The Routledge Handbook of Tribe and Religions in India

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.

List of Figure xi List of Tables xii Contributors xiii Acknowledgements xviii Abbreviations xx Introduction: Tribe and Religions in Pan-Indian Context: Spirituality, Belief, and Identity 1 Maguni Charan Behera PART 1 The Past in Shaping the Present 35 1 Christian Missionaries in India, Conversion, and Tribes: Understanding Goals and Means 37 Dinesh Narayan Verma 2 Ulgulan and the Making of Birsa Bhagwan 52 Anju Helen Bara 3 The Shape of Ao Naga Christianity 64 Tiasunep PART 2 Spirituality and Traditional Belief 79 4 Spirituality in Tribal India: An Explorative Study 81 Maguni Charan Behera and Rashmi Pramanik 5 Intersections of Religion and Pilgrimage among the Santals of Eastern India: Invention of New Cultural Artefacts on Prior Discourse 97 Sumahan Bandyopadhyay 6 Ecological Imaginations in the Ho Spirituality: A Multispecies Inquiry in Jharkhand 113 Rajanikant Pandey and Neha Kumari 7 Tribal Divinity: Deities and Ancestor Spirits in the Religious Tradition of the Selected Tribes of the Wayanad, Malapppuram, and Palakkad Districts 128 Indu V. Menon PART 3 Cross Community Religiosity 149 8 Transcendental Religious Space in Jharkhand: Reading Present from the Past 151 Maguni Charan Behera and Ambrish Gatuam 9 Deities and Priests: Mutual Religious Interface between Tribes and Non-Tribe Hindus in Nabarangpur District of Odisha 167 Bijaya Kumar Misra 10 Buddhism and Emerging Practices in Tai Communities of Assam 178 Anannya Gogoi PART 4 Perspectives on Death 191 11 Death, Funeral, and Resurrection: Ritual Cosmos of Tribal Customs in Northern Kerala 193 Manjula Poyil 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 Seema Mamta Minz 14 The Buddhist Monpa and Their Philosophy on Death 223 Tenzin Yeegha PART 5 Village Religious Tradition: Microcosm of the Community Religious Worldview 235 15 A Study on Kom Religion with Special Reference to Kakching Mantak Village 237 Shougaijam Brajeshwari Devi 16 Oraon Religion in Dooars 247 Abhishek Kumar 17 Understanding Religious Beliefs and Practices of the Tai-Ahoms: A Study in Moranjan Gaon 261 Supratim Bhattacharya PART 6 Neo-Religious Identities vis-à-vis Community 271 18 Kandhas of South Odisha and Their Religions: Whither Community Identity? 273 Sadananda Nayak 19 Understanding Religion and Identity Dynamics in Tribal Culture: Case Study of a few Indian Tribes 287 Santanu Mitra and Ganga Nath Jha 20 Traditional Belief System and Practices of the Karbis of Assam: Change and Continuity 302 Vulli Dhanaraju and R.K Bijeta 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 Anjana Singh PART 7 Relational Identity 349 23 Tribe and Tribal Religion: A Study on the Panika Tribe of Madhya Pradesh 351 D.V. Prasad 24 Indigenised Hindu: The Deori of Assam and their Midiku 368 Mandira Bhagawati 25 Beliefs and Practices of the Bison Horn Maria in Water Management 382 Bindu Sahu and D.V. Prasad PART 8 Gender Discourse 399 26 Some Reflections on Religion and Gender Among the Bhils 401 Saumya Sharma 27 Religion and Gender: Mapping the Space of the Mizo Women in the Church 412 Rebecca Angom, Ayangbam Shyamkishor, and H. Elizabeth 28 Betwixt the Siampu and the Scripture: Negotiating Gender in the Religion of Paite Society 424 Siamlianvung Hangzo Index 437