God delusion: Is the adivasi Hindu, Christian or neither?
12 Oct 2014 11:06 PM GMT
The rains, finally, have moved on from Bastar. The sun, consequently, has painted the vast expanse of the countryside – this is a sparsely populated region and there can often be little sign of human habitation – a brilliant light green, at long last allowing one to appreciate the beauty of this part of the country. But despite that placid veneer, trouble has been brewing here.
A few months ago, on 10 May, the village of Sirisguda, in Bastar district, called a special gram sabha and passed a resolution stating that they would no longer allow non-Hindu missionaries to enter their village; and therefore to practise, profess, or propagate their religion.
The match that lit that fire had, as always, been innocuous enough. The villagers had been collecting chanda (contributions) for the pujas they would hold over the course of the year when a section of the villagers – who for as long as anybody can remember had been agreeable to part with a little of their income made from farming and daily labour – refused to do so.
‘Your gods are not real gods, and we do not believe in them any longer,’ said this section of the villagers. It later transpired that these villagers, 52 families in all out of a total of about 2,000 residents, had converted to Christianity, and that the rules of their new religion forbade them from worshipping their old gods.
Pastor GG Paul, district pastor and state secretary of the Indian Pentecostal Church of God, says that if people were to concentrate on the similarities, rather than the differences, between their religions, the world would be a more peaceful place. ‘For example, like the Father, Son and Holy Ghost make up the Christian trinity, the Hindus have Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Both have a creator, redeemer/preserver, and a destroyer. In many ways, they’re both the same; but the one thing that we do not allow is for people to worship idols.’
The villagers hit back, finding their way to the local offices of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) which helpfully pointed them in the direction of Section 129(G) of the Chhattisgarh Panchayati Raj Act, which says that in a scheduled area ‘the people’s tradition and culture have to be kept preserved’.
The clause does not explicitly say anything about religion. Suresh Yadav, president of the VHP in Bastar, says they will now meet the Chief Minister and the Governor, demanding that the village-imposed ban on non-Hindu missionaries be imposed. And sections of the media have since reported that as many as 50 villages have followed suit and passed the resolution too although Ankit Anand, the district collector of Bastar, says only two villages – Sirisguda and Belar – have actually passed the order so far. The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum has in turn recently appealed against the resolution in the Bilaspur high court, saying that it is unconstitutional.
Of course, considering the circumstances, nothing is turning back the clock in Sirisguda. Pando Mandavi says her son, who’d been sickly, converted because he was told he would get better. She says he is better now. And Somari Mandavi, who’d lost three young children, says she converted because she’d been told her other children would grow up healthy. She says that today, the three girls and one boy she has are well; and that she realises the conversions are throwing up differences in the village but that there’s no going back for her now. ‘I no longer believe in the old gods.’
The villagers of Sirisguda themselves seem somewhat less certain of what they might want – ‘we don’t want anybody to reconvert, but we want things to go back to the way they were when we all lived happily together, jab uthna baithna saath hota tha. And we want no disrespect shown to our gods – apart from the fact that they want non-Hindu missionaries to stay out. And yet, the question arises: Are the tribals themselves Hindu?
‘No we are not,’ says Arjun Nag, a lawyer and tribal activist who is himself a tribal. (Nag is not a resident of Sirisguda). He works out of Jagdalpur, the district headquarters of Bastar, where he says that at a recent seminar on Tribal Culture And Why We Need To Save It, of which he was chief guest, he was happy to hear most young tribal boys and girls say they were not Hindu. That they were simply tribal.
Lingaram Kodopi, Soni Sori’s nephew and who, alongside his aunt, also fights for tribal rights and a tribal identity, says the same thing. ‘I don’t ever remember my father or grandfather talking to me about Holi or Diwali. The tribal is not Hindu, but we are beginning to convert ourselves.’ For example, he says, the government is unable to build schools in Naxal-affected areas, so it will build them in the towns and cities. A tribal child will then come to town to study, and in time be sent home for the Diwali holidays. Like his Hindu classmates, he too will buy crackers and take them home; and before you know it, he’s celebrating Diwali. According to Nag, the tribal will very often write ‘Hindu’ on an application form to a job or an examination because he’s worried that leaving the column blank might mean not getting a call back. ‘If we have to give our dharm a name,’ says Nag, ‘looking at how we live, it would be prakriti, nature.’
But, just as importantly, should it matter if somebody wishes to change his religion? According to Nag, village festivals are communal affairs with everybody contributing money towards them and then attending them together. When a section of people in the village change their religion, they will stop attending those festivals. So they will stop eating with the others and in time, there will also be little meeting of the groups. In effect then, he says, the very social fabric that makes a village a village will fall apart.
‘It is also important to remember,’ he adds, ‘that keeping somebody within a religion is often driven by the fear of a vote bank depleting. And it would be best if you left the tribal out of all of this.’
In a way, the villagers of Sirisguda – who all say they’re Hindu, although Nag says the gods that they say they worship (Hinglajin Mata, Pardesin Mata, Baman Dei, Bhandarin etc) are tribal and not Hindu gods. There’s also Mahadeo, or Shiva, although Nag says he too was originally a tribal god. (There is some literature to back up that contention) – are saying the same thing when they say ‘we want things to go back to the way they were’.
But that seems difficult. With the possessive Hindu and the evangelising Christian fighting over him, it seems unlikely that the tribal will be left alone to practise, profess or propagate his own religion.
A few months ago, on 10 May, the village of Sirisguda, in Bastar district, called a special gram sabha and passed a resolution stating that they would no longer allow non-Hindu missionaries to enter their village; and therefore to practise, profess, or propagate their religion.
The match that lit that fire had, as always, been innocuous enough. The villagers had been collecting chanda (contributions) for the pujas they would hold over the course of the year when a section of the villagers – who for as long as anybody can remember had been agreeable to part with a little of their income made from farming and daily labour – refused to do so.
‘Your gods are not real gods, and we do not believe in them any longer,’ said this section of the villagers. It later transpired that these villagers, 52 families in all out of a total of about 2,000 residents, had converted to Christianity, and that the rules of their new religion forbade them from worshipping their old gods.
Pastor GG Paul, district pastor and state secretary of the Indian Pentecostal Church of God, says that if people were to concentrate on the similarities, rather than the differences, between their religions, the world would be a more peaceful place. ‘For example, like the Father, Son and Holy Ghost make up the Christian trinity, the Hindus have Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Both have a creator, redeemer/preserver, and a destroyer. In many ways, they’re both the same; but the one thing that we do not allow is for people to worship idols.’
The villagers hit back, finding their way to the local offices of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) which helpfully pointed them in the direction of Section 129(G) of the Chhattisgarh Panchayati Raj Act, which says that in a scheduled area ‘the people’s tradition and culture have to be kept preserved’.
The clause does not explicitly say anything about religion. Suresh Yadav, president of the VHP in Bastar, says they will now meet the Chief Minister and the Governor, demanding that the village-imposed ban on non-Hindu missionaries be imposed. And sections of the media have since reported that as many as 50 villages have followed suit and passed the resolution too although Ankit Anand, the district collector of Bastar, says only two villages – Sirisguda and Belar – have actually passed the order so far. The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum has in turn recently appealed against the resolution in the Bilaspur high court, saying that it is unconstitutional.
Of course, considering the circumstances, nothing is turning back the clock in Sirisguda. Pando Mandavi says her son, who’d been sickly, converted because he was told he would get better. She says he is better now. And Somari Mandavi, who’d lost three young children, says she converted because she’d been told her other children would grow up healthy. She says that today, the three girls and one boy she has are well; and that she realises the conversions are throwing up differences in the village but that there’s no going back for her now. ‘I no longer believe in the old gods.’
The villagers of Sirisguda themselves seem somewhat less certain of what they might want – ‘we don’t want anybody to reconvert, but we want things to go back to the way they were when we all lived happily together, jab uthna baithna saath hota tha. And we want no disrespect shown to our gods – apart from the fact that they want non-Hindu missionaries to stay out. And yet, the question arises: Are the tribals themselves Hindu?
‘No we are not,’ says Arjun Nag, a lawyer and tribal activist who is himself a tribal. (Nag is not a resident of Sirisguda). He works out of Jagdalpur, the district headquarters of Bastar, where he says that at a recent seminar on Tribal Culture And Why We Need To Save It, of which he was chief guest, he was happy to hear most young tribal boys and girls say they were not Hindu. That they were simply tribal.
Lingaram Kodopi, Soni Sori’s nephew and who, alongside his aunt, also fights for tribal rights and a tribal identity, says the same thing. ‘I don’t ever remember my father or grandfather talking to me about Holi or Diwali. The tribal is not Hindu, but we are beginning to convert ourselves.’ For example, he says, the government is unable to build schools in Naxal-affected areas, so it will build them in the towns and cities. A tribal child will then come to town to study, and in time be sent home for the Diwali holidays. Like his Hindu classmates, he too will buy crackers and take them home; and before you know it, he’s celebrating Diwali. According to Nag, the tribal will very often write ‘Hindu’ on an application form to a job or an examination because he’s worried that leaving the column blank might mean not getting a call back. ‘If we have to give our dharm a name,’ says Nag, ‘looking at how we live, it would be prakriti, nature.’
But, just as importantly, should it matter if somebody wishes to change his religion? According to Nag, village festivals are communal affairs with everybody contributing money towards them and then attending them together. When a section of people in the village change their religion, they will stop attending those festivals. So they will stop eating with the others and in time, there will also be little meeting of the groups. In effect then, he says, the very social fabric that makes a village a village will fall apart.
‘It is also important to remember,’ he adds, ‘that keeping somebody within a religion is often driven by the fear of a vote bank depleting. And it would be best if you left the tribal out of all of this.’
In a way, the villagers of Sirisguda – who all say they’re Hindu, although Nag says the gods that they say they worship (Hinglajin Mata, Pardesin Mata, Baman Dei, Bhandarin etc) are tribal and not Hindu gods. There’s also Mahadeo, or Shiva, although Nag says he too was originally a tribal god. (There is some literature to back up that contention) – are saying the same thing when they say ‘we want things to go back to the way they were’.
But that seems difficult. With the possessive Hindu and the evangelising Christian fighting over him, it seems unlikely that the tribal will be left alone to practise, profess or propagate his own religion.
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