The Routledge Handbook of Tribe and Religions in India Contemporary Readings on Spirituality, Belief and Identity

Introduction: Tribe and Religions in Pan-Indian Context: Spirituality, Belief, and Identity 1

1 Christian Missionaries in India, Conversion, and Tribes: Understanding Goals and Means 37

2 Ulgulan and the Making of Birsa Bhagwan 52

3 The Shape of Ao Naga Christianity 64

Tiasunep

4 Spirituality in Tribal India: An Explorative Study 81

5 Intersections of Religion and Pilgrimage among the Santals of Eastern India: Invention of New Cultural Artefacts on Prior Discourse 97

6 Ecological Imaginations in the Ho Spirituality: A Multispecies Inquiry in Jharkhand 113

7 Tribal Divinity: Deities and Ancestor Spirits in the Religious Tradition of the Selected Tribes of the Wayanad, Malapppuram, and Palakkad Districts 128

8 Transcendental Religious Space in Jharkhand: Reading Present from the Past 151

9 Deities and Priests: Mutual Religious Interface between Tribes and Non-Tribe Hindus in Nabarangpur District of Odisha 167

10 Buddhism and Emerging Practices in Tai Communities of Assam 178

11 Death, Funeral, and Resurrection: Ritual Cosmos of Tribal Customs in Northern Kerala 193

12 Remembrance, Rituals, and Remodelling the Culture of Worshipping Ancestors: An Empirical Enquiry 203

Gladis S Mathew

13 The Role of Megalith Tradition in the Eschatological Beliefs of the Munda Tribe of Jharkhand: Past and Present 215

14 The Buddhist Monpa and Their Philosophy on Death 223

15 A Study on Kom Religion with Special Reference to Kakching Mantak Village 237

16 Oraon Religion in Dooars 247

17 Understanding Religious Beliefs and Practices of the Tai-Ahoms: A Study in Moranjan Gaon 261

18 Kandhas of South Odisha and Their Religions: Whither Community Identity? 273

19 Understanding Religion and Identity Dynamics in Tribal Culture: Case Study of a few Indian Tribes 287

20 Traditional Belief System and Practices of the Karbis of Assam: Change and Continuity 302

21 Contact, Conversion, and Religious Reality Among the Nicobarese 319

Koel Mukherjee, Kaustav Das, and S. A. Awaradi

22 Polarisation of Adivasis Around Religion: Sanskritisation vs. Ethnicisation in Jharkhand 335

23 Tribe and Tribal Religion: A Study on the Panika Tribe of Madhya Pradesh 351

24 Indigenised Hindu: The Deori of Assam and their Midiku 368

25 Beliefs and Practices of the Bison Horn Maria in Water Management 382

26 Some Reflections on Religion and Gender Among the Bhils 401

27 Religion and Gender: Mapping the Space of the Mizo Women in the Church 412

28 Betwixt the Siampu and the Scripture: Negotiating Gender in the Religion of Paite Society 424

Biography

Maguni Charan Behera is a Professor of Tribal Studies (retired) at Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies, Rajiv Gandhi (Central) University, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Dr Behera was also a Professor of Indigenous Culture Studies and Dean School of Cultural Studies, Central University of Jharkhand. He has been working on tribes for about 40 years. His present interest is to develop tribal studies as an academic discipline and in this direction he is editing books on different themes from multidisciplinary perspectives. He has the credit of introducing tribal studies as an undergraduate course of Rajiv Gandhi University under distance mode.

“The handbook by Professor M. C. Behera engages on diverse perspectives of religion among the tribes. It is very much interesting and fascinating due to its lucid language. From time-to-time various religions have tried to fuse the tribes in their fold, especially in India and academics have been presenting tribal religion applying etic perspectives. A heterogeneous concept on the question of tribal religion has been built up. The editor has dealt with the same question through different papers which make the horizon of the book wider”.

– Professor T. V. Kattimani, Vice-Chancellor, Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh, India

“The handbook is an important contribution to the topic of tribe and religion with a shifting focus from conventional understanding to appreciation of emerging dynamics. Traversing through tribal communities in varied eco-cultural settings, and by examining religion in the process of interaction and intellectual interpretation; it brings into perspective their unique experiences and our understanding. The chapters in the handbook are impregnated with insights to engage the readers critically to multidimensional and multifactorial interactive process of religion and tribal response thereof”.

– Dr Jumyir Basar, Professor and Director of Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies, Rajiv Gandhi University, India

“Tribal religion, the living tradition of the primal human belief system, flourished in a wonderful harmony between humans and various elements of the Nature by manifesting a philosophy of togetherness. However, the perspective is absent in present tribal religions subsequent to encounter with other cultures and emerging new analytical concepts. The missing perspective is obvious in the papers included in the handbook edited by Professor M. C. Behera which cover several tribes from different regions of India”.

– Dr Hari Ram Meena, Adivasi writer and former IPS, India