Ranchi: The Jharkhand government recently passed a new resolution on Sarna religion for the tribals of the state and send the passed resolution to the central government for necessary action.
Meanwhile, JMM-led Soren government also mentioned to include it as a separate code in the Census of 2021 by conveying a special season.
Now the major questions arise that why the tribals want the Sarna Dharma Code? What will the Tribals' benefit from the Sarna Dharma Code for which they have been agitating? Does it have any connection to conversion?
To know the answers of such questions, ETV Bharat spoke to Sarna Dharma Guru, Bandhan Tigga and Tribal Affairs Expert Professor Karama Oraon in this regard.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Tigga said, "We, the followers of Sarna Dharma, pray to nature. The holy grail of the faith is “Jal, Jungle, Zameen” and its followers pray to the trees and hills while believing in protecting the forest areas. Sarna Dharma Sthal in Oraon language is called 'Chala Tong' or 'Chala Adda'. Our belief is that the world cycle is Sarna."
"For tribals, the Sarna Code is important. The state is committed for it. This is a historic day for tribal people who migrate outside the state and thus their population is not counted. A good message will go across the country if the tribals get the separate religious code," he said.
"Sarna is called the place of worship of tribal people. The tribesmen and women start their auspicious work with the worship at the Sarna site. Nature is worshipped in the tribal community. Although most of their rites and traditions are like Sanatan Hinduism, they do not believe in idol worship. They worship the sun, trees and mountains. The white and red coloured flag is their sacred symbol. It is called the Sarna flag," he added.
In a special interaction with Prof Karama Oraon, Tribal Affairs expert and tribal culture scholar said," There had been a long-standing demand to include Sarna religious people in the census as a separate religious group. One, the term Sarna is not common to all the adherers of a naturalistic religion based on the worship of forests, rivers and mountains. These debates have been settled earlier."
"Jharkhand has 32 tribal groups of which eight are from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. While many follow Hindu religion, some have converted to Christianity this has become one of the planks of demanding a separate code 'to save religious identity' as various tribal organisations put it. It is believed that 50 lakhs tribal in the entire country put their religion as ‘Sarna’ in the 2011 census, although it was not a code," Oraon said.
"With the arrival of Sarna Dharma, the conversion will definitely stop. We will awaken self-respect. There will be a socio-cultural-religious revival. Today we are standing at the crossroads. When Sarna Dharma is received in a physical form, then our identity will be formed in the country," Prof Oraon said.
Cause of dispute
- In the census from 1871 to 1951, tribals had a different religion code but it was removed from the census form of 1962.
- In the 2011 census, about 50 lakh tribals living in 21 states of the country wrote Sarna Dharma in other columns of the census form.
- Meanwhile, the tribal population has decreased from 38.03 to 26.03 per cent from 1931 to 2011.
- To protect religious existence, there has been a demand for inclusion of Sarna religious people in the census code for a long time.
- The tribals believe that the existence of 700 tribes of the country is in danger due to Sarna not defining a separate religion.
The actual need for Sarna Dharma
The Sarna Dharma Code is being demanded only to trick the tribals. There have been allegations that in Jharkhand, the conversion of tribal people has been done on a large scale. The letter sent by the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister says the population of tribals in the state had declined from 38.3 per cent in 1931 to 26.02 per cent in 2011.
It cited that one of the reasons for this was tribals who go for work in different states not being recorded in the Census. In other states, they are not counted as Tribals, the letter said. It added that the separate code will ensure the recording of their population.
Meanwhile, experts say that when today the entire world is focusing on reducing pollution and protecting the environment, it is prudent that Sarna becomes a religious code as the soul of this religion is to protect nature and the environment.
