RELIGIOUS
CONVERSION AND CULTURAL CONFLICT *
For
a long time the tribal cultures have been undergoing considerable change under
the impact of the Hindu culture of the main land. Anthropologists have pointed
out various problems and handicaps which the tribals have been facing as a
consequence of undirected and uncontrolled cultural contacts. Such contacts
were reported to have resulted in some sort of a
cultural drift among the tribals and that drift was said to be, more often than
not, against the continuity and ethos of the culture of the tribes.
It
is important to point out that the religion and culture of the tribes are not
much different from the religion and culture of the Hindus as practised in the villages. At least this is true in the case
of the religion of the tribes in Andhra Pradesh. In fact it is a matter for
further investigation to discover how much of the religion of the villagers in
the plains, who are Dravidians, is derived from the pre-Dravidian–or perhaps
also Dravidian–tribals inhabiting the hilly areas. According to the linguists
the Khonds, the Konda Doras and the Gadabas of Andhra
Pradesh belong to Proto-Kui division of the central
Dravidian linguistic group. The point, therefore, is that when we apprehend
that the impact of even the plains Hindus is likely to bring about a major
drift and conflict in the cultural ethos and integration of the tribes, is it
desirable to allow the Christian missionaries to propagate their religion which
is fundamentally opposed to the pagan religion? It is true that in a secular
state the government is neutral in its attitude towards the religious practices
and beliefs of its citizens. But purely from the point of view of culture and
its continuity, religious conversion, which is a sort of a directed change,
with a specific motive of bringing about a major deviation in the cultural
values of a society, appears to be far from desirable. It is true that
Christianity has brought about certain desirable changes among the converts,
but it has also brought about a sort of cultural conflict and disintegration in
the social systems of the tribes as a whole. How these processes are at work is
briefly explained below with special reference to the Samanta
tribe.
The
Samanta tribe, popularly known as the Khonds, is partly agricultural and partly food-gathering.
It inhabits the agency areas of
The
Canadian Baptist Mission has been carrying on its proselytising
activities since 1930 among the tribals of the agency areas in the
So far so good. But as the converts
are still in a minority and they have to come into contact with the
non-converts for various purposes, some cultural clashes do take place. When a
convert brings a girl in marriage from the non-converts, the former is bound to
pay bride-price, and also observe all the other traditional practices whether
he likes them or not. On the other hand, when it is a problem of giving the
daughter of the convert to a non-convert, the former presses the latter to get
converted to Christianity. A few years ago it so happened
that one non-convert Besu was forced to give divorce
to his Christian wife who eloped with him. The divorce actually took place at
the instance of the Pastor on the plea that Besu had
already three wives and it was contrary to Christian principle to marry a man
with more than one wife. One more case of cultural conflict.
A few years ago, the daughter of one Joseph, a convert, eloped with a man of a
lower caste. Since Christianity does not object to inter-tribal or inter-caste
marriages, Joseph and other Christians did not oppose the marriage. But the
non-converts belonging to the neighbouring villages
threatened Joseph and his villagers that should they refuse to go through a purification
ceremony and arrange a feast to the tribe as per the traditional customs, the
converts would not thereafter be allowed to maintain marital relations with the
non-converts. For fear of severing relations, Joseph had to agree to outcaste
his daughter, undergo a purification ceremony and treat the tribals to a feast.
Apart
from the above said conflicting trends, there is one very important point to
note regarding the mental outlook of the converts. When these were put a few
questions with regard to their past culture, they repeatedly said that the Samantas in the olden days and the non-converts of today
were barbarous and that the traditional customs of the tribe were a matter of
utter shame for them. By adopting this attitude these converts now disown their
past culture and treat the non-converts as uncivilised.
Therefore the real problem is that, even though it is desirable to abandon
undesirable and harmful practices, is it any way desirable and healthy to
develop among the converts such an attitude as germinates hatred towards one’s
own past culture and one’s own brethren? Because of such an attitude, the
folk-lore, folk-arts and crafts of the tribe, are likely to become extinct in
course of time. Is it not then against our avowed principle of maintaining the
individuality of each culture and developing each group according to its own
genius?
Commenting
on this unfortunate trend, Rev. Dr. A. C. Bouquet, an authority on Comparative
Study of Religions, writes: “Religion of even the crudest kind is an attempt on
man’s part to integrate his life around the Sacred, as he himself conceives it.
It should therefore be treated with respect. Even if he progresses, in course
of time, from a crude to a more spiritual belief or practice, care should be taken
to see that he does not come to feel ashamed of his past...Whatever changes may
inevitably come, these should not be allowed to impoverish his life, or destroy
its art, its music, or any folk-crafts it may possess.” **
In
a recent article on the Todas one writer voiced the
same concern. He writes: “The missionaries have done yeoman’s service as far as
the converts are concerned, in terms of health, education and economic
prosperity...(but) the greatest damage that the
missionaries have done from the cultural point of view is that they have split
up that one name ‘The Todas’….Now the converts and
the Todas are two different entities with different
social and economic problems”.***
In
view of these circumstances it appears essential to review our present approach
to the tribal problems and evolve a comprehensive social policy keeping it in
line with the basic objectives of Democracy, Secularism and the maintenance and
protection of the individuality of each cultural group.
* This paper is based
on the research conducted by the author under the auspices of the Cultural
Research Institute, Andhra University, 1959-61.
** From his foreword
to ‘The Samantas’ by K. Ranga
Rao (unpublished)–prepared under the Cultural Research Institute, Andhra
University, 1959-l96l.
*** A. Gopalakrishna: “Approach to Toda problem” in Social
Welfare May, 1964.