Tribes of Jharkhand
In the 1931 census, including the above four semi-Hindu aboriginal and Kora, a proletariat Hindu, the number was raised to 26 from 18.
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.
[1][2] The tribes in Jharkhand were originally classified based on their cultural types by the Indian anthropologist, Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi.
District-wise distribution of ST population shows that Gumla district has the highest proportion of STs (68.94 percent).
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).
Ho tribe has the highest proportion (91 percent) of persons professing 'other religions and persuasions'.
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), Lohara (1,325), Urdu (1,249), and Koli (1,086).
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.
In the early morning, he takes a bath and puts on new a dhoti made of virgin cotton (kachha dhaga).
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.
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.
Sohrai is the harvest festival of Santal people residing in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
People worship Marang buru in jaherthan or sacred grove before the beging of the Sohrai celebration.
[11] 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.
[12][13][14] It was first described in 1912 by Indian anthropologist Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Roy in his The Mundas and their Country.
The first day of Magha month, known as "Akhain Jatra" or "Hal Punhya", is considered as the beginning of ploughing season.
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.
The festival is commonly celebrated by the Santal, Bhumij, Munda, Ho, Birhor and Kharia peoples.
