Tribes of Jharkhand

The tribes of Jharkhand consist of 32 scheduled tribes inhabiting the Jharkhand state in India. As of 2011 census, thy account for 26.21 percent (8million) of the state's total population. They primarily concentrated in South Chotanagpur, Kolhan and Santal parganas division.

History In 1872 only 18 tribes were counted among the scheduled tribes from which Banjara, Bhatudi, Chik Baraik, and Mahli were marked as semi-Hindu aboriginal and Kora as proletariat Hindu. In the 1931 census, including the above four semi-Hindu aboriginal and Kora, a proletariat Hindu, the number was raised to 26 from 18. They were Birajia, Godait, Karmali and Paharia, but Kisan was excluded from the list. In the 1941 census, Baga, Bedia and Lohra were included again taking Kisan in the annexure and the number came to 30 which prevailed till June 2003. Kanwar and Kol were added on 8 June 2003 in the annexure and the number of Schedule Tribes came to 32.

Classification The tribes in Jharkhand were originally classified based on their cultural types by the Indian anthropologist, Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi. His classification was as follows:

Hunter-gatherer type — Birhor, Korwa, Hill Kharia Shifting agriculture — Sauria Paharia, Mal Paharia Simple artisans — Mahli, Lohra, Karmali, Chik Baraik Settled agriculturists — Bhumij, Ho, Oraon, Munda, Santhal, etc.

List of Scheduled Tribes List of Scheduled Tribes. Asur Baiga Banjara Bathudi Bedia Bhumij Binjhia Birhor Birjia Chero Chik Baraik Gond Gorait Ho Kanwar Karmali Kharia Kharwar Khond Kisan Kora Kol Korwa Lohra Mahli Mal Pahariya Munda Oraon Parhaiya Santhal Sauria Paharia Savar

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribe population of Jharkhand is 8,645,042, which constitutes 26.21 percent of the state's total population. Among all States and UTs, Jharkhand holds 6th and 10th rank terms of the ST population and the percentage share of the ST population to the total population of the State respectively. The growth of the ST population has been 17.3 percent, which is lower by 6 percentage points if compared with the growth of the State's total population (23.3 percent) during 1991–2001. The state has thirty Scheduled Tribes and all of them have been enumerated at the 2001 census. The Scheduled Tribes are primarily rural as 91.7 percent of them reside in villages. District-wise distribution of ST population shows that Gumla district has the highest proportion of STs (68.94 percent). The STs constitute more than half of the total population in Lohardaga (56.89 per cent) and Pashchimi Singhbhum (67.31 percent) districts whereas Ranchi has 35.76 percent and Pakur district has 42.1 percent tribal population. Koderma district (0.96 percent) preceded by Chatra (4.37 percent) has the lowest proportion of the STs Population.

+ Scheduled Tribes Historical population Demographics based on latest census Latestpopulation(2011) Sex ratio Literacy rate WPR 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 num. Total Male Female Main workers Marginal workers Asur 5,819 7,026 7,782 9623 10,347 22,459 0.26 958 37.09 45.8 28 23.96 23.5 Baiga 951 1,807 3,553 3,930 2,508 3,582 0.04 958 29.03 34.88 22.93 11.92 34.56 Banjara 42 130 412 861 374 487 0.01 1012 32.44 44.21 20.82 23 16.02 Bathudi 456 880 1,595 2,706 1,114 3,464 0.04 975 44 53.71 34.04 23.67 26.3 Bedia 38,241 48,021 60,445 72,219 83,771 100,161 1.16 995 49.16 58.61 39.66 23.5 19.27 Bhumij 101,057 124,918 136,110 155,961 181,329 209,448 2.42 996 47.7 59.05 36.3 18.11 28.4 Binjhia 6,725 9,119 10,009 13,090 12,428 14,404 0.17 968 48.17 58.74 37.25 27.8 23.49 Birhor 2,438 3,464 4,376 8,083 7,514 10,726 0.12 960 26.4 31.63 20.96 20.21 27.23 Birjia 4,029 3,628 4,057 6,191 5,365 6,276 0.07 977 39.71 48.9 30.3 22.32 27.26 Chero 30,845 38,741 52,147 67,447 75,540 95,575 1.11 956 52.35 62.64 41.58 12.74 25.4 Chik Baraik 30,770 33,476 40,339 46,568 44,427 54,163 0.63 997 54.77 63.78 45.73 26.38 21.35 Gond 33,521 48,869 53,574 104,402 52,614 53,676 0.62 994 50.47 59.79 41.09 25.15 21.92 Gorait 4,793 3,239 5,206 5,926 3,957 4,973 0.06 968 51.48 60.43 42.23 22.48 21.01 Ho 454,746 505,172 536,524 631,541 744,850 928,289 10.74 1021 43.72 54.05 33.61 21.64 24.24 Karmali 26,509 26,908 38,652 47,485 56,865 64,154 0.74 932 52.2 61.55 42.16 19.72 17.42 Kawar 8,145 0.09 995 54.49 65.09 43.83 27.46 23.89 Kharia 108,983 127,002 141,771 151,634 164,022 196,135 2.27 1019 55.66 61.53 49.9 26.84 23.79 Kharwar 109,357 139,212 222,758 242,558 192,024 248,974 2.88 964 45.04 54.57 35.16 14.58 29.58 Khond 814 596 1,263 5,519 196 221 0 939 53.39 64.04 42.06 20.81 25.79 Kisan 12,011 16,903 23,420 30,766 31,568 37,265 0.43 974 40.3 49.08 31.29 21.98 31.8 Kol 53,584 0.62 982 38.11 48.33 27.7 16.15 28.41 Kora 13,824 20,804 33,951 39,903 23,192 32,786 0.38 989 46.14 56.75 35.4 17.27 25.38 Korwa 21,162 18,717 21,940 24,871 27,177 35,606 0.41 978 29.41 35.67 23 13.06 37.95 Lohra 92,609 116,828 169,090 180,806 185,004 216,226 2.5 977 45.9 54.71 36.88 22.94 23.09 Mahli 67,979 74,452 91,928 107,645 121,174 152,663 1.77 992 44.81 54.49 35.05 26.92 21.1 Mal Paharia 45,423 48,636 79,322 86,790 115,093 135,797 1.57 1003 31.36 38.81 23.93 22.17 27.13 Munda 628,931 723,166 845,887 920,148 1,049,767 1,229,221 14.22 1001 52.47 60.96 44 25.53 22.45 Oraon 735,025 876,218 1,048,064 1,214,708 1,390,459 1,716,618 19.86 1007 56.4 63.7 49.15 24.19 21.23 Parhiya 12,268 14,651 24,012 30,421 20,786 25,585 0.3 958 25.57 32.2 18.65 11.98 33.73 Santal 1,541,345 1,801,304 2,060,732 2,349,492 2,410,509 2,754,723 31.86 1009 42.32 52.19 32.54 19.04 29.05 Savar 1,561 3,548 3,014 4,264 6,004 9,688 0.11 992 26.93 34.66 19.13 14.83 33.39 Suria Paharia 55,606 59,047 39,269 48,761 31,050 46,222 0.53 1012 31.6 39.05 24.25 20.85 30.71 Unclassified 16,930 36,285 49,665 2,595 36,040 173,746 2.01 988 46.07 55.12 36.92 21.41 27.35 Total 4,204,770 4,932,767 5,810,867 6,616,914 7,087,068 8,645,042 100 1003 47.44 56.44 38.47 21.68 25.26

Religion

As per 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribes population in Jharkhand totals 8,645,042. Among them, the largest group follows the Sarna religion, with 3,910,313 adherents. Hindus comprise 3,245,856, and Christians number 1,338,175. Other notable groups include Adi Bassi with 41,680, Bidin with 28,954, and Muslims with 18,107. Smaller communities consist of Adi (8,989), Buddhists (2,946), Sumra Sandhi (2,723), Birsa (2,339), Gond/Gondi (2,292), Tana Bhagat (1,068), Sikhs (984), Santals (938), Sarnam (740), Oraon (709), Munda (696), Ho (695), Paharia (518), Sarvdharm (432), Kharwar (385), Jains (381), Achinthar (273), Saranath (153), Krupa (133), Dupub (122), Malla (111), Marangboro (87), Kuir (69), Loco Bohra (64), and Nature Religion (311). Those whose religion is not stated number 25,971, and other unclassified religions account for 7,828 individuals.

Sarna

Although Hinduism is the predominant religion of the State (68.6 percent), the 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 the population follow other religions and persuasions followed by Christianity. Ho tribe has the highest proportion (91 percent) of persons professing 'other religions and persuasions'.

Language

According to the 2011 census, Santali is the most prevalent language, spoken by 2,854,878 individuals, followed by Ho with 960,389 speakers, Kurukh/Oraon with 935,458, Mundari with 904,491 speakers, Sadan/Sadri with 885,746 speakers, Hindi with 570,444, Nagpuria with 327,847, Khortha/Khotta with 285,303 speakers, Bengali with 253,434 speakers, and Pahariya with 145,588 speakers. Kharia counts 137,413 speakers, Magadhi/Magahi 98,186, Panch Pargania 81,275, Odia 30,130, and Karmali 27,681. Furthermore, smaller tribal languages include Bhojpuri (20,589), Mahili (18,322), Kol (15,032), Bhumij (8,401), Palmuha (5,733), Koda/Kora (3,301), Munda (2,342), Chhattisgarhi (1,410), Lohra (1,325), Urdu (1,249), and Koli (1,086).

Literacy

According to the 2011 Census, within Jharkhand's Scheduled Tribes population, 47.44% are literate, while 52.56% are illiterate. Of the literate individuals, 28.94% have completed primary education, 27.67% have education below the primary level, 17.35% have reached the middle level, 10.61% have attained matric/secondary education, and 6.27% have completed higher secondary/intermediate. Additionally, 5.39% are literate without any specific educational level, 3.52% hold a graduate degree or above, 0.22% have technical diplomas or certificates not equivalent to a degree, and 0.02% possess non-technical diplomas or certificates not equivalent to a degree.

The overall literacy rate among the STs has increased from 27.5 percent at the 1991 census to 40.7 percent at the 2001 census. Despite this improvement, the literacy rate among the tribes is much below in comparison to that of all STs at the national level (47.1 percent). Among the numerically larger tribes, Oraon and Kharia have more than half of the population in the age of seven years and above are literate while Munda have a literacy rate almost equal to that of all STs at the national level. Among the total tribal literates, 33.6 percent are either without any educational level or have attained education below the primary level. The proportions of literates who have attained education up to primary level and middle level are 28.6 percent and 17.7 percent respectively. Persons educated up to matric / secondary / higher secondary constitute 16.5 percent. This implies that every 6th tribal literate is matriculate. Graduates and above are 3.5 percent while non-technical and technical diploma holders constitute a negligible 0.1 percent. Out of the total 1980,000 tribal children in the age group 5–14 years, only 850,000 children have been attending school constituting 43.1 percent. As many as 1130,000 (56.9 percent) children in the corresponding age group have not been going to school. The statement below shows that among the major STs, Munda, Oraon and Kharia have more than 50 percent school-going children whereas Santhal, Ho, and Lohra have 36–47 percent of children attending school.

Culture

Sarhul

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 sal 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 the water level inside. If the water level decreases he predicts that there will be famine or less rain, and if the water level is normal, that is the signal of 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.