23.0 Introduction
In India the study of the so-called tribal religion remains pivotal to the anthropology of religion1. During the colonial period varieties of religious beliefs and practices of tribal people in the Indian sub-continent had intrigued travellers, missionaries, military officers, and administrators, who wrote considerably on the subject.
The colonial writings on tribal religion have come in the form of expedition accounts, census reports, and monographs. In the post-independence period, there are numerous theses and books dealing with supernatural beings, magic and witchcraft, rites of passage, conversion and syncretism, and so forth. Amid these studies revitalisation movements in tribal societies, especially politico-religious types, have generated a great deal of interest among the social scientists studying modern Indian society.In the Indian context, the socio-cultural movements in tribal societies which Anthony F.C. Wallace (1956) call “revitalisation movements” are mostly religious in nature, though some have been secular. In the latter, strong assertions over ethnicity, language, and culture have been the driving forces for mass mobilisation. Notably, the study of revitalisation movements in tribal societies generally falls under the rubric of ‘tribal movements’2.
Generally, researchers and scholars studying revitalisation movements in tribal societies have located them within the theoretical and methodological framework of identity struggle, cultural loss, and socio-economic deprivation. In the grand scheme of things, mysticism arguably appears to be the least researched dimension of revitalisation movements in India, much less a study of revelations. As observed, revelations form the basis of most revitalisation movements in tribal societies. There are notable works on revitalisation movements that focus mostly on the millenarian leaders and the socio-political implications of the movements (Fuchs 1965; Hardiman 1987; Singh 1983), but hitherto a theory of revelation has not received its due attention.
The ethnographic literature on tribal communities reveals a plethora of supernatural interventions and mystical experiences (see for instance Boal 1982; Boding 1940; Ghosh 2006; Hutton 1921 and Roy 1928), and owing to varieties of religious beliefs and practices it is difficult to analyse every mystical experiences of individuals and communities; never-
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DOI: 10.4324/9781003516415-30
theless, there are socio-economic conditions and historical realities particular to the Indian sub-continent that have generated mystical experiences and divine revelations among the tribal people. An attempt has been made to delineate these external conditions that had fostered divine revelations in light of available literature.
Undeniably, there are innumerable claims of divine revelations of varying types and motivations that may be found among the various tribal groups in India (Singh 1993); and more importantly, a belief in supernatural being(s) that communicate tangibly with humans continues to be an important aspect of tribal worldview, irrespective of religious affiliations, cultural traditions, and degrees of acculturation. However, this chapter does not concern with what I call ‘individualistic-oriented revelations’ - which forms a large chunk of revelations in tribal societies - that are directed towards the exigencies of everyday life like death, pain, and suffering; rather the focus is on divine revelations that have fostered what Indian anthropologists call tribal movements, involving a collective mobilisation of people. The arguments deal with divine revelations revolving around a leader, prophet, or a ‘messiah' figure around whom tribal communities have attempted to, in the words of A.F.C. Wallace, foster “a deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture” (Wallace 1956:265).
As mentioned earlier, the typology of tribal movements in India is not well-established; hence, millenarian movements, nativistic movements, and revivalistic movements have all been painted with a broad brush. In addition, what makes the Indian social reality complex is that divine revelations have been a scaffolding of various types of tribal movements; thus, this chapter has attempted to dwell on the idea of revelation and its implication in the tribal movements. The writings on tribes substantiate that revelations do not take place in a vacuum, but are part and parcel of the tribal religion and worldview. Therefore, this chapter also attempts to analyse the phenomena of revelations in tribal religion, the role of revelations in revitalisation movements, and the socio-economic and political realities that foster or influence divine revelations in tribal societies.
23.1