of
British India,
1901 Census.|left The socio-political movements that emerged among the tribal communities of the
Chota Nagpur region in the late nineteenth century, such as the
Birsa Munda movement, the
Tana Bhagat movement, and the Dupub movement, shaped a collective tribal consciousness. Though their primary focus was on autonomy in response to colonial expansion, these movements also addressed the preservation of ancestral practices and belief systems by resisting external religious influences. This period laid the foundation for ethno religious identity among tribals, with emerging expressions such as Marangburu practices and Kherwarism among the Santal, Dupub faith among the Ho, early articulation of Sarna and Birsaite path among the Mundas. {{multiple image Sarnaism, as a religious identity, emerged in the 1930s, following the assertion of a collective indigenous identity as
Adivasi by tribal activists in the
Chota Nagpur region of erstwhile
Bihar. They articulated a unifying religious identity for the diverse,
nature based ancestral practices of tribal communities, with the purpose of asserting Adivasi distinctiveness from mainstream religions of India such as
Hinduism,
Christianity, or
Islam. However, initially, the unifying concept was prevalent among the
Oraons of
erstwhile Ranchi under the ethno-religious term
Adivasi. Later, the Oraon and
Ho communities accepted the Mundari ethno-religious term
Sarna to represent their religious identity. It gained broader acceptance through socio-political development associated with leaders such as
Jaipal Singh Munda,
Raghunath Murmu, and
Kartik Oraon. After
India’s independence, it experienced steady growth, incorporating diverse tribal communities into its fold, including larger tribes like the
Santal, who had initially refrained from accepting its tenets but gradually aligned with it over the following decades. Politically, Sarnaism grew alongside the
Jharkhand movement, formulated by the
Adivasi Mahasabha and its offspring political organization, the
Jharkhand Party, which was centered on the motifs of tribal identity and the demand for autonomy. The movement culminated on 15 November 2000, the birth anniversary of
Birsa Munda, when the
tribal-concentrated southern region of Bihar was bifurcated to form the separate state of
Jharkhand. == Theology ==