Why Punjab's 'Abrahamisation' Should Serve As A Cautionary Tale For Sarna Code Advocates

Two Indian states, one in the north-west and the other in the east, located nearly 1550 km away, are on a similar trajectory, albeit 300 years apart.

In a recent podcast, author Punit Sahani described Punjab of the 18th century as a barren land for literature. In the war-ravaged region, evidence of literary work remains scarce.

He says that the most important work from that time period is Prachin Panth Prakash. The distortions in this book by a socially accepted writer named Veer Singh have laid a foundation for viewing Sikhism as distinct from the overall Dharmic fold, and a gradual shift towards the Abrahamisation of the faith.

Veer Singh convinced Sikhs that the original manuscript was lost in time. This ultimately led to a distorted definition of Sikhism being imposed in the modern day and age.

The crucial thing here is the literary vacuum in the region with the most prominent Sikh population.

In Jharkhand, situated 1550 km away from Punjab, the fate of tribals is at a similarly crucial juncture. The orally passed traditions are no longer sacrosanct in an organised modern world, which places more emphasis on written words than oral narratives and stories.

Consequently, tribals are now at a crossroads. The blank slate is being filled by all sorts of distortionists, ranging from Christian evangelicals to university professors trying to put them into the populist political silos of ‘social justice’.

In the process, the life of the average tribal is changing thick and fast.

A significant section of tribals have left their traditional way of living, while another section wants to remain under the Sanatani fold. A third section of vocal minority (from a national perspective) now demands the insertion of a seventh religion called Sarnaism in the upcoming census register.

In the last week of May 2025, the Congress and its ally in Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), organised rallies across the state demanding the inclusion of the Sarna Code in the national census.

JMM’s Central General Secretary, Vinod Pandey, stated that the Indian National Democratic Inclusive (INDI) alliance seeks the implementation of the Sarna Code before any caste-based census is conducted.

"The Constitution gives us the freedom to choose our religion. It is our fundamental right. Excluding a separate Sarna religion code and removing the 'Others' column from the census form is a violation of this right," said Shilpi Neha Tirkey, Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Co-operative of Jharkhand.

In interviews broadcast on television channels, leaders from both parties also declared that if the Sarna Code is not recognised, they would prevent the census from taking place in Jharkhand. Incidentally, Tirkey was the first to voice such disobedience of the Union government’s mandate.

"This is the result of the struggle led by our leader, Rahul Gandhi. But without the Sarna code, no census will be allowed here," said Tirkey.

However, opposition leader and President of the Jharkhand unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Babulal Marandi, called the demand for a Sarna Code without addressing religious conversion "absurd." He pointed out that approximately 15.48 per cent of the tribal population in the state has converted to Christianity.

“Out of these (86.45 lakh tribals), nearly 14 lakh identified themselves as Christians. The question is, how did so many tribals shift from their original Sarna faith to Christianity, and why is this trend continuing?" Marandi remarked. "If conversions continue at this rate, who will follow the Sarna religion?" he added.

Within a few days of politically infused protests, Adivasi Bachao Morcha and Sirmatoli Bachao Morcha organised a bandh for the protection of tribal heritage in the state.

The Sarna Tradition

The demand for granting institutional status to the Sarna tradition has been raised for a long time.

When viewed through the lens of tradition, religion, morals and metaphysics, Sarna serves as an excellent medium for preserving ancient traditions in the modern era.

The term "Sarna" is derived from the Mundari word sar, meaning a grove of sal trees. As the name suggests, the sal tree holds great significance in the Sarna tradition. According to oral traditions, the spirit of the forest resides in the roots of the sal tree, while the spirit of the village is believed to dwell in the oldest sal tree.

In the Sarna tradition, the highest reverence is given to Lord Singmonga, who can be equated with the Sun God, though the name may vary among different tribes. Followers of Sarna also deeply honour their ancestors. Sarhul, considered the most important festival in the Sarna tradition, includes worship of ancestors as well.

At the core of Sarna’s manifestation (way of life) is the conservation of water, forests, and land (Jal, Jungle and Jameen). All its festivals and traditions are determined by a climate- and crop-based calendar.

The Sarna tradition is primarily followed by the Oraon, Munda, Ho, Santhal, and Khadia tribes. Over time, efforts have been made to include other tribes, leading to some diversity in practices. Notably, Sarna adheres to India’s indigenous traditions, which may explain why there are fewer spiritual reasons for declaring it a distinct religion.

Nonetheless, during British rule, tribal communities were given a separate designation in the census.

British Policy and Census

Lacking a scientific approach, the British pragmatically divided Indian society into two groups: those who were indigenous to the land and those whose ancestors came from elsewhere.

Tribes were considered indigenous and were referred to as "Aboriginals," following global conventions of the time.

In the 1871 census, the term "Aboriginal" was used, and later, "Animism" was also introduced. These terms were exclusively applied to India’s tribal communities.

According to author Dr Shailendra Kumar, this artificial division served two purposes for the British.

Firstly, by distinguishing tribes from other Indians, it facilitated Christian missionary activities for conversion. Secondly, it made it easier to enact separate tenant laws for tribes, which prohibited other Indians from interfering in or benefiting from the resources stored in forests.

It enabled the exploitation of natural resources as the British turned them into cheap and sometimes bonded labourers in their own ancestral land. Long hours, low salaries, and harsh working conditions were compounded by the fact that Jal, Jungle and Jameen were snatched from them.

Frustrated by the British’s duplicitous policies, tribal communities launched several movements like the Kherwar Movement, Sapha Hor Movement, Birsa Munda’s Ulgulan, Tana Bhagat Movement, Haribaba Movement, Sardar Revivalist Movement and Sarna Movement – out of which only the latter managed to endure over time.

Around the time when India achieved independence, Sarna followers initiated the "Reform Sabha" to counter unethical conversions by Christian missionaries.

Post-independence, the Constituent Assembly of India replaced British terminology with "Scheduled Tribes" and required tribes to choose one of six recognised religions in the census. Most tribes found Hindu traditions closer to their ethos of environmental conservation and voluntarily adopted them.

For those who did not wish to align with any religion, the census provided an "Others" category, which includes Sarna.

Initially, it did not find many adherents in the census register. However, followers took the movement to the grassroots, which nudged more tribals to join the ranks. For instance, the number of people registering themselves under Sarna (of the ‘Others’ category) jumped from three lakhs in 1971 to 18 lakhs in 1991.

Notably, in the 2011 census, around 50 lakh people identified as Sarna followers, with 80 per cent of them from Jharkhand.

Sarna, Christian Missionaries, and the Fight to Preserve Culture

Sarna followers have long been dissatisfied with this arrangement, though their numbers were initially small. Parallel to the Jharkhand movement, a Sarna movement gained momentum, urging tribes across India to fully adopt the Sarna way of life.

This led to a significant increase in Sarna adherents and louder demands for recognising Sarna as a separate religion in the census.

This issue has also divided the politics of the state. During the UPA regime, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes supported the demand. Towards the fag end of 2020, Jharkhand’s current Chief Minister, Hemant Soren, even passed a resolution in its favour.

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party did not oppose it in the state assembly, the National Democratic Alliance-led central government has not approved it.

The BJP considers it a diversion tactic, seeking more accountability and commitment from the Indian National Democratic Inclusive (INDI) Alliance for the Sarna cause.

Talking to Swarajya, Mrityunjay Sharma, spokesperson of Jharkhand BJP, said, “JMM and its allies are only using it for their politics. Their demand has nothing to do with the welfare of tribals. If it was about welfare, they are in power and could have established institutions like a Nyas Board for promoting Sarna.”

Even though the BJP has adopted a flexible stance on the Sarna Code, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has repeatedly emphasised that Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) is broad enough to accommodate diverse beliefs, including Sarna.

In 2015, RSS sah-sarkaryavah Dr Krishna Gopal clearly stated that tribals are Hindus.

The organisation sustained this approach even when Union Minister Amit Shah promised to delve into the issue of granting a separate code to Sarna adherents ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2024.

Arguments for Recognising Sarna as a Separate Religion

Two main arguments are made for recognising Sarna as a distinct religion. First, it would help tribes preserve their traditions. Second, it would curb the activities of Christian missionaries.

While the first argument holds some merit, the second reasoning baffles anyone who has seen how missionaries act in the tribal areas of Jharkhand. In India, particularly in Jharkhand’s forest regions, Christian missionaries are deploying significant financial and political resources to convert tribal populations.

Babulal Marandi noted that 36 per cent of the Oraon, 33 per cent of the Munda, and 68 per cent of the Khadia populations have converted to Christianity.

What Marandi missed is the phenomenon of the presence of crypto-Christians in the state.

When one converts to Christianity, he or she receives favourable treatment as a minority from the state – an advantage which is extremely limited compared to being an individual belonging to a Scheduled Tribe.

The practical implications mean that while on paper they are tribals, in reality, their lifestyle has been totally altered by Christianity.

Passing along dense forests of tribal areas in the state, one can easily find village after village where scores of people have put the cross sign in their courtyards. Locals believe that the reported numbers of the Christian population are less than half of the actual figure.

Hindu organisations actively oppose these activities and have been successful in bringing back many individuals to the Sanatan fold – a prime example being Gamliel Hembram, who contested as a BJP candidate against Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the Jharkhand Assembly Elections, 2024.

Such activity has caused friction, especially over the past 15 years. These organisations have significant numerical and organisational strength, which is not easy to replicate if any such organisation is formed for the protection of Sarna practitioners in case the code is accepted in the census.

Interestingly, Jharkhand’s churches have supported the Hemant Soren government on the Sarna Code issue, which seems contradictory given that Sarna followers have historically opposed Christian missionaries and clergy.

As the English proverb goes, “There is no such thing as a free lunch,” and nothing comes without effort or a price. The churches’ support is a signal that they will take disproportionate advantage of the new polity if it is brought to the fore.

Another hint is that it has been a decade since both Christians and adherents of Sarna collided in a significant manner.

The latest such reported incident dates back to 2013 when Sarna groups had opposed the statue of Mother Mary wearing a white saree with a red border and holding infant Jesus like a tribal woman holds her children.

Sarna followers called it appropriation and an attempt to Christianise tribal culture.

Punjab Experience

By virtue of its very nature, the Indian religious setup, being a culmination of many smaller subsets, offers an opportunity to raise demands for separate recognition anywhere in India. For instance, in Punjab, Sikhs made such demands, which were largely met, but the consequences have not been satisfactory.

Puneet Sahani’s insights into the historical trajectory of Sikhism provide a compelling lens through which we can view the current challenges faced by Jharkhand’s tribal communities.

Sahani asserts that Sikhism is undergoing rapid Abrahamisation, a process marked by the imposition of a singular, exclusivist narrative and the purging of diversity.

On the contrary, Sikhism in its earlier years was defined by remarkable diversity, which provided an intellectually stimulating environment for multiple sects like Namdharis, Ram Raiyas, Nirankaris, and Udasis, each with their own practices, beliefs, and interpretations of Sikh teachings and practices.

The literary vacuum of the 18th century created space for the surviving texts to be reinterpreted and republished in such a manner that would be seen as an attempt to erode the foundational basis of Sikhism, the Panth, and the new factually incorrect foundation would be used to give it the shape of a new religion, as the Western worldview would compel one to see.

The original Panth Prakash was written by Ratan Singh Bhangu, who saw Sikhs as Hindus. Sahani informs us that when 19th-century writer Vir Singh started rewriting it, he removed Hindu references from the book and replaced them with Sikh.

“What Vir Singh did was remove Hindu and put Sikh, Sikh, Sikh, Sikh everywhere. This is the level of fraud they have committed,” he said.

This, along with many other deliberate manipulations of historical texts, severed Sikhism from its roots within the Sanatana fold, imposing a negative definition of Sikh identity as “not Hindu”.

The assertion that it must have been a deliberate manipulation is substantiated by the fact that Vir Singh was unmoved by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which even Winston Churchill condemned.

For the British, the dissociation of Sikhi from its core served their interests, just like severing tribals’ ties with the rest of Indians did in Jharkhand and other states too.

Sahani says that the British incentivised the process by encouraging rigid identities. The Singh Sabha movement, a late 19th-century phenomenon, further narrowed it by ‘purifying’ Sikhism of Hindu elements and establishing a clear definition between Sikhism and other religions.

The Sikh Gurdwara Act of 1925 then came up with a legal definition of a Sikh and made this narrowing more formal by excluding sects like the Namdharis who maintained beliefs or practices that diverged from the new orthodoxy.

A new declaration required a person to state, “I solemnly affirm that I am a Sikh, that I believe in the Guru Granth Sahib, that I believe in the Ten Gurus, and that I have no other religion.”

“I have no other religion” may have served the immediate purpose of providing distinction and order, but would later come to negatively impact the perception around Sikhism.

The definition as a distinct religion means that it is more defined by the closed doors of an orthodoxy rather than embracing outsiders with the open arms of inner truth, which should be the spiritual purpose behind any religion or sect.

Institutions like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have been used for the imposition of this strict identity. Sahani states that it stifled spiritual and intellectual freedom, as evidenced by the 1978 clash with the Nirankaris, who had been part of Sikhism since Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s time.

Even though such a large-scale and violent manifestation of one rigid identity trying to override its constituent differences has not been seen among tribals, one can trace back the demand for the current Sarna code to the British designating tribes as “Aboriginals” or “Animists”, which created categories that would later be mobilised while putting forth the demands for separate recognition.

The unfortunate commonality in both these states is that respective communities either have embraced or are happily accepting the communal categories which were introduced as a tool of control and division.

This ironically led to their marginalisation as a separate identity.

What transpired in Punjab after the segregation is yet another cautionary tale.

When a tradition is fit into a few specific defining features, it has the effect of creating a sense of disconnection and alienation among young community members. If young exploratory tendencies are not given methodical guidelines by a belief system which relies on decreased dynamism and closeness to the world, only two options are available.

Firstly, the youngster starts defending those ideas in a more fierce and orthodox manner, which, when misguided, tends to become an obstructionist force in society.

Secondly, they start looking outside the religious fold to quell their creativity. This particular aspect offers a more diversionary pathway for young minds, especially in the modern world.

The struggle to find meaning can lead them to unseen pathways of tobacco, drugs, alcohol, psilocybin and many other such self-proclaimed remedies available in both black and formal markets.

Punjab has seen both. When youngsters were mobilised by a force of fanaticism, the Khalistan movement appeared, engulfing thousands from their own as well as other communities.

On the other hand, when they looked for a guiding force outside the stranglehold of boundaries, lost youth and drug overdose welcomed them.

Both problems still plague Punjab, leading to the exodus of industries and the dilapidation of the young workforce.

Many in Punjab now turn to Christianity for solutions to their questions, and in the short run, they do get a better lifestyle, school education and other incentives due to evangelical funding. The same holds true for tribals in Jharkhand as well.

However, in the long run, they are coerced into abandoning their way of living, the very feature which proponents of Sarna and orthodox Sikhism vowed to protect through distinct identities.

Most of the tribal individuals who took to Christianity were dictated an illiberal version, which Sahani defines as 'Abrahamisation' in the context of Punjab and Sikhism, and abandoned their traditional practices within a decade.

In contrast, those who remained within the Hindu fold continue to participate in Sarna-related activities while embracing new ways of living and finding happiness.

The difference between the impact of inclusivity and the emphasis on exclusivity could not have been starker.

Ultimately, the battle of ideas is not about the new code. It is about the events unfolding in the aftermath of the new code. Will the new code facilitate the way for Abrahamisation of Sarna adherents, or will it protect the diversity within?

If the history of India is any evidence, then inclusivity is the way to go.

While the fight for a separate Sarna Code may be driven by pure intentions, it must not be forgotten that this is ultimately a centuries-old battle for cultural dominance.

Internal forces must unite to confront external challenges effectively.