A Reflection on the Agency of Leadership in the Tribal Movements

As mentioned earlier, there are mass movements in tribal societies that may be deemed ‘sec­ular’ revolving around ethnicity, language, and culture; but more importantly the Weberian charismatic authority take the centre stage in such tribal movements.

There is a class of tribal movements wherein the leaders spearheading the movement have drawn inspiration from the religion of dominant communities, but without the agency of a divine revelation. The Seng Khasi movement began as a cultural revival movement to preserve and promote the Khasi traditional culture and religious beliefs; on one hand the movement began as a reaction to the activities of Christian missions, but on the other hand the movement found an ally in the reformed Hindu organisations like the Brahmo Samaj and Ramakrishna Mission (Mathur 1979). Besides the publication of pamphlets and books on the Khasi socio-cultural and religious life, the leaders of the movement translated Bhagwad Gita and Hindu epics into Khasi language as an alternative to the Christian evan­gelism and education.

Kalicharan Brahma, the founder of Brahma movement among the Bodo was influenced by Swami Shivanarayana Paramahansa (Saikia 1982). Kalicharan advocated a socio-reli- gious reform of the Bodo society, essentially challenging the traditional customs and prac­tices. Besides the social and educational reforms, the Brahmo movement became noted for the repudiation of Bodo traditional religion Bathou with several gods and goddesses. Though Kalicharan espoused the idea of an unseen supreme power, he also introduced the Vedic Sanskritic rituals that formed a vital part of Brahminism bringing the movement closer to Hinduism.

Charismatic authority remains indispensable to the popularity of revitalisation move­ments in tribal societies, but not all mass movements have had the luxury of charismatic leaders. Generally, prophets and messiahs possess inherent charisma that appeals to the masses, but not all revelators have been charismatic leaders, though their divine message may successfully appeal to the masses. Arguably, the brother duo Sido and Kanhu who led the Santal rebellion of 1855-1857 (Datta 1940) were not a quintessence of a Weberian charismatic leader, but their role as revelators in the midst of a deep social crisis was the determining factor. The Santal insurrection has intrigued historians and anthropologists alike, who consider the movement as a significant political awakening for the Adivasi people in modern India, but the religious nature of the movement is further elaborated here.

The revelators Sido and Kanhu claimed to have seen the vision of supreme god Thakur, who commissioned them to lead the people to drive out the dikus (outsiders) and establish the rule of the Santals. The nature of revelation differed markedly from the communication with supernatural entities in the Santal traditional religion; besides, the revelation of the brother duo also showed important characteristics of the world religions. Sido and Kanhu were not archetypal religious innovators, since they did not set off a new religious move­ment, but were exemplary revelators who sought to change the prevailing social order by claiming to be the messengers of god.

The Thakur appeared before the astonished gaze of Seedo (Sidhu) and Kanhu; he was like a white man.he held a white book, and wrote therein; the books and with it 20 pieces of papers, in five batches, four in each batch he presented to the broth­ers.

(cited in Datta 1940:15) but the Thakur revealing his purpose to the brothers in a book in five batches strongly hinted the influence of revealed religions, since by then Christian missions had made their presence felt in the Santal territory. The possibility of the revelation of Sido and Kanhu starting off a religious movement remains a matter of speculation, given the short duration of the revelators’ leadership and the political nature of the Santal movement; in compari­son, the movement of Birsa Munda pivoted around his role as a revelator, but given his long career the movement traversed different shades of socio-cultural and political themes.

Birsa Munda had a genius for leadership, and the social conditions of the Munda under the British rule heralded a mass uprising, but the Munda movement revolved around his role as a messenger of god. Birsa’s claim of restoring the greatness of his people and creating an independent Munda kingdom rested on the divine revelation. There is little doubt that a blend of Christianity and Vaishnavism influenced Birsa’s career as a miracle worker and millenarian prophet. The spirits featured prominently in the Munda ancestral religion that made phenomena like divination and witchcraft possible, but the agency of the supreme god Singbonga demarcated Birsa’s role as a revelator. Most importantly, the revelation of Birsa repudiated the old faith with an intent to reform it, which makes him a religious inno­vator unlike the case of Sido and Kanhu who remained mere revelators. It was through a dream⁴ that Singbonga revealed a divine purpose to his anointed one; as Birsa’s biographer observed, the dream was “a subconscious projection of his conflicts, his confrontations with the three enemies of his race; the judge representing the authorities, the Raja, the zamindar and the bonga, the old religion” (Singh 1983:46). The revitalisation movement of Birsa Munda is as complex as the man himself; and, arguably, no other religious innovators in tribal India achieved an elevated status as Birsa, who became to be considered as divine; notwithstanding the idea of revelation common to most revitalisation movements in tribal societies, the unique claim of Birsa as the messenger of god remains at the heart of his leg­end and the mass movement that he launched.

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