Being Sarna: a threat to tribal identity in Jharkhand

Context

As the demand for a separate Sarna religious code in Census 2021 gathers steam in the State, there is tension in tribal-dominated villages in Jharkhand.

Background

Tribal were always a vulnerable group which has exposed to violation of Rights and further worsening their condition.
Christian missionaries first started converting poor tribal communities with the promise of an English education, jobs and hospitals.
Tribals in India follow their own aboriginal religion but, 19 % of the total tribal population in India follow their own peculiar original religion.
Among them are Sarna worshippers of Jharkhand.
More than 89% of the tribals follow Hindu religion.
Due to their tact with other Hindu communities, they have turned to
As many as 53% tribals have embraced Christianity; they are converted Christian tribals.
They have been converted into Christianity by Christian missionaries. This conversion has caused a social problem.

About Sarna Religious Code

The Jharkhand government convened a special session and passed a resolution to send the Centre a letter to recognise Sarna religion and include it as a separate code in the ‘Census of 2021’.
Need: Many of the tribals who follow this faith have later converted to Christianity. The state has more than 4% Christians most of whom are tribals.
Some who still follow the Sarna faith believe the converted tribals are taking the benefits of reservation as a minority as well as the benefits given to Schedule Tribes.

What is Sarnaism?

Sarna are sacred groves in the Indian religious traditions of the Chota Nagpur Plateau region in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, and Chhattisgarh.
Followers of these rituals primarily belong to the Munda, Bhumij, Kharia, Baiga, Ho, Kurukh, and Santal.
According to local belief, a Gram deoti or village deity resides in the sarna, where sacrifice is offered twice a year.
Their belief system is called "Sarnaism", "Sarna Dharma", or "Religion of the Holy Woods".

Sacred Groves

Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture.
Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world.
They were important features of the mythological landscape and cult practice of Celtic, Estonian, Baltic, Germanic, ancient Greek, Near Eastern, Roman, and Slavic polytheism; they also occur in locations such as India.

Is it similar to Hinduism?

Hinduism is far more developed religion than as Sarna Dharam or Adi Dharam is less defined which is followed by the Adivasi (moolnivasi/picchdi jati) belonging from eastern India.
Hindus worship Idols and a particular figure.
Adivasi worship spirits of rivers, forests, land, and the whole nature.
Hindus view god as something humanly which has to be pleased, make happy, and others emotions like angry, sad.
Adivasi do not view their gods like humans. God is no superior humanly above than us.
According to Sarna’s, No body, just a holy spirit which calculates our life on its own.

Why religious conversion of tribals is a cause of concern?

Some Hindu groups are using the same methods to do something more malicious by changing the very nature of what tribal people believe
They try to convince them that the basic principles of Sarnaism and Hinduism are the same even though our practices are distinctively different from any other religion,
The thought begins with the promise of elementary schools, pucca homes for villagers, and roads and electricity for the village.
Threat to their culture and identity of tribal is unconstitutional and illegal.

What does constitution says about Religion conversion in India?

Article 25of the Constitution of India ‘guarantees the freedom to profess, propagate, and practise religion, and allows all religious sections to manage their own affairs in matters of religion; subject to public order, morality, and health’.
Until now, there had been no central enactment limiting or managing religious conversions; further, in 2015, the Union Law Ministry expressed that Parliament does not have the administrative skill/competence to pass anti-Conversion legislation.
Part IV: Preservation of Culture and Identity of Tribals

The Review of the Uttar Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh Ordinance

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP) Ordinances characterise conversion as repudiating one’s current religion and embracing another religion.
Nonetheless, the two Ordinances do not prohibit re-conversion back to the immediately previous religion (in UP), and parental religion (in MP) from this definition.
Parental religion is the religion to which the person’s father was born at the time of the individual’s birth.

Some ‘Sarna’ Tribal Organisations