Adhi-dharam and Hinduism are distinct: Dr. Munda

Adhi-dharam and Hinduism are distinct: Dr. Munda

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 12: Former Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University and Padma Shri award winner Dr. Ramadayal Munda asserted the need to conduct more research into the primal religions of India during his keynote address at the inaugural programme of a 3-day seminar “Spirituality of Primal Religions,” organized by the Mangalore Diocesan Chair in Christianity on Thursday. 

Claiming that Indian Adivasis have been wrongly placed in the category of Hindus to facilitate administration, he added that the Adivasis observe Adhi-dharam, not Hinduism. 

Mentioning the fact that only 6 religions are officially recognized in India—Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, and a group of small organized religions labeled “Others,” he informed that 90 percent of the Adivasis in India have been placed under the category of Hindus, while the others have embraced Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity, he said. 

Pointing out that Hinduism and Adhi-dharam had nothing in common, he said that the Adivasis had been unwillingly pushed into the bottom of the Hindu fold with the purpose of creating formidable political groups and cultural nationalism. He also criticized organized religions such as Islam and Christianity for admitting Adivasis into their fold, but keeping them at the fringes of their society. 

Dr. Munda, who is the co-author of a book on Adhi-dharam, in which he has compiled the religious practices and beliefs of the Adivasis, informed that ancestor worship, nature worship, and deification of local heroes formed the core of Adhi-dharam. 

Dr. Munda feels that the position of the Adivasis in India can be bettered only by conducting additional research into the religious beliefs and practices of more than 500 Adivasi communities. The knowledge will help Adivasi communities to establish their identities. Pointing out the similarities between Dalit cultural practices and Adivasi religious practices, he said that the Dalits must also form part of the same social, cultural, and political group.