations. These locations are today part of the countries ...

. Besides the

, the Ot Danum people are also linguistically distinct from the

Ngaju people The Ngaju people (also Ngaju Dayak or Dayak Ngaju or Biaju) are an indigenous ethnic group of Borneo from the Dayak people, Dayak group. In a census from 2000, when they were first listed as a separate ethnic group, they made up 18.02% of the po ...

who live along the middle reaches of

's great rivers and who are numerically and linguistically the dominant

Dayak people The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each with its ...

group in the area. Just like most

group, majority of the Ot Danum people also practice

Kaharingan ''Kaharingan'' is an Native Indonesians, indigenous Animism, animistic folk religion of the Dayak people such as Katingan people, Katingan, Lawangan people, Lawangan, Ma'anyan people, Ma'anyan, Ngaju people, Ngaju, Ot Danum people, Ot Danum peopl ...

religion. The word ''Ot'' means people or upstream, while the word ''Danum'' means water. Therefore, the name ''Ot Danum'' means "water people" or "upriver people" or "people who live at the upstream river". The Ot Danum people are closely tied to living with nature and would revere the traditions of their ancestors by taking care of the balance between mankind and the surrounding nature.

References

Ethnic groups in Indonesia Kalimantan Dayak ethnic groups {{Indonesia-stub