Tribal Religion and Pratibha Ray
Religion plays a crucial role in any society since it is associated with the identity of a person. While the mainstream societies follow institutionalised religions, the tribes have their own religious practices and rituals, which may seem irrational and mysterious to outsiders.
Yet, the tribal religion is not inferior to the institutionalised religion since it is also an attempt to understand the universal truth. Though there are quite a number of works on tribes, only a handful of Indian writers have dealt with tribal life-ways in their works, and Pratibha Ray, an eminent Odia writer, is one of them. The Primal Land (2001) is the translation of her Odia novel Adibhumi (1993). The novel deals with the life of the little- known Bonda tribe of Odisha. For thousands of years, they have lived amidst nature, in the jungle in the Eastern Ghats of the Konda Komberu range where the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha meet, away from civilisation. The author recounts their traditional customs and the legends behind them. They perceive god in every aspect of nature, in various forms and shapes. The narrative resonates Chinua Achebe’s portrayal of Igbo culture and tradition in Things Fall Apart. Achebe deals with the religion and culture of the African Igbo community and the impact of Christian missionaries. Similarly, Ray depicts the religion and culture of the primitive Bonda tribe and the impact of the intrusion of outsiders on their land.Using techniques such as myths, legends, and stories of the origin of Bonda tribe and its past glory, the novel not only records the tribal past and narrates their glory but it also tells what had happened to them and what had been lost.
(Chitra & Tenzin 2021:45)
The Bondas call themselves ‘remo’ which means ‘man.’ They are raw as the forces of nature. Life amidst the unpredictable, fearsome, and rugged nature has made them too volatile, vengeful, and plain. Thus, they seem ‘barbaric’ and ‘criminal’ to the people of the plains.
He is naked like the mountain and the river, the sky and the earth, like the beasts of the forests. To the men of plains he seems barbaric and brutal. There is no falsehood or deceit in his blood; only vengeance. He does not know the meaning of forgiveness. In the land of Bonda, there is only one end to strife: death. The history of Bonda is linked not to birth but to death. His history begins with death.
(Ray 2001:3)
17.2
More on the topic Tribal Religion and Pratibha Ray:
- Tribal Religion and Pratibha Ray
- Tribal Law
- Infusion ofHinduism and Bonda Religion into One Another
- CONTENTS
- Tribal Religion and Revelation
- Characheng (Primal Hamai Religion)
- Spiritual Perspective of Tribal Identity
- Kshatriyaisation of the Tribal Chieftains and Aryanisation of the Tribal Deities
- Clashing Classifications: Tribal Christianity and Unconverted Tribes
- Influence of Non-Tribal Religions