1. INTRODUCTION:
No individual, community, society or nation can be without a religion. Man and religion have been connected to each other since time immemorial. Different people follow different religions in the world. Religion is an inseparable part of human life. It is not separate or different from human life or human practices. It also helps manage human life. One cannot imagine human life without religion. And therefore religion teaches values like truth, pity, giving alms, justice, kindness towards other creatures, love, righteousness, tolerance, sympathy, emotions, righteous deeds, devotion, faith, kindness and so on. Man tries to follow her/his own religion by practicing devotional activities, prayer and worshipping. Every religion has its own scripture like Geeta, Kuran, Bible, Avesta etc. which point the direction to righteousness and make human beings ‘man’ in the right sense of the term.
The tribal aborigines are the inseparable part of India but those tribals have consciously or unconsciously have turned to another religion leaving one’s own traditional religions for some reasons. This is a topic for study and research for sociologists. There has already been an activity of religious conversion and is still going on in different tribal states or areas. It could be called a modern social problem or even a national issue because it causes non-tribalization of the tribals and the tribal identity and culture are on the verge of being destroyed.
Religious conversion is a process of turning a person to another religion leaving one’s own religion. The person who embraces another religion is called a ‘convert’ and those who make to others to embrace another religion is called a ‘converter’. In day-to-day language this activity is called vatal(contaminating one’s religion) or ‘conversion’ and is taken to be a derogatory activity. The conversion of tribals in India is a peculiarly social issue and a social problem.
2. Different religions in the tribal communities :
Tribals in India follow their own aboriginal religion but , as Vidyarthi and Ray note, 4.19 % of the total tribal population in India follow their own peculiar original religion. More than 89% of the tribals follow Hindu religion. Due to their tact with other Hindu communities, they have turned to Hinduism. As many as 5.53% tribals have embraced Christianity; they are converted Christian tribals. They have been converted into Christianity by Christian missionaries. This conversion has caused a social problem.
The tribal in Lakshyadwip are Muslim. It is believed that originally they were Hindu and have migrated to Lakshyadwip and settled there. As Dubey notes, they were converted into Islam during 14th century. The Gujjars on North-Western Himalayan area also religious converts. Bhot tribals of north- western Himalayan area and Bhutiya, Lepcha, Chakama as well as Naga tribals of north-eastern Himalayan area are converted Buddhists. The religious conversion of the tribals into Buddhism and Islam is not problematic but their conversion into Christianity has become a problem- a social issue because this conversion has caused an undesirable impact on the tribal community and it has caused destructive influence on the national level and causes a conflict among the converted tribals.
3. Religious conversion of the tribals :
As Vidyarthi and Ray say, in different tribal areas in India, missionaries of different sects of Christianity work with a view to converting them. In order to convert them into Christianity, they provide social services like education and medical aid. In majority areas of tribal population in India, activities of religious conversion are taken up by Christian missionaries. Vidyarthi and Ray have noted that the influence of Christianity on the tribals began in the Khasi of Meghalaya in 1813; in Urano of Chooa Nagpur in 1850 and in the Bhils of Madhya Pradesh in 1880. The tribals have been facing the problem of religious conversion for a long time.
As Vidyarthi and Ray note, at the outset, religious conversion had begun at personal and family level and it was difficult like climbing uphill. For converting four tribal persons it took as many as five years for the German missionaries in 1850 A.D. Christina missionaries laid emphasis on providing humanitarian services in selected tribal areas in order to extend the activity of religious conversion. Such services included health facilities, activities for improving the economic condition of the tribals, eradicating poverty and running orphanages besides removing illiteracy establishing and running education institutes for educational development. Such efforts are still going on even today. As a result, the religious conversion became simpler and easy and extensive as time passed.
Due to the efforts made by the missionaries, encouragement by the British government, helpless condition of the tribals due to poverty, illiteracy, little opposition to conversion, lack of control over conversion, enticing offers and social status besides the tribal community’s desire to improve economic condition are some of the factors responsible for the religious conversion of the tribals. The main objective of the activities of the Christian missionaries has been the spreading of Christianity among the tribals. Many tribals have embraced Christianity under the impact of these different factors. As a result, in different parts of India tribals of certain areas and several main tribal community groups have become Christians in the last hundred and fifty years.
As Vidyarthi and Ray note, as per an estimate 1/6 of the total Christian population in India is tribals. The main centralization of tribal Christians has been in the North-East Himalayan area. The proportion of the Mizo, Garo and Naga tribals is from 0% to the total population in some area. In the Madhya Pradesh and Bihar 1/10 of the total tribal population follow Christianity. The number of certain tribals, who follow Christianity among Khariya, Munda, Urano, etc. is big. In Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, there are small groups of tribals who follow Christianity. The influence of Christianity through religious conversion on the tribals in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra is less but it is more in south India. 50% of the Toda tribals are converted Christians.
4. Religious conversion - A problem :
The tribals of India are facing the problem of religious conversion. Christian missionaries take up the activity of the religious conversion of the tribals through social services, economical support, etc. and other enticing offers. As said earlier, the main objective of the Christian missionaries is to spread Christianity among the tribals through the aforesaid means and tricks. It is clearly seen that there has been improvement in the spreading of education and the level of health of the tribals under the influence of various activities by the Christian Missionaries. Moreover, they have been provided the model of Westernized life pattern. However, religious conversion among the tribals has also created certain influences on the tribal communities which has become problematic for the tribal community and the Indian society as a whole.
These influences are:
A. Partition and segmentation :
Due to religious conversion among the tribals the process of partition began. The tribal society divided into two sections like the Christian tribals and non-Christian tribals. Such two divisions of the same tribal community got separated from each other culturally, social and mentally and sense of separate identity emerged.
Due to religious conversion, segmentation in the tribal society began in another sense also. Because of this conversion, different cast groups developed. These groups began to segment at the religious level and in different sects of Christianity. Many sections of tribal community began to come under one religious leadership as well as Church. Various sects of Christianity and their churches got different tribal communities unified socially and religiously. So, the original tribal communities became segmented from the religious groups.
B. Vertical division and segmentation due to status :
Due to religious conversion, the process of partition and segmentation that developed, divided the tribal society vertically as also in social station. In other words, due to religious conversion, two parallel sections emerged in the same community. They got separated from each other socially, culturally, religiously and mentally. Very few social contacts exist between the Christian tribals and the non-Christian tribals. The converted tribals have been deprived of the rights they could get from the original tribal society. On the other side, they did not get any benefits from the Christian sections of the tribal society and they could not become a part of the Christian section. So they are in a dilemma.
In tribal communities where the number of converted Christians is big, they are more powerful in the community. They consider the non-Christian tribals who are in a minority as inferior socially and show dislike for them. In these communities where the converted Christian are in a minority they are disliked by the majority non-Christian tribals. Thus, because of Christianity, majority and minority groups have emerged in the tribal population, which not only create conflicts sometimes but force those Christians or non-Christians who are in a minority and are disliked to migrate also. The Uranv and Munda converted Christians have migrated because they got separated from their original tribal communities. They earn livelihood by working as labourers, driving rickshaws, working in Christian organizations by any other vocation that they can find.
C. Emergence of religious hierarchy :
Tribal villages existed in the traditional social structure as separate and independent units prior to religious conversion. They had their own preachers and religious places but after the religious conversion, the converted religious groups in the village extend to a large area and there is a religious hierarchy of priests, religious heads and distant religious centers. Their religious loyalty and their contacts Christian tribal villages have strengthened and extended to foreign countries also sometimes which could be dangerous to one’s national loyalty.
D. Decline of traditional tribal culture :
Religious conversion has created a harmful influence on the tribal Youth-houses, Panchayats, traditional folk dances, festivals and values among other things. Their original culture which we call tribal culture has declined and a new life style as well as new cultural processes has emerged. In most cases, religious conversion has put the converted tribals in a transitory situation and a dilemma. After the conversion, they have not been able to accept the Christian culture or give up their original tribal culture totally. A feeling of dislike and hatred towards their original culture has developed. For example, the converted Gond tribals look at the traditional ‘Youth-houses’ with a hatred.
In many tribal communities in India, ‘Youth-houses’ has remained a unique feature of the society. A’ Youth-house’ is a center where the young men and women gather in the evening and where they get social, cultural training and even informal education. A ‘Youth-house’ is a mandatory community organization and peculiar kind of group in a tribal community. Seniors and juniors develop a feeling of mutual help by performing different roles. They are given training in discipline and methods of livelihood by traditional vocations. Moreover, they also get training in leadership. ‘Youth-houses’ are centers for recreation and socialization. Sex education is also provided there. It also provides a platform to find a life partner. Unfortunately, the religious conversion has nearly abolished the Youth-houses as a result of its harmful influence on the traditional tribal life. In some of the tribal communities, participation in Youth-houses is considered shameful and a sign of backwardness while in some other communities ‘Youth-houses have become stronger as a reaction to the process of conversion. Mill, a social anthropologist, has noted that a glance at a ‘Youth-house’ can tell us whether a tribal village has enriched or declined. Youth-houses can reflect the total reflection of the tribal life.
E. Reactionary attitude :
Wherever the Christian missionaries and converted tribals have looked down upon the tribal life, skepticism has developed in the mind of tribals towards Christianity. As Shri Gaurishankar writes, Christianity has not given a spiritual inspiration but has created a reaction. Conflicts have developed between the converted and non-converted tribals as a result of religious conversion. The conflicts in Bihar and Orissa and some other areas are examples of such animosity. Christian missionaries provided to the tribals inspiration for improving their life style and progress but did not provide necessary means for it.As a result, a feeling of inferiority, helplessness and frustration developed among the tribals and created a reactionary attitude. This event has given rise to the sinful and criminal activities among them.
F. Cultural conflict :
Religious conversion has provided to the tribal Christians a pattern of westernization in the form of religious unity, education as well as western values and morality. Due to conversion tribal Christians have become westernized and have given up their original tribal religion and have started going to Church and worshipping the Christian way, accepting Christian theology, imitating western clothes and customs adopting Christian marriage system and so on. Because of such westernization, conflict arises between the original customs and traditions of the tribals and the customs and traditions of Christianity adopted by the converted tribals. For example, among the Khasi tribals there is a tradition by which the youngest daughter gets inheritance of property from her mother but the Khasi who have been converted to Christianity go to court in order to claim inheritance. This indicates a cultural conflict.
Many tribals follow Hindu rituals in marriages. Those tribals who have embraced Christianity perform Christian ceremony but they also perform their own tribal rituals either before or after the Christian ceremony. Thus, they have not been able to accept or reject the new Christian ceremony. This event indicates a major cultural conflict arising out of conversion.
G. Emergence of New cultural processes :
Vidyarthi and Ray note that because of conversion, tribal traditions and those of Christianity get mixed up and due to this mixture certain new cultural processes have emerged and given rise to different groups of converted Christian. In this context, K. N. Sahay has noted that five types of cultural processes have emerged in the Uranv tribals. These five processes include, an inconstant or swinging process, process of cultural review, cultural process of fusion, cultural process of turning to ‘nativitism’ and, the process of rehabilitation. It is worth-noting here that the process bringing up a of a converted Christian takes place under the strict supervision of a parish priest and by his close contact with the local as well as the regional Church. Through this process, the Christian values and attitude are internalized. The personality of converted tribals who have been brought up under the process is remarkably different from the personality of shaped up in the original tribal culture.
5. CONCLUSION:
Under the influence of conversion, there have been changes in social life of the converted tribals where the reflection of negative (harmful) influence is clearly visible. It is true that conversion has provided to the tribals the pattern of westernization, but, as Roy notes, the pattern during the British rule had become more acceptable and it proved to be more effective among the tribals. However, after Independence, there was a retreat. The converted Christians have started to consciously join hands with the non-Christian tribals in the movement of rehabilitation. They have begun to create their original identity through the traditions and values they held before conversion. The converted tribals have begun to give importance to traditional institutes, great men of their tribe, traditional social customs, festivals and dances - the very features of tribal culture. There are trends to new directions which lead the converted and non-converted tribals to establish new forms of social and political organizations.
6. REFERENCES :
Dave, J. K. Tribals of India, 1st edition ; 2012 - 2013, Anada Book Depot, Ahmedabad Page No. : 92-97
Gaurishankar,Dubey, Roy,Sahay, N. K. Vidyarthy and Ray.
Received on 05.02.2017 Modified on 21.03.2017
Accepted on 28.03.2017 © A&V Publication all right reserved
Int. J. Ad. Social Sciences. 2017; 5(1):01-04.
DOI: