Sari vs Sarna ! Which is Tribals actual religion ?

While the tribals are taking to the streets to demand their religious code from the government, another fight is being seen among the tribals, which is the religion of the tribals? Sari or Sarna? They are expressing their opinions by writing on Facebook walls, and there is a lot of tension over religion through video calls and phone calls on YouTube. Some say that Sarna is the religion of the tribals because the honorable  Pandit Raghunath Murmu  has spoken about this religion, while others say that Sari religion is the religion of only the Santals and Sarna religion is the religion of the rest of the tribals excluding the Santals.

Although there are many cultural and customary similarities between the Sari and Sarna religions, including marriage, Shraddha, and Anna Prasanna, it is very sad that today the tribals are fighting among themselves about their religion, saying whatever comes out of their mouths without maintaining the minimum respect as human beings.

Why is the tribals fighting among themselves about religion? When and how did it start? In reality, which is the true religion of the tribals? You may have read many reports about the religions of indigenous peoples, but I deeply believe that you have never read such a report before, with the facts, arguments, and evidence that I have presented in this report.

The Mythological Aspect

Many ages ago. The Santals followed a specific tradition and customs like marriage, wedding, food, auspicious names etc. but the tribal religion did not have a specific name and to find the name of this religion, they shot arrows with the help of a bow and arrow and that arrow hit a sal tree and at that time the tribal men said “Sari ge ho Sari ge Sari Sarjom Dare re Sar do bid ena” and the tribal women said “Sarna Sarna, Sar do Sarjom Butare bid ena” From then on the religion of the tribals was divided into two, that is, the religion of the tribals was given two names. Sari Dharam and Sarna Dharam. This story is known to many tribal brothers and sisters. I will not tell you this because this is the mythological story of the selection of religious names of the tribals which has been passed down from one person to another over time. But what I will present to you today is the historical context of the division of religious names.

The Historical Aspect

The name of the tribal religion is divided into two parts, Sari and Sarna, but I am not surprised at all.

The largest religion in India in terms of population is Hinduism. Out of 121 crore Indians, 97 crore are Hindus, which is 79.8% of the total population. It is true that such a large religion is divided into four parts: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Sutra, No, you may have misunderstood until now, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Sutra, these are not part of Hinduism, these are the caste system of Hinduism. Actually, Hinduism is divided into four parts – Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Smartism and Shaktism.

The largest religion in the world is Christianity. Out of 8 billion people in the world, 240 crore people follow this religion. Which is 32% of the total population of the world, despite this, Christianity is divided into – Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy.

The second largest religion in the world in terms of population is the Islam of Muslims. 1.8 billion people in the world follow this religion, which is 23% of the total population of the world, despite this, Islam is divided into three groups – Shia, Sunni and Khariji.

You may be thinking to yourself that I have come to learn about the tribal religion Sari and Sarna, but what will happen to me if I know about these Hindu religions, Christianity or Islam…….?

The main thing is that to understand the history of the division of religious names of tribals, it is very important to know about all these religions. If the three largest religions of the world can be divided into Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, then the division of the religion of tribals is not at all unusual.

The division of religious names of tribals is a very old incident. The once all-powerful and largest organization of the tribals, namely the Santals, Bharat Zakat Majhi Pargana Mahal, which had the most influence in the entire Jangalmahal  from 2014 to 2018, was also divided into two groups – Registered and Non-Registered.

But the question is, when and for whom was the religion of the indigenous people divided?

The First Use of SARI and SARNA word

The word Sarna is first found in the British period on page 44 of the Census of India 1911, Volume V, Part 1 Report, but not as a religion. Here it is written that the word Sarna is mentioned as another name for the place of worship of the tribals, whose name is Jaher Than.

And the word Sari is first found much earlier in the British period on page 337 of the Census Report of 1881, but here too, not as a religion, this word Sari has been used as the name of a goddess or god, but nothing has been mentioned about the tribals who are these goddesses or gods.

The Present Theory on Tribal’s Religion 

You may have seen a video on YouTube where Hon’ble Pandit Raghunath Murmu’s grandson Hon’ble Bhimwar Murmu  mentioned an incident, where he said that his Thakur grandfather Hon’ble Pandit Raghunath Murmu organized a meeting of all the tribals in 1951 on Dhonkhuriya village and there, by the consent of all, the name of the religion of the tribals was decided to be Sarna.

I am not saying that what he said is completely wrong but I want to say that a discussion meeting or conference regarding the name of the religion of the tribals was held long before this in 1932 during the British period in Chaibasa of Singbhum district, and such religious discussion meetings or conferences were held many times between 1932 and 1934. And all the tribals from Bihar, Bengal and Orissa participated in these meetings and this has been written by K.S. Sing in the book “Tribal Movement in India“, Vol – ll and this book was first published in 1982. In Chapter 5, page no 87 of this book, Hon’ble P.C.Hembram has written something with the title “Return to the Sacred Grove” . Hembram wrote “Till 1931, there had been no definitive religious organization among tile tribal]s in India. In order to discover the meaning of their religion and practices associated with it as
well as to create a common religious platform for the tribals of Chotanagpur, a conference was held at Chaibasa (Singhbhum District) in 1932. Several conferences were subsequently held between 1932 and 1934 which were attended by delegates from Bihar, Orissa and Bengal. The conference agreed on a common name, Sarna dharam, to denote the ancient religion of the tribes of Chotanagpur.”

Again, many people think that during the reign of the Honorable Pandit Raghunath Murmu (1905 – 1982) Mahashay and the Honorable Sadhu Ram Chand Murmu (1897 – 1954) Mahashay, there was no division or tension between the tribals over religion, but this idea is also wrong. There was also a complication about what the name of the religion would be during their time. On page 88 of the book “ Tribal Movement in India , Vol – ll “, Honorable P.C.Hembram Mahashay writes “Thc name Sarna dharam has been in vogue since 1934 but very few tribals knew the nuances of the term. As a result, a few thinkers raise objections to the term and call it sari dharam. Sari means truth and dharam means religion.”

But it was not only the Santals of West Bengal who opposed the name Sarna, the people of the Ho community also opposed this name Sarna. On page 87 of the book, Hembram  writes, “Sarna the sacred grove is the centre of a set of religious beliefs professed by the tribals of Chotanagpur and the religions bordering it. This religion has an organization which is designated differently in different communities. The SantaI call it Sarna Dharam Semlet, the Munda Sarna Sangh and the Orao Sarna Nava Yuvak Sangh. The Ho do not have any organization but an association known as Dopup Samaj which urges its members to follow Dupup dharam. They officially accept the tenets of Sarna dharam but not the term.”

Hembram  again writes on page 88, “The term ‘sarna’ means a holy spot or a sacred grove which is associated with an ancient ritual practice of the tribals- The ritual may vary from community to community but the theme is the same everywhere.”
This means that although the customs and traditions of the tribals have changed little by little depending on the nation, the main theme has remained the same.

The theme was the same but why did this problem with the name of religion start from then. Even if the tribal Santali myth is true, I can say one thing with great confidence that there was no tension between the tribals over religion or the name of religion during that mythological period, what is found by analyzing old books is that this tension or division among the tribals over the name of the religion of the tribals started from 1930 or a little before or a little after that. You will be surprised to know that at the moment when the tribals are struggling and fighting among themselves over the name of religion, there was someone who wanted the tribals to fight among themselves in this way. And they were the British government.
After knowing this, surely such a question is going around in your mind that why would the British want this? To understand this, you have to go back about 200 years from today. And you have to know about all the movements or rebellions that took place at that time.

In 1831 – 1832, the Kol rebellion took place and the Munda, Orao, Ho and Bhumijara were involved in this rebellion.
In 1855 – 1856, the Santal rebellion took place. Although the name of the rebellion was Santal, a report in India Today Newspaper states that the Munda, Orao, Ho and Birhor were involved in this rebellion.
Then came the 1857 rebellion, in which people of all castes, religions and castes of undivided India united and fought against the British for the independence of the country. Hindus and Muslims, who could not tolerate each other at that time, fought against the British for the independence of Hindus and Muslims. In short, in 1857 or at that time, there was not so much violence or discrimination in India on the basis of caste, religion or caste and this was a big problem for the British government. The British government was afraid of this protest of the people of India and was quite upset and surprised. The British government understood that if the people of India fought together like this, they would not be able to rule this country for long. That is why they tried to create division among the Indians.

The Divide and Rule Policy

To make their administrative work easier, the British divided India into many parts based on caste, religion, and region, and the first step of this Divide and Rule Policy was the partition of Bengal in 1905. At that time, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Orissa, and the present-day Bangladesh, were all together. From there, Bangladesh was completely separated, that too on the basis of religion because there were more Muslims in Bangladesh. And the biggest result of this Divide and Rule Policy is the creation of today’s India and Pakistan. Do you think the British government applied this Divide and Rule Policy only among Hindus and Muslims? Not at all. The British also applied this Divide and Rule Policy among the tribals.

Kol Rebellion (1931 – 1932), Bhil Rebellion (1857 – 1858), Santal Rebellion (1855 – 1856), Munda Rebellion (1899 – 1900) in all these movements, Santals, Mundas, Oraos, Ho, Larkas, Birhars all joined the movement together. The British government was very upset to see such an association between different tribes of the tribals. Therefore, it adopted a policy of division among the tribals as well. The British government noticed that there are many tribes of the tribals and each tribe has a different language. But religion is a practice that has united all the tribes of the tribals. And for this reason, the British government used a novel strategy to separate the tribals from each other by spreading hatred towards each other in the minds of the tribals. The British government wanted the indigenous people to forget about their rights by keeping them busy fighting among themselves and not to think of any movement or protest against the British.

Now, don’t you think that I have never done such a report before or heard anyone say it, so why should I believe this? You may remember that I wrote at one point in the report that the people of the Ho Community, excluding the Santals of West Bengal, opposed the name Sarna. I want to take you to that exact place. On page 87 of the book “Tribal Movement in India, Vol – ll” it is written “Sarna the sacred grove is the centre of a set of religious beliefs professed by the tribals of Chotanagpur and the religions bordering it. This religion has an organization which is designated differently in different communities. The SantaI call it Sarna Dharam Semlet, the Munda Sarna Sangh and the Orao Sarna Nava Yuvnk Sangh. The Ho do not have any organization but an association known as Dopup Samaj which urges its members to follow Dupup dharam. They officially accept the tenets of Sarna dharam but not the term. According to Ho pandits, the term has been politicized. ”

. It is clearly written here that according to the Ho Pandits, politics has been done with the term or name “SARNA”.

Once politics was done with religion, today two countries have been formed on the basis of religion. And that is India and Pakistan. Even during elections in our country, religion is a very big factor. During elections, political leaders and political activists still come to us in the name of nation and religion to seek votes. Still, some political parties, some political leaders and activists want the tribals to be busy fighting among themselves. And they are not vigilant and aware of their rights or demands from the government. And for this reason, they are fueling such a fight between the tribals from within. Do you think it would be right to keep this fight alive even after knowing this history of the division of the religious names of the tribals? Or would it be right for all the tribals to unite, be vigilant and aware, demand their religious recognition and accelerate their development by presenting their demands, complaints and deprivations to the government at the same time? please comment.

If You want to read India Today newspaper article than Click Here .

If You want to read or download the book “Tribal Movement in India” then Click Here .

To read british Census report 1881 Click Here .

To read british Census report 1911 Click Here .

And if you want to present this history of the religion of the indigenous people to everyone, then of course you should share this report  with all your relatives, friends and neighbors.

Thank you very much for staying until the end of the report. Stay well and stay healthy.