Sarna Code And The Race To Define Tribal Religious Identity In Jharkhand

Thirty-one-year-old Guddu Pahan’s house is located in the Chadri locality of Ranchi’s Albert Ekka Chowk. Pahan, who belongs to the Munda tribe, is struggling to earn his livelihood. He is one of many tribals whose lives have been upended by the expansion of the settlement. In front of the 10 by 10 room made of asbestos, which Pahan calls home, is the Chadri’s Sarna place of worship. This is where tribal communities gather to celebrate the Sarhul and Karma festivals. Pahan has been performing the duties of a priest for the tribal community for the last 13 years. Pointing to the newly constructed buildings nearby, he says, “All these spots where you see new buildings used to be our Chadri land. Someday, we are going to lose our house too.”

However, when you mention the Sarna religion, Pahan’s sadness vanishes. He thinks that if the Sarna Code comes into effect, they will be able to reclaim their lost land and their rights, which have been infringed upon. The advocates of Sarna consider this religion to be different from others. Sarna followers are nature worshippers whose culture and traditions are unique. They worship trees, plants, mountains and nature in its various manifestations. Apart from Jharkhand, most of the Sarna population is found in Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

On November 11, 2020, a special session was convened by the Jharkhand Assembly and Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s government passed a resolution for a separate religion for the tribals. This was sent to the Central government, demanding a separate religion code for the tribals in the upcoming census. It was named the ‘Sarna tribal religion’ in the proposal. According to the Constitution, the Centre holds the rights over religion-related laws and the President has the right of approval. The bill has been stuck for the last four years in a complicated process, but Soren and his party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), have kept the issue alive in their election rallies, laying special emphasis on it especially while campaigning in the tribal belt, as the assembly election approaches. The election will be a test of the party’s popularity among tribal voters.

Activist and writer Dr Sanjay Basu Mallick says that the Sarna Code has been politicised. He points out that there are two sides to identity: one cultural, the other, political. When identity is brought to the political stage, it is referred to as identity politics. According to Mallick, Soren is actively engaging in identity politics.

“Sarna has emerged as a strong force and since then tribals are being appeased in its name,” says Mallick. “The Sarna tribe has come together and political parties are busy praising them. They are also aware of the fact that the Central government is led by a different party that is not in favour of the Sarna Code.”

Jharkhand has been the most vocal in demanding the Sarna Code. There were columns for six religions in the last census and the seventh was for “other religion”. The six religions are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. Those demanding a separate Sarna code say that in the 2011 census, 79 lakh people had listed their religion in the “other religion” column. Of these, 49.57 lakh mentioned their religion as Sarna. Forty-two lakh tribals belonged to Jharkhand.

Though Sarna tribals worship nature, there is a section that practises idol worship. Sarhul and Karma Puja are organised by the Sarna Chadri Committee of Ranchi along with Durga, Kali and Saraswati Puja. The tribals associated with the Committee hold a prayer ceremony. Bablu Munda is the chairman of the Central Sarna Committee. Though he follows Hindu rituals, he does not subscribe to the RSS’s thought process.

“Sarna and Sanatan are separate,” he says. “Our ancestors were not adept in reading or writing. That is the reason we do not have a religious book describing the process of worship. We have been following the traditional system since time immemorial. When these people came from outside (Hindu society), they stole our culture and principles and made a book. Actually, tribals are not their followers, it is the other way round.”

It is interesting to note that Munda is also a BJP leader, who has been demanding a separate religious identity for Sarna.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates have never been in favour of Sarna. They consider tribals to be Hindus. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) opposition to the Sarna Code is also seen as one of the reasons behind the Central government’s silence on the bill. Hirendra Sinha of the Jharkhand Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, an affiliate of the RSS, which works among the tribal community, says, “Sarna has always been a part of Sanatan religion. One can look at history; we were all one. People who say that Sarna members are being converted to Hinduism are wrong. We have never ever considered them to be separate. There is no question of their coercion; we too worship nature like them.” He sees the demand for a separate Sarna Code as an attempt to divide the tribal community.

In recent decades, idols and pictures of the Sarna mother have started to make an appearance at Sarna tribal worship sites. This change within the Sarna tribal community is being seen by some as a sign of their growing proximity towards Hinduism. On the other hand, Sarna religious leaders oppose these idols and pictures. In Sarna, mother-woman is a work of imagination, and not traditionally depicted in picture form or as statues. Since nature feeds the Sarna tribals, they consider her the mother.

There is a difference of opinion among the followers of the Sarna religion with regard to the process of worship. In this context, there are questions to be asked about Soren’s demand to bring all the tribals of the country into the fold of one religion, under the umbrella of the proposed Sarna Code.

However, tribals have had immense faith in nature for decades and the demand for a separate religious code for Sarna is over 50 years old. There is a place of worship in tribal villages, which is called the Sarna site. The Sal tree or other trees are worshiped there. This place of worship is called Sarna in Oraon, Jaher in Munda and Chaher Than in Santhal. Other communities give it different names.

Sarna religious leader Bandhan Tigga wants a separate code for his religion. He argues, “If Sarna religion gets a code, the tribals will also agree and accept it. We are making the tribals of other states aware about Sarna and they are all in consensus with having a separate Sarna Code.”

The big question remains whether the tribals of the country will remain united on the issue. The population of tribals can be divided into 2 crore Bheel, 1.60 crore Gaund, 80 lakh Santhal, 50 lakh Meena, 42 lakh Oraon, 27 lakh Munda and 19 lakh Bodo tribals. Although the heads of tribal organisations in different states believe that tribals should be identified on the basis of a single religion, there is no consensus on the naming of a separate religious code for aboriginals. Most of them suggest that Sarna should be identified as a religion. Padma Shri awardee Ramdayal Munda was the first person to analyse the situation and suggest the name of a religion for the aborigines in his book titled Adi Dharam.

The Sarna Code and Khatiyan of 1932, which deals with rights and land records of local inhabitants, have not been seriously taken into consideration by previous governments. However, Soren took cognisance of these as soon as he came to power. On November 11, 2020, the Sarna Religion Code Bill was passed by the assembly and exactly two years later, on November 11, 2022, the 1932-based Khatiyan Bill was passed.

According to political commentators, both the decisions taken by Soren are moves meant to reap political and electoral benefits. The analysis of the results in 14 seats in Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha elections shows that Soren’s proposal for a separate religion has affected the 42 lakh Sarna followers of Jharkhand. While the BJP had won 12 seats in 2014 and 2019, in 2024, it lost three of its seats. These three were tribal-reserved seats and the results of Khunti and Lohardaga were especially shocking. Before 2024, in the nine general elections held from 1989 to 2019, the BJP had won the two seats—eight times in Khunti and six times in Lohardaga.

As per official figures, Sarna followers, Oran and Munda tribes are larger in number and their population is greater at Khunti and Gumla Lok Sabha constituencies of Chhota Nagpur. The firm hold of the BJP over those two seats is attributed to decades of hard work done by the RSS. The change reflected in the 2024 general election in these seats have had an impact on a section of Sarna followers, who voted for the INDIA bloc. Presently, all the five reserved Lok Sabha seats are with the JMM and the Congress.

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In independent India, tribals were identified with their separate religion code as per the censuses conducted between 1871 and 1941. However, the process was discontinued after the census of 1951.

The demand for a separate Sarna Code for Sarna followers can also be attributed to conversions. They feel that once they get their own religious code, conversions will stop. In some states of the North East, a major chunk of the tribal population has converted to Christianity. In Jharkhand, tribals follow Hinduism more than Christianity. According to information obtained from an RTI in 2018, if Sarna followers are set aside in a tribal population of about 87-88 lakhs, 32,45,856 tribals believe in Hinduism, 13,38,175 follow Christianity, 18,107 Islam, 2,946 Buddhism, 984 Sikhism and 381 Jainism. There are 25,971 tribals who do not believe in any religion.

As per the 2011 Census, there are 705 tribes with a total population of 10.45 crore in the country. In comparison, the percentage of Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists is 2.3, 2.16, 0.47 and 0.84 per cent of the total population of the country, which is much less than that of the tribals. Tribal organisations in Jharkhand consider it a major reason for demanding their own religious identity.

(Translated by Kaveri Mishra)