Abstract
A plethora of scholarly investigations, building on an acculturative standpoint, have argued that the tribal/Adivasi/indigenous communities of India have “assimilated” into Hinduism at different junctures through what they broadly identify as “Hinduization,” a process wherein the dominant Hindu culture influences and assimilates the weaker and vulnerable tribal cultures (e.g., Wilson, 1861; Lyall, 1884; Boss, 1941; Ghurye, 1959; Srivastava, 2010). Nevertheless, scholarship investigating the Hindu-Tribe interaction has largely failed to map how tribal communities across India have resisted Hinduism in favor of their indigenous religions. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by examining the case of the Sarna religious movement in Eastern India, whereby the Adivasi communities and their socio-religious fronts strive to unite the scattered elements of tribal religions under the umbrella of the Sarna religion, seeking an independent existence from Hinduism and calling for the official recognition of Sarna as an autonomous religious entity. The paper starts by explaining the evolving and seemingly complex identity of Sarna Dharam and the nuances of the call for its legal recognition. The next half of the paper brings attention to the historical Hindu vs. Tribe debate in the context of the Sarna movement, first by outlining the major scholarly explorations on the “Hinduization” of Adivasis, then by introspecting how the growth of Sarna contests the conventional understanding of Adivasis as Hindus, leading to a counter acculturative process of “De-Hinduization”.
Presenters
Rashid K KhadherStudent, Doctoral, Department of Anthropology, Laney Graduate School - Emory University, Georgia, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Tribal/Indigenous/Adivasi Religion, Sarna Movement, Counter Acculturative Movement, Hinduism, De-Hinduization
