28.0 Introduction
This chapter discusses the currently on-going pan-Indian protests by Indian ‘tribes’ or ‘tribals’ for their religiosity to be classified as distinct from Hinduism, contextualising this in the various pertinent classifications that have been applied to tribes over the long duree.
It also emphasises the ‘disruptions’ which have marked this claim for tribal beliefs and rituals to be recognised as a distinct religion, and also the ‘disruptions’ which this claim has so far not attempted to resolve. The chapter highlights the power of classificatory schemas and pertinent nomenclature - a power that tribals seem well aware of as they make their demands to distinguish themselves from Hindus and also from tribals that have converted to other religions, such as for example Christianity. The chapter first outlines various classifications that have been applied to Indian tribals, including the classification ‘tribes’. It goes on to discuss the governance effects of such classifications via a narrowed focus on the case of the sub-classification of certain tribes as primitive (the nomenclature in regard to this classification was later changed to ‘particularly vulnerable’). This provides a context for the study’s examination of the demand for tribal religiosity to be classified as being distinct from Hinduism. With a focus on the Jharkhand context, the study presented in this chapter then examines how tribal religious taboos have reportedly been broken in the process of lending strength to the political demand for an officially recognised distinct tribal religion. The taboos in question are the prohibition of the presence of tribal women in sacred groves and their performance of newly instituted rituals without the involvement of a tribal priest (pahan); it describes tribal women’s act of breaking these taboos as a disruptive and ultimately co-opted act. It goes on to discuss the demand for the official recognition of tribal religion in detail, emphasising the politics of pertinent nomenclature. Finally, the chapter presents the case of the beliefs and rituals of the Asur tribe, which engages with Hinduism, but via the deification of and identification with the demons of Hindu mythology. It uses this case study to make the point that tribal religiosities across India are diverse and engage with other religions in complex ways that would disrupt any narrative attempting to construct a homogenous tribal religious identity. In closing, the study argues that the politicised demand for an officially recognised tribal religion is an astute one whichDOI: 10.4324/9781003516415-36
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showcases an understanding of the power of classificatory schemas, also arguing that it has implications for tribals who have converted to other religions. This politicised demand is also an essentialisation, by tribals, of what tribal religion is - as long as this essentialisation is ‘strategic’, a la Gayatri Spivak, and non-violent, one can argue that it will prove to be empowering for the many different communities that see themselves and their religiosities as standing apart from Hinduism and the other officially recognised religions in the Indian sub-continent. The chapter is based on intermittent and long-term fieldwork conducted in the state of Jharkhand in east-central India from 2008 to 2020, and also on participant observation and interviews that were conducted at a protest event in New Delhi in 2019 that was attended by tribes from across India; some news articles have also been consulted.
28.1