Tribes of Jharkhand

People worshiping under holy sarna tree on the occasion of sarhul in outskirts of Ranchi, Jharkhand.

Sarhul is a spring festival celebrated when the Saal trees get new flowers on their branches. It is a worship of the village deity who is considered to be the protector of the tribes. People sing and dance when the new flowers appear. The deities are worshiped with saal flowers. The village priest or Pahan fasts for a couple of days. In the early morning he takes a bath and puts on new a dhoti made of virgin cotton (kachha dhaga). The previous evening, the Pahan takes three new earthen pots and fills them with fresh water; the next morning he observes these earthen pots and water level inside. If the water level decreases he predicts that there would be famine or less rain, and if the water level is normal, that is the signal of a good rain. Before pooja starts, the wife of the Pahan washes his feet and gets blessings from him. At the pooja, Pahan offers three young roosters of different colors to one for the god — the Singbonga or Dharmesh, as the Bhumijs, Mundas, Hos and Oraons respectively address him; another for the village deities; and the third for the ancestors. During this pooja villagers surround the Sarna place. Traditional drum — Dhol, Nagara and Turhi — players keep drumming and playing along with Pahan chanting prayers to deities. When pooja is finished, boys carry Pahan on their shoulders and girls dancing ahead take him to his house where his wife welcomes him by washing his feet. Then Pahan offers Saal flowers to his wife and villagers. These flowers represent the brotherhood and friendship among villagers and Pahan the priest, distributes saal flowers to every villager. He also puts saals flowers on every house's roof which is called "phool khonsi". At the same time Prasad, a rice made beer called Handia, is distributed among the villagers. And the whole village celebrates with singing and dancing this festival of Sarhul. It goes on for weeks in this region of Chhotanagpur. In Kolhan region it is called "Baa Porob" meaning Flower Festival.

Baha parab is spring festival of Ho, Munda and Santal people. Baha means flower in Munda languages. People worship Marang buru in jaherthan or sacred grove.

Mage Porob is the principal festival celebrated among the Ho people of eastern India, and is also celebrated by the Munda people, though followers of Birsa Dharam, a new religion based on traditional Munda spirituality and religion, do not celebrate Mage Porob, despite the fact that they celebrate other traditional Munda festivals.[4] It is also not celebrated by any other Munda-speaking peoples, and is much less prominent to the Mundas than to the Hos.[5] It is held in the month of Magha in honor of the deity Singbonga who, in the Ho creation myth, created Luku Kola, the first man on Earth.[6][7][8][9] It was first described in 1912 by Indian anthropologist Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Roy in his The Mundas and their Country.[10]

Hal Punhya is a festival which begins with the fall of winter. The first day of Magha month, known as "Akhain Jatra" or "Hal Punhya", considered as the beginning of ploughing season. The farmers, to symbolize this auspicious morning plough two and half circles of their agricultural land. This day is also considered as the symbol of good fortune.

Sendra festival, locally known as Disum Sendra is an annual hunting festival celebrated on the top of Dalma hills by the tribal people of Chotanagpur region. It is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Baisakh (usually from April to May) to rejuvenate both the youth of the tribal communities and the wild animals of the forest. On this occasion, hunting games are organized in the dark. The festival is commonly celebrated by the Santal, Bhumij, Munda, Ho, Birhor and Kharia peoples.[11][12]

Although Hinduism is the predominant religion of the State (68.6 percent), the Hindu tribes constitute 39.8 percent only. As many as 45.1 percent of the tribal population follow 'other religions and persuasions'. Christian tribes are 14.5 percent and less than half percent (0.4 percent) are Muslims. Among the major tribes, more than half of the total population (56.6 percent) of nature worshiping Santals are 'Bedins' who also worship bongas. Oraon and Munda have more than 50 percent of population follow 'other religions and persuasions' followed by Christianity. Ho tribe has the highest proportion (91 percent) of persons professing 'other religions and persuasions'.[3]

Sarna religion/Sarna Dharam (regarded by tribals as Sari Dharam, that means True Religion) is religion of tribals of India. They have their own worship place called "SARNA ASTHAL/JAHER". They have also religious flag called "SARNA JHANDA". Which can be seen more in Ranchi District. In Ranchi the capital of Jharkhand, there are "SARNA ASTHAL". In SARHUL festival every Oraon gather in Ranchi with a great rally. In this time "SARNA JHANDA" can be seen every where in Ranchi.

Some tribes followed Sarna Dharam, where Sarna means sacred grove. Their religion is based on oral traditions passed from generation-to-generation. The religion is deeply ingrained in their culture and traditions, respecting the superiority of the natural world and its power. Sarna Dharam believes in one God, the Supreme Being who rules over the entire universe, known as Dharmesh. They believe in Lord Dharmesh's appearance in Sal trees.

Sarna People in Ranchi (Jharkhand) in their traditional attire

According to their philosophy, the lord Dharmesh is the most powerful and most important deity. He is responsible for the creation of our universe including their ancestors, and acts as their protector. In fact, the whole world (Universe) is regulated by a superpower that is Dharmesh in Kurukh which simply means the almighty, he is also called Mahaedeo. The great one Dharmesh's purity demands that he be offered sacrifices only of things that are white. Hence he is given sacrifices of white goats, white fowls, white gulainchi flowers, white cloth, sugar, milk, etc. White is the sacred colour of Oraon tribe, in fact it is true for most adivasi.

Among the many important deities, the Chala-pacho Devi (Sarna Devi) is among the most important and most respected deity. The Gram Devi Chala-Pachho is a caring old lady with beautifully flowing white hair. It is believed that the Sal tree is the holy abode of the Sarna Devi, the mother goddess that protects and nurtures the Oraon tribe and others. On the occasion of Sarhul festival, the Pahan conducts special puja of the Devi. According to Sarna Dharam, the Devi lives in the wooden soop of Pahan kept at Chala-Kutti place, the auspicious place at Pahan's home. At Kutti place, one stick made up of Saal wood or Bamboo Wood is fixed on the ground, on this respected wooden soop called Sarna-Soop, the Sarna-Devi resides.

Tribals perform rituals under the Sal trees at a place called 'Sarna Sthal', it is also known a 'Jaher' (sacred grove); it resembles a small forest patch. In Oraons' villages, one can easily find the sacred religious place the 'Sarna Sthal' that has holy Sal trees and other trees planted at the site. Sometimes the Jaher are located inside the nearby forest area and not in the village.

This Sarna Sthal (Jaher) is a common religious place for the whole village and almost all the important socio-religious ceremonies of the village take place at this place only. These ceremonies are performed by the whole village community at a public gathering with the active participation of village priests known as ‘Pahan’. The chief assistant of village priest is called ‘Pujaar’ or ‘Panbhara’.

The tribals have their own way of conscience, faith and belief. They believe in the supernatural spirit called the Singbonga. According to the belief of the Santhal community, the world is inhabited by spiritual beings of different kinds; and the Santhals consider themselves as living and doing everything in close association with these supernatural beings. They perform rituals under the Sal trees at a place called "Jaher" (sacred grove). Often the Jaher can be found in the forests. They believe in Bonga's appearance in Sal trees and have named their religion "Sarna." There are priests and an assistant priests called "Naikey" and "Kudam Naike" in every Santhal village.

According to the mythology of the Santhal community, the Sarna religion began when the Santhal tribals had gone to the forest for hunting and they started the discussion about their ‘Creator and Savior’ while they were resting under a tree. They questioned themselves that who is their God, the Sun, the Wind or the Cloud? Finally, they came to a conclusion that they would shoot an arrow in the sky and wherever the arrow would target that will be the God's house. The arrow fell down under a Sal tree. They started worshiping the tree and named their religion "Sarna" because it is derived from a Sal tree. Thus, the Sarna religion came into existence.

All India Sarna Dhorom, at Jhoradi in the Mayurbhanj district, Odisha. It was from this union that as many procession, demonstration with their drums and equipment like TUMDH, TAMAK, GHURI, CHORCHURI, AAH, SAR, KHANDA, TARWALE etc. held in the various part of the country like Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and in many other places. Their aims and objective was to raise the audible voice in ears of State and Central Government so that they are being protected from extinct and their laws and religious are being valued by Government and people of India as other religious. It has its Law and order made by its cabinet committee and it is being followed by all Sarnaism. They too organize seminars, conferences to enhance their laws and order among all Sarnaism. There are many charitable trust to provide free medical treatment among the poor people, they too, run many schools and colleges in the mentioned state of India.