By & Copyright Sandhya Jain, Rupa 2004 

Are tribals Hindus? Today some people argue that one of the reasons why tribals cannot be Hindus is because they do not worship idols/icons. Interesting! But these people do not know that idol worship was first started the followers of Buddha, not when he lived but nearly five hundred years after he gave up his body. Whom we call Hindus today were then & today nature worshippers. Let me share a simple example. India’s most popular mantra, the Gayatri Mantra means, ‘Om. In each of the three planes of existence (i.e. plane of the five elements; matter, plane of the life force; prana, plane of the mind). We recollect in ourselves and meditate upon that wondrous Spirit (the spirit dwelling within the sun, the light of knowledge that removes fear & ignorance) of the divine Solar Being; may he guide our inner version (we meditate upon, contemplate, recollect, call to mind, thoughts, intellect, inner version, who our may he guide, lead, direct)’.  

But then, who is a Hindu? I have tried to define one and failed four times. Here is a link- http://www.esamskriti.com/html/new_inside.asp?cat_name=qanda&cid=459&sid=113 

Unfortunately I had never came across a book that comprehensively explained the tribal – Hindu cultural interface. Luckily I bumped into the author Sandhya a couple of years ago. She was nice enough to share excerpts from her book with esamskriti. If you like to buy the book contact any leading bookshop within India. You can email feedback to the author at jsandhya@satyam.net.in  

This piece has two chapters i.e. introduction two and introduction to the book titled Tribal Stereotype. Content is verbatim from the book.